CAMBODIA
PREMIER under fire after red shirt rally Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has been criticised for his handling of a Thai red shirt rally in Siem Reap last month. More than 7,000 security personnel were deployed at high cost to safeguard the estimated 30,000 Thaksin Shinawatra supporters who attended the rally, a move critics have cited as hypocritical in a country that is increasingly stifling domestic demonstrations. Hun Sen’s decision to give the Thais free access to Angkor Wat, a loss in entry fees as high as $750,000, has also been criticised. Hun Sen’s supporters praised him for building relations with Thaksin, who may be granted amnesty to return to Thailand by a government headed by his sister. ¡
Philippines
Court stops mall from cutting trees A court has issued a temporary environmental protection order halting extension work on a mall amid a public outcry over plans to cut down nearly 200 trees in a popular urban forest. Environmentalists welcomed the move that prevented SM Malls, one of the country’s biggest chains, from uprooting trees in Baguio, known as the city of pines and the Philippines’ summer capital. ¡
t Free access to Angkor Wat cost $750,000
On record sultan of brunei’s ex-wife wins jewellery case The ex-wife of the Sultan of Brunei has won a multimillion dollar case in the UK against her former female bodyguard, who was charged with selling a diamond bracelet and two diamonds, with a combined value of $20m, without permission. Mariam Aziz is seeking damages from Fatimah Kumin Lim, whose assets have been frozen. ¡
Statue legal battle rages in the us The standoff between Sotheby’s auctioneers and the US government over an ancient Cambodian statue of a warrior intensified last month when a federal prosecutor in New York demanded its surrender to Cambodia. The US Attorney’s office claimed the Duryodhana statue, which is valued at between $2m to $3m, was stolen from Koh Ker temple in Cambodia. Sotheby’s disputes the allegations. ¡
COCKFIGHTING LOSS PROMPTS BOMBING Three people were killed and 33 others wounded after a man hurled a grenade into a cockfighting arena in the southern Philippines. The attacker, who is believed to have lost money in previous cockfights, is now on the run. ¡
Sea GLOBE
March 2012 17