Out Of Luck?

UNFORTUNATE: Cambodian workers leave after their shift at a garment factory in Phnom Penh. (Photo courtesy: TANG CHHIN SOTHY/ AFP)
UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Foreign companies that were the main drivers of the Cambodia’s construction sector have been winding down their activities in response to developments in their home countries. (Photo courtesy: TANG CHHIN SOTHY/ AFP)
BONE OF CONTENTION: The Preah Vihear temple. (Photo courtesy: The Straits Times/ AsiaNews)

2009-01-31
By BRUCE GALE In Phnom Penh
The Straits Times (Singapore)
AsiaNews

Just as the stage seemed set for further growth, the four drivers of Cambodia’s economy—agriculture, garment exports, tourism and construction—were hit by changes in external conditions.

"Unlucky.” This was the assessment of the Cambodian economy by Vikram Nehru, the World Bank’s chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific, late last year. It certainly seems appropriate.

While citizens in just about every country in the region can blame the current global economic storm for at least some of their problems, Cambodians probably have more reason than most to feel aggrieved.

Still one of the world’s poorest countries, Cambodia was nevertheless doing well before the global crisis hit. Recovering from a long period of political and social disruption dating back to the 1970s, the economy grew by an average of 11.1% a year between 2004 and 2007.

And the elections of July last year, which saw a landslide victory for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, suggested that the country would soon be able to add political stability to its list of attractions.

The garment sector, which began to expand rapidly in the mid-1990s, provided employment for about 350,000 people. The tourism industry was also booming, with the number of foreign visitors rising by more than 20% annually. Further evidence of the country’s success could be seen in the growing level of direct foreign investment, which reached a high of 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007.

There were problems, of course. They included rampant corruption, rising inflation, a dysfunctional public service, infrastructure bottlenecks and a developing property market bubble. But with the economy making great strides, and with leaders no longer preoccupied with political survival, there was hope that at least some of these issues would be addressed.

Indeed, soon after the elections, economic managers moved quickly to minimise financial sector risks arising from the enthusiasm with which local banks were rushing to profit from the economic boom. The central bank doubled reserve requirements in July, introduced a ceiling on loans to the real estate sector, then tripled capital requirements in September. Meanwhile, plans were well advanced for the establishment of a stock market.

But just as the stage seemed set for further growth, the four drivers of the Cambodian economy—agriculture, garment exports, tourism and construction—were hit by changes in external conditions.

The tourism industry got into trouble as early as July, when the decision by Unesco to list Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site resulted in a military stand-off between Cambodian and Thai forces. Cambodia also suffered from the effects of Thailand’s internal turmoil last month, when anti-government protesters forced the closure of Bangkok’s international airport. The result was a wave of cancellation of hotel reservations at Siem Reap during the height of the tourist season. The global financial crisis looks set to cut further into tourist arrivals.

The garment industry, meanwhile, has begun to suffer from lower demand in the United States, its main export market. Expectations that rice exports would boost economic growth have also been dashed by the fall in international prices since their mid-2008 peak.

The juxtaposition of these political and economic developments has already been reflected in a 25-per-cent drop in revenues from the kingdom’s trade-dependent railway network last year. Rail links with Thailand were cut completely during the tension with Thailand in October.

Finally, South Korean and other foreign companies that were the main drivers of the nation’s construction sector have been winding down their activities in response to developments in their home countries. Modern Cambodia’s first-ever property boom is no more.

Influenced, perhaps, by years of rapid growth, the government late last year rejected as too gloomy an International Monetary Fund report that suggested that GDP growth would fall to 4.8% this year. But officials have since responded to the global slowdown by announcing a budget that increased spending and offered incentives to the garment industry. They have also delayed the launch of the stock exchange.

Early last month, foreign donors demonstrated their continued faith in the country by pledging more than US$950 million in aid, an increase of almost $300 million over pledges made in 2007.

Even so, there is little doubt that the nation faces difficult times. Foreign direct investment fell last year and, according to the World Bank, will likely fall again this year.

With the garment and tourism sectors faltering, widespread unemployment is a distinct possibility. Fifty per cent of the population is under 20 years of age, suggesting that a large number of job seekers will begin to enter the workforce over the next few years.

Yet all is not lost. While international rice prices have fallen, they are still relatively high. Programmes designed to boost agriculture could help absorb some of the unemployed.

Meanwhile, continued strong supervision of the banking sector, an increase in government-funded infrastructure projects and further moves to upgrade the legal framework for investment could help prepare the country for the inevitable recovery. In times like these, Cambodia needs to make its own luck.

Forced to fish: Cambodian sea slaves

A fisherman mends a net. Photograph: Brian Harris

Friday January 30th 2009
The Guardian (UK)

Promised better-paid jobs across the border in Thailand, Cambodian men are being kidnapped by gangs of traffickers and sold onto illegal fishing boats that trawl the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea. For two years Chorn Theang Ly was kept at sea under armed guard. He describes how his quest for a better life turned into a nightmare

I live in the village of Anlong Khran in Cambodia. One day a man came to the village and said we should go to Thailand as we would have a much easier life there. Here, we work in rice fields, growing our own rice and vegetables. We make up to $200 a year. The man said we would make a lot more than that in Thailand.

He took a dozen of us over the border. We paid him 7,000 Thai baht for this – 3,000 for the transport plus a month’s worth of our pay. He said we would work on the riverbank, in factories, and have a much better life.

When we got to Thailand he took us to a house. Suddenly we were locked up inside it, all of us together in one room. It was only then that I realised that we had been sold. We tried different ways of escaping, all of us, but we had no money, passports or papers; there was nowhere for us to go.

We stayed there all night. Then, at about 4am, we got a wake-up call. Some men took us to a fishing boat, and that's when I realised what would happen to us. We had been trafficked. It was too late to do anything. We were powerless.

At sea, we all got seasick. I remember it got so bad for me that I was vomiting blood. As a group we decided we would stick at it for one month, earn our wages and then somehow get back to Cambodia.

The boat's owner told me we would have to work for him for at least three years. I found out that there is a whole system at work: a good employer lets you go ashore after eight or 10 months and pays you off, but a bad one will keep you at sea for three years and not pay you anything, or just a token amount.

Conditions on board were very hard for us. We worked all hours of the day, and there was little food or fresh water, just one small bucket. If we got a big catch we’d have to work day and night, slicing and gutting fish. If there was a torn net we would have to work for two or three nights without sleep to repair it. Another boat would sometimes meet us to take the catch and give us more food and water. We scarcely saw land.

I saw killings too, with my own eyes. There were three Thai crew on board and they were all armed. The captain would physically abuse us. In the early days he beat me nearly unconscious. He would beat us with the tentacle of a squid or sometimes a large shell. The man I saw killed was beaten and then thrown overboard. Another time, a man was shot and his body thrown into the sea.

We were constantly plotting to kill the captain and take the boat ashore. But the crew had guns and we knew we couldn't do it.

I was transferred to other boats after that first one. In the end I was at sea for two years. Finally, when a boat I was on put ashore in Thailand I persuaded them to let me go. They took me back to the border in a truck and left me there. With the help of one of the traffickers I got back across the border into Cambodia.

There are many people from my area who still want to go to Thailand. I tell them about the cruelty and the lies, but they are determined. The problem is there is so little to do here. We used to make money from charcoal, cutting and burning trees, but the government stopped that for environmental reasons. How else are we supposed to make a living?

• Chorn Theang Ly was talking to Jonathan Gorvett in Cambodia.

[Vietnamese] Films Submitted as Potential Duch Evidence

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
30 January 2009

Two films of Tuol Sleng prison provided to researchers by the Vietnamese government could become evidence in Khmer Rouge tribunal proceedings against the prison’s former chief.

Two deputy prosecutors for the Khmer Rouge tribunal made a motion to the Trial Chamber to allow two films to be entered as new evidence in the atrocity trial of prison chief Duch.

The Trial Chamber must decide by Feb. 17 whether to add the films, which include footage of Tuol Sleng prison shot by Vietnamese soldiers as they entered Phnom Penh in January 1979 as they pushed the Khmer Rouge from power.

The films depict the bodies of prisoners, some of them decapitated, as well as different types of cells, torture devices, shackles and other restraints. One film shows a Vietnamese soldier carrying a weak child out of the prison in his arms and two more child survivors.

The films are two among 20, totaling 480 minutes of footage, that have so far been submitted to the Documentation Center of Cambodia by the Vietnamese.

Duch, 66, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, will be tried in March on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder for his role as chief of the prison, known to the Khmer Rouge by it’s alphanumeric code S-21.

“The films provided by the Vietnamese government through DC-Cam are related to the indictment against Duch,” the deputy prosecutors, Yeth Chakrya and William Smith, said in their motion to the Trial Chamber. “Those documents are very interesting for finding out the truth about S-21.”

Judge Nil Nonn, head of the Trial Chamber, confirmed he had received the motion, which was filed Jan. 28 and published on the tribunal’s Web site Friday.

The motion will be decided on during the initial trial hearing on Feb. 17, Nil Nonn said.

Khmer Blue Has Purists Seeing Red

"Yak 2" - a drawing posted on reahu.net

A Cambodian-American artist has upset some of his countrymen with highly controversial paintings of mythical apsaras, a heavenly female figure.

11/01/2009
By Luke Hunt
Bangkok Post

At first glance it's obvious. Koke Lor's art has been inspired by the bare-breasted apsaras dancing across the stone walls of Angkor Wat and hundreds of other temples that dot the Cambodian landscape.

He has also taken great pleasure in adding a dash of colour, a smile and a relaxed pose to the ladies in his portraits. In doing so, this Khmer-American artist has breathed some fresh air into an art scene overwhelmed by tradition - and landed himself an inbox full of hate mail.

Cambodia's Minister for Women's Affairs, Ing Kantha Phavy, has drawn comparisons between Lor's art and pornography, telling Spectrum the paintings were a negative reflection of Cambodian culture, values and honour, and like pornography, it was a danger to local youths.

"Most Cambodian women have reacted against these paintings. They cannot accept these paintings," she said, adding the country's powerful Post and Telecommunications Ministry is investigating ways of shutting down Lor's website, reahu.net, named after the art collective of which he is a member.

Cambodia is commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Khmer Rouge this week. Pol Pot, widely renowned for his intolerance of beauty and the annihilation of Khmer culture and apsara dancing, was swept from power by the invading Vietnamese on Jan 7, 1979.

Ten years of Vietnamese occupation followed, and civil war continued until 1998, the year Pol Pot died.

However, the country has also had 11 years of peace and is enjoying a relatively prosperous period during which the arts and education are flourishing amid hopes that a more enlightened era is beckoning. But in Cambodia the killjoys in government are never too far away.

Chuch Phoeurn, the secretary of state for the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, said Lor, like any other artist, had the right to use his imagination, but warned: "It is wrong to paint in order to degrade Cambodian women or apsara dancers."

Essentially, an apsara is a heavenly female figure, or spirit, idolised within Hindu and Buddhist cultures, and any portrayal of the mythical women who serviced the courts of Khmer kings 1,000 years ago is to tinker with the foundations of a culture.

So, when Lor plucks a woman from the ranks of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, grants her a tasteful makeover and transforms a dowdy killer into an attractive apsara with a gun, everybody in Cambodia is going to have an opinion. Especially the likes of Tuol Sleng (the notorious S-21 prison) survivor Vann Nath, who simply said: "We are not happy with these kinds of paintings. They affect the feelings of the victims and do not reflect the truth of that era."

Such attitudes have turned Lor, himself a survivor of the Killing Fields, into something of a recluse.

"To be honest, it does intimidate me," he told Spectrum, "due to the threatening emails I've received.

"You know what people in high places are capable of doing, and they could also slap me with some kind of defamation charges."

When asked about the Khmer Rouge girl, he says: "Yes I did that one. It's my way of dealing with atrocity. I went through the ordeal and it was a painful childhood.

"When it comes to the Khmer Rouge, all you'll hear is bloodshed and the Killing Fields. I've just thrown in a 'What if?"'

Lor's knowledge of the Khmer Rouge is first-hand. As an eight-year-old he fled Cambodia with his family in 1979, as Pol Pot's iron grip over the country was nearing its end and the world began counting the almost two million left dead from the policies imposed by the ultra-Maoists.

The family moved to the US, where Lor earned a degree in engineering with a minor in fine art. He is single and now lives in Chicago where he established a small art collective known as reahu.net with two other Khmer-Americans, Bong T and Chronicle.

"That is how they would like to be known. They are great tattoo artists," Lor said.

Unbeknown to most, Lor spent the 30th anniversary of Pol Pot's overthrow in Cambodia, where he sized-up the reaction to his work, and while there was no shortage of outraged puritans, there was also plenty of support from the local art scene, which readily praised his portraits.

Author Theary Seng, who wrote Daughter of the Killing Fields and is also executive director of the Centre for Social Development in Cambodia, was blunt in her appraisal: "I love it! I want to buy some for my apartment!

"It's exquisitely beautiful in it's celebration of the human body and an adherence to how apsaras were then - naked as depicted.

"His work builds Khmer culture, it doesn't destroy it," she said.

Ms Seng also reserved a few choice words for the critics.

"We are such a hypocritical and blind society to beauty; we call white, black and black, white; we trade the genuine for the synthetic.

"The naysayers tend to be those who appoint themselves as the guardians of Khmer culture, but their response is really just a knee-jerk reaction, and they have limited understanding and appreciation of beauty, aesthetics and culture," she said.

The Cambodian Centre for Human Rights has also taken up Reahu's cause and urged the government to forsake censorship and asked it not to block the Reahu website.

Meanwhile, Peg LeVine from the Melbourne-Phnom Penh based Monash Asia Institute said Lor and Reahu had struck a justifiable chord of restlessness in Cambodian society.

She said the images held a sensual beauty that was beyond question, but added: "It is not the images, per se, that are at issue here. Rather it is the vehemence by which he 'uses' if not abuses the ancestral and culturally-embedded meanings of the apsara."

In this sense she adds the artists associated with Reahu could be proving themselves to be more American-Khmer than Khmer-American.

Writing in the Phnom Penh Post, the French-Cambodian author Somanos Sar said the public outrage over Reahu was more about limits on freedom, rights and responsibilities.

"I would suggest to him that he paint a female Nazi fighter in the same way he has painted the female Khmer Rouge fighter. Maybe he could then feel the frontiers between freedom and responsibility."

Lor is unrepentant and wants Cambodians to look beyond the four walls of home, arguing that at the end of the day pictures cannot damage a culture that is confident in itself.

But given the years of destruction, a notorious culture of impunity and corruption across most levels of Cambodia's bureaucracies and institutions, few would argue that this country's culture is on solid ground.

The government has also proved adept at meddling in the social and private lives of its citizens.

At various times Western music and dance have been banned, curfews imposed, women told to wear skirts below the knee, adultery is an imprisonable offence despite the well-known dalliances of politicians, and marriage between local women and foreigners is regulated.

Lor also told Spectrum that he had considered staging an exhibition of his work in Cambodia, but had decided against it in favour of keeping it on the internet, at least in the short term.

"I don't think Cambodia is ready for it yet. Maybe in the future when things have calmed down, or when they have grown to accept my work, but it has been a great experience - I will be back here next year to see if my art is more acceptable."

Drowning Refugees in Thailand Is Bad Karma

Jan 29, 2009
Commentary, Andrew Lam
New America Media
National Public Radio (USA)

For a country steeped in Buddhism, Thailand is accruing terrible karmic debts. News reports, including those by the Thai press itself, indicate systematic abuse of refugees fleeing from its neighbor, Myanmar.

Tourists have seen and photographed Thai troops abusing members of a Muslim minority group who were fleeing Myanmar by boat to Thailand’s southern shores. On the Similan Islands, tourists reported seeing boat people lying down on the beach, bound, struck and whipped by Thai military if they raised their heads. CNN recently confirmed with a Thai military source that Thailand is practicing a dump-at-sea policy: towing boats back to the sea, often without giving refugees food or water.

UN refugee agency spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey expressed the gravity of the situation: "The reports that we are hearing are very alarming. That the [boat people] were detained in Thailand and then towed out to sea on unseaworthy boats and left to die basically."

If it strikes the world as contradictory that Thailand, which bills itself as the Land of a Thousand Smiles and boasts of refined hospitality, could also be a country that rejects and beats up on the poor and the dispossessed, it does not strike any of its neighbors as anything but business as usual. Thailand’s long antipathy toward its neighbors is notorious.

Ask a Vietnamese boat person during the '80s who survived Thai piracy in the Andaman Sea and you will hear tales of unspeakable horrors – rape, robbery, murder, and human trafficking. UN records are full of documents, describing how Thai pirates used hammers, machetes, and guns to massacre entire boats of refugees, including children and women. Others were simply dumped at sea to drown. Despite international protest, the Thai government made few attempts to prosecute those accused.

During the Cold War, Thailand also supported the Khmer Rouge, the genocidal regime responsible for the death of more than 2 million Cambodians. What did the Land of a Thousand Smiles gain from supporting such a murderous group? Access to the Pailin gem mines and precious timber under Khmer Rouge control, and the promise to keep at bay the invading Vietnamese, who until 1989, occupied Cambodia.

If Thailand is now practicing a cruel and unacceptable policy toward refugees fleeing the cruel and unacceptable military regime in Myanmar, it is because Thailand hasn’t been exactly nice to its own Muslim minorities. Resentment against the Thai government has been brewing, along with allegations of abduction, torture and the disappearances of various Thai Muslim activists in the southern provinces. A primary example is human rights lawyer Sonchai Neelaphaijit, who disappeared while under police surveillance in March 2004. That same year, Thai police and security forces shot dead 107 machete-wielding youths, leaving them in a pool of blood. Thousands have been killed since then. The image of Thailand as a peaceful and gracious country has tarnished since then.

There is also an incentive for Thailand not to take refugees: it risks offending the ruling junta in Myanmar, with whom it enjoys a cozy relationship. After all, Thailand is buying jade, precious minerals and timber – all much-needed natural resources -- from Myanmar for a song, with the generals’ blessings. Last year, when the world condemned Myanmar for its inaction after the cyclone Nargis devastated half of its country, Thailand spoke in favor of the junta.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has offered to investigate the current refugee crisis. But an official investigation, given the government’s record so far, and Vejjajiva's military backing, may very well be another word for stonewalling.

Thailand has been a blessed country. While its neighbors suffered under colonial rulers, Thailand escaped that fate and was the only country in Southeast Asia to develop independently and in peace. While Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Malaysia and Vietnam suffered from insurgencies and warfare in the post-colonial period, Thailand – land of golden temples and pristine beaches - grew in confidence and sophistication. Many Thais attribute the country's peace and prosperity to an adherence to Buddhism and devotion to the Buddha.

But such good karma can last only so long. Buddha teaches love and compassion as key components to Buddhist practice. The world and the people of Thailand should seriously question whether killing unarmed refugees is the right path toward peace.

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• Yub Nis Yub Saek - Preap Sowath
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Fears mount for future of iconic Bassac apartments

Residents of the Bassac apartment block go about their business on Monday. But Saturday’s forced eviction of the neighbouring Dey Krahorm community has cast a shadow over the community, with many now fearful their homes will be next to go. (Photo by: SEBASTIAN STRANGIO)
Former Dey Krahorm residents gather Monday outside the National Assembly building where they thumb-printed documents protesting their forced eviction Saturday. (Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG)

Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Written by Sam Rith and Sebastian Strangio
The Phnom Penh Post

Bassac apartment residents say Dey Krahorm eviction has raised fresh concerns about prospects for their community

A QUESTION mark hangs over the future of Phnom Penh's iconic Bassac apartmentsfollowing the forced eviction and demolition of the Dey Krahorm community Saturday morning.

The grime-streaked apartment blocks directly overlook Dey Krahorm - now a vacant lot filled with rubbish and twisted metal - and residents say they are worried their community will soon face a similar fate.

"The people at Dey Krahorm were cruelly evicted," said Ly Vannak, 45, who lives in Village 2 at the south end of the building.

"I am worried because I see Dey Krahorm as an example. Phnom Penh municipality and [developer] 7NG might take this building just as they took Dey Krahorm."

Am Sophy, 43, who has been living in the apartments since 1985, said rumours of the building's sale had died down since the 1990s, but that the Dey Krahorm eviction had again raised concerns in the community.

"I am concerned, especially seeing the people at Dey Krahorm evicted. I am concerned that we might be offered such a low price that we could not buy a new house," she said.

Iconic building
Designed in the early 1960s by former municipal town planning director Lu Ban Hap as part of a low-cost social housing project, the 300-metre-long apartment complex is now home to a diverse community of around 2,500 people, many of whom have lived there since settling in the abandoned building as refugees in the 1980s.

But housing rights advocates are also worried that after Saturday's eviction, which brought an end to the long standoff between residents and 7NG, the Bassac residents will be the next to go.

"I'm feeling that after all the forced evictions, many other places are vulnerable," said Yang Virak, executive director of the Community Legal Education Centre.

"My analysis is that in line with the repeated statements of the municipality about the beautification of the city ... they will evict [more] people. That has been their justification to date, so I am worried for these people."

David Pred, country director of rights group Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia, could not comment on the status of the building, but said that even if an eviction were to be attempted, residents would enjoy protection under the Land Law.

"People have lived and owned those apartments for decades ... and they have land rights like everyone else," he said.

Srey Sothea, the 7NG chairman, said the company had plans to build a "modern commercial centre including hotels and supermarkets" at Dey Krahorm, and had its eye on acquiring the Bassac apartments as a precursor to the development of the now-vacant land. But he added that no plans had yet been set in motion.

"We are also interested in the Bassac apartments, but we have not yet started researching whether the people there are interested in moving to live in another proper place or not," he said.

However, the success of any bid for the buildings will hinge on the legal status of the residents and the land that they occupy. No sources contacted by the Post could confirm whether the building sits on private, state private or state public land, but local authorities are confident the occupation of the buildings is legal.

"[Bassac residents] have no land titles, but they have family books to identify where they legally live," said Village 2 chief Nhem Sovann.

"They live in a legal building, not anarchic buildings like at Dey Krahorm."

Khat Narith, Tonle Bassac commune chief, said that land titles were never issued because the people live in a "community building", and said all residents would have to be paid a fair price for their homes.

"They are not like Dey Krahorm's residents," he said.

"If any company would like to buy [the buildings], that company has to offer people market prices."

Cambodia: Hundreds left homeless after forced eviction

A Dey Krahorm resident carries away bedding as she passes red-clad hired hands from developer and property owner 7NG. In the foreground is a potrait of King Father Norodom Sihanouk, who in the 1960s pushed for construction of middle-class housing and shared public space, including the adjacent Bassac apartments, for which the Dey Krahorm land formerly served as a park. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Amnesty International
PRESS RELEASE
January, 26 2009

The Cambodian authorities must stop denying people the right to housing and ensure adequate compensation and restitution for over 150 poor urban families who were forcibly evicted from central Phnom Penh at the weekend, Amnesty International said today.

Cambodian security forces and demolition workers forcibly evicted 152 families from Dey Kraham community in the early hours of 24 January 2009, leaving the vast majority of them homeless. At around 3 am, an estimated 250 police, military police and workers hired by the company claiming to own the land blocked access to the community before dispersing the population with tear gas and threats of violence. At 6 am excavators moved in and levelled the village. Some of the families were not able to retrieve belongings from their homes before the demolition. Officials from Phnom Penh municipality were present during the destruction.

“The most urgent task now is for the government to immediately address the humanitarian needs of these people, who have lost their homes and face imminent food and water shortages,” said Brittis Edman, Cambodia researcher. “They will also need assistance for a long time to come.”

Cambodia is a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and has an obligation to protect the population against forced evictions. Saturday’s events show all too clearly how little respect Cambodian authorities have for these requirements.

The Phnom Penh municipality has provided less than 30 of the 152 families with shelter at a designated resettlement site at Cham Chao commune in Dangkor district, some 16 kilometres from the city centre. Most of the other structures at the site are still under construction and lack roofs. There is no clean water, no electricity, sewage or basic services. Earlier, most of the affected community rejected being resettled there because it was too far from Phnom Penh, where they work, mostly as street vendors.

Since the forced eviction, the Dey Kraham community has been told that the company, which has allegedly purchased the land, has withdrawn earlier offers of compensation, leaving families who have been living in uncertainty and insecurity for more than two years, now faced with rebuilding their lives with nothing.

Local authority representatives sold the land to the company, 7NG, in 2005 without the knowledge, participation or consultation with the affected community. Some 300 families were coerced into moving amid threats, harassment and intimidation, while 152 families continued to dispute the validity of the sale and refused to give up the land without compensation.

Just over a week before the forced eviction, the affected community told the authorities and the company that they were willing to move if they received adequate compensation for the land, where many of them have lived, uncontested, for decades and to which they have strong claims under the 2001 Land Law. The company then increased the offer of compensation, but the two sides had not yet reached an agreement.

“It is an outrage that the Cambodian authorities went ahead with the forced eviction, when progress was being made towards a mutual settlement. Now hundreds of children, women and men are left homeless”, said Edman.

Background
Forced evictions are one of the most widespread human rights violations in Cambodia, and those affected are almost exclusively marginalised people living in poverty, in both urban and rural areas. In 2008, at least 27 forced evictions affecting over 20,000 people were reported in the media and by local organisations.

Hundreds of land activists are facing spurious charges, and dozens have been imprisoned, as the rich and powerful are increasingly abusing the criminal justice system to acquire land and evict those living there. At least nine community representatives from Dey Kraham have been charged for criminal offences as a result of their peaceful defence of their right to housing.

As a state party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Cambodia is obliged to ensure, before any planned evictions, that all alternatives are explored in consultation with those affected by the eviction. Evictions may only occur in accordance with the law and in conformity with international standards, including genuine consultation with those affected; adequate notice and information on the proposed eviction; and provisions of legal remedies for those affected. Evictions may only occur if they do not render individuals homeless or vulnerable to the violation of other human rights.

In May 2009, the Committee Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will consider Cambodia’s first and considerably delayed report on its compliance with the treaty.

Mending bridges and revitalising cooperation

January 28, 2009
By Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation

In diplomacy, every gesture and response counts. At first, the scheduled courtesy call by Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Sunday afternoon was supposed to last about 20 minutes. But the visit turned out to be nearly an hour of discussion. Before leaving Phnom Penh a few hours later, Kasit told the Thai delegation over dinner he had been impressed by Hun Sen's good memory and that he had done his homework. After he greeted Hun Sen, he said the Cambodian prime minister reminded him of their work together at the Paris Peace Conference in 1989, which brought an end to the Cambodian civil war and peace to the country. Kasit also recalled that at the end of the conference, he walked to Hun Sen and shook hands, saying that Thailand and Cambodia would work together to develop the war-torn country. "Now that moment has come again," Kasit said.

A few minutes into the meeting on Sunday, Kasit told Hun Sen that he wanted to learn from the region's longest-serving leader.

"I am 12 years younger than you, and I am 8 years older than Abhisit," Hun Sen quickly responded.

From that moment, both leaders struck up a rapport and began a dialogue about peaceful settlement of border issues and cooperation on issues like the flow of the Bassac River, one of Cambodia's lifelines.

The two-day visit by Foreign Minister Kasit over the weekend was very successful. It would not be an overstatement to say that the outcomes of Kasit's discussions with Hun Sen and Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong will serve as the foundation for future Thai-Cambodian relations. There are three reasons for such optimism.

First of all, Hun Sen and Hor Namhong reiterated throughout the meeting that Thai-Cambodian relations are very important because they affect Asean as a whole. Hun Sen was correct when he stated the two countries have obligations as members of the regional grouping to move their relationship forward in a positive way. Over the past months, the simmering border disputes and tensions between the two neighbours have caused great concern among Asean leaders, with the fear that the two countries might even pit their troops against each other.

Another problem has been the repeated postponement by host Thailand of the Asean leaders summit meeting. Hun Sen has now confirmed that he will attend the summit, which will be held from February 27 to March 1 in Hua Hin.

In this connection, Kasit said he would take up the Emerald Triangle Cooperation proposal for Thailand, Cambodia and Laos at the upcoming summit. Hun Sen had proposed this plan to promote tourism in the scenic area where the three countries meet. So far the proposal has not moved ahead as Laos is still studying it. Thailand hopes that with the global economic recession, tourism cooperation under this ambitious plan will be pushed forward.

Secondly, Hun Sen reiterated that any bilateral problems between Thailand and Cambodia must be resolved through negotiation and peaceful means. This has already become a template for Thai-Cambodian relations. In his letter to Hun Sen, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva also stressed that the existing mechanisms would be used to settle bilateral issues. The bilateral border meetings will resume early next month. Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan is scheduled to visit Phnom Penh in early February. He will discuss troop adjustments along the Thai-Cambodian border. Both sides are clear that all avenues and sources must be exhausted before they seek assistance from any third party.

In addition, the stalled discussions on overlapping maritime areas in the Gulf of Thailand will resume. The estimated 20,600 square-kilometre area under discussion is believed to be rich in oil and gas. The Thai Cabinet has yet to approve a new senior Thai official to head the combined negotiations on the land and maritime issues but Cambodia is enthusiastic about kick-starting the discussions simultaneously.

Both sides agree that there should not be any bottlenecks in their cooperation since there are numerous activities and development plans either in progress or due to get underway. Kasit quoted Hun Sen as saying there are 40-50 programmes going on, and that one problem alone should not be enough to impede the whole cooperation effort. One indicator will be the speed at which Thailand returns seven ancient Khmer artifacts that were stolen and discovered inside Thailand. The government of former prime minister Samak Sundaravej pledged to return the pieces but nothing has been done on the matter so far. Kasit said that the Thai Ministry of Cultural Affairs is in the process of dealing with the issue.

Thirdly, with the renewal of understanding between the two countries, Hun Sen and Kasit ventured that if there is any future misunderstanding or misinterpretation emanating from sources such as the media, pressure groups or non-governmental organisations, quick telephone calls between leaders and officials on both sides would mitigate any possible negative effects. The two leaders were mindful of numerous online statements aimed at sowing discord between Thailand and Cambodia.

Finally, for the first time, there will be more exchanges at the personal level between members of the legislative branch in each country. There have been no such exchanges before, even though Thailand and Cambodia have similar parliamentary systems. During a meeting between Chea Sim, president of the Cambodian Senate and Heng Samrin, chairman of the Cambodian National Assembly, both agreed an increase in the number of exchanges between Thai and Cambodian politicians would promote better political understanding and cooperation. In addition, for the first time, the Democrat Party will initiate cooperative schemes with the ruling Cambodian People's Party.

Before the Thai delegation checked out of its Phnom Penh hotel on Sunday evening, a junior Thai official got a call from the Cambodian Foreign Ministry saying that the host country would pay additional expenses beyond the payment norm for Kasit, the chief of the Thai delegation. The official, who works at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh, was surprised and immediately informed his superiors that "Cambodia was happy with the talks".

Fortunes mixed for coming year

Phnom pehn post: Celebrations set to kick off among Sino-Cambodians, despite the challenges ahead.

Photo by:
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THE forthcoming New Year represents a time of optimism for the many Chinese in Cambodia, as people look ahead to the next 12 months with a mixture of trepidation and hope. The majority of Chinese make merit with the gods and former ancestors, even bringing tangerines into their homes - a supposedly lucky food at Spring Festival time - in a bid to guarantee a fruitful New Year. So what lies in store during the Year of the Ox?
With economic matters dominating people's aspirations for 2009, it is no surprise that fortune tellers like Yeay Venta, 66, are predicting a difficult year financially.

"It won't be better than last year because our country will continue to face problems, especially regarding our standard of living," she said, a gloomy prediction that points to a frugal 2009. "The people will become poorer and poorer," she added.

But even if the Year of the Ox is likely to pose economic challenges, during the coming days of New Year celebrations, many Chinese here say they plan to make the most of what is their most important time of year.

"Chinese people always think that things can be good each year because when New Year arrives, the good things and happiness will come to the Chinese," Chhun Leang, 60, told the Post outside the Kheav Chhiv Chinese temple near Kandal Market in Phnom Penh.

With the optimism at the start of the New Year comes the superstition and beliefs associated with the Chinese symbolism wrapped up in the lunar calendar, and there are also related personal beliefs at work - meaning personal interpretation is all-important.

While Chhun Leang sees the ox as a strong animal - "a goal, as we see it as the best animal, the kind that comes from heaven" - Phnom Penh fortune-teller Vannak, 48, sees the ox as a beast of burden whose fortunes will be reflected in 2009, especially for those who were born in a year that falls within the same sign.

"If we make predictions using the animal signs, then the rat is better than the ox because the ox has to work harder than the rat," said Vannak. "And a person born in an ox year will face difficulties in their living because they have to try very hard to earn money."

Aside from a focus on the economic outlook for next year, Vannak also warns people regarding the traffic in predicting "more accidents", a fortune that cynics might just as easily have told after one look at Phnom Penh's chaotic roads.

But if this all seems overly gloomy, there are other members of the Chinese community in the Cambodian capital looking forward to a bright 2009. Quan Tam, 71, manager of Ngoc Yien hermitage in Chrang Chamreas commune, said he expected that "this year will be safer and people will live in happiness".

"The ox is a better and stronger animal than the rat ... because it is bigger than the rat," he added, calling on Chinese and Cambodians to refrain from eating beef during the year of the ox - a request made by others, particularly older Chinese.

So even if it looks like a difficult Year of the Ox for Cambodian-Chinese, for the ox itself things may be looking up.

Pre-Angkor stone-carving remains very modern affair

Written by STEPHANIE MEE

Monday, 26 January 2009

Nearly lost amid the violence and cultural nihilism of the Khmer Rouge, stone carvers continue to find markets for their ancient tradecraft Photo by: Stephanie Mee Veteran stone-carver Touey puts the finishing touches on a statue in Phnom Penh. THE ancient art of Khmer stone-carving has its roots in the pre-Angkorian period and has been passed down from generation to generation of artisans for centuries. Common themes in ancient Khmer sculpture include deities from the Ramayana (in Khmer, the Ream Ker), such as Vishnu, Brahma and Hanuman, as well as varying images of the Buddha reclining, standing with one palm facing outwards to signify protection from fear, or sitting in meditation in front of a giant naga (or snake) with multiple heads. Not uncommon was the representation of the Khmer royalty or aristocracy in the form of various stone deities, a clear example of which can be seen in the massive stone heads at the Bayon temple at the Angkor Wat complex, which combine the image of King Jayavarman VII and Buddha. During the Khmer Rouge regime, many skilled artists were either forced to work in the rice fields or perished in the horrors that marked the Democratic Kampuchea period and the civil war that followed. Those who survived had little means to begin carving again. Cultural revival Fortunately, the 1990s were a period of reconstruction, rehabilitation and revival in Cambodia, and numerous NGOs began helping disadvantaged Cambodian people to reintegrate themselves into the workforce. In particular, Chantiers-Ecoles de Formation Professionelle, and its offshoot Artisans d'Angkor, were established to help train underprivileged youth in the country's many almost-extinct Khmer artistic traditions and techniques, including stone-carving. Today, large stone-carving production centres can be found mainly in the municipalities and provinces of Pursat, Preah Vihear, Kampong Thom, Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, though smaller centres exist throughout the Kingdom. In Phnom Penh, the bulk of stone-carving workshops can be found on Street 178, across the road from Wat Sarawan. I learned from my uncle and other family members in our village. Det Ourn, 16, works out of his uncle's workshop, Kon Khmer Sculpture on Street 178. "I learned from my uncle and other family members in our village," Det Ourn said. "First, I just watched others carving and I followed what they did. Then, I began to practise on my own, and today I can make any kind of statue." Patience is key One medium-sized Buddha statue can take up to one month to complete and involves considerable patience, Det Ourn said. "First, you paint an outline of the shape on the block of stone and begin to carve carefully with a chisel. When the rough shape has been chiselled out, you can begin to sand and polish the stone into the smooth, finished image. For extra details like eyes, mouths, creases in cloth and things like flowers, you can use a fine, small chisel or an electric sander," he said. One veteran artisan says a variety of markets exist for today's carvers. "The Angkorian, or traditional styles from the Ream Ker, are mostly bought for private homes, restaurants or businesses, while the traditional Buddhas and the modern, life-sized Buddhas and monks with alms bowls are generally bought for temples," said a veteran stone-carver from the Ta Phrom shop who goes by the name Touey. Touey learned the art of stone-carving from his brother, who had learned it from their grandfather. Touey and his family were forced to work in the rice fields under the Khmer rouge. "Fortunately, my family remembered the traditional ways and we began carving again in the late 1980's," Touey said. Most statues are made from sandstone from Preah Vihear or Kampong Thom provinces, while high-quality marble is sourced mainly from Pursat province, where stone-carving has become a major industry. Statues range from grainy pink and grey sandstone pieces to smoothly polished marble, shining in colours from jade green to crimson to pale yellow. Thanks to the perseverance of artisans and NGOs, stone-carving is on the rise again, and talented artists like Det Ourn and Touey can make a living doing what their ancestors have done for centuries before.

Take a bite out of Phnom Penh's 'canine' cuisine

Written by Stephanie Mee

Friday, 23 January 2009

While many would frown upon eating man's best friend, dog meat is big business in Cambodia - not to mention a cheap and tasty source of protein. Photo by: Stephanie Mee Barbecue your own dog meat at one of the capital's dog serving eateries. When it comes to food in Cambodia, there are no set rules, particularly when it comes to eating food that is typically taboo in the Western world. One tasty Khmer snack that is often frowned upon by foreigners is the meat of a creature commonly referred to in the West as "man's best friend" - the dog. Although not as popular as in China or Vietnam, dogs in Cambodia have long been a cheap and freely available alternative to beef, chicken and pork, and there are many Cambodians who believe that dog meat is even tastier than all of the above. The meat itself is generally dark and tastes a bit gamey, not unlike pheasant, deer or venison. It has a slightly stringy consistency, with some fat attached to the meat, although this does not make it particularly greasy. Popular Khmer superstition states that if you eat the meat of a black dog or drink its blood, any internal illnesses you may have will be cured. This is only true, though, if the dog has no white or brown spots anywhere on its body. Commonly referred to as koh dtreuk in Khmer, or simply sait chkaeh, there are numerous ways to cook and serve dog in Cambodia. Dog-meat soup is popular in Cambodia, particularly in the countryside. Called somlah majew kreung, it is a combination of dog meat, bones, head and organ meat mixed with young tamarind leaves, water and lime juice to create a tangy sour soup. The dish is very similar to the popular sour chicken soup served in Khmer restaurants across the country. In Phnom Penh, the most common form of dog meat to be had is barbecued dog, which can be found at many roadside food stalls along the East side of Monivong Boulevard, just north of Norodom Boulevard, and at the corner of Norodom and Street 214, to name a few well-known locales. Barbecued dog is served in the same way that barbecued beef is served in Cambodia - that is, piping hot with sides of fresh, raw produce such as carrots, cucumbers and young bananas, and dipping sauces of prahok (fermented fish paste), and pepper and lime sauce. Dishes are usually shared with friends or family and washed down with plenty of cold beer. Although it is rare to find dog-meat cuisine in Phnom Penh's conventional restaurants or supermarkets, one doesn't have to look far to enjoy this tasty treat. House speciality Phnom Penh's most popular dog meat eatery is Hang Taprunch, located across the Japanese Friendship Bridge. Take the first right after coming off the bridge, go behind a makeshift hammock bar and pool table hangout, and the restaurant can be found amid an abandoned-looking fairground. This restaurant-beer garden is decked out in green plastic vines, plastic chairs and metal tables, and serves up plates of fried dog meat and Muscle Wine to hungry police officers, moto drivers, groups of teenage boys and local families. dogs in cambodia have long been a cheap and ...available alternative to beef, chicken and pork. The fatty and lean parts of the dog are served up on small plates - bones and skin intact - in a sweet and spicy sauce of chili oil, peanuts and sugar. Accompanying the meat are plates of fresh vegetables, herbs and young banana plants, and a dipping sauce of fish, garlic, lemongrass, lime and chilies. Patrons can dip the combination of veggies and meat in the sauce while watching traditional Khmer boxing on TV and sipping cans of cold Anchor beer. Small plates of fried dog meat cost US$1 each. All of the dogs used at Hang Taprunch come from Kampong Cham province, where they are cleaned and cooked before being sold to vendors from the capital. This particular restaurant uses only the meat from the body and legs, although common practice is to use all parts of the dog, especially the head and brains. By the kilogram Close to Phnom Penh's Boeung Keng Kang market on Street 380 is a small family-run business that sells fresh dog meat by the kilogram. For 15,000 riels ($3.64), you can get one kilogram of meat, and customers can purchase up to 10 kilograms at a time. Fresh dog meat is procured in the early hours of the morning from the Olympic Market area and resold to buyers out of the family home for the first half of the day. After midday, the family marinates the dog meat in spices and sets it to dry in a basket, to be barbecued later. The remaining dog meat is mixed with curry paste and greens, to be served to hungry customers with rice or on its own, or it is boiled into a soup. Although dog meat may not be for everyone, eating it is legal in Cambodia and offers a cheap alternative to the more commonly consumed sources of protein in the country. With the variety of different dog-meat dishes and eateries on offer in the country, it seems that this snack won't be going by the wayside any time soon.

Cambodia's connections with all things Chinese

Written by Micheal Hayes

Friday, 23 January 2009

When it comes to Cambodia's past, no other country has a stronger influence than China. Photo by: Sovann Philong Chinese goods for sale at Serei Pheap Market in Phnom Penh on Thursday. There will be many people celebrating Chinese New Year next week in Phnom Penh and around the Kingdom. And with good reason, too. Ethnic Chinese have been living in Cambodia for centuries and have been, increasingly since around the 1400s, an integral part of the Kingdom's overall population, primarily in urban areas. Also, over the years, many Chinese - through marriage with Cambodians - have assimilated into the culture to such an extent that, while they may be aware of some Chinese ancestry, they consider themselves wholly Cambodian. Scholars generally agree that links between the various kingdoms in Cambodia - Funan, Chenla and later, Angkor - and China have existed since the beginning of recorded history. In fact, much of that history, especially from the height of the Angkor Empire and before, was written by Chinese travellers and emissaries who had visited the region. The most well-known account of Angkor was written by Chou Ta-kuan, a Chinese envoy from the court of Timur Khan, who visited Angkor Thom in 1296-7. His detailed account of life at the time does not indicate that there were substantial Chinese communities. China was and continues to be a strong presence in Cambodia, both economically and politically Photo by: Sovann Philong/Tracey Shelton Men make offerings at a Chinese temple in Phnom Penh on Thursday (above). The front of the temple honouring Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future. But he does note that there were Chinese residents in the city and a number of Chinese goods were available in markets including porcelain, wooden combs, fans and ning-po mats. In the 15th and 16th centuries, a number of waves of migrations from China arrived in what is now Cambodia and southern Vietnam. Scholars say that when the Angkor capital was moved to Phnom Penh in 1434, the city comprised some foreign elements, of which the Chinese was the most important. One Portuguese traveller who visited Phnom Penh in 1609 reported that of the city's 20,000 inhabitants, around 3,000 were ethnic Chinese. As an example of one of the larger migrations, in 1679 a Cantonese general named Yang Yen-di decided his struggle against the Manchus was hopeless, and so he sailed with his 7,000 soldiers to My Tho in what was then southern Cambodia, where they resettled. A Hainanese man named Mo Jiu was successful in building up a trading principality in the early 1700s based in Hatien. His wealth was such that he was eventually appointed as an okhna by the Cambodian king in 1708. Over time, his family came to govern almost the entire coastline from Sihanoukville to present-day Vung Tao. It was during this time that additional Hainanese settlers established the pepper industry in Kampot, which has been controlled by ethnic Chinese families ever since. By the time the French protectorate over Cambodia was established in 1864, Milton Osborne, in his recently published book Phnom Penh: A Cultural and Literary History, estimates that half of the city's population was Chinese, while only about 25 percent were Cambodian. Commerce flourishes Chinese came to dominate both internal and external trade and maintained close links with their counterparts in the predominantly Chinese city of Cholon in Vietnam. During the French period, almost all international trade to Cambodia passed through Cholon, where it was trans- shipped to smaller vessels that then made their way up the Mekong to Phnom Penh. After independence in 1954, academic WE Wilmotte spent a year in Cambodia studying the various Chinese communities that included Teochiu, Cantonese, Hainanese, Hakka and Hokkien elements. He says that, in 1963, there were 425,000 Chinese in the Kingdom - comprising about seven percent of the population - and that one in three residents in Phnom Penh was Chinese. The description of the Chinese quarter in Phnom Penh in his book The Political Structure of the Chinese Community of Cambodia is telling: "Walking through [Phnom Penh's] streets, even the most casual observer cannot but be aware that a large part of the city's population is Chinese. Rows of open-front stores display in giant Chinese characters the names that are traditional for Chinese firms: Abundant Blessing, Virtuous Profit, Precious Joy or Growing Wealth. Chinese restaurants and tea shops are at every street corner. There are Chinese lending libraries where old men sit turning over much-thumbed copies of Chinese novels. From storefront schools rise the repetitious chants of school children learning Mandarin, hidden from the pedestrian by a screen. "Most of the newspapers sold on the streets are Chinese and during the long hot noon hour Chinese shop-owners sit in front of their stores in singlets and shorts, reading the world news, articles about China, or the latest installments of romantic novels - all in Chinese. Bookstores sell Chinese books and magazines. In the shops or on the pavement, one hears the various Chinese spoken languages almost as frequently as one hears Khmer." Persecution under the KR During the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia's ethnic Chinese suffered horribly, in part because they were not attuned to the harsh realities of rural life, so that when the KR emptied the cities and forced the population onto collective farms, tens of thousands died from overwork and disease. According to Ben Kiernan in The Pol Pot Regime: "For Cambodia's ethnic Chinese, Democratic Kampuchea was the worst disaster ever to befall any ethnic Chinese community in Southeast Asia. From a population of 430,000 in 1975, only about 215,000 Chinese survived the next four years. The Chinese succumbed in particularly large numbers to hunger and diseases like malaria. The 50 percent of them who perished is a higher proportion than that estimated for city dwellers in general (about one-third). Further, the Chinese language - like all foreign and minority languages - was banned and so was any tolerance of a culturally and ethnically distinguishable Chinese community. The Chinese community was to be destroyed "as such". This Communist Party of Kampuchea policy, like that toward the Chams, could be construed as genocide." CAMBODIA CONTINUES TO REMAIN A DESTINATION OF CHOICE FOR ETHNIC CHINESE EAGER TO EMIGRATE ABROAD. Re-emerging presence Even after the Khmer Rouge were ousted, bans on studying Chinese and observing Lunar New Year celebrations were maintained by the People's Republic of Kampuchea regime as a reaction to China's continued support for the Khmer Rouge on the Thai border. It wasn't until the arrival of Untac in 1992 that this was changed. Since then, Chinese language schools have reopened around the country and Chinese associations have been allowed to flourish. It's estimated that the Dwan Hwa Chinese school in Phnom Penh may have the largest enrollment of any Chinese school outside of mainland China. Today, Cambodia continues to remain a destination of choice for ethnic Chinese eager to emigrate abroad. One only has to visit the row of Chinese restaurants that have cropped up on the short lane near Psar Thmei to see the evidence of recent arrivals in the last decade from Beijing and the Chinese hinterland. Of the foreigners who are granted citizenship by the government each year, an overwhelmingly high percentage of these are ethnic Chinese from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and mainland China.

Mobile system eyes rural market

Written by Sebastian Strangio and George Mcleod

Monday, 26 January 2009

ANZ's WING system will allow people to transfer funds using their mobile phones, with development agencies saying the technology could play a role in fighting rural poverty Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG ANZ Managing Director Brad Jones speaking last week at the launch of WING – a mobile payment service. The company says WING will allow workers to transfer small amounts of money quickly and securely, and provide an important service to the poor. EVERY month, hundreds of thousands of garment workers send much-needed income to their families through informal networks of couriers, friends or money-lenders. With no electronic tracking, many of these funds are lost, stolen or taken in service charges from already impoverished workers. But a new mobile phone money-transfer service launched by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) aims to giving millions of Cambodians the ability to transfer money securely and quickly, bank officials say. Industry insiders are predicting a rosy future for the new technology, saying it could make inroads into the Kingdom's rural cash economy. WING, ANZ's new branchless banking service, will enable rural Cambodians to make low-cost person-to-person payments and transfers directly from their mobile phones, reducing the risks associated with handling large amounts of cash, the bank said. "WING will help improve people's livelihoods and reduce poverty by increasing their access to banking services," said ANZ Chief Executive Officer Mike Smith at the launch of the new service last week. He said that mobile banking will open up large portions of the Cambodian market to banking services, allowing rural Cambodians access to banking and a route out of cycles of rural subsistence. "Access to financial services and the ability to save and transfer money is a significant challenge in Cambodia. By enabling customers to create savings accounts, we can help break the cycle of subsistence living," he said. "WING will help people make secure payments and create sustainable communities, and for ANZ it's a sustainable business opportunity, so it's a real win-win." Mobile payment systems - also known as M-banking or SMS banking - have proven successful across the developing world, from South Africa and Kenya to Latin America. Kinsey & Company, a global management consultancy, wrote in the South China Morning Post in 2007 that the technology also had the potential to unlock a massive market of rural Chinese, noting that the prize of adopting mobile banking would be "substantial". The service will help Cambodians to transfer money home, especially garment workers. Growth potential Margarete Biallas, program manager of the Access to Finance program at the International Finance Corporation, which has assisted in the development of WING, said that the technology had the potential to take off in Cambodia as it has in Kenya, where three million customers have signed up since mobile banking was introduced three years ago. The IFC is the private sector arm of the World Bank group. "Mobile phone banking has huge potential in Cambodia," Biallas told the Post, adding that the technology had a ready-made market in the Kingdom's thousands of garment factory workers, who are often paid in cash. "The service will help Cambodians to transfer money home, especially garment workers, who are already sending home $25 to $30 per month from their salary. They are now transferring money through friends and other informal networks, which is costly and not secure," she said. Operating challenges One of the main challenges in getting mobile payment services to rural Cambodians is the ingrained sense of distrust towards banking services in the countryside, where local money lenders have traditionally held peasants in their sway with exorbitant rates. "This is one of the big challenges to starting a business that offers branchless payment services," said WING Managing Director Brad Jones, who said a concerted education and marketing program would be launched shortly to familiarise rural customers with the technology. According to Jones, most WING customers' first point of contact will be the company's local salesman - called a WING "pilot" - who will help recruit customers locally. "We're training them and they're earning an income to provide these services, so WING will become very much a part of the community," he said, adding that the technology does not require a technologically advanced handset, and that lower-end Nokia phones, which make up the majority of the Cambodian market, would run the new WING software as well as more expensive models. So Ponnary, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of ACLEDA Bank, agreed the technology was well suited to the Cambodian context and added that ACLEDA was hoping to launch its own mobile payments system by the end of 2009. "We are developing it, but we need to study all the risks of the project, so our customers feel confident with the service," she said. Security concerns While security has been a concern in the establishment of M-banking services around the world, Jones added that WING had improved on the system used in Kenya, in which money accidentally sent to the wrong person could not be retrieved. Unlike older systems, no customer information would be stored on the phone, which would in turn be protected by a PIN number and customer registration code, Jones said. Cambodian banking officials also see the macroeconomic benefits of the new banking format. National Bank of Cambodia Deputy Governor Neav Chanthana said the new technology - which will offer payments services in riels only - could contribute to the stabilisation of the financial sector and bring vast rural areas into the national banking framework. "The provision of M-payment services will result in substantial social and economic benefits to Cambodia," she said at the launch. "WING provides our transient labour population the ability to stay financially linked to their families faster than ever before."

Bank reserves slashed; real estate limits axed

Written by Nguon Sovan

Monday, 26 January 2009

The National Bank of Cambodia has cut reserve requirements and stopped loan limits for property, effectively ending its long fight against inflation Photo by: Vandy Rattana National Bank of Cambodia Governor Chea Chanto in this file photo. The NBC hopes looser monetary rules will boost growth. THE National Bank of Cambodia has cut the bank reserve requirement from 16 percent to 12 percent and eliminated restrictions on real estate lending effective February 1, in a bid to boost sagging property prices and stimulate lending. The industry applauded the move, which constitutes a reversal of its monetary tightening measures brought in last year to cut inflation and rein in soaring property values. Officials say they hope the looser rules will stimulate lending amid a worsening economic crisis. "We increased the reserve rate [in June] because we were vigilant over the crisis and to prevent inflation. Now inflation is falling, so we lowered it to give banks easy cash to provide more loans to their customers," National Bank of Cambodia Director General Tal Nay Im told the Post Sunday. New problems Inflation rocketed to 25.1 percent in the first half of 2008 and dropped to 13.46 percent in December 2008, according to the Planning Ministry's National Institute of Statistics. Stricter lending rules were in part to reduce liquidity and stem inflation. But lower commodity prices and a stagnating economy have taken inflation out of the limelight. Experts in Cambodia and abroad now say the priority is to boost growth. Stephen Higgins, chief executive officer of ANZ Royal Bank, said the new policy shows that times have changed. "Inflation will cease to be an issue very soon and [the reduction] will help combat an economic slowdown, so I think it is a sensible policy measure from the central bank of lowering the reserve rate," he said. "However, we will continue to do what we have been doing, which is lending to good-quality customers. For us, we don't expect a big change [more loans] to customers through the lowering," Higgins said. Malaysian-owned Maybank said that the new rules would allow them to increase lending. "Definitely, that will help us to provide more loans to customers," said Jubely Pa, general manager of Maybank Group. The real estate industry welcomed the bank's move to scrap the limit on real estate lending imposed in May last year. Real estate recovery? Kong Vansophy, general manager of the US$1 million Dream Town development in Dangkor district's Choam Chao area, said the reform could provide a much-needed boost to the sector. "We are having difficulty borrowing money from banks because they are required to restrict lending on real estate to less than 15 percent of the total loan portfolio," he said. "We hope that lowering the reserve rate will allow real estate buyers and developers to access more loans."

We have no home, say evictees

Written by Brendan Brady AND Chhay Channyda

Monday, 26 January 2009

Residents and rights groups bemoan worsening situation for former Dey Krahorm residents Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON In her makeshift home at the relocation site, Srey Na, 12, holds an English textbook for a class in the city she says she can no longer attend. ONLY 27 families among the scores evicted from Dey Krahorm Saturday morning have so far been assigned homes at the Damnak Trayoeng relocation site built by private developer 7NG, while hundreds of other residents trucked out to the village are squatting in fields without access to clean water or electricity, many told the Post. "Even the homes that have been assigned have no water, no toilets," said Kim Ratana, deputy director of the aid group Caritas. Beginning 6am Saturday, more than 300 workers hired by 7NG used hands, hammers and bulldozers to demolish the mostly wood and tin homes left in Phnom Penh's Dey Krahorm slum community. The last families evicted had still not agreed to compensation, arguing the cash was insufficient and the relocation homes were too far from their livelihoods in the city. While 7NG said around 80 families had remained in Dey Krahorm until the eviction, rights groups have put the number at closer to 150. "I collapsed in tears when I saw my house trampled by a bulldozer," said 33-year-old Sin Mao, adding she had a land title. "When they drove us to the relocation site, they said they would resolve everything, but we've received nothing so far. We're just living on the street." While most of the evictees were shuttled to the relocation site by 7NG trucks, some 30 families refused to go there and instead are living in the Phnom Penh office of local rights group Licadho, which is providing legal assistance to evictees during compensation negotiations. Dul Chanta, 51, who is staying at Licadho's office, fainted Saturday after watching a bulldozer demolish her home, and was later hospitalised from exposure to tear gas, which several said was used by some of the 200 police presiding over the eviction in response to residents throwing stones. She said she lost most of her possessions, having had only 10 minutes from the time she saw workers and police outside her home to the moment bulldozers rolled over it. She said authorities chose the weekend to evict the remaining residents as there would be fewer bystanders in the area. Dul Chanta had asked for US$50,000 in compensation but was now willing to settle for $25,000, she said. Srey Sothea, the 7NG chairman, reiterated Sunday that offers of cash compensation had been discontinued following Saturday's eviction. He rejected claims by residents that the stationing of police around the complex during the night was a move designed to seal the area off from the media and possible intervention by rights groups. He also said residents had received fair warning. "We told them about it the night before the removal. We told them to prepare their belongings, but they did not believe us," he said. Municipal Police Chief Touch Naruth declined to comment Sunday, and he referred questions to Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun, who could not be reached. David Pred, director of Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia, said that by retracting cash payouts as an option, the developer was breaking past promises. "Mann Choeun has stated at two press conferences - at the Cambodian Press Club on January 13 and again Saturday - that the residents would still be able to choose between cash compensation or a flat at the relocation site even after the eviction," he said, adding that even cash payouts would not provide just compensation. "The families who do have valid legal claims to the land were under no legal obligation to accept the company's compensation offer," Pred said. "They had every right to reject it and remain on their land and in their homes. If the company wants the land, they need to offer the homeowners a price that they were willing to accept." An estimated 800 to 1,400 residents lived in Dey Krahorm before old community leaders signed a contract with 7NG in 2005, giving the company the 3.6-hectare property in return for building relocation houses in Damnak Trayoeng village. Land rights groups have challenged the legality of the original contract and accused city officials and 7NG of using intimidation to force residents to accept compensation deals. Relocation site insufficient Rights advocates providing relief food and medical services at the relocation site said the area is woefully unprepared to absorb the evictees. Thun Saray, president of rights group Adhoc, said that Dey Krahorm residents' ongoing complaints against the relocation site were valid. "If they move far from the city, there are no jobs or schools. It's not just the house, it's about their ability to carry on with everyday life," he said. Pred said that for residents the move "would constitute a complete disruption of every aspect of their lives ... and would almost certainly result in deeper impoverishment". Kim Ratana said the isolation would be especially dire for the more than 30 evictees with HIV as well as others suffering from tuberculosis and other serious diseases who require access to free treatment centres in the city. Manfred Homung, a legal consultant with Licadho, said the combination of injuries and loss of possessions endured during the eviction and imminent food and water shortages at the relocation site could prove intolerable. He said the relocation site's resources are being stretched by renters and market vendors evicted from Dey Krahorm, who have never been eligible for compensation under the scheme devised by the municipality and private developer. A second forced removal by authorities was imminent, he said, once hundreds of homeless are left there after 7NG decides it has compensated all the families it needs to. The developer revealed Sunday a rough outline of its plans for Dey Krahorm. Chairman Srey Sothea said it would be "transformed" into a space for a park, office buildings and trade centre. He added his company was interested in acquiring the Bassac apartment buildings adjacent to Dey Krahorm but expected they would carry a steep price tag. It would likely be a tough showdown with other developers who are "also interested in developing this building", he said.

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Tourist number increases, but revenue from Angkor Wat visit ticket sales drops, what gives?

Sok Kong

Revenue from ticket sales for Angkor Wat temple complex lower than 2007 – Tourist sector upheaval

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Siem Reap – Officials from the Apsara authority indicated that revenue from the 2008 sale of tickets to visit the Angkor temple complex amounts to $30 to $31 million, i.e. a small drop from 2007.

Bun Narith, deputy director of the Apsara authority, told Koh Santepheap over the phone, on 13 January: “We are not publishing the actual ticket sale revenue number yet, we are only providing an approximate number which amounts to $30 to $31 million, there is a slight drop as compared to 2007 where the revenue was $32 million.”

Bun Narith indicated that the official number will be announced only after the ministries of Tourist and Economy agree with each other. The ministry of Tourist tallies the number of Khmer and foreign visitors, the Apsara authority tallies the number of visitors who bought tickets to visit Angkor Wat only, some of the (foreign) visitors did not even pay for their tickets because they were guests of the government.”

It should be noted that the ticket sales right was granted to the Sokha Hotel Company, owned by Oknha Sok Kong [a close friend and crony of Hun Sen], through a government concession contract concluded on 17 June 2005 by the ministry of Economy and Finance, the CDC and the Apsara authority.

Bun Narith indicated that foreign visitors must either buy a $20 ticket for a one-day visit, a $40 ticket for a 3-day visit, or a $60 ticket for a one-week visit. Following the subtraction of the sales tax, revenue from the ticket sales is divided between Sok Kong’s Sokha Hotel Co. and the Apsara authority as follows: the first $3 million revenue is shared 50%-50% between Sokha Hotel and the Apsara authority. For the remainder of the revenue, 15% goes to a development chest for the Angkor area, 68% goes to the Apsara authority, and 17% is kept by Sokha Hotel Co. The Apsara authority portion of the revenue goes directly to the state coffer.

The ministry of Tourist and the ministry of Economy and Finance, which is in charge of expert review on the ticket sales revenue, did not provide any comment or official statement yet. Nevertheless, Thong Khon, the minister of Tourist, recently stated that the total number of tourists visiting Cambodia in 2008 increase by 5.48%, this is translated into 2.12 million tourists, i.e. there is no drop in the number of tourists, even though the percentage of tourist increase is lower than expected.

The tourism sector is one of among the three top priority sectors for the development of Cambodia: the garment sector, the construction sector and the tourism sector.

Furthermore, Sdeung Sokhon, the under-secretary of state of the ministry of Tourist, used to say that revenue from the tourist sector is continually growing because in 2007, the number of tourists rose to 2 million. Studies indicated that, in the average, tourists visiting Cambodia spend $700, excluding the price of their airfare, therefore the average spending for the 2 million visitors to Cambodia would amount to more than $1.4 billion. Tourist revenues are distributed to visa revenue, hotel taxes, food, souvenir items and other miscellaneous items, as well as cost of purchase of tickets for visiting Angkor temples. Some of the tourist revenue benefits directly the population. Sdeung Sokhom made this statement during an interview on RFA. He added also that, based on his personal estimate, tourist revenue benefit private individuals more than the state.

However, economic observers said that out of all the tourist revenue, 30% flows right back out to import products from overseas, such as produce, meats, etc… Observers added also that a number of restaurant and hotel owners refuse to buy local produce, claiming that local produce is of lower quality.