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Issue NUMBER 1638

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Diary gives a glimpse of horrors

Continues on page 2

page 18

Calm after protests in Turkey SHOPKEEPERS and municipal workers began cleaning the streets of Istanbul and Ankara yesterday after the fiercest anti-government demonstrations in years.

Pockets of die-hard demonstrators scuffled with police overnight, but the streets were much quieter after two days of clashes in which almost a thousand people were arrested and hundreds were injured.

The unrest was triggered by protests against government plans to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks to house shops or apartments in Taksim, long a venue for political demonstrations.

But it has widened into a broader show of defiance against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Yesterday rain appeared to keep the crowds away from Istanbul's central Taksim Square, where the protests originated, but did not

Joe Freeman and Phak Seangly

POCH Yuonly seemed to know he would die soon; so he wrote and wrote until he ran out of pages.

In a cheap spiral journal filled with graph paper, the former schoolteacher meticulously listed the names of acquaintances as they died off. He catalogued the horrors occurring around him in Kampong Chhnang province, where the Khmer Rouge took most of his family after the fall of Phnom Penh. He also composed a short personal history, using words to construct a family tree.

On the cover of the journal, there’s an image of a happy family swimming in a lake, an incongruent opening to a diary of despair and struggle.

“Everyone works like an animal, like a machine, and there is no hope for the future,” he wrote in one of the later entries leading up to his arrest in early August 1976. The Khmer Rouge had exposed his supposedly imperialist background by discovering photos of him on a trip to the United States.

When he was carted off to prison, after living for more than a year under the watchful eyes of soldiers, he passed the book off to his children.

They kept it concealed inside their clothing, tied together with a piece of string. While in detention, Yuonly starved to death. The diary stayed in family hands for the next 35 years.

“It is about our own family record, events and what happened to us, and whatever else he knew.

He was a teacher, so I think he would have written more if he had more books and time,” Poch Viseth Neary, his 50-year-old daughter, said.

The family donated the rare text to the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-CAM) on Friday so that it might be better preserved among the centre’s historical archives.

“He did not tell us the reason he wrote it, but we know that his words were meant to help us to take care of each other if he did not survive,” she said. “He wrote it for our family, other relatives, or his next grandchildren.”

It was a bold and dissident thing to do. The Khmer Rouge ranked expository writing in the condemned realm of bourgeoisie life. Teachers and members of the educated class were targeted

4000 RIEL

People walk past damaged police cars in Taksim Square in central Istanbul yesterday. Almost a thousand people were arrested in protests across Turkey this weekend during anti-government demonstrations. AFP

Continues on page 11

Sugar firm under fire May Titthara and Kevin Ponniah

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SIA’S largest sugar company has been accused of torching hundreds of homes, orchestrating the imprisonment of a pregnant activist and using security forces to beat villagers – among a raft of other grave human rights abuses – by communities in Oddar Meanchey province.

The allegations levelled against Thai conglomerate Mitr Phol Sugar Corporation in a complaint to the Thai national human rights commission include further accusations that the firm had confiscated land,

killed livestock, looted crops and employed child labour.

Local rights groups Licadho and Equitable Cambodia filed the complaint, obtained by the Post yesterday, on May 21 on behalf of 600 villagers in Oddar Meanchey’s Samrong and Chongkal districts.

It says the actions of the firm, which holds almost 20,000 hectares of economic land concessions in those districts and whose shell companies are allegedly linked to ruling-party senator Ly Yong Phat, had led to “extreme food insecurity and impoverishment [for] affected households”.

Hoy Mai, 51, told the Post yester-

day that since the company’s workers burned down her Somrang district home in 2009 she has lived on other people’s land.

“I am trying to protect and get my land back. I was detained in prison for eight months. Later on, my husband died because he was so heartbroken after the company burnt our house,” she said, adding that, like many, they were forced to eke out a living without compensation from the company.

“I remember when they burned down my home. And I am still scared … I lost everything. I don’t want to get anything besides my land.”

Kun Sarith, 35, said that after losing his farm he has often been forced to illegally cross the Thai border to work on construction sites to feed his family.

“Because they forcibly evicted us, my two kids, aged 10 and six, have no chance to go to school because I am too busy finding money to support their basic living,” he said.

Communication with the company has not been “very fruitful”, Eang Vuthy, executive director of Equitable Cambodia, said yesterday, with the Continues on page 4

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

National

ACU arrests Interior, Justice Ministry staff Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

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The diary of Khmer Rouge victim Poch Yuonly has been safeguarded by his daughter since 1976. This weekend, it was given to the Documentation Center of Cambodia archives in Phnom Penh. Mam Sophat / DC-CAM

Diary gives glimpse of horrors Continued from page 1

for the same associations, and many went to incredible lengths to hide telltale signs of loftier origins. Yuonly, however, put down his profession and wrote about the fates of other schoolteachers.

Not all writing was wiped out.

Cadres did keep notebooks for appointments and schedules, and sometimes, in the margins, they succumbed to the urge to scribble secret love notes and private thoughts.

Youk Chhang, the executive director of DC-CAM, said he’s collected more than 500 notebooks from cadres, but he knows of only four or five diaries from victims that survived the era.

Chhang’s own sister hid a diary under her bed in Banteay Mancheay province, until their mother convinced her to destroy it.

The amount of extant diaries is so small that the donation startled Chhang. Neary’s husband, Poch Sophorn, handed it to him at a screening of a documentary film on May 31, and asked if the centre might like to keep it.

“When I saw this, my heart was thumping,” he said in a recent interview in his office, gingerly turning the pages.

In an email to Sophorn a few

hours after the donation, he called the diary “a memory of a nation shared by all Cambodians”, and said he would “treasure it in our archives for many others, including Cambodian children, to learn from this important part of our history.”

The plan is to translate the book from Khmer into English and present it in a readable format, Chhang said, though he didn’t provide an estimated date.

Chhang was still reading through the diary himself, describing it as a mix of autobiography and a journal of events with small scenes. The entries date near the fall of Phnom Penh in April of 1975 to the summer of 1976. There are about 160 numbered pages.

“He talked about how his wife missed the kids. He talked about food,” Chhang said.

His eyes landed on a passage about sickness in which Yuonly seems to be addressing one of his children.

“Your mother took two of these [pieces of jewellery] to exchange 18 pills of medicine for them,” he wrote. “The medicine was not enough for me.”

In another sentence, he said to everyone and no one in particular, “Our family has to con-

tinue to maintain and help each other.”

Neary was one of nine siblings, three of whom died under the Khmer Rouge. One brother was beaten to death and thrown into the forest after he stole a pig to eat. Her mother survived the regime and is alive today.

Her father’s troubles started when he grew sick and was denied his portion of watery porridge. There was no medicine, and he fainted while trying to work. Neary had to catch fish for him to eat.

After the Khmer Rouge discovered his personal photos, he was imprisoned in Kampong Tralach Leu district in Kampong Chhnang province, where he died.

In recent years, Neary has revisited the place to pray for her father’s soul.

A few of the old leaders who mistreated her family in Kampong Chhnang are still around today, but she wants to leave the score-settling to a higher power.

“I still recognise them. They deserve the same as what they did to my family and other Cambodians,” she said. “I adhere to Buddha, who advises that to do good is to receive good; do evil, and receive evil.”

POLICE officer from the Ministry of Interior and an employee of the Ministry of Justice spent yesterday being questioned at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for allegedly defrauding a victim out of tens of thousands of dollars, court officials said yesterday.

The Anti-Corruption Unit last week arrested Nuon Sarath, from the Ministry of Justice, and police officer Keo Sophoan over the claims, investigating judge You Bunna said.

“I am still questioning them,” he said, declining to comment further on the details of the case.

A court employee who asked not to be named told the Post that the two men had a pending fraud case against them, which had been filed by another court official.

“They have already been

charged . . . with fraud. And now they’re being questioned by the investigative judge,” he said, adding that they had been arrested last Thursday.

The court worker claimed that the two men’s arrests fol-

Ministry of Justice’s inspection department, confirmed that Sarath was an employee of the ministry but had been told to take leave due to “improper activities”.

“He was an officer and work-

They have already been charged . . . with fraud. And now they’re being questioned by the investigative judge lowed their alleged victim – the other court official – paying them to put an end to a criminal case in which he was the subject.

His plan, however, backfired when the two men accepted the money, then chose to not involve themselves in the case, the court worker said.

Subsequently, they had failed to return the money, which prompted the legal action against them.

Luch Sokleang, chief of the

ing with the ministry, but he was recently suspended,” Sokleang said, adding that the accused’s conduct had violated ministry rules and compromised its honour. “But until now, the Ministry of Justice was not aware the ACU had arrested him.”

ACU president Om Yentieng and spokesman Keo Remy were not available for comment yesterday, while the two accused, Sarath and Sophoan, also could not be reached.

Wing Star widow in limbo Shane Worrell

GOVERNMENT officials have suggested the widow of the man crushed to death last month at the Wing Star Shoes factory, a supplier to Asics, will still be denied compensation from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), a labour rights worker said yesterday.

American Center for International Labor Solidarity country manager Dave Welsh said that in a meeting on Friday NSSF officials had told him Nuon Chhorvy, 21, was unlikely to receive support from the fund without a valid marriage certificate.

Officials had previously said they were considering accepting

a letter from a commune chief in Kampong Speu province confirming Nuon Chhorvy, 21, had been married to Rim Roeun, 22, who died in the ceiling collapse.

“On Friday, they reneged on what they had talked about,” Welsh said. “The marriage certificate thing is a real issue, as they’re not issued in a widespread [way].

“Every worker and every factory is supposed to pay into the [NSSF] . . . [The government] should be making an example of this case.”

Roeun’s uncle, Rim Rorn, who told the Post on May 23 that Chhorvy had discovered that she actually does have a marriage certificate, and Sum

Sophorn, NSSF deputy director, could not be reached.

ACILS also met with Asics officials on Friday and suggested that the families of Roeun and 15-year-old Kim Dany, who was also killed, be compensated more than $50,000, Welsh said.

The figure was based on an ILO convention and payments made over deaths in Bangladesh since 2010.

An Asics spokeswoman said last week that the $15,500 “compassion payments” the factory had already made to families was not a final settlement.

“How [Asics] will determine a final amount will include talks with the ILO, labour unions and NGOs,” she said.

Employees escape Metfone blaze Thik Kaliyann Siem Reap

FOUR Metfone employees escaped the company’s Siem Reap branch with only minor injuries on Saturday morning after a fire tore through the building, trapping them inside.

Firefighters arrived at the scene on Sivutha Boulevard, near the city centre, at about 9:15am, said Nea Sang, director of the provincial fire department. The flames were extinguished within about half an hour.

The four staffers were sitting in a meeting on the first floor when the fire started, said Pech Pon Reaksmey, a Metfone security guard who witnessed the fire.

“I heard an explosion sound on the ground floor, and I quickly ran to see what happened and then I saw a huge [amount] of smoke and I started to shout for help,” Reaksmey said. “Everything was damaged inside our building.”

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire that set Metfone’s Siem Reap branch ablaze on Saturday.

Heavy smoke caused one of the trapped Four employees were rescued without serious injuries. George Nickels employees to faint, but all four made it to the rooftop, where they stepped onto the ing’s Metfone signage blocked the water that an electrical fault on the ground floor roof of a building next door, Reaksmey from their hoses from reaching the first had sparked the fire, Sang said. said. No one required hospitalisation. floor, Reaksmey said. Eventually, the sign Last December, a fire at a Siem Reap Firefighters initially had a difficult time broke, allowing the water inside. market left eight people dead and two hosputting out the blaze because the buildFire department officials determined pitalised with serious injuries.

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

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National

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

National

Sugar firm faces raft of accusations Continued from page 1

case now being taken to the Thai human rights body in an attempt to broker a solution.

“What we want now is for the company to address the situation and remedy it. There can be no excuse for inaction or apathy,” he said.

Mitr Phol Sugar Corporation could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The action follows a similar move by communities affected by sugar cane-planting concessionaires in Koh Kong province, with the Thai commission since issuing preliminary findings confirming widespread abuses alleged by villagers against a joint venture involving Thai sugar manufacturer KSL. British company Tate and Lyle, which bought sugar from the Koh Kong companies, has also been taken to the British high court in a multimillionpound lawsuit filed by Cambodian villagers.

“This is the same issue as in Koh Kong, also a Thai company.

We see that case is moving and that the commission [and the company] has taken some action . . . we [too] want them to

Villagers watch their property burn during the 2009 forced evictions inside the Mitr Phol Sugar’s land concession. photo supplied

address the problem peacefully,” Vuthy said.

According to the complaint, the concessions were granted to three companies on the same day in 2008 – Angkor Sugar Co, Ltd; Tonle Sugar Cane Co, Ltd; and Cane and Sugar Valley Co, Ltd – whose directors were all senior executives at Mitr Phol.

The company confirmed last year that it owned one company and was partnering with the two others.

The more than 19,700 hectares granted thus violates the 2001 land law, which prohibits any single individual or entity from holding more than 10,000 hectares of land, including over multiple concessions.

In a July 2012 response to allegations of misconduct, Mitr Phol claimed the government

undertook land surveys to determine privately owned and protected land and held public consultations to “determine compensation” before the concession was granted.

“Mitr Phol was excluded from this process and was not a participant but by agreement was responsible for the expenses incurred from this process,” the company said.

According to Article 12 and 20 of the 2005 sub-decree on economic land concessions, companies must themselves make some degree of environmental and social impact assessments before bidding for a land concession.

Though Mitr Phol claimed there was no Cambodian shareholding in the companies, the complaint links Cam-

bodian People’s Party senator Ly Yong Phat with the sugar concessions.

Angkor Sugar company staff reportedly demolished 154 houses in O’Bat Moun village while wearing T-shirts bearing Ly Yong Phat’s name in April 2008.

“We talked to the company staff and they said they were working for Ly Yong Phat, and they said if you want to find a solution, you have to talk to him,” Vuthy said.

Ly Yong Phat could not be reached for comment.

The senator is no stranger to controversy, being previously linked to child labour on sugar plantations owned by his Phnom Penh Sugar Company in Kampong Speu province and in the so-called Koh Kong “blood sugar” fields, where he was once a shareholder in the joint venture.

The case will also give renewed vigor to calls for the European Union to scrap its “Everything But Arms” trade agreement that gives quota and duty-free trade preferences to Cambodian goods, including sugar.

Last October, a European Parliament resolution called for a full investigation and a suspension of trade preferences for companies implicated in human rights abuses, with the EU’s executive arm saying last month it was “ready” to withdraw from the agreement if the need arose.

Cops bust up phone scam Phak Seangly

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EARLY 30 Chinese and Cambodian citizens are facing charges over an alleged telephone scam following a multi-department police raid in Phnom Penh last week.

The National Military Police, along with local police and a prosecutor, raided a villa in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district on Friday, arresting 19 men and five women from China as well as two women and a man from Cambodia, said Kheng Kito, a National Military Police spokesman.

“We are questioning them one by one, in accordance with our law,” Kito said. He added that he hoped to charge the suspects in court by some point today.

Law enforcement officials suspect the 27 people arrested are connected with a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) scam, using the internet to make phone calls from Cambodia to China from ostensibly Chinese phone numbers.

Scammers then typically use

various techniques to trick their victims into sending money to Cambodia.

Since the beginning of the year, a total of 90 Chinese nationals have been arrested in connection with similar alleged scams in Kampong Speu, Kampong Cham and Phnom Penh, Kito said.

“They commit crimes that lead to the loss of a lot of money and use our country as a place to defraud people abroad,” Kito said. Scammers also cause disturbances to Cambodian telecom lines, he added.

Law enforcement officials are currently seeking advice from the Cambodian government as to how to best prosecute the case. Rather than simply deporting the Chinese nationals, they should be punished before being expelled from Cambodia, Kito said.

The suspects could be charged with thievery, distorting for money and fraud, he added. But laws need to be added in order to better prosecute this specific crime, he said.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

National Torture claims

Man charged with abusing his nephew

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PAILIN man has been charged with torturing his 11-year-old nephew after he allegedly beat the boy with clothing hangers, electric wire and pliers on a regular basis.

Police arrested the 32-yearold suspect on Thursday and charged him with intentional torture in Pailin provincial court on Saturday, prosecutor Roth Sen Sathea said. The alleged abuse came to the attention of authorities when a neighbour alerted commune police, said Pailin Deputy Police Chief Y Heoun.

The boy moved to his uncle’s home several months ago from Pursat province, and the suspect allegedly said he beat his nephew in an effort to instil discipline Police brought the boy to hospital to evaluate and treat his injuries. The provincial women’s affairs department agreed to place the boy in a home to avoid further abuse.

Intentional torture carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to 10 million riel ($2,500). MOM

KUNTHEAR

Anti-Sokha protest day nigh Meas Sokchea

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UOL Sleng survivor Chum Mey on Tuesday is expected to follow through on plans to call for a mass protest against opposition lawmaker Kem Sokha for allegedly calling the Khmer Rouge torture centre where Mey was detained an invention of the Vietnamese.

Calls for the demonstration come in the absence of an apology by the Cambodia National Rescue Party acting president, who says a May 18 recording of him doubting the authenticity of the prison was manipulated by the ruling party.

Days later, Prime Minister Hun Sen used the allegation to propose that Cambodia criminalise genocide denial. Members of the National Assembly practically fell over themselves to submit a draft version on May 31.

The law, which calls for fines of at least one million riel ($250) and prison sentences of six months to two years for those who deny that the Khmer Rouge committed genocide, will be debated in the National Assembly on Friday.

National Assembly spokesman Chheang Vun told the Post yesterday that the legislation would not be used retroactively to convict Sokha.

“This law that the permanent committee has decided to propose will not point only at Kem Sokha. It’s something we do for our whole country, from today to the future,” he said. “Therefore, if Kem Sokha does not say anything more, he will not be guilty, but if he says more, he will be

Allegedly gun-happy man charged Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

Former S-21 interrogation and detention facility prisoner Chum Mey speaks in front of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh in 2012. heng chivoan

guilty and this law will be enforced.”

Several additional Tuol Sleng, or S-21, survivors also threw their weight behind Mey’s protest over the weekend. Survivor Bou Meng, however, has said he will “remain neutral” on the issue.

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said the proposed law is a ploy of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party to gain support ahead of the national elections on July 28.

“The ruling party is making an unclean problem before the election,” he said.

In a statement yesterday, opposition leader Sam Rainsy – who is living in France to avoid several convictions on charges some believe to be politically motivated – blamed Hun Sen for creating “tensions for political gains”.

“Hun Sen is distorting the truth, manipulating justice and bullying the Cambodian people,” Rainsy, who has stayed largely silent about the Tuol Sleng scandal, said yesterday in his statement. ADDITIONAL REPORTING

BY MOM KUNTHEAR

THE owner of a Battambang coffee shop accused of illegally firing his pistol outside a nightclub and beating a man with his car keys in two separate altercations has been arrested months after the alleged crimes.

Huy Heng, 33, who owns the Cafe City III shop in Svay Por commune, allegedly fired his pistol 12 times on February 11 after a cleaner shouted at him while he was urinating outside a nightclub, deputy provincial police chief Cheth Vanny said.

“He fired 12 bullets into the air to threaten him and then escaped,” Vanny said.

On March 29, Heng got into an argument with a car driver who had parked and blocked Heng’s car outside a restaurant, said Vanny, adding Heng then beat the driver using his car keys.

Both victims filed complaints with the provincial police, but when no action was taken, they took the complaint to the Interior Ministry – which led to Heng’s arrest on Friday, a source in the provincial police said.

Heng was charged with illegal weapon use and causing injury, and awaits trial in prison.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

National Border changes amid alleged gas smuggling Vong Sokheng

ABOUT a dozen Cambodians protested a Thai crackdown at a border checkpoint near Poipet on Saturday, causing a roadblock and prompting Cambodian authorities to negotiate with their Thai counterparts to postpone planned new restrictions on travel until after the Cambodian elections.

Under new regulations demanded by Thailand, Cambodian drivers would need to show border authorities passports and visas obtained in advance to cross though the Klong Luek checkpoint in Aranyaprathet, Thailand, said Heng You Leng, acting director of Cambodia’s CambodianThai Border Relations Office.

Cambodian authorities have persuaded the Thai side to continue allowing drivers to pass with border permits, which can be obtained on arrival, until Cambodia can process the new documents required for drivers, You Leng said.

The tightening of controls was provoked by Thai authorities’ suspicion that two Cambodian men had been smuggling liquefied petroleum gas across the border, said Ministry of Foreign

Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong.

“They suspect them of smuggling gas, and they don’t want to see one vehicle entering Thailand several times in a day to fill up gas,” he said.

Thailand wanted the restrictions “because they want to make sure that owners of personal vehicles have proper legal documents such as licences,” he added.

But for now, he said, border crossing into Thailand remains the same as before.

One of the drivers protesting the tightened regulations on Saturday, who asked not to be named, said Thai authorities recently had begun requiring that vehicles obtain a new border pass each day. They had previously allowed drivers to reuse border passes for multiple days, he said.

Cambodian and Thai border officials will meet again after the Cambodian elections to negotiate the issue further.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong is scheduled to meet his Thai counterpart, Surapong Tovichakchaikul, on June 11 in Phnom Penh to discuss issues related to Cambodia-Thai border cooperation. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA

police blotter Driver down in dumps after rubbish driving

Police say it looks like the driver of a rubbish-collecting truck is also a rubbish driver. The 22-year-old allegedly crashed into three young men on a motorbike in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district on Saturday and continued driving, dragging them some 10 metres and leaving them with head and body injuries. The three victims were hospitalised, and the driver abandoned the truck and escaped. Police seized the bike and truck. Kampuchea Thmey Children promote dengue fever awareness during a rally in Phnom Penh on Friday.

heng chivoan

Dengue numbers dip Sen David

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ENGUE fever cases in the first 19 weeks of 2013 dropped 31 per cent from the same period last year, the Ministry of Health said Friday.

Through the first full week of May, Cambodian public health centres saw 2,541 cases of the mosquito-borne disease, compared with 3,668 cases in 2012, said Dr Ngan Chantha,

director of the National Dengue Control Program.

Deaths dropped less, with 15 children dead from the disease so far this year, compared with 17 last year. Nevertheless, these numbers represent a significant improvement from the dengue epidemic year of 2007, when the disease had killed 57 people by this point in the year and infected more than 4,000 others, Chantha said.

“We’re still on alert,” he said,

warning that dengue cases tend to increase each year with the coming of the rainy season, because dengue-transmitting Aedes mosquitos need water to reproduce.

Families can reduce rainy season dengue risks by eliminating areas where standing water could collect around their homes, installing bed nets and using the mosquito larvicide Abate to reduce contact with mosquitos, he said.

‘Gun’-toting thieves caught mid-robbery Kim Sarom

FOUR robbers’ efforts to steal from a couple in Kampong Cham province went spectacularly wrong on Friday when one of them fired his fake gun – in the process, revealing it was only a toy – and another was bitten by a snake after fleeing into the forest.

Chim Senghong, deputy police chief in Kang Meas district, said the four men had tried to rob a couple, aged 61 and 58, while they ate dinner at their kitchen table.

Rather than maintain the illusion that the firearm they waved around was the real thing, one of the robbers instead fired a shot, giving the secret away that it was merely a cap gun, he said.

The thieves’ predicament only got worse from there.

After they tied up the husband, he informed them it was the wife who held the keys to the home’s various cupboards where valuables were kept.

While the robbers contemplated that, the husband managed to free himself, run outside and call for help.

Within moments, angry villagers and police materialised, sending the men fleeing into the nearby forest, where they spent a sleepless night that ended with one of them being bitten by a snake.

The snakebite victim, Nuon Tengly, 29, from Kampong Cham province’s Prey Chhor district, and Mot Ratha, 28, Phnom Penh’s Boeung Keng Kang III commune, were arrested, Senghong said, while the other two escaped.

“A judge will investigate and charge them,” he said.

Teens accused of rape Kim Sarom

Two teenagers accused of raping a 27-year-old woman in Battambang province’s Phnom Rey village last Wednesday were sent to provincial court yesterday.

According to the woman’s complaint, the two youths, 19 and 14, raped her after she became intoxicated, deputy provincial police chief Chet Vanny said.

“We have prepared the lawsuit for the judges to investigate and charge them,” he said.

The woman told police that the 19-year-old was her boy-

friend but that she had not agreed to have sex with him, much less his 14-year-old friend, Vanny said.

The suspects, however, denied that they had raped the woman, saying that they had gone over to her house that evening to drink with her and her brother but that when they had finished drinking, they had simply fallen asleep, Vanny said.

He added that the teenagers said that when they woke up the next morning, they were surprised to learn that the woman had filed a rape complaint against them.

Fisherman praises new method despite arrest

Police in Kampong Chhnang’s Boribor district landed one of three fishermen they say were using illegal methods to kill fish on Saturday night. Police said the trio were electrocuting fish in a lake when they gave chase and reeled in a 31-year-old. The cops also confiscated the illegal gear, while the two other suspects escaped into the night.

The arrestee said it was his first time electrocuting fish and praised the method’s efficiency.

Unimpressed, police sent him to court. Kampuchea Thmey

Moto thief evades heavy machinery but not cops A 42-year-old bulldozer driver almost lost his motorbike on Saturday while busy working with the heftier vehicle at a plantation in Kampong Cham’s Memot district. The driver had left his bike unlocked while clearing land at the plantation, and military police said a thief was making off with it when they blocked his way. Leaping from the bike, he attempted to escape on foot into a nearby forest but couldn’t evade the military police, who arrested him and returned the bike to its owner. Nokorwat

Dealers get high on own supply, wind up in jail Two alleged meth dealers in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district were arrested while taking a pit stop to sample their product on Saturday. According to cops, the two had stopped their motorbike in a dark place to wait for customers and in the meantime had thought of a good way to keep them entertained while they waited. But things got a little too exciting for the pair when police showed up, confiscated the remaining drugs and arrested them. Kampuchea Thmey

Tissue company theft ends in tears, prison

AN EMPLOYEE of a company that sells makeup and tissues was probably in need of the latter product to cry into after he was arrested on Friday for embezzling nearly $10,000 from the firm. Police in Kampong Speu’s Chbar Mon town said the 25-year-old skimmed a total of $9,881 from cash payments that three buyers had given him in return for delivering company products. Upon arrest, the suspect told police he had lost the money while gambling. Nokorwat Translated by Phak Seangly

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Business Indicative Exchange Rates as of 30/05/2013. Please contact ANZ Royal Global Markets on 023 999 910 for real time rates.

USD / KHR

EUR / USD

AUD / USD

NZD / USD

GBP / USD

USD /CNY

4,092

1.2959

0.9654

0.8106

1.5134

6.1304

USD / JPY

101.18

USD / HKD

7.7634

USD / SGD

USD / THB

1.267

30.17

$1.3m SEZ Japanese restaurant opens doors Hor Kimsay

Bangkok bustle Foreign tourists take pictures as they visit the Grand Palace in Bangkok yesterday. Bangkok has edged out London as the world’s most popular air travel destination, becoming the first Asian city to earn the distinction. REUTERS

Duty-free agreements worry minister Rann Reuy and May Kunmakara

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UTY-free agreements between regional competitors and foreign importers would put the Cambodian garment industry at risk, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said last week.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting, Prasidh warned that the Kingdom’s garment sector would not be able to maintain its competitive edge over the industries of neighbours such as Vietnam and Myanmar should those countries imple-

ment free-trade agreements with the US, EU and regional trade partners.

“The big risk for us is that I start to see Vietnam negotiating a free-trade area with the US, and Vietnam will push garment products entering the US to be duty-free, while Cambodian garment products are still charged,” Prasidh said.

“Investors in the Cambodian garment industry would move into Vietnam; it is a big risk and a big challenge.”

According to Prasidh, the EU and US have recently engaged in talks with the Myanmar gov-

ernment about instituting a trade agreement similar to the “Anything But Arms” initiative under which Cambodian imports to the EU are duty- and quota-free.

Myanmar’s garment industry is at an advantage to Cambodia’s, Prasidh said, as it enjoys cheaper electricity costs and encounters fewer strikes and protests.

Tran Tu, trade attaché for the Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia, said that as far as he knows, Vietnam and the US have no plans to institute a bilateral free-trade area. “But

Australia, Malaysia, Peru, the US and Vietnam are preparing to join the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement,” he told the Post.

Van Sou Ieng, president of the Garment Manufactures Association in Cambodia, also claimed that Cambodia’s frequent strikes and protests were a risk to its garment industry.

“If Vietnam negotiated [with the US] successfully, investors will move to Vietnam because the Cambodian garment sector would lose its image,” he said.

But with Cambodia’s garment exports still on the rise – hitting

$1.3 billion in the first quarter of the year, up 16 per cent from the corresponding period last year – Kang Chandararot, executive director of the Economics Unit of the Cambodia Institute of Development Study, said Cambodia needs to look at more long-term measures of the industry’s strength, including workers’ welfare, factory conditions and minimum wage.

“If Cambodia wants longterm investment, it needs to discuss the conditions. If some investors go out, others will come to discuss on the conditions,” he said.

IN A $1.3 million investment, a new Japanese restaurant opened in the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) last week amid the large presence of Japanese companies in the area.

The 1,000-square-metre Tokyo Restaurant looks to “help to [showcase] the culture of Japanese food, and provide jobs for Cambodians,” said Morihiro Iijima, CEO of Keiaisha Company, which owns the restaurant. He also believes the restaurant would contribute to boosting business in the zone.

According to a map on the PPSEZ website that was last updated in mid-January, more than 60 companies were operating in the PPSEZ, of which 29 were Japanese.

Speaking at the restaurant’s opening ceremony last week, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An welcomed the new establishment.

“It is not only to attract Japanese investors, but also Cambodian and other foreign investors,” she said.

Data from the Japanese embassy in Phnom Penh shows that Japanese investment totalled about $330 million last year, with a huge chunk coming from a $205 million shopping mall investment by AEON that is currently under construction.

In 2011, Japanese investment was about $75 million.

In a recent trade figure provided by the Japan External Trade Organization, bilateral trade between Cambodia and Japan reached $177 million in the first three months this year, a 13 per cent rise compared with the corresponding period last year.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Business

Agreement to boost construction sector May Kunmakara

AN agreement was signed between Cambodia’s Constructors Association (CCA) and the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction two days ago, to tighten enforcement on construction companies here in making them meet industry standards.

The ministry’s head, Im Chhun Lim, said that Cambodia’s construction and real-estate sector is gaining interest from both local and foreign investors because of the country’s political stability and economic improvement.

The memorandum of understanding would therefore boost cooperation between the two agencies in pushing companies to use proper construction materials, techniques, and ensuring that their activities have little impact on the environment, he said.

It would also make it easier to monitor the prices of construction materials, whether for imports or exports, as well as the quality of construction machinery being used in Cambodia, he added.

Im signed the agreement with CCA’s president, Pung Kheav Se, who also heads

the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation, the developer of Phnom Penh’s Diamond Island satellite city.

CCA was established in October 2011 for domestic and foreign construction companies to exchange experiences and expertise.

Pung said that the sector is one of the pillars supporting the country’s economic growth after it was hit hard by the global financial crisis.

“CCA intends to participate in improving the construction sector especially in the collaboration and exchange of experience on the construction of buildings with the ministry.”

According to the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, the sector received more than $2.1 billion worth of construction projects in 2012, compared to $1.2 billion in 2011.

Since 2000 until the end of March this year, 1,229 companies have been registered, of which 430 are domestic construction companies, 118 foreign-owned construction companies, 13 domestic plan design companies and five foreign-owned construction companies, the Ministry’s figures showed.

National silk board planned Rann Reuy

A

NATIONAL silk board (NSB) under the Ministry of Commerce is being planned to weave tighter regulations into the Kingdom’s silk industry, the lack of which has deterred investors and hurt its export potential, according to industry representatives.

Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said last week that he aims for the NSB to be ready after the Kingdom’s general elections in late July.

The NSB hopes to look into areas such as creating a certification process to boost the quality of silk produced, coordinating public-private partnerships, and collating information related to the industry.

“Right now, we have silk in one of the important points in the Trade Sector Wide Approach,” he said. The Trade Sector Wide Approach, known as Trade SWAp, is an initiative implemented by the government in 2008 to boost trade development in Cambodia.

“After we approve these strategies [from the initiative] we will organise the NSB to lead and develop Khmer silk for exporting,” he added.

A woman weaves silk in Koh Dach commune in Phnom Penh last year.

An NSB adviser, Pheanuroth Sisowath, said: “Nowadays, there are no investors in this sector at all,” because there is no framework to ensure the quality of silk products.

With the NSB, the government can show their commitment to the silk industry, which will attract more investors, added Sisowath, who is also a senior technical adviser with the International Trade Center (ITC), a UN-backed agency that will help to implement the NSB.

hong menea

According to an ITC report in 2012, Cambodia has about 20,000 silk weavers, with the majority of whom are women, contributing $25 million annually to the Kingdom’s GDP. Boosting the silk industry would therefore also empower females, said Suon Prasith, program manager with the Kingdom’s Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), which is funding the new initiative.

The EIF is a multi-donor program under the World

Trade Organisation, which supports least developed countries to be more active players in the global trading system. It has set aside $1.4 million to promote the silk sector.

In a meeting earlier this year to discuss the establishment of NSB, secretary of State for Ministry of commerce, Pan Sorasak, said that the NSB would “boost and enhance Cambodian silk in order to reduce poverty reduction and promote the standard of living of the people”.

Thai economic growth remained slow in April THE Bank of Thailand reported economic growth remained sluggish in April.

However, the bank remains optimistic that burgeoning non-farm household incomes and strong consumer and investor confidence will drive second-quarter economic growth to better the first quarter.

Mathee Supapongse, the central bank’s senior director for macroeconomic and monetary policy, said economic conditions in April remained lacklustre, weighed down

by anaemic private spending and weak industrial output.

In April, the private investment index contracted by 1.1per cent yearon-year compared with March’s 3.1 per cent gain. The private consumption index rose at a slower pace of 1.7 per cent year-on-year from March’s 1.8 per cent growth.

Still, April’s manufacturing production index shrunk 3.8 per cent year-on-year from March’s 1.2 per cent gain.

Some industrial operators lowered

Fixed Deposit Interest Rates Cambodian

Financial Institutions As of MAY 30, 2013

On Deposits 3 Months

6 Months

USD

RIEL

USD

RIEL

12 Months USD

RIEL

Prasac

5.50%

6.50%

6.50%

7.50%

8.00%

9.75%

ABA Bank

3.50%

N/A

4.50%

N/A

5.50%

N/A

ACLEDA Bank

2.50%

5.00%

3.75%

6.00%

5.00%

7.00%

ANZ Royal Bank

1.45%

3.50%

2.75%

4.00%

3.75%

5.50%

Bank of India

2.25%

N/A

3.00%

N/A

4.00%

N/A

Cambodia Asia Bank

3.50%

N/A

4.50%

N/A

5.50%

N/A

Cambodia Mekong Bank 2.75%

N/A

3.25%

N/A

3.50%

N/A

Cambodian Public Bank 2.25%

N/A

3.25%

N/A

4.00%

N/A

Canadia Bank

2.50%

5.00%

3.50%

6.00%

4.75%

7.00%

Maybank

2.25%

N/A

3.25%

N/A

4.25%

N/A

Maruhan Japan Bank

2.00%

2.00%

3.00%

3.00%

4.50%

4.50%

RHB Indochina Bank

2.75%

4.00%

3.50%

5.00%

4.75%

6.00%

SBC Bank

3.00%

N/A

3.50%

N/A

4.50%

N/A

Union Commercial Bank 3.50%

N/A

4.50%

N/A

5.50%

N/A

their production utilisation to comply with the government’s edict to reduce energy consumption during the disruption of natural gas delivery from Myanmar, while others ran out of raw materials, resulting in the disappointing industrial output, said Mathee.

He was speaking on Friday at the Bank of Thailand’s monthly press briefing, and his comments mirrored the view of the Finance Ministry’s Fiscal Policy Office that growth is languishing following the expiration of

the government’s first-time car-buyer scheme last December.

“Growth prospects for the second quarter remain benign, as positive factors including non-farm household income, low unemployment and high consumer and investor confidence remain, although domestic demand remains tepid,” said Mathee.

Robust credit growth, a lax monetary policy and hefty government investment expected to kick off later this year could jump-start the economy, he said.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut the policy rate to 2.5 per cent this week in a bid to cushion downside risk from domestic demand.

That reduction was in line with market expectations due to lower-thanexpected first-quarter GDP growth of 5.3 per cent year-on-year.

Mathee would not predict whether the central bank will revise its 2013 growth forecast of 5.31 per cent, but the April slowdown has been reported to the MPC. BANGKOK POST

Bangkok faces shortfall for Malaysia funding next rice harvests to invest THE Thai government has already spent about 660 billion baht ($21.7 billion) on its initial rice pledging scheme, raising the possibility it will not have enough money to finance the next harvest seasons without increasing its 500 billion baht revolving fund.

A Finance Ministry source, speaking on condition of anonymity, on Friday said 660 billion baht has been spent to buy rice for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 harvest seasons.

The Commerce Ministry plans to obtain 220 billion baht this year from selling rice in stockpiles bought under the subsidy program.

The ministry has already paid 100 billion baht out of 220 billion due to the state-owned Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).

The BAAC, which is the government’s financial source for

the scheme, has paid 80 billion baht in advance for the shortfall, with 40 billion contributed to the 410 billion baht framework for rice pledging.

The Finance Ministry has so far issued bonds worth only

The scheme has become the most controversial policy of the government 370 billion baht to fund the framework, which is a portion of the government’s 500 billion baht revolving fund.

The difference of 90 billion baht between the framework and the revolving fund has been financed by the BAAC. BAAC president LuckWajananawat said the government plans to use proceeds from selling rice to fund the scheme for the 201213 second harvest.

The government aims to buy 7.02 million tonnes of paddy from the second harvest, which runs until September 15, while two million tonnes worth 30 billion baht have been sold to the government.

The rice scheme was launched by the Yingluck Shinawatra administration to fulfil its policy promises during the election in mid-2011.

However, the scheme has become the most controversial policy of the Pheu Thai Party-led coalition government, as the guaranteed rice prices are 40-50 per cent higher than market prices.

A source at the committee overseeing the revolving fund recently said the scheme’s losses were at 210 billion baht for the previous three harvest crops, exceeding the previous estimate of 70-100 billion.

BANGKOK POST

in Congo WAH Seong Corp, a Kuala Lumpur-based oil, gas and industrial services company, plans to invest $744 million over the next 10 years to develop palm oil plantations in the Republic of Congo, said Rigobert Maboundou, the African country’s agriculture minister.

ATAMA Plantation Sarl, a unit of Wah Seong, will initially plant palm trees on 180,000 hectares (444,790 acres), Maboundou told reporters in Yengo, 600 kilometres (373 miles) north of the republic’s capital, Brazzaville.

The company will build nine plants to produce 920,000 tonnes of two different kinds of palm oil annually, said Leong King Ming, ATAMA president. Production is due to start in 2017, he said.

BLOOMBERG

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

9

Markets Business

10

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Business

In brief Bilfinger on look out for takeover targets in Asia

GERMAN construction and industrial services group Bilfinger SE is eyeing an acquisition in Asia or North America to reduce its dependence on the European market, its chief financial officer said. “It would certainly be good for us to once again make a larger strategically significant takeover as we’ve done at the end of 2009, when we bought Austrian MCE with an enterprise value of €250 million to €300 million ($324 million to 389 million),” Joachim Mueller told Germany’s Boersen-Zeitung in and interview published on Saturday.

REUTERS

Japan’s Abe offers $32 billion to Africa

JAPANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged 3.2 trillion yen ($32 billion) to Africa as his government seeks to catch up with China in pursuing resources, markets and influence on the continent.

Abe announced the five-year commitment of public and private support in a speech on Saturday at the Tokyo International Conference on African Develop-ment. Officials from about 50 nations are attending the meeting, held every five years. BLOOMBERG

Southern Air Korean exports rise China gets first Dreamliner on smartphone sales Jasmine Wang

Eunkyung Seo

S

OUTH Korea’s exports unexpectedly increased in May as surging smartphone shipments and improving demand from the US and China countered a decline in the yen.

Overseas shipments increased 3.2 per cent from a year earlier after a 0.4 per cent gain in April, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement on Saturday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 12 economists was for a decline of 0.9 per cent, with 10 projecting a drop.

Saturday’s report signals South Korea is weathering an 18 per cent decline in the yen against the dollar over the past six months amid government warnings the drop is hurting car and electronics exporters.

Finance Minister Hyun Oh Seok reiterated yesterday that the yen’s depreciation is having “negative impact” on Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

“The impact of a falling yen doesn’t seem to have bitten the entire economy but this is

Employees of Pantech, a South Korean handset maker, check products at an assembly line of the company’s factory near Seoul. reuters

clearly a major risk, along with a slow global economic recovery,” said Park Sang Hyun, a Seoul-based economist at Hi Investment and Securities Co. “The Bank of Korea will keep interest rates low and may cut again if the yen sees further sharp declines.”

Policy makers in South Korea have stepped up efforts to boost the economy with fiscal stimulus and monetary easing while giving financial support

for exporters to cope with a weaker yen. Overseas shipments account for about half the economy.

“Smartphone sales are pretty strong and demand in the US and China is picking up,” the trade ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

“Still, the weak yen is a big concern and our exports will deteriorate if the yen’s depreciation is prolonged and deepens.” BLOOMBERG

CHINA Southern Airlines Co, the nation’s biggest carrier by passengers, took delivery of its first Boeing Co Dreamliner after a two-year struggle to use its Airbus SAS A380s on overseas flights from Beijing.

The 787 arrived yesterday in Guangzhou, where China Southern is based, after Boeing handed over the aircraft last month. The carrier, which has ordered 10 Dreamliners, will become the nation’s only operator of both Dreamliners and superjumbos.

China Southern will fly the composite-plastic plane to Paris from its hub after three months of domestic flights, chief operating officer Zhang Zifang said last month. The decision to fly the Dreamliner from Guangzhou came after stalled talks with Air China Ltd to use the A380 superjumbos from its rival’s base in Beijing.

“China Southern has the most high-profile aircraft now,” said Li Lei, a Beijing-based analyst at China Minzu Securities Co. “That doesn’t mean profits because its base is Guangzhou, not Beijing.”

Boeing delivered the 787 to

China Southern after flaws in the plane’s lithium-ion battery forced a three-month global grounding of the jet starting in January. Carriers worldwide resumed commercial flights with Boeing’s most advanced jet in a phased manner starting in April.

Air China also has 15 787s on order, due to be delivered from the end of 2015 to mid-2018.

Hainan Airlines Co, the nation’s fourth largest carrier, has ordered 10 Dreamliners. China Eastern in 2011 swapped orders for 24 of the model for smaller planes, citing late delivery and waning international travel demand at that time.

China Southern has lost money flying the double-deckers because they have been mainly used on domestic routes from Guangzhou, a smaller city with less traffic compared with China’s capital, according to Li. Guangzhou, less than 200 kilometres away from Hong Kong, can’t command a premium unlike Beijing or Shanghai, he said in a phone interview.

China Southern said in April it will fly the A380s from Guangzhou to Sydney later this year. BLOOMBERG

11

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

World Myanmar vows a war on poverty

M

YANMAR’S president, Thein Sein, pledged yesterday to tackle chronic poverty in the long-isolated nation, whose economy was left in tatters by decades of harsh junta rule.

“We have a good foundation for economic development in our country,” the former general said in a speech in Yangon, citing ample water resources, an efficient labour force, an advantageous climate and abundant natural resources.

“But our country is still one of the poorest LDCs [least developed countries] . . . we must all strive to get out of this situation,” he said. “Poverty alleviation should be prioritised over the wealth of the country at this moment.”

Myanmar was once seen as one of Southeast Asia’s brightest economic prospects, but decades of corruption and

economic mismanagement under the junta caused it to fall behind its neighbours.

About a quarter of the population lives below the national poverty line, according to the Asian Development Bank.

The government yesterday launched a plan to offer microfinance loans worth several million dollars to households and workers as part of poverty alleviation efforts.

As he was speaking, about 200 people gathered nearby protesting against land grabs, witnesses said.

“Welcome to the Democracy President – from the people in Mi Chaung Kan whose lands were unlawfully seized,” read one banner.

Demonstrations over alleged land grabs have taken place across the country since 2011, when the repressive junta was replaced by a quasicivilian government. AFP

Calm after protests Continued from page 1

dampen the spirit of a small group of protesters huddled around a bonfire.

Rubble littered the square after days of stand-off between the protesters and Turkish riot police, who fired tear gas and water cannon and played cat-and-mouse with them on side streets.

Shopkeepers scrubbed antigovernment graffiti off walls.

Slogans were also sprayed on burnt-out vehicles including a police car and a bus.

There were calls on social media for further protests yesterday in Istanbul and the capital Ankara, but it was unclear how many people would turn out.

“We will stay until the end,” said Akin, who works in the motor trade and had been in Taksim for four days. “We are not leaving. The only answer now is for this government to fall. We are tired of this oppressive government constantly

UK Lords rocked by scandal

putting pressure on us. This is no longer about these trees,” he said, referring to Taksim’s Gezi Park, which became the focal point of the protests.

There were more than 90 separate demonstrations around the country on Friday and Saturday, officials said.

More than 1,000 people have been injured in Istanbul and several hundred more in Ankara, according to medics.

The ferocity of the police response has shocked Turks and has drawn rebukes from the US, EU and international rights groups. Helicopters fired teargas into neighbourhoods and police used teargas to try to smoke people out of buildings. Footage on YouTube showed a protester being hit by an armoured police truck as it charged a barricade.

Erdogan has overseen a transformation in Turkey during his decade in power, turning its once crisis-prone economy into the fastestgrowing in Europe. REUTERS

Statue of limitation The statue of Indian spiritual master Sri Chinmoy is partially submerged in water from the rising Vltava river in Prague yesterday. Rivers across the Czech Republic are rising fast due to heavy rain. REUTERS

THREE members of Britain’s upper house of parliament stood accused yesterday of offering to use their influence for personal gain in a widening scandal over the improper influence of paying lobbyists over legislators.

A series of media sting operations has thrust the lobbying issue into the limelight and already forced a politician from the lower house of parliament, Patrick Mercer, to resign from the ruling Conservative Party and seek legal advice.

The three House of Lords peers caught out by undercover reporters from the Sunday Times newspaper are John Cunningham and Brian Mackenzie of the main opposition Labour Party and John Laird of the Ulster Unionist Party.

All three denied breaking the chamber’s rules.

Laird resigned from the Ulster Unionists pending an investigation into the allegations. The Labour Party said it would consider disciplinary action against any of its peers who was found to have broken the Lords code of conduct.

The three were secretly filmed offering to ask parliamentary questions, lobby ministers and host events in prestigious House of Lords premises for payment by what they were told were lobbyists acting for companies. REUTERS

Vinegar test could stem cancer deaths A SIMPLE vinegar test could prevent 73,000 deaths from cervical cancer worldwide each year, the authors of a large-scale study of women in India said yesterday.

Wealthy countries have managed to reduce cervical cancer deaths by 80 per cent thanks to the widespread use of regular Pap smears.

But cervical cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death among women in India and many other developing countries without widespread screening capabilities.

The vinegar test, while not perfect, offers a solution to that problem. A primary healthcare worker swabs the woman’s cervix with vinegar,

which causes pre-cancerous tumors to turn white. The results are known a minute later when a bright light is used to visually inspect the cervix.

Aside from the cost savings, the instantaneous results are a huge advantage for women in rural areas who might otherwise have to travel hours to see a doctor.

The randomised study of 150,000 women over 15 years found that the vinegar test was able to reduce cervical cancer deaths by 31 per cent.

Cervical cancer incidence was essentially the same among those screened every other year and those taught how to watch for warning signs. Early detection is criti-

cal in treating the disease.

“We hope our results will have a profound effect in reducing the burden of cervical cancer in India and around the world,” said lead study author Surendra Srinivas Shastri, a professor of preventive oncology at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai.

“This is the first trial to identify a cervical cancer screening strategy that reduces mortality and is feasible to implement on a broad scale throughout India and in other developing countries.”

Health officials in the state of Maharashtra, where the study was conducted, are preparing to train primary healthcare workers to provide the vinegar

screening to all women aged 35 to 64 in the state.

The researchers are also working with health officials to make the screening available throughout the country.

The Indian government also plans to reach out to other low-to-moderate income countries to share the results and offer training resources.

If the program is fully implemented, it could prevent 22,000 cervical cancer deaths in India every year. That number would rise to 73,000 if it is implemented in resourcepoor countries worldwide.

The use of primary healthcare workers is a critical component of the strategy, Shastri said. AFP

12

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

World

Japan to give $1bn to aid Sahel region Kyoko Hasegawa

J

APAN said yesterday that it would give $1 billion in aid to help stabilise the Sahel region of Africa, months after the deaths of 10 Japanese in a hostage crisis in the area.

The money is part of a $14 billion aid package to be given to Africa over five years, which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Saturday at the start of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development.

“Japan will provide 100 billion yen [$1 billion] in assistance over five years for the development and stability of the Sahel,” Abe told heads of government from around 40 African nations.

The cash comes in addition to a $120 million aid pledge Tokyo announced in January, days after Islamist gunmen overran a gas plant in the Algerian desert and killed dozens of foreigners.

The four-day crisis ended bloodily when Algerian commandos stormed the plant.

Graphic pictures and accounts that emerged in the days after the assault indicated executions and sent a

collective shudder through Japan, whose energy and infrastructure firms are heavily committed in the region.

Japan’s death toll of 10 was the highest of any nation whose citizens were caught up in the crisis. It was an unusual taste of jihadist anger for a country far removed from violence in the Muslim world.

Despite the Japanese public’s wariness of unrest in faroff and little-known places, government, industry and academic leaders warned that the resource-poor archipelago cannot withdraw its energy interests from areas like the Sahel.

Instead, they said, Tokyo must take the lead in helping to create stability, through social programs and development that can divert anger and tackle the unemployment and poverty that experts say leads to extremism.

Katsumi Hirano, chief researcher at the Institute of Developing Economies, said Tokyo needed to be seen to be doing something.

Abe’s latest pledge “is important to show Japan’s commitment to the peacebuilding in Africa”, he said.

Abe said that in addition

Al-Qaeda chief warns Americans of attacks

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe makes a speech during a symposium on human security at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo, yesterday. AFP

to the financial aid unveiled Sunday, Japan will also support the training of 2,000 people in counter-terrorism and security maintenance activities.

“We believe that the assistance we provide in line with the concept of human security, such as the strengthening of social systems, with particular focus on food, education and health . . . will bring hope for economic development to the people of the region, thereby contributing to stability,” he said.

“It is our sincere wish that the Sahel region is restored to peace and stability and recovers its place as the centre of prosperity in northern and

western Africa. In order to do so, we must take action together,” he said.

Dioncounda Traore, interim president of Mali, said security in the region was improving, thanks in part to intervention by French-led forces after Islamist rebels seized control of his country’s north in the wake of a military coup last year.

“What lessons have we learned from all these? Firstly, the necessity to build wellequipped armies so that we can face threats against security and peace,” he said.

But as well as military power, he said, there must be an effort to improve governance, boost schemes to counter

food shortages and provide work for the unemployed.

Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, sounded a grim warning against the world taking its eye off the Sahel.

“We cannot look at Mali in isolation,” Guterres said, noting the area is prone to food crises and conflict, which can lead to the displacement of people, organised crime and extremism.

“If these factors are not properly addressed, including at the regional and global level, we face the risk of a series of interlinked crises from Libya to Nigeria and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Aden,” Guterres said. AFP

Taiwanese run into streets Philippines brings in as earthquake rattles island law limiting firearms A STRONG earthquake hit Taiwan yesterday, killing one person and violently shaking buildings in the capital Taipei, officials said.

The quake sent people running into the streets and was also felt in Hong Kong, more than 700 kilometres away.

Taiwan’s Seismology Centre measured the quake as 6.3 magnitude while the US Geological Survey put it at 6.2.

The tremor hit at 1:43pm (0543 GMT) centred 32 kilometres east of the central county of Nantou at a depth of 10 kilometres, followed by a series of aftershocks, the seismology centre said.

The National Fire Agency said a mountain climber was killed after he was hit by falling rocks on Mount Ali in central Taiwan while two other people were severely injured.

Sixteen slight injuries were also reported, it said.

TV footage showed landslides, stirring clouds of yellow dust, on other mountains in the area. The agency said that four helicopters had been sent to scout the epicentre area as authorities awaited any further damage information.

This is the biggest earthquake to hit this year Six high-speed trains were halted but services resumed after no damage was found to the line. Operations at the three nuclear power plants on the island were not affected, according to state-owned Taiwan Power Co. “This is the biggest earthquake to hit this year. As the

origin of the quake was shallow and it happened in the centre of the island, its velocity could be felt island-wide.

Today’s earthquake was somewhat related to the 1999 one,” Lu Pei-ling, deputy chief of the seismology centre, said.

Nantou county was the epicentre of a 7.6-magnitude quake in September 21, 1999 that killed around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the island’s recent history.

In late March a strong earthquake in the same vicinity as Sunday’s tremor killed one person and injured 86 others.

Violent shock waves damaged buildings and triggered two blazes.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes.

AFP

PHILIPPINE President Benigno Aquino has signed a law making it harder for private individuals to own firearms following a series of high-profile deaths this year, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

Under the law signed last week, those seeking to buy firearms will have to undergo drug and psychological tests and should not have a criminal record or pending court cases. They will also have to show proof of income as well as a valid tax return and secure clearance from their respective city or municipal police offices.

“The new law, coupled with strict enforcement and a more aggressive campaign against loose firearms, will help prevent untoward incidents involving firearms,” deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said.

Qualified citizens will only be allowed to own small firearms, and those who fail to renew their gun licence every two years will have their weapons confiscated by police.

Valte said the government was also stepping up its drive against illegal guns, with police going door to door to check on potential sources of unlicensed weapons.

Gun ownership is a sensitive issue in the Philippines, where many own or carry firearms to protect themselves amid rampant criminality.

It was not clear how the law will help address the proliferation of unlicensed firearms or the thriving black market trade of these weapons.

The issue took centre stage in January, following a spate of shooting deaths, including two children hit by stray bullets on New Year’s Eve. AFP

AL-QAEDA’S military chief in Yemen warned Americans in an audio message posted online Sunday that the Boston bombings revealed fragile security as he urged Muslims to defend their religion.

Qassim al-Rimi, the military chief of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, said making bombs such as the ones used in the blasts in Boston in April, is within “everyone’s reach”.

“The Boston events . . . and the poisoned letters [sent to the White House], regardless of who is behind them, show that your security is no longer under control, and that attacks on you have taken off and cannot be stopped,” he said, in the message titled “A letter to the American people.”

“Every day you will be hit by the unexpected and your leaders will not be able to defend you,” warned the man whose organisation is considered by Washington as the world’s most dangerous Al-Qaeda branch.

Rimi said the killing of AlQaeda’s founder Osama bin Laden in May 2011 and top Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in September 2011, had not ended the struggle.

“Have you eliminated the jihadist groups that have spread everywhere after they had only been in Afghanistan?

Today, they are in your land or close to it,” he warned.

To the Muslims in the US, he said: “We encourage you to carry on with this way; be steadfast in your religion.

“Carry out your obligations, defend your religion and follow in the footsteps of those who supported their religion and Ummah [Muslim nation] while in their enemy’s den,” he said.

Br o t h e r s 1 9 - y e a r- o l d Dzhokhar and 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev are accused of being behind the April 15 attack at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and wounded more than 260.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police, and Dzhokhar was captured and taken into custody after an extensive manhunt.

At about the same time, three letters laced with ricin were discovered, one addressed to US President Obama, one to Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi and a third to a justice of the peace in the same state, Sadie Holland.

Charges were later dropped against a man initially suspected to be behind the letters, Paul Curtis. AFP

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

World

Indonesia calls a halt to work at Freeport mine after accident INDONESIA has ordered a halt in operations at a giant USowned mine while inspectors probe a fatal tunnel collapse, an official said yesterday, in a stoppage that could last two months.

On May 14, a tunnel caved in at Freeport-McMoRan’s gold and copper Grasberg mine in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua province, killing 28 of 38 workers undergoing safety training.

The company shut down all operational activities at the mine for two weeks following the accident, but on Tuesday resumed some milling and open-pit activities.

Indonesia’s chief mine inspector, Syawaluddin Lubis, said yesterday that the energy and resources ministry had sent a letter to Freeport earlier this week instructing them to carry out only administrative and maintenance work.

“An independent investigation team arrived at the site on Friday, so all operational activities at the mine should stop until the team makes safety recommendations,” Lubis said.

“They can continue with general management and of-

fice work, but actual mining activities should stop across Grasberg”, Lubis added.

The US miner suffered another blow Friday when a maintenance worker in a truck underground was engulfed in a tide of muddy ore materials pouring from a container. He died in hospital on Saturday.

The company said the two incidents were unrelated.

Freeport’s Indonesian subsidiary said that it was currently only carrying out “ramp-up” activities at the open-pit mine.

“We have responded [to the ministry] with a letter explaining the activities undertaken so far and requesting approval for the resumption of operations,” Freeport Indonesia spokeswoman Daisy Primayanti said.

Primayanti said the ministry had informed the company that the probe could take two months. Lubis said the case could take even longer if the investigation proved to be complex. Freeport has also said it will conduct its own probe.

Primayanti could not say how a halt would affect stockpiles, adding that the impact would be assessed today. AFP

Anti-China protest shut down Martin Pettyt

P

OLICE in Vietnam moved swiftly to break up an anti-China protest yesterday, making at least 20 arrests in the latest sign of the communist regime’s tough stance on dissent, even after it chided Beijing for aggression in the South China Sea. As crowds gathered in response to the recent ramming of a Vietnamese trawler by Chinese navy vessels, uniform and plainclothes police blocked off rallying points and quickly put protesters on to waiting buses, witnesses said.

Two Vietnamese journalists working for foreign media were also detained at the protest near Hanoi’s Hoan Kien lake.

Vietnam has been criticised

by Western countries including the United States for crushing freedom of speech and arresting its detractors as discontent grows over land grabs, graft and the state’s management of an economy hamstrung by bad debt.

Diplomats and experts say the ruling party is eager to curtail all protests, even those against rival China, which it once tolerated, fearing they could mushroom into wider

Protesters display posters while marching during an anti-China rally in downtown Hanoi yesterday. Vietnam detained at least 30 anti-China protesters during the protest. AFP

anti-government movements.

Tensions in the decades-old territorial dispute have risen in recent weeks after Chinese vessels struck a Vietnamese fishing boat and later converged near a ship the Philippines ran aground on a reef in 1999 to mark its territory.

The Philippines warned Chi-

na to withdraw from what Beijing considers its “indisputable territory” and Vietnam complained of a “serious violation” of its sovereignty.

In a rare break from a usually diplomatic tone, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Friday warned of damage to regional economies

and global trade if “unilateral might, groundless claims” and “power politics” were to ignite a conflict in the South China Sea. Dung made the comments during an address to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore but did not specifically name China. REUTERS

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

World

Myanmar’s internet users seek freedom Shwe Yin Mar Oo

K

AM KHAN CIN travelled for four days from his remote mountaintop town to attend Myanmar’s forum on web freedom as the country embraces its longvilified netizens as part of sweeping reforms.

The engineering student said he was compelled to journey to Yangon, an arduous trip made all the harder by monsoon rains that deluged the dirt roads of his native Chin state, to “find out what rights we are entitled to”.

“I believe that we will get those rights one day,” he said.

Most residents in his hometown of Tedim cannot afford mobile phones, but there are three internet cafes and Kam Khan Cin perseveres to get online – even though it often takes 15 minutes to load a page.

“I can see what is happening in other places through the internet. I feel connected with the world,” the 25-yearold said.

Sanctions and economic mismanagement under decades of military rule left Myanmar impoverished and

cut off from the world, an isolation deepened by a system of online repression imposed by the paranoid generals.

Less than one per cent of the country’s population have access to the internet and, for those that do, unreliable electricity supplies and painfully slow connection speeds often make websurfing an excruciating experience.

But web users say the curtain is lifting.

Former political prisoners and activists mingled with politicians and government officials at Myanmar Internet Freedom Forum on Saturday all eager to hear debates on everything from censorship to cyber law.

“The system has changed – instead of the government giving out commands, it listens to the voices of the people. We want to know what we can do to create the internet freedom that people want,” said information technology deputy minister Thaung Tin. He outlined a vision of fast, cheap and widely available web access unthinkable under the previous regime, which banned websites like the BBC and criminalised online dissent.

Government ministers from a new quasi-civilian regime now use Facebook – once only accessible through proxy sites – as their preferred medium to make announcements and quote the BBC and formerly prohibited exile media groups.

Thaung Tin said Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Intel have all held discussions with the government about boosting web access in the country, as global firms eye what is now seen as one of Asia’s last untapped technology markets.

But hurdles remain, despite international interest in the fast-changing nation.

“I told Microsoft that we want to use their licensed software in our country rather than pirated copies,” he said adding that he had asked the firm to provide it for a “reasonable” price.

“They asked me how much is reasonable for us. I answered: ‘Honestly, anything more than FOC [free of charge] is expensive,” he added.

Under the former regime connections were slowed down on politically significant dates, such as the August 8 anniversary of a mass political uprising in 1988.

A young man browses the internet at an internet cafe in Yangon on Thursday. Surfing the web can be an excruciating experience in Myanmar. AFP

Myanmar’s citizens used the web to leak extensive accounts and video of bloodshed during monk-led protests in 2007 to the outside world, prompting the regime to tighten its control of the internet.

The country was still listed as “not free” in 2012 by rights group Freedom House, which sponsored the Yangon conference. Myanmar’s reforms have included scrapping a harsh censorship that muzzled the media, releasing political prisoners and unblocking news sites.

A report published by international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders in December said internet cafe owners were no longer getting police visits.

But it noted that repressive laws – under which journal-

ists, bloggers and dissidents were previously jailed – had yet to be dismantled.

They include the Electronic Transaction Law, which makes using the internet or digital technology for anti-government activities punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

“Freedom is not only measured by being able to look at websites freely, bandwidth and internet speed should also be in line with international standards,” said blogger and activist Nay Phone Latt, who was behind the Yangon forum.

He said that the proliferation of hate speech online during religious violence between Buddhists and Muslims that has swept the country since last year was a concern, particularly as MPs recently

set up an entire committee to expose a blogger critical of parliament.

On a visit to Myanmar in March, Google chairman Eric Schmidt said the internet would make it “impossible to go back”.

His vision appears to have been enthusiastically embraced by at least some of Myanmar’s new leaders.

Thaung Tin told the internet conference that he imagines a Myanmar where rural children, instead of being hampered by electricity blackouts, are able to use tablet computers to search online for help with their schoolwork.

“How pleasant it is when you close your eyes and think about it!” he said.

“Nothing is impossible any longer.” AFP

Cheating normal practice for Indonesia’s students AFTER praying for good grades in their exams, a group of Indonesian high-school students received a surprising text message – come to class 90 minutes early and you’ll be given the answers.

But it was not divine intervention.

The message was from their teacher, who had been leading the prayer session at the Jakarta school and was offering to sell the information for $3 to the final year students, aged 17 and 18.

“Their teacher said their $3 fee would go towards renovating a local mosque,” said Febri Hendri, the head of public service monitoring with Indonesia Corruption Watch, which uncovered the case after receiving complaints.

It is just one of many examples of cheating at the country’s annual school exams, a trend critics say is teaching young people that graft is acceptable in a nation already desperately battling corruption. Students are finding ever more inventive ways of beating the system, from buying answer books for a small fee on Indonesia’s version of eBay to receiving them in paid-for text messages.

They flood Facebook pages and online chat groups to exchange infor-

Indonesian high school students celebrate after exams on May 24.

mation ahead of the tests, which are taken annually by students in grade six (ages 11 and 12), grade nine (ages 14-15) and grade 12 (ages 17-18).

Local TV this year showed footage of pupils looking at mobile phones under their desks and peeking at others’ answers during exams, which took place last month. Observers say this year has been particularly bad after tests were delayed in some provinces due to the late delivery of exam papers, allowing those who had already sat them to pass the

AFP

answers to students in other areas.

Critics point to the consistently high success rates – results announced last week showed that 99.48 per cent had passed this year – as evidence cheating is commonplace, although the government denies this.

While some of the cheating stories are comical, critics say they are a sad illustration of how Indonesians are being taught from an early age that corruption is part of daily life.

“It sets students up very early to cheat in life. It says that Indonesian

culture is corrupt, while we should be teaching students that the Indonesian way is to be honest,” said Corruption Watch’s Hendri.

Indonesia is one of the most graftridden nations in the world, and has slipped to 118th out of 176 countries in Transparency International’s annual corruption index. The public sector in particular is seen as corrupt, and cheating is now so widely accepted in the education system that whistle-blowers, not the cheats, are often the ones who are shamed.

In 2011 Siami, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, reported to the education board in the city of Surabaya, East Java province, that the teacher of her son, in the sixth grade, had provided students with test answers.

But the move provoked an outcry in the local community. She was forced to publicly apologise after being confronted by a 100-strong crowd, and she and her family eventually had to move out of the area.

Critics say a rotten system led by a graft-ridden ministry is at the heart of the problem, with teachers encouraged to deliver high pass rates and not quality education.

While 20 per cent of the state budg-

et is spent on education, much of the money does not appear to be making its way to schools, with many buildings dilapidated and teachers sometimes going unpaid for months.

Indonesia also does poorly in international education studies, a stark contrast to the exam results it churns out every year. In the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an influential test carried out by the OECD which looks at educational performance of 15 year olds, Indonesia was one of the worst performers among 65 nations.

The 2009 PISA results, which are the most recently published, put Indonesia 57th for reading, 60th for science and 61st for maths.

Education ministry spokesman Ibnu Hamad accepted there were problems but insisted they were down to the nation’s system of decentralised government and not the ministry itself.

“Sixty per cent of our budget goes straight to local governments, and it’s their job to distribute the money to schools,” he said.He also rejected claims the education ministry was corrupt as “baseless” and denied cheating at exams was widespread.

AFP

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

World Beijing moves away from Okinawa claims A TOP Chinese general yesterday sought to distance the country from claims by some of its scholars that the Ryukyu Islands, which include Okinawa, do not belong to Japan.

Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army, told a security conference in Singapore that the scholars’ views did not represent the official position.

The People’s Daily, China’s most circulated newspaper, had published an article last month written by two scholars from a top state-run think tank that argued Beijing may have rights to the Ryukyus.

The lengthy article argued that the island chain was a “vassal state” of China before Japan annexed it in the late 1800s.

“This is only an article of particular scholars and their views on these issues . . . It does not represent the views of the Chinese government,” Qi said at the annual forum known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.

However, he repeated Chinese arguments for China’s historical claims over a set of tiny uninhabited islets in the East China Sea known as the

Diaoyus in China and Senkakus in Japan.

“I have to say Diaoyu islands and Ryukyu islands and Okinawa islands ... the first, and the second and the third, are not the same nature. The Chinese government on this is very clear,” he said.

Both countries have been locked in a long-running dispute over the island cluster in the East China Sea which Tokyo administers but is claimed

by Beijing.

The two nations have stepped up a war of words in recent months, with Chinese vessels regularly entering waters around the islands, stoking fears of armed conflict.

Some Chinese see historical ties as a basis of sovereignty and dismiss Japan’s possession of the islands as a legacy of its aggressive expansionism that ended in defeat at the end of World War II. Before being annexed into Japan in the late 19th century, the independent Ryukyu kingdom, centred on Okinawa, paid tribute to China for centuries – as did numerous other traditional Asian states – often receiving favourable trading rights in return. AFP

China defends sea patrols

C

HINESE warships will continue to patrol waters where Beijing has territorial claims, a top general said yesterday, amid simmering rows with neighbouring countries over the South China Sea and islands controlled by Japan.

Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of general staff of the People’s Liberation Army, defended the patrols as legitimate and said his country’s sovereignty over the areas could not be disputed.

“Why are Chinese warships patrolling in East China Sea and South China Sea? I think we are all clear about this,” Qi told the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore.

“Our attitude on East China Sea and South China Sea is that they are in our Chinese sovereignty. We are very clear about that,” he said through an interpreter.

“So the Chinese warships and the patrolling activities are totally legitimate and uncontroversial.”

Qi was responding to a question from a delegate after he gave a speech in which he sought to assure neighbouring countries that China has no hegemonic ambitions.

Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo speaks in Singapore yesterday.

“China has never taken foreign expansion and military conquering as a state policy,” he said. “Although recently hotspot issues in China’s neighbouring area keep cropping up, we have always held that conflicts and disputes should be properly solved through dialogues, consultations and peaceful negotiations.”

REUTERS

One delegate however said there appeared to be growing scepticism in the region over China’s peaceful intentions because it was inconsistent with its moves to send naval patrols in waters where other countries have also staked claims.

China is locked in a territorial dispute with Brunei, Malaysia,

the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea. The four Southeast Asian states have partial claims, but China says it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the sea, including waters and territories much closer to other countries and thousands of kilometres from the Chinese coast. AFP

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

World

Britain wrestles with debate on freedom to tweet Anthony Faiola

T

HE recent slaying of a British soldier in a suspected Islamist extremist attack, angry social media users took to Twitter and Facebook, with some dispatching racially and religiously charged comments that got them quickly noticed on the busy boulevards of the internet.

For at least a half dozenusers, their comments landed them in jail. Acting on complaints from outraged members of the public, British authorities slapped charges of “malicious communication” on the worst offenders.

Social media crackdowns have become the hallmark of authoritarian governments from China to Syria. But the arrests last week became the latest in a string of such

cases in Britain, underscoring how even some of the world’s greatest democracies are struggling with the rising power of social media.

Last year in England and Wales alone, 653 people faced criminal charges related to their activity on social media, up from 46 such arrests in 2008, according to figures released to the media under a Freedom of Information request. And after the killing of the soldier last month on a busy southeast London street, some in Britain’s Conservative-led government are pushing for even broader powers to police electronic communication in an effort to root out homegrown terrorism.

Escalating debate As authorities intervene in

more and more social media cases, however, the debate is escalating over the right to free speech in a world where anyone with a mobile device or a computer can find a public pulpit.

“There is no broad First Amendment protection in Britain on the right to free speech, and we’re still figuring out how to address public expression through social media,” said Padraig Reidy, an expert at the Index on Censorship, a London-based free speech group. “The worrying question is whether, as we try to keep up with social media, is there a tendency by the government and the police to try to limit what some people say?”

Arrests linked to social media are not unheard of in the United States, where a New Jersey high school student

Logos for Twitter’s TweetDeck app (centre left) and Twitter app (centre right) on the screen of an Apple iPhone in London

was brought up on charges in January for allegedly “trashtweeting” a threat to blow up a rival high school’s gym. But experts say the legal response to social media has been stronger in Britain, a nation

where critics say a tendency to jealously guard personal privacy and put public safety first has occasionally trumped the right to free speech.

Britain has seen not only a surge in criminal prosecutions

but also a growing number of civil suits. Last week, for instance, the effervescent wife of the speaker of the House of Commons became the latest causality of the Great British Twitter Wars that has seen a

Employment Opportunities Initially established in 1996 as a project of International HIV/AIDS Alliance, KHANA operated as an NGO from 1997 and was officially registered as a local NGO in 2000. Since then it has operated as a linking organization of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and is so far a leading non-governmental organization in Cambodia that has made outstanding contributions to the HIV response. KHANA’s work has been made possible through support from USAID, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, European Commission, World Food Programme and AusAID. We are now seeking qualified Cambodian nationals for the following vacancies: Policy Manager (USD1,200-1,500) Key Responsibilities: The incumbent is responsible for advising the Executive Director and the Senior Management Team on the policy and advocacy issues which both underpin KHANA Strategic Plan (KSP15) and which will emerge from the new strategic directions in Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), Maternal and Child Health (MCH), Tuberculosis (TB) and Livelihoods which KHANA is pursuing over the next 5 years. S/he will also have the responsibility for representing KHANA’s agenda tor on drugs: Community advocacy for harm reduction project, funded by the European Commission (hereafter ‘EC harm reduction advocacy project’). The project runs from January 2013 to December 2015.

Selection Criteria:  Master Degree in Political Science, Law, Journalism or other related academic disciplines  In-depth knowledge of HIV, drug use and harm reduction and the impact of drug control on HIV transmission  3 year experience in implementation of advocacy projects, ideally in the area of HIV, harm reduction or drug policy reform  Strong written and verbal English communication skills  Ability to communicate effectively with government officials and decision makers, along with people who use drugs, their families and supporters  A credible mediator and communicator Admin and Procurement Team Leader Key Responsibilities:  Ensuring that contracts/agreements between KHANA and relevant agencies, contractors/suppliers and sub-recipients are in compliance with KHANA’s and relevant donors’ rules and regulations as well as relevant Cambodian’s laws.  Developing, preparing and enforcing agreements/contracts with sub-recipients, suppliers, contractors, etc.  Ensuring that KHANA has well-functioning procurement and admin systems and are understood across the organization and implementing partners.

Selection Criteria:  Bachelor degree in Business Administration, English Literature or other relevant academic disciplines  Minimum 4 years of relevant experiences (procurement, administration and contract/ agreement writing)  High Proficient in writing and speaking English  Experience in working with donors’ rules and regulations, mainly USAID and GFAT is a plus.

Procurement Officer Key Responsibilities:  Conduct procurement activities for KHANA and relevant partner and ensure compliance with KHANA’s and donors’ rules and regulations.  Contribute to well-functioning of KHANA procurement functions and system.  Ensuring that in all procurement, KHANA achieves value for money with systems that are transparent and open to inspection by all interested parties.

Criteria:  Bachelor degree in Business Administration, English Literature or other relevant academic disciplines  Minimum 2 years of relevant experiences  Good Command of written and spoken English  Experience in working with donors’ rules and regulations, mainly USAID and GFAT is a plus.

For more information about the job specifications, required qualifications and detailed job descriptions, please visit KHANA’s website at www.khana.org.kh.

Interested candidates must apply online via www.khana.org.kh(Employment Opportunities Section) by13 June 2013 at 5 p.m.Only short-listed candidates will be notified for further process. Applications via email or hard copies will not be considered.

KHANA is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from appropriate qualified people from all sections of the community. Qualified people living with HIV, MSM, disabled people and women are particularly encouraged to apply.

17

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

World

Hippie scientist plans to give away the genetic data of traditional crops John Vidal and Mark Tran

n last month.

BLOOMBERG

number of social media users fined for slander.

Pedophile tweet Sally Bercow, 43, has spent years prolifically tweeting the inside scoop about life “under Big Ben”, racking up more followers than the subscriber base of some British newspapers. But in a decision seen as a warning to social media users nationwide, a high court ruled she had libelled Lord Alistair McAlpine by suggesting in a recent tweet that the Conservative politician was an unnamed pedophile in what turned out to be a spurious exposé by the BBC. When she tweeted “Why is Lord McAlpine trending? *innocent face*,” Bercow had merely dared to put into 140 characters or less a rumour that was widely circulating in media circles, she argued.

But just as the BBC had to settle with McAlpine for its false report, so Bercow’s tweet led to an undisclosed settlement reaching into five figures, according to the Independent newspaper. The case ensnared lesser Twitter users who had also named McAlpine, with a number of them directed to donate to charities or do community service under a separate legal settlement.

Dangerous tool “Twitter can be a very dangerous thing,” said Dina Shiloh, a lawyer specialising in privacy cases at the Mishcon de Reya firm in London. “People shouldn’t be allowed to falsely brand someone a pedophile or send menacing comments by simply hiding behind the freedom of social media.”

Freedom of expression is enshrined inside various laws in Britain, home of the Magna Carta and one of the most tenacious press corps in the world. But British communication and privacy laws spell out a series of exceptions, including for threatening or abusive language, breach of

the peace, incitement to violence and harassment.

Authorities say the comments that led to the recent arrests of social media users met those exceptions. Some of the posts, including at least one linked to a member of the English Defence League, a nationalist extremist group, appeared to be attempts to stir social unrest at a particularly tense time.

Authoritarian push?

Yet the prosecution of other cases has led many here to wonder whether authorities are also attempting to regulate good taste and political correctness.

During last year’s Olympic Games in London, for instance, a 17-year-old was arrested for sending a tweet to Tom Daley, a British diver, suggesting the athlete had let his late father down by delivering a less-than-perfect performance. In another now-infamous case, Paul Chambers, a financial industry supervisor, was initially found guilty of “menacing electronic communication” for tweeting a joke about “blowing up” his local airport in South Yorkshire after it had closed because of heavy snow. The response by authorities turned Chambers into a national hero. With British humorist Stephen Fry by his side, Chambers fought a 2010 conviction, which was finally quashed on appeal last year.

“We need to accept that people have the right to communicate, even to communicate in an obnoxious or disagreeable way, and there is no desire on the part of the police to get involved in that judgment,” Andy Trotter, chief constable of the British Transport Police, said a statement. “But equally, there are many offences involving social media such as harassment or genuine threats of violence which cause real harm. It is that higher end of offending which forces need to concentrate on.” THE WASHINGTON POST

THE future well-being of millions of Africans may rest in the unlikely hands of a vegan hippy scientist working for a sweet company who plans to map and then give away the genetic data of 100 traditional crops.

Howard-Yana Shapiro, the agriculture director of the $36 billion US confectionery corporation Mars, led a partnership that sequenced and then published in 2010 the complete genome of the cacao tree from which chocolate is derived. He plans to work with American and Chinese scientists to sequence and make publicly available the genetic makeup of a host of crops such as yam, finger millet, tef, groundnut, cassava and sweet potato.

Dubbed “orphan crops” because they have been ignored by scientists, seed companies and governments, they are staples for up to 250 million smallholder African farmers who depend on them for food security, nutrition and income. However, they are considered of little economic interest to large seed and chemical companies such as

Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta, which concentrate on global crops such as maize, rice and soya.

According to Shapiro, there is huge potential to develop more resilient and higheryielding varieties of most orphan crops by combining traditional plant breeding methods with new biotech tools such as “genetic marking”. This does not involve the altering or insertion of genes that takes place with controversial genetic modification.

“The genetic information will be put on the web and offered free to plant breeders, seed companies and farmers on condition it is not patented.

A new African plant-breeding academy will also be set up in Nairobi, Kenya,” he said.

“It’s not charity. It’s a gift. Its an improvement of African agriculture. These crops will never be worked on by the big five [seed] companies. They don’t see them as competition,” he added.

Shapiro, a leading plant scientist who founded organic seed company Seeds of Change but sold it to Mars in 1997, now cuts an idiosyncratic figure in the corporate food world,

sporting a long beard and listing motorcycles as a favourite pastime. But he said that the culture of the family-owned corporation had advantages.

“It took less than a nanosecond to decide not to patent.

Ownership was not an issue,” he said.

Shapiro is angered by the stunting caused by malnutrition that affects 30 per cent of African children. By improving the crops, he said, the African orphan crop consortium, which includes corporations such as Life Technologies and the conservation group WWF, could eradicate a “plague” that costs Africa $125 billion a year.

“We will start with genomics, go to analysis, then to plant breeders, then to the field, then the seed companies, and then to the farms,” he said.

Open-access publication of the cacao genome in 2010 is now bearing fruit. The genes that determine resistance to fungal infections and yield have been found and a new generation of cacao trees is being grown which should eventually quadruple production. “We haven’t changed a single gene. It’s inheritability.

It’s all done with grafting.”

But the “improved” seeds expected to come out of the $40 million orphan programme could change Africa in unexpected ways. Nearly 80 per cent of all seed used in Africa is selected, saved and exchanged by farmers without money changing hands. The result has been an immense diversity of crops suited to particular localities and cultures. The new, “improved” seeds of the orphan crops may increase yields or disease resistance but could be unaffordable and might oust traditional varieties. It is also possible that the genetic decoding could open the door to genetic modification.

“Anything that keeps the [genetic] information out of proprietary hands is a good thing. But it’s important to maintain the traditional varieties that have not been ‘improved’ and to keep a nonmonetised path for the farming economy,” said Camilla Toulmin, director of the International Institute for Environment and Development in London.

“It’s important to recognise improvements in crops are not just about genetics. How plants are managed is equally important.” THE OBSERVER

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Opinion www.phnompenhpost.com

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Myanmar president rising Regional Insider Roger Mitton

I

t is now clearer than ever why the popularity of Myanmar’s President Thein Sein is soaring while that of the iconic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is tumbling.

The most pertinent signal occurred two weeks ago when Thein Sein became the first Myanmar head of state in nearly a half century to visit Washington, DC. Yes, Suu Kyi went to the United States last September and met President Barack Obama, but it was a private visit devoid of the White House glitz and hoopla accorded to Thein Sein.

In the Oval Office, it was evident that Obama and Thein Sein hit it off and were genuinely on the same wavelength, which had not been the case when Obama met Suu Kyi last year.

Back then, the US president took umbrage at the way she urged him not to go to Myanmar yet because she doubted that Thein Sein’s reforms were sincere and would continue.

Obama, however, had already decided to seize the moment and visit Yangon en route to the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh last autumn, and he was not going to be dissuaded by the Lady’s partisan qualms.

She was visibly miffed when he spurned her advice, which was really given because she did not want Thein Sein to get the kind of rapt publicity in America that she has been used to getting all for herself.

Well, that was one small thing.

Then, at last month’s White House meeting, Obama continually referred to his guest’s country as “Myanmar”.

That was no small thing. He studiously avoided using the old colonial name “Burma”, which is still preferred by Suu Kyi and her sycophants.

Coined by the British, the old name refers to the majority Bamars of the central plains, who are Buddhist and regard themselves as superior to the minorities around the perimeter of the country.

It is a racist term that is never used by indigenous speakers, who always call their country Myanmar, an inclusive name that embraces all the ethnic and religious groups.

So that was another thing. Then, in a much lauded speech at Wash-

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ington’s School of Advanced International Studies, Thein Sein distinctly said “Muslims” several times.

And that was no small thing, given the visceral animosity of the major-

mute about the murderous pogroms targeting Muslims.

Said Jim Della-Giacoma, the Asia program director for the International Crisis Group: “Suu Kyi’s near-

Today, American officials laud Myanmar as a model of emerging democratisation for the likes of dictatorial Laos and Vietnam. ity Bamars towards his nation’s small Islamic community.

Thein Sein bravely said that his government must provide better protection for Muslims from attacks by Buddhist bigots, as happened again in Lashio last week.

For what it is worth, he graciously avoided noting how Suu Kyi seems to find it difficult to talk about this subject and how she has kept relatively

silence on this issue has underlined how far out in front of popular opinion Thein Sein has been.”

While stressing that much still needs to be done, Obama used the Oval Office meeting to praise Thein Sein’s leadership “in moving Myanmar down a path of both political and economic reform”.

Said Obama: “We’ve seen credible elections and a legislature that is

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US President Barack Obama (right) met with Myanmar’s President Thein Sein in the Oval Office at the White House last month. Thein Sein became the first head of his country to visit the White House in 47 years. reuters

continuing to make strides in more inclusivity and greater representation of all the various ethnic groups in Myanmar.”

Thein Sein replied in kind and promised to free more political prisoners and resolve the ethnic conflicts not just by ceasefires, but by incorporating the minority parties into the mainstream.

Frankly, the Oval Office encounter was incredible, given that three years ago all Myanmar’s political leaders were banned from visiting the US. Today, American officials laud Myanmar as a model of emerging democratisation for the likes of dictatorial Laos and Vietnam.

And while the rewards are selfevident, one item stood out: the American Centre in Yangon, which trains political and civil society activists, now has the highest attendance of any such centre in the entire world.

And that is no small thing either.

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19

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Lifestyle Glimpse of a golden age as festival proves fit for a king

In brief

Claire Knox

A

S THICK rain clouds gathered over Phnom Penh yesterday morning, award-winning director Rithy Panh stood beside the gates of Bophana Audiovisual Resource Centre looking decidedly chuffed.

Around him, a group of cinephiles, film curators and experts spilled out of one of the centre’s classrooms after attending an animated conference on film archiving, preservation and restoration – the first of a string of seminars on film heritage and part of the Memory! International Heritage Film Festival, organised by Bophana and the Parisian film preservation body the Technicolor Foundation.

It was the end of a weekend of goldenage glamour in the capital as the festival opened with a screening of one of the late King father Norodom Sihanouk’s films with his son King Sihamoni in attendance, and 1960s-inspired Dengue Fever brought psychedelic music back in style at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC).

The nine-day event launched on Saturday with a screening of La Joie de Vivre – a glimpse into the decadent lives of Cambodia’s blue-blooded in the 1960s: a powder-blue Cadillac, gambling soirees, shimmying go-go dancers, Kep mansions and polygamy.

The film was screened in another ode to Cambodia’s 1960s heyday: the fanshaped, Chaktomuk Conference Hall, designed by legendary architect Vann Molyvann (who attended on the night).

What had generated the most buzz beforehand was the fact King Norodom Sihamoni would be there to watch his father’s film on a high-quality projector shipped from France.

“The King was there, other royalty, high-ranking officials and ministers, ambassadors, young budding filmmakers, normal Cambodians and foreigners … This doesn’t happen every day you know… It was magic,” the 49-year-old Pahn, who scooped up the Un Certain Regard award for The Missing Picture at the Cannes Film Festival last week, said.

By dusk Chaktomuk’s manicured lawns were full of suits, sampots and sweeping floor length gowns. Guests included artists, fashion designers, international model Kouy Chandanich, ’60s actress Dy Saveth and filmmaker Davy

Hillary Clinton biopic but who will play her?

Los Angeles-based popsters Dengue Fever giving a performance at FCC on Friday night.

Chou. However, what Bophana archivist and research analyst Chea Sopheap said was most special was the crowd that gathered outside the hall once the reel had started to roll.

“I took a moment outside the theatre… There were crowds on the street looking in. They had information booklets and they all said they wanted to see old, Cambodian films, the rest of our program . . . People returned to access lost memories.

“The King was smiling the whole way through. I suspect he was very happy to rediscover his father’s film, on a big screen, in this building, with great quality sound,” he said. “[King Sihanouk] provided this window for us. This document on how royalty and others were living back then, what a great, tangible piece of history for us to look back on,” he said.

Panh mused that the screening had prompted dialogue on why the well-designed and well-preserved

King Norodom Sihamoni sampeahs, greeting the audience at the Chaktomuk Theatre on Saturday evening. VANN CHANNARONG/ BOPHANA CENTRE

poppy mcpherson

Chaktomuk wasn’t used more often.

“Molyvann was a genius. We worked with a sound engineer from France, he was walking around measuring acoustics all night and he said it was some of the best sound he’s ever heard in the region, professionally.

“They should program more events

heaving crowd at Phnom Penh’s touristfriendly FCC. In Siem Reap’s venue of the same name the following night, more than 30 fans clamboured onto the stage with the band to chant the revered Ros Sereysothea hit “Glass of Wine” .

The six-member band, formed

The King was smiling. I suspect he was happy to rediscover his father’s film, on the big screen, with great sound here, in two or three years who knows, maybe it will be an art centre with something different every night. If you don’t open up spaces like Chaktomuk, little by little you will lose the art forms.”

Panh said he hoped the festival’s schedule, a blend of old Hollywood productions, French cinema and Cambodian classics would help to make film and its history more accessible to young people.

Actress Dy Saveth, who acted in a number of films of the late King Father, said she had shed a tear during the screening.

“It was a great memory. I feel honoured that Rithy Panh has come back with other groups to revive this industry here. We have some great concepts, talents and creativity here right now.”

Along with the screenings, the muchloved Khmer-American psychedelic rock Dengue Fever, who are inspired by the likes of 1960s crooners Sinn Sisamouth, and Pann Ron, will perform on Wednesday night as part of Memory! on Koh Pich – a free concert they hope locals will embrace.

On Friday night chanteuse Chhom Nimol, the group’s frontwoman, bellowed out both originals and ’60s covers from the band’s five albums before a

in 2001, has garnered acclaim from around the globe (they’ve played at WOMAD, Glastonbury and Melbourne festival, while Ray Davies from the Kinks hailed them a “cross between Led Zeppelin and Blondie).

This is their fifth tour on Cambodian soil, and the impressively bearded guitarist Zac Holtzman said it was always significant and emotional, particularly for Nimol, to come back.

More recently the band were part of the CLA organised Season of Cambodia event in New York, which Holtzman said had been a “beautiful experience … [The gig] sold out, there were 800 people.”

The band were introduced to the Memory! festival through their filmmaker friend Davy Chou, who directed Golden Slumbers, and said they planned to attend many of the screenings.

Holtzman emphasised it was important that the band play free shows in Cambodia. “The last time we came we played a free show on Koh Pich, a benefit for CLA, it was the biggest show … I would not want to play shows that were exclusive. We want to make sure Cambodians that may not be able to afford a ticket can get to see us.”

For more information about screenings see: memoryfilmfestival.org.

A planned biopic called Rodham will portray a thinly fictionalised version of a young Hillary Rodham. The film should according to observers, see her, as Hillary Clinton, being the favourite in the 2016 contest.

It will detail events in her life in the 1970s as she meets Bill Clinton and works in Washington, DC, involved in the dramatic events surrounding the impeachment of then President Richard Nixon.

There is much speculation as to how the movie might affect Clinton’s potential bid to be the first female president. So far names in the spotlight include Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Chastain, Amanda Seyfried and Scarlett Johansson. afp

Jean Stapleton, star of ‘All in the Family’, dies JEAN Stapleton, whose shrill-voiced housewife in the trailblazing All in the Family sitcom was one of US television’s defining and most beloved characters, has died at the age of 90, media reports said on Saturday.

Stapleton came into her own as the retiring homebody Edith Bunker, who was often at odds with her curmudgeonly and bigoted husband Archie on the TV popular program.Unbeknownst to many Americans, however, Stapleton was an accomplished stage actress before becoming a pop culture icon during her starring role in the 1970s Norman Lear television series. afp

Matt Smith quits BBC classic Doctor Who THE BBC is on the hunt for a new Time Lord after British actor Matt Smith announced on Saturday that he is quitting as the star of cult sci-fi drama Doctor Who. Smith, who has played the eccentric, time-travelling Doctor since 2010, said he would bow out in a special Christmas episode of the 50-year-old show and a new star would take over at the helm of his spaceship, the Tardis. The 30-year-old, said it had been “brilliant” and “an honour” to play the Doctor. afp

20

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Travel PREAH SIHANOUK - SIEM REAP Flighs Days Dep Arrival K6 130 1-3-5 12:55 13:55

INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT SCHEDULE FROM PHNOM PENH Flighs

Days

Dep

TO PHNOM PENH Arrival

PHNOM PENH - BANGKOK

Dep

Arrival

K6 720

Daily

12:05

01:10

K6 721

Daily

02:25

03:30

PG 938

Daily

06:40

08:15

PG 931

Daily

07:55

09:05

PG 932

Daily

09:55

11:10

TG 580

Daily

07:55

09:05

TG 581

Daily

10:05

11:10

PG 933

Daily

13:30

14:40

PG 934

Daily

15:30

16:40

FD 3616

Daily

15:15

16:20

FD 3617

Daily

17:05

18:15

PG 935

Daily

17:30

18:40

PG 936

Daily

19:30

20:40

TG 584

Daily

18:25

19:40

TG 585

Daily

20:40

21:45

PG 937

Daily

20:15

21:50

CZ 324

Daily

BEIJING - PHNOM PENH 08:00

16:05

CZ 323

Daily

14:30

20:50

PHNOM PENH - DOHA ( Via HCMC)

DOHA - PHNOM PENH ( Via HCMC)

QR 605

1.2..5.6

22:35

05:15+1

QR 604

1.2..5.6

08:00

21:00

QR 603

..34..7

15:50

22:25

QR 602

..3.4..7

01:25

14:20

PHNOM PENH - GUANGZHOU CZ 324

Daily

08:00

11:40

CZ 6059

2.4.7

12:00

13:45

CZ 6060

2.4.7

14:45

18:10

CZ 323

Daily

19:05

20:50

09:40

13:00

VN 840

Daily

17:30

20:35

VN 841

Daily

HO CHI MINH CITY - PHNOM PENH

VN 841

Daily

14:00

14:45

VN 920

Daily

15:50

16:30

VN 3856

Daily

19:20

20:05

VN 3857

Daily

18:00

18:45

PHNOM PENH - HONG KONG 1.2.4.7

11:25

15:05

KA 208

1.2.4.6.7 08:50

10:25

Nile Taxi eases commute in clogged Cairo

KA 207

6

11:45

22:25

KA 206

3.5.7

14:30

16:05

KA 209

1

18:30

22:05

KA 206

1

15:25

17:00

KA 209

3.5.7

17:25

21:00

KA 206

2

15:50

17:25

KA 205

2

19:00

22:35

Jalian Zayan

FM 833

INCREASINGLY desperate to escape the gridlock and pollution of the Egyptian capital, more people are now using the Nile for their daily commute to work.

A new taxi service that uses speed boats to whizz passengers up and down the river has proved the most exciting alternative for many a stressed-out Egyptian.

It’s fast, it’s fun and most of all, it gives passengers a quick break from Cairo’s commotion.

“I get to work relaxed – I’m not stressed, I’m not nervous,” says Ahmed Amin, 43, a father of two who used to spend nearly four hours a day getting to work and back before Nile Taxi.

A 20-minute ride from the taxi’s southernmost stop in Maadi to Ramlet Boulaq further north, shoots past office towers and Renaissance-style villas – too fast to dwell on the murky river’s flotsam or the dilapidated shacks dotting its banks.

At 30 Egyptian pounds ($4.3) for a one-way ticket, the service is beyond the reach of many Egyptians, 25 per cent of whom live in poverty. But it is a relief for those used to taking road taxis at roughly the same price, or those tired of driving their own cars through traffic.

Amin, who works in the finance department of a Cairobased international organisation, says the boat trips have cut short his commute by about 30 per cent, “not to mention the effect it has had on my mood”.

“My performance at work is better than when I was driving,” he says.

From the boat, Cairo – a city of more than 18 million people – feels green, orderly and breezy.

But just a few steps from the makeshift boat jetties, the traffic is so bad and the heat so stifling that motorbikes take to the pavement and taxi drivers switch their engines off.

“Let them ride boats. Frankly I’d be happier with fewer cus-

tomers if the streets were less congested,” says cab driver Sayyed Ali. Nile Taxi is the brainchild of Magdi Kirollos Ghali and Amr Aboul Seoud.

The pair saw a business opportunity in the ancient waterway that would respond to the frustration of commuters while eventually easing traffic and alleviating pollution in parts of the capital.

The Nile, which rises from sources in Ethiopia and Uganda and flows into the Mediterranean, is Egypt’s pumping heart, supplying the country with water and irrigating its banks.

Today in Cairo, the Nile is a hive of activity where Pharaonic-themed dinner boats glide and neon-lit party boats pinball around the water.

The waterway has been used for fishing, for tourism, and even for watersports, but its potential for passenger transport has been underutilised, says Ghali.

The idea for Nile Taxi came about six years ago when the pair drew up plans for a comprehensive new transport system on the river.

It is cheap and there are many stops, but the boats are old and the routes not always reliable, passengers say.

Ghali, who has worked in the maritime business since 2001, says he and Aboul Seoud commissioned studies on Cairo’s transport, traffic, and pollution and travelled around world to acquire the know-how to set up their business.

They were just about to start designing their solar-powered boats when the 2011 revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak brought their plans to a stop.

But when things became “too unbearable” on the roads, they decided to go ahead with a modified version of their original plan, using three motorboats they already owned.

By July, the company plans to launch a new tailor-made fleet of low-emission boats, carrying 15 passengers each. afp

PHNOM PENH - INCHEON

1 Monday

5J - CEBU Airways.

MH - Malaysia Airlines

2 Tuesday

AK - Air Asia

MI - SilkAir

3 Wednesday

BR - EVA Airways

OZ - Asiana Airlines

4 Thursday

CI - China Airlines

PG - Bangkok Airways

5 Friday

CZ - China Southern

QR - Qatar Airways

6 Saturday

FD - Thai Air Asia

QV - Lao Airlines

7 Sunday

FM - Shanghai Air

SQ - Singapore Airlines

K6- Cambodia Angkor Air

TG - Thai Airways | VN - Vietnam Airlines

This flight schedule information is updated about once a month. Further information, please contact direct to airline or a travel agent for flight schedule information.

AIRLINES

INCHEON - PHNOM PENH

KE 690

Daily

23:40

06:40

KE 689

Daily

18:30

22:20

OZ 740

Daily

23:50

06:50

OZ 739

Daily

19:10

22:50

PHNOM PENH - KUALA LUMPUR

KUALA LUMPUR - PHNOM PENH

AK 1473

Daily

08:35

11:20

AK 1474

Daily

15:15

16:00

MH 755

Daily

11:10

14:00

MH 754

Daily

09:30

10:20

MH 763

Daily

17:10

20:00

MH 762

Daily

3:20

4:10

20:05

06:05

PHNOM PENH- PARIS

PHNOM PENH - PARIS 20:05

06:05

PHNOM PENH - SHANGHAI 2.3.4.5.7

KA - Dragon Air

HONG KONG - PHNOM PENH

KA 207

2

COLOUR CODE

2817 - 16 Tigerairways

HANOI - PHNOM PENH

PHNOM PENH - HO CHI MINH CITY

AF 273

AIRLINES CODE

GUANGZHOU - PHNOM PENH

PHNOM PENH - HANOI

afp

Days

BANGKOK - PHNOM PENH

PHNOM PENH - BEIJING

A Nile Taxi boat ferries a passenger along the waters of the Nile River.

Flighs

SIEM REAP - PREAH SIHANOUK Flighs Days Dep Arrival K6 131 1-3-5 11:20 12:20

19:50

AF 273

2

SHANGHAI - PHNOM PENH 23:05

PHNOM PENH - SINGAPORE

FM 833

2.3.4.5.7 19:30

22:40

SINGAPORE - PHNOM PENH

Air Asia (AK) Room T6, PP International Airport. Tel: 023 6666 555 Fax: 023 890 071 www.airasia.com

Cambodia Angkor Air (K6) PP Office, #90+92+94Eo, St.217, Sk.Orussey4, Kh.7Makara, PP, Cambodia.

Tel: 023 881 178/77-718-333 Fax: (+855)-23-886-677 E: mai@royalaviationexpert.com

Jetstar Asia (3K) PP: No. 333B Monivong Blvd.

Myanmar Airways International Tel: 023 220909.Siem Reap: No. 50,Sivatha Blvd.Tel: 063 964388 #90+92+94Eo, St. 217, www.jetstar.com Sk. Orussey4, Kh. 7 Makara, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

T:023 881 178 | F:023 886 677 www.maiair.com

Dragon Air (KA) #168, Monireth, PP Tel: 023 424 300 Fax: 023 424 304 www.dragonair.com/kh

Cebu Pacific (5J) Phnom Penh: No. 333B Monivong Blvd. Tel: 023 219161 Siem Reap: No. 50,Sivatha Blvd.

Tel: 063 965487 E-mail: cebuair@ptm-travel.com www.cebupacificair.com

Tiger airways G. floor, Regency square, Suare, Suite #68/79, St.205, Sk Chamkarmorn, PP Tel: (855) 95 969 888 (855) 23 5515 888/5525888 E: info@cambodiaairlines.net

SilkAir (MI) Regency C,Unit 2-4,Tumnorb Teuk, Chamkarmorn Phnom Penh Tel:023 988 629 www.silkair.com

MI 601

1.3.5.6.7

09:30 12:30

MI 602

1.3.5.6.7 07:40

08:40

MI 622

2.4

12:20

15:20

MI 622

2.4

08:40

11:25

3K 594

1.3.6

12:35

15:55

3K 593

1.3.6

10:40

11:50

3K 599

2.4.7

17:25

20:25

3K 591

5

18:45

20:00

3K 592

5

20:45

23:45

3K 591

5

18:45

20:00

MI 607

Daily

18:10

21:10

MI 608

Daily

16:20

17:15

2817

1.3

16:40

19:40

2816

1.3

15:00

15:50

2817

2.4.5

09:10

12:00

2816

2.4.5

07:20

08:10

2817

6

14:50

17:50

2816

6

13:00

14:00

2817

7

13:20

16:10

2816

7

11:30

12:30

09:10

11:35

PHNOM PENH SORYA BUS TRANSPORT SCHEDULE INTERNATIONAL ROUTES

TAIPEI - PHNOM PENH

PHNOM PENH -TAIPEI BR 266

Daily

12:45

17:05

PHNOM PENH - VIENTIANE

BR 265

Daily

VIENTIANE - PHNOM PENH

Qatar Airways No. 296 Blvd. Mao Tse Toung (St. 245), Ground floor, Intercontinental Hotel PP Tel: +23 42 40 12/13/14 www.qatarairways.com

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17:30

18:50

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11:30

13:00

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QV 920

Daily

17:50

19:10

QV 921

Daily

11:45

13:15

6:45, 8:30, 11:45

6:45, 8:00,11:30

PP-BANGKOK

BANGKOK-PP

6:30

6:30

PP-PAKSE,VIENTIANE

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6:45

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PHNOM PENH - YANGON 8M 404

3. 6

YANGON - PHNOM PENH 20:10

21:35

8M 403

3. 6

16:45

FROM SIEM REAP

TO SIEM REAP

SIEM REAP - BANGKOK Flighs Days Dep Arrival K6 700 Daily 12:50 2:00 PG 924 Daily 09:45 11:10 PG 906 Daily 13:15 14:40 PG 914 Daily 15:20 16:45 PG 908 Daily 18:50 20:15 PG 910 Daily 20:30 21:55 SIEM REAP - GUANGZHOU CZ 3054 2.4.6 11:25 15:35 CZ 3054 1.3.5.7 19:25 23:20 SIEM REAP -HANOI K6 850 Daily 06:50 08:30 VN 868 1.2.3.5.6 12:40 15:35 VN 842 Daily 18:05 19:45 VN 844 Daily 19:45 21:25 VN 800 Daily 21:00 22:40 SIEM REAP - HO CHI MINH CITY VN 3818 Daily 11:10 12:30 VN 826 Daily 13:30 14:40 VN 3820 Daily 17:45 18:45 VN 828 Daily 18:20 19:20 VN 3822 Daily 21:35 22:35 SIEM REAP - INCHEON KE 688 Daily 23:15 06:10 OZ 738 Daily 23:40 07:10 SIEM REAP - KUALA LUMPUR AK 281 Daily 08:35 11:35 MH 765 3.5.7 14:15 17:25 SIEM REAP - MANILA 5J 258 2.4.7 22:30 02:11 SIEM REAP - SINGAPORE MI 633 1, 6, 7 16:35 22:15 MI 622 2.4 10:40 15:20 MI 630 5 12:25 15:40 MI 615 7 12:45 16:05 MI 636 3, 2 18:30 21:35 MI 617 5 18:35 21:55 3K 599 2.4.7 15:50 20:25 SIEM REAP - VIENTIANE QV 522 2.4.5.7 10:05 13:00 SIEM REAP - YANGON 8M 402 1. 5 20:15 21:25

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21

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Entertainment NOW SHOWING

Nerd Night @ Gasolina

platinum cineplex

Inspired by the world renowned Pecha Kucha presentation format, Nerd Night is an exhibition of local talent and ideas.

Each presentation is short and sweet: 20 slides, 20 seconds each slide.

EPIC A teenager finds herself transported to a deep forest setting where a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil is taking place. She bands together with a rag-tag group characters in order to save their world – and ours. Featuring Colin Farrell and Beyonce Knowles.

9:15am, 11am, 12:50pm, 4:40pm

This week featuring: Ken, on “Syrup to Sweater”, a brief explanation of how you make fashion from polymer liquids; and Lucia on pizza.

Gasolina, #56-58 Street 57, 7:30pm

FAST & FURIOUS 6 Hobbs has Dom and Brian reassemble their crew in order to take down a mastermind who commands an organisation of mercenary drivers across 12 countries. Payment? Full pardons for them all.

9:15am, 11:35am, 2pm, 6:20pm, 8:40pm

Film @ Bophana Lewat Djam Malam, playing today as part of Memory Film Festival, is a 1954 Indonesian film widely regarded as a classic of Indonesian cinema. The plot follows a former soldier in his vigilante actions against corruption.

BULLET TO THE HEAD After watching their respective partners die, a New Orleans hitman and a Washington DC detective form an alliance in order to bring down their common enemy.

7:10pm STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organisation, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction.

8:35pm

Bophana Centre, #64, Street 200 4pm

TV PICKS

legend cinema EPIC (See above.)

9:25am, 1:40pm, 5:30pm, 7:30pm

9:15am – STAND BY ME: Classic coming of age drama.

After the death of a friend, a writer recounts a boyhood journey to find the body of a missing boy. FOX MOVIES

Every Monday, Phnom Penh’s favourite mobile pizza chefs, ‘Katy Peri’s Peri Peri Chicken and Pizza’ station themselves at the gates of alternative music venue Showbox. A night of fast food, and indie tunes.

10:45am – THE SIXTH SENSE: A boy who communicates with spirits that don’t know they’re dead seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist. Bruce Willis stars as his father. FOX MOVIES

Show Box, #11, Street 330 6pm

7pm – DA VINCI’S DEMONS: Written by David S Goyer, the series follows the “untold” story of Leonardo Da Vinci during his early years in Renaissance Florence.

FOX MOVIES

FAST AND FURIOUS 6 (See above.)

9:30am, 11:45am, 2:15pm, 4:50pm, 7pm IRON MAN 3 When Tony Stark’s world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution.

9:30pm

Pizza @ Showbox

Geek it up at Gasolina tonight for this week’s Nerd Night, featuring a talk on liquid fashion. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Tom Riley plays the lead in Da Vinci’s Demons.

BLOOMBERG

8pm – THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW: Jack Hall, a paleoclimatologist for NORAD, must make a daring trek across America to reach his son, trapped in the cross-hairs of a sudden international storm that plunges the planet into a new Ice Age. FOX MOVIES

Margaritas @ Riverhouse Margaritas of every flavour are on offer at this Phnom Penh institution tonight – even better is that they’re two-for-one all night. As for the soundtrack, DJ Narata will mash up classic songs.

Riverhouse Lounge, corner of Sisowath Quay and Street 110 8:30pm

Thinking caps “DOING WITHOUT” ACROSS 1 6 10 13 14 15 16 19 20 21 22 24 25 27 31 33 34 38 41 42 43 44 46 47 51 53 54 57 60 63 64 65 66 67 68

Henley Regatta craft Words of disgust IRS go-between “Sesame Street” character Ham’s saver Solid voters?

Directive from dad Deep draft of liquor In short order Like horror movie music Daily broadcast Almost hails Wander (with “about”) Weapons cache Practiced person Math branch, briefly Bullfight accolades Like negative numbers, seemingly Detractor “If all ___ fails …”

Sphere of influence Flies that carry sleeping sickness You may pass on these (abbr.)

Bewhiskered creature Sailing the waves Bad breath cause Raymond of “Perry Mason” Kings’ arena, once Needing toning Financial page acronym In the near future Prepared for action Bert Bobbsey’s sister Calendar spot Add, as territory

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 15 17 18 23 24 25 26 28 29 30 32 34 35 36 37 39 40 44 45 47 48 49 50 52 54 55 56 58 59 61 62

Tennis divisions Bird’s pouch Least nicest Lord of the manor The zodiac’s meat eater “Do ___ others as …”

Programming command Scandalous ’80s figure Jessica “Thar ___ blows!”

County north of Limerick Assume as fact Aspirin targets “Desperate Housewives” role Five-Year Plan nation “Don’t ___ a soul!”

Bulb measure Pudding starch Splashy party Arabian gulf Not in the least fresh Young’s partner in accounting Diamond contingents 23rd Greek letter Measure of resistance Quieter in a school?

Geraint’s wife Friday and Pepper, briefly Petroleum giant Ex-Soviet news agency Vinters’ vessels Merit, as compensation Girl, in time Jung’s feminine component Anniversary gift before wood Gravy thickener Put down the hatch “Stand By Me” singer ___ King Sci-fi sightings Face-off site Secret language Cameo stone The older of two catch players Financial instrument

Friday’s solution

Friday’s solution

22

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Lifestyle

Chhim Sreyneang Social Life Manager

The official opening of R&T Sok Heng Law Office @ Hotel Sofitel

Ashley Phelps, of counsel at Rajah Tann, Lee Anne

Kala Anandarajah, partner at Ashley Phelps,Trent Eddy, director at EMI, Kenneth Rajah Tann, Robert J Elliott Atkinson, managing partner at Grant Thornton

Daniel Zarba, CCFC, Touch Franch, Simon Lassailly, SDV Cambodia

On Thursday, the law firm R&T Sok Heng held the official opening of its office at Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra. The Singapore-based company now has branches in 10 Asian countries. At the opening night, His Excellency Chan Tani, secretary of state of the Office of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Cambodia joined the celebrations, alongside other special guests.

Heng Dyna, Yuki Tsuda, Suvireak Kim, Heng Mang Meng, Patty Heng, John A sourcing manager from BAT Cordova, partner at Rajah Tann

Pheng Bora, Kong Sean

Jin Hui and Li Shu Hui from ICBC

Sok Sophea, Khoy Pichchenda, Hout Sotheary, Tiv Sophonnaroth and Sun Piseth from Rajah Tann

Kala Anandarajah and Robert J Martin Coveney, Michael G Airey, Rob Matteo, managing Elliott CEO at Manulife director of Power Topia, Mark Cheng

Uk Kosal, Seng Vitou, Touch Sokheng, marketing officer at AMK

Vinojit Ambalavaner, Hidehiko Kondo, H Iwatate from Marubeni Corp

Amanda Bloom, singer

Narie Berry, Manon Plouchart, Delphine Constandin

Sugieda Sakiko, Ogawa Masumi, tour manager from Apex, Andrew C L Ong

Grand Opening Restaurant Tokyo Cambodia-Singapore Cuisine Last Monday a new Japanese restaurant opened inside the Special Economic Zone on National Road 4. The eatery is intended to serve up original fresh food cooked by Japanese chefs and is aimed at businessmen, foreign investors and other companies who visit the Special Economic Zone, or even simply pass by National Road 4. Cambodia Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An and Ouk Maly, vice governor of the National Bank of Cambodia numbered among the guests. After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, attendees tasted Japanese food and that famous alcoholic rice-wine, the country's national drink – sake.

night @ Lotus Blanc restaurant

Helen Chew, Catherine Tan

Morihiro Iljima, ECO of Keiaisha Co,Ltd

Aileen Ong Ai Lin, Chairman, Solutions to End Poverty, and Singapore Ambassador to Cambodia Premjith Sadasivan

Classic Khmer dishes like fish amok and nam bun chuk mingled with Singaporean beef rendang and laksa in a sumptous spread put on by the Singaporean embassy in Cambodia on May 23. The CambodiaSingaporean Cuisine Night was held at Lotus Blanc restaurant, the eatery run in association with French NGO PSE, where novice Cambodian chefs learn the trade. Guests included Ambassador Premjith Safasivan as well as representatives from a host of Singaporean businesses, who networked together and enjoyed the varied spread of culinary delights on offer.

Ribbon-cutting ceremony

Ouk Maly, vice governor of the National Bank of Cambodia, and Kainama Noriko

Dave Garrison, dean of Hotel School, Seng Sovanyovatey, La Vibol, PSE Institute

Alicia Lim, Andrew Tay, Director at Himawari, Chua Kim Hai and Khoo Hang Pengotel

Kong Vireak Setha, Ouk Sovan from PSE

Lim Siv Ho and Kainama Noriko

Sen Ratana, Marith Khin, sales manager at NTT Communications, Motoki Ikeda, CEO at Footmark, and Pich Thavara

Phol Daro, Sun Soda, Khiev Oeurn from PSE

Aileen Ong Ai Lin, chairman, Solutions to End Poverty (second from left)

23

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Lifestyle

Socheata and Sontery Social Life Team

Charity Concert by Nick Vujicic @ Diamond Island Nick Vujicic, Serbian-Australian Evangelist and motivation speaker and director of the non-profit organisation Life Without Limbs, came to Diamond Island on Sunday, May 26, to share his experiences. The charity concert, hosted by Vujicic and organised by Happy Tree NGO, which supports orphaned and disabled children, was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Man Sam An, as well as scores of other guests.

Nick Vujicic

Amy Alexander, Greame Rosenfeld

Mao Puthipanha and Em Pearuom

Nong Demy, Kong Dalin, Kuoch Kimleang Prak Maryroth Voleak, Un Sotheavy

Chelsea Town, Zoe Ekberg

Jerry Wong, chairman of Happy Tree Social Services Cambodia, Nick Vujicic, Man Sam An, deputy prime minister, minister of National Assembly-Senate Relations

Melissa Drabbant

Sam Raksa, Ung Sophak Mith

Sim Abby, and Apple Love

24

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Football

Boeung Ket snuffed out in Singapore Cup

It was a game of two halves for Metfone C-League champions Boeung Ket Rubber Field, who were crushed 4-1 by S League side Tanjong Pagar in the opening round of the 2013 RHB Singapore Cup on Friday. The Cambodians held out against their Singaporean opponents at the Jalan Besar stadium to go into the break still locked at 0-0, but an explosive end to the second half had the home side take the lead on 66 minutes through Frenchman Ismael Benhamed. Tanjong pushed ahead with a strike from local player Asraf Abdul Rashid before the visitors pegged one back via a Benhamed own goal.

In the final 10 minutes, Algerian Kamel Ramdani converted a spotkick and Monsef Zerka of Morroco slammed the door on Boeung Ket’s run in the competition. DAN RILEY

Heynckes coy as Bayern claim a historic treble

Treble-winning trainer Jupp Heynckes has said he will reveal his future plans tomorrow having finished his two-year tenure by coaching the most successful side in Bayern Munich’s history. Bayern’s 3-2 victory over VfB Stuttgart in Saturday’s German Cup final completed the set, after winning both the Champions League and Bundesliga, to become Germany’s first team to land the treble. Ex-Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola will take charge on June 26 as Heynckes ends his third stint as Bayern coach. AFP

Mourinho exits to boos; Barca hit 100-point mark Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho was booed by the majority of a sparse home crowd as he ended his controversial three-year spell in charge with a 4-2 win over Osasuna. Meanwhile, champions Barcelona rounded off their campaign with a 4-1 win over Malaga to match Real’s league record of 100 points from last season on the final day.

Meanwhile, Real president Florentino Perez has had his mandate extended to 2017 after no other candidates declared themselves for presidential elections that were due to take place later this month. This will be Perez’s fourth term as Real president as he previously won elections in 2000 and 2004, then after resigning in 2006, returned to win again in 2009. AFP

Saturday’s Results Spanish La Liga

Deportivo 0 Real Sociedad 1 Deportivo are relegated Granada 2 Getafe 0 Levante 1 Real Betis 1 Mallorca 4 Valladolid 2 Mallorca are relegated R Vallecano 2 Athl Bilbao 2 Real Zaragoza 1 Atl Madrid 3 Zaragoza are relegated Sevilla 4 Valencia 3 Barcelona 4 Malaga 1 Real Madrid 4 Osasuna 2

International Friendlies

Panama 1 Peru 2 Mexico 2 Nigeria 2 On Friday Italy 4 San Marino 0 Turkey 0 Slovenia 2

tonight’s fixtures International Friendlies Estonia v Belarus – 12am Sweden v Macedonia – 12am

Crown duels Phnom Penh Crown Academy captain Ouk Sovann (left) controls a ball under pressure from a Frenz Malaysia A team player during their FAM-Frenz U15 ASEAN Champions Trophy match at Olympic Stadium on Saturday. The home side were denied a remarkable victory in their second outing in the prestigious regional competition as Malaysia’s Akhmar Haiqal pounced on a weak header back to the keeper from Ouk Sovann to score a last-gasp equaliser. Crown’s Chhuot Senteang had put his team in front in the first half with a clinical finish on 34 minutes. Crown now boast a 4-0 loss and a draw from the first two Group A games. In other U15 Trophy matches played across the region over the weekend, Frenz Indonesia thumped Brunei U15s 4-1, Thailand Chonburi Academy pounded Singapore NFA 4-0, Timor Leste U15s and Vietnam PVF Academy played out a 1-1 draw, Frenz Malaysia B had a goal-less stalemate with Lao Toyota Academy and Myanmar Mandalay Academy won 4-1 over the Philippines U15s. WORDS BY DAN RILEY, PHOTO BY SRENG MENG SRUN

Svay Rieng, Naga in six-goal thriller Dan Riley and HS Manjunath

A

n enthralling heavyweight battle in the Metfone C-League yesterday had Svay Rieng escape with a share of the points after Hoy Phallin netted an 89th-minute equaliser to end their game against Naga Corp at three goals a piece.

In the evening kickoff, Phnom Penh Crown smashed Senate Secretariat 8-1 to leapfrog Naga into third in the table.

Svay Rieng had started the brighter of the two top four teams yesterday at Olympic Stadium, with Sok Chanraksmey opening their account after just eight minutes.

However Samoeun Pidor then gifted Naga an equaliser by sticking one in his own net.

Chun Chum took Naga ahead with a goal on the half-hour mark, while Ivory Coast midfielder Anderson Zogbe, who is on loan from Thai Premier League club BEC Tero Sasana FC, scored shortly before the break to bring the sides in at 3-1 to Naga.

Svay Rieng remained resolute and fought back to give themselves a glimpse of hope on 77 minutes via Nigerian signing Tomasz Esua’s strike.

But there still time left to put the icing on the comeback cake for Svay Rieng as Hoy Phallin hit a last-gasp leveller to seal a share of the spoils.

Crown demolish Senate to go third The later match featured another demoralising rout for the rock-bottom Senate side, although they gave Crown an early shock by going ahead with just nine minutes on the clock thanks to Puch Savuth.

Crown quickly moved to establish

Svay Rieng’s Hoy Phallin (right) celebrates scoring a last-minute equaliser as team-mates point up to the fans in the main stand during yesterday’s Metfone C-League game at Olympic Stadium. SRENG MENG SRUN

a foothold in the fixture and Dutch recruit Elroy van den Hooft edged open the floodgates with a goal on 21 minutes.

It was to be the first of four fantastic scores from the impressive frontman as his team ran rampant throughout the rest of the game.

South Korean Lee Ha-Neul and Hong Pheng chalked up a goal each leading up to the interval, and then a second-half hat-trick by Van den Hooft was compounded by late strikes from Lay Makara and Khim Borey.

Police edge Asia Europe University Outpaced in the first half of the league season, National Police Commissary needed to pick up a full set of points against one of the back-enders in Asia Europe University when the two met in the only game on Saturday at Olympic Stadium. The Police had to do it the hard way, wearing down AEU 2-1.

If there is one player who has done a merry-go-round in the last few years, swinging from one club to the other, it is former national player Nuth Sinoun. He is now with the University-

backed side and he showed his battle scars when driving the team to a 13thminute lead.

That early goal for AEU was enough to raise a red flag in the Police camp.

Though the side spent a few anxious moments trying to close in, the equaliser came 16 minutes later through Sok Va, who completed his own double a minute before half-time.

Neither team managed to put the ball in the net in the next session and Police were more than happy to hear the final whistle go. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHORN NORN

25

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Sport

Patriots prevail in fight of Filipinos H S Manjunath

F

ast changing leads, comebacks and stumbles marked an intense contest in which Alaxan FR Patriots prevailed 80-71 over Ganzberg as the inaugural Cambodian Basketball League presented by Western Union was launched with great fanfare at the Beeline Arena on Saturday.

Spilling well into the late evening, this third and final game of the opening day of the season carried with it a strong flavour of Filipino rivalry that kept the stands buzzing with excitement.

The Patriots jumped out of the stalls well to cut the early wind, but Ganzberg always found the means to be well within range. The first quarter was as close as it could be, 19-16 Patriots, which turned it into a 41-30 half-time advantage.

After an up-and-down third quarter, it wasn’t until 90 seconds to play in the fourth that the Patriots assumed command with some fast breaks and solid defence.

“It was an intense game and adding to it was the Filipino rivalry between the teams. We are happy we won the game,” Patriots manager Chris Borja told the Post after their game.

In another match-up, Cellcard Eagles lost two key players – Sean Looney and Nic Morgan – to their

An NSK Dream player (in white) tries to make a pass past a Sela Meas player during their CBL game at Beeline Arena.

fifth personal fouls at the start of the fourth quarter.

The impact was devastating as IRB The Lord reeled off 20 points to the Eagles 9 in the final stanza to come away with a 51-36 win in a

game of low percentages on perimeter shooting.

National player Monh Ratana, who normally buckets well from the three-point line went blank.

But what worked for The Lord was

SRENG MENG SRUN

what they are feared for and excel at – fast transitions.

“It took us three quarters to find the best player configuration to defeat the other team. In the fourth quarter we had it, and could finally

secure the victory,” IRB The Lord manager So Virak told the Post.

Sela Meas won the all-Cambodian affair 62-50 against a youthful NSK Dream, who flattered only to deceive.

The start for NSK was indeed a dreamy one, a 21-9 first-quarter lead built on sound offence and quick-shift overs, but the team could hardly sustain that pace in the second. Sela Meas, made up of seasoned players, were level on terms at 28 going into the second half of the contest.

The progression for Sela Meas in the third and fourth quarters was so good that they had a lot to spare in the waning moments of the game.

Their strong showing was inspired

by Sok Samnang, who posted 18 points, while Pheng Dara contributed 14 including a treble of threepoint bombs.

The official opening ceremony before the start of the first batch of three games was presided over by Cambodian Basketball Federation President Sean Borath, who is also Secretary of State at the Education, Youth and Sport Ministry and a personal adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen. All 12 teams in the roster were present in their regular colours, with the next set of matches to be played at the same venue on Saturday.

26

THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

MMA

Birthday bumps as Oishi wins title belt James Goyder

J

apanese veteran Koji Oishi received the perfect present on his 36th birthday on Friday night in the shape of a ONE FC featherweight belt after his secondround stoppage win over Honorio Banario in Manila.

Their title tilt was the main event of ONE FC: Rise to Power, which saw 20,000 Filipino fans squeeze into the brand new SM Mall of Asia Arena to witness the second card which Asia’s biggest MMA promotion has held in the Philippines.

The evening ended in disappointment for the majority of them when hometown hero Banario was unable to mount a successful defence of the belt he won in February, despite coming desperately close to stopping Oishi in the opening round.

After some tentative early exchanges, Banario exploded into life late in the round and chased the challenger across

the cage with a body kick and a flurry of punches which saw the Japanese veteran drop to the floor and the referee ready to intervene.

Unfortunately for the Filipino, his onslaught was interrupted by the bell, saving Oishi from the ignominy of a first-round defeat and gave him a minute in which to recover. It proved decisive as the Japanese fighter landed a brutal overhand right in the second round which knocked Banario down and then finished him off with a hard follow-up punch.

It was the 44th fight of Oishi’s 13-year MMA career and he admitted that he had been fortunate to still be in the fight after getting outstruck in the opening round, “Yes, I was hurt and I am happy the referee did not stop the fight. Winning the ONE FC belt is the biggest accomplishment of my career and I am very happy and proud to be champion,” he said.

In the co-main event, Bibiano Fernandes cemented his status as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world with a one-sided decision win over Japan’s Koetsu Okazaki.

The Brazilian dominated the five-round fight from start to finish to become the new ONE FC interim bantamweight champion.

The belt is currently held by the injured South Korean Soo Chul Kim and Fernandes is likely to face him next in a unification bout. The interim champion is a five-time BJJ world champion, who has also won Dream titles at both 61kg and 66kg making ‘The Flash’ the most decorated fighter in Asian MMA at the moment.

Another contender for the 61kg belt will be Masakatsu Ueda, who beat Kevin Belingon by unanimous decision in the final of the ONE FC Bantamweight Grand Prix on Friday night. The Filipino

came on strong in the closing stages but couldn’t quite find the finish or do enough to make up for the Japanese veteran’s superiority in the first two rounds.

The most dramatic moment of the evening came earlier when touted knockout artist Nobutatsu Suzuki and charismatic veteran Phil Baroni collided with predictably violent consequences. The American started strong and looked close to getting a stoppage but his Japanese opponent surged forwards and finished the fight with a flurry of knees and punches.

Baroni wasn’t the only UFC veteran to experience defeat as former two-time heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia was stopped by upand-coming contender Tony Johnson Jnr. There were also wins for Yasuhiro Urushitani, Kamal Shalorus, Andrew Leone, Yusup Saadulaev and Lowen Tynanes.

Japan’s Koji Oishi celebrates with the ONE FC Featherweight World Championship belt in Manila. ONEFC.COM

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Sport

Lions to expect more whacks

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arren Gatland has warned his British & Irish Lions to turn the other cheek and not react to provocation from Australian opponents in the forthcoming weeks.

The Lions enjoyed a runaway 59-8 win over the Barbarians in their opening tour fixture on Saturday in Hong Kong, but their young fly-half, Owen Farrell, was caught up in an ugly first-half clash with his Saracens club-mate Schalk Brits.

Farrell took a sharp punch to the jaw from the usually affable Brits, who had taken exception to being illegally held back at a ruck.

The 21-year-old England international responded by shoving at the South African’s face, and Gatland stressed afterwards that his players could not afford to lose their cool on the Australian leg of their 10-match tour. “One of the things we’re going to emphasise very strongly on this tour is to make sure we keep our discipline . . . that’s going to be hugely important for us,” Gatland said, well aware that the Wallabies will attempt to wind up any player with a potentially volatile temperament.

“We might find a similar situation in Australia, and we’ve got to make sure we don’t react to it. It’s a nice reminder – and we’ve had a couple in the last few weeks – that sometimes that sort of thing happens and you

Pacers down Heat to force game seven in Eastern final

The Indiana Pacers exploded in the second half en route to a 91-77 victory over the Miami Heat on Saturday to force a deciding seventh game in their NBA Eastern Conference final series.

The Pacers, who were led by Paul George with 28 points, still face a tough task if they want to deny the Heat a return to the NBA finals, with Miami having the luxury of hosting game seven tonight. AFP

Blackhawks down Kings in West finals opener, Bruins win Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa netted second-period goals on Saturday to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 2-1 victory over the defending NHL champion Los Angeles Kings in their best-of-seven Western Conference final series opener. The winner will face either the Pittsburgh Penguins or Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup finals. The Bruins opened the Eastern Conference finals with a 3-0 victory over the Penguins in Pittsburgh. AFP Barbarians’ Martin Castrogiovanni (right) confronts British and Irish Lions’ Owen Farrell (left) during their friendly match.

need to take one for the team. You get whacked and you can’t retaliate because the consequences of your retaliation can be reasonably severe as well. That’s a point we will stress to the players.”

Brits, who received a yellow card, has been cited and Gatland has been around the block often enough to know it will not be the last punch

thrown at a Lions player on tour. The Lions now travel to Perth, where they face the Western Force on Wednesday in the first of nine Tour matches around Australia. The three-test series against the Wallabies begins in Brisbane on June 22.

Australia coach Robbie Deans was forced to make three changes to his 25-man training squad yesterday af-

REUTERS

ter the Wallabies suffered more injury problems ahead of the tests.

Melbourne Rebels halfback Nick Phipps, NSW Waratahs lock Kane Douglas and Western Forceloose forward Ben McCalman were called up after second row Sitaleki Timani, inform back row Scott Higginbotham and winger Digby Ioane dropped out injured. THE GUARDIAN & REUTERS

Australian swimming boss quits over ‘private comments’

Swimming Australia’s president, Barclay Nettlefold, resigned yesterday after admitting to making comments inconsistent with the “standards expected of me”. Nettlefold resigned yesterday after admitting that comments made to a female team consultant, which he said were “made in jest”, were at odds with the culture he was trying to promote within swimming. AFP

In two special editions on Friday, June 14, and Friday, June 28, The Phnom Penh Post will proudly present special reports called:

World Heritage Cambodia A proud moment in Cambodian history

Starting on June 16 and running through to June 27, for the first time, Cambodia will host more than 800 delegates of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. In Cambodia's role as chairman of the 37 session of the World Heritage Committee, The Phnom Penh Post will publish messages of welcome from the Royal Government as well as a schedule of events and highlights of what's on the agenda.

In the June 28 report two weeks later, we will publish what happened during this important series of meetings, including the Siem Reap closing ceremony on June 27.

This is a chance for travel agencies, airlines, hotels, restaurants, banks, telecoms and all kinds of providers, especially in the tourism industry, to highlight their companies in these special reports.

We will be highlighting all the important antiquities of Cambodia and listing all the World Heritage sites such as Angkor Wat and Preah Vihear and gaining insights into how Cambodia's chairmanship of this important group creates the conditions for a robust future of the tourism industry through the preservation of antiquities and the gracious hosting of the World Heritage Committee.

Advertisers will be offered special discount rates for inclusion in both publications on June 14 and 28.

To advertise, contact borom.chea@phnompenhpost.com - call 012 76 34 81 or Siem Reap: Sophearith Blondeel - call 092 752 801 | 063 964 151 | Email: Sophearith.Blondeel@phnompenhpost.com United Nations

Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization

World Heritage Convention

This is a chance to show how much your company cares about the preservation of Cambodia's antiquities.

Booking deadline: Friday, June 7. Artwork deadline: Wednesday, June 12.

Friday, June 14 and Friday, June 28.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST June 3, 2013

Sport Hem Bunting tops Aquathlon again Yeun Ponlok

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he second edition of the CCC Aquathlon, hosted by the Cambodian Triathlon Federation on Saturday at the Cambodian Country Club, enjoyed an increase in participation from the previous year, according to CTF officials.

Of the 183 athletes that competed, the vast majority represented Cambodian clubs and associations and displayed an improvement in standard because of stricter entry conditions by the organisers forbidding those with limited or no training.

Approximately three per cent of the participants were foreigners.

The clubs and associations include Rithy Sen, Ministry of Information, Reach Sey, National Training Center, APP, CCC, PSE, Takhmao, Friendly Organisation and Human Resources University.

Despite a drop in volunteer numbers, the event was hailed as a success by the Federation.

Information minister and CTF honorary president Khieu Kanharith said in a speech on May 14: “The main purpose of this [Aquath-

Girls compete in the swimming section of the 2013 CCC Aquathlon at the Cambodian Country Club on Saturday.

lon] event is to encourage people to play sport and improve their standard. It also marks the International Children’s Day.” In the men’s 18-35 years old class, which featured a swim of 350m before a run of 4.8km, Cambodia’s na-

tional team athlete and SEA Games marathon medallist Hem Bunting of AAP Club defended the title he won last year with a time of 22 minutes and 10 seconds.

Two minutes back came runnerup Neang Pich Piseth of Rithy Sen

SRENG MENG SRUN

Club, while fellow national team long-distance runner Ma Viro, racing for Human Resources University Club, took third.

National Training Centre Club’s Khem Sambath clinched top honours in the 13- to 17-year-old boys

division by completing the 150m swim and 3.2km run in just under 15 minutes. His club-mate Met Sopheaktra took silver, and Seng Khon of PSE Club grabbed bronze.

The men’s over-35s race produced the day’s only international winner in Jorge Ramos, who splashed through a 250m swim and dashed a 4km run in 20 minutes and five seconds.

Pov Hok of Human Resources University Club was two minutes off the pace in second, with Rithy Sen Club’s Khut Srous capturing third.

The women’s 18- to 35-year-old competition over a 350m swim and 3.8km run saw a winning performance by Hay Ley Sayby of Reach Sey club. Her time of 28 minutes 33 seconds beat local swimming star Hem Thon Vitiny of National Training Centre into second, with Vitiny’s club-mate Seng Somphos third.

The U17 girls class, held over the same distance as the boys’ event, saw Met Mary Yan triumph in 17 minutes and nine seconds. Nen Su Maly and Rini Oum Reachany rounded off the top three in second and third respectively to seal a clean sweep of podium places for the National Training Center Club. TRANSLATED BY CHENG SERYRITH