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KR crimes denial law set to pass Abby Seiff

A LAW criminalising the denial of Khmer Rouge crimes could see a political party massively fined or even dissolved should a member breach it, according to the draft expected to be passed this week.

Submitted to the National Assembly last week and set to be debated on Friday, the Law on Refusing to Recognise Crimes Committed During Democratic Kampuchea contains a proviso allowing legal entities to be held criminally liable if their representatives are found guilty of breaking the law.

According to a copy of the draft law obtained by the Post yesterday, Article 4 of the five-article law states that a “legal entity can be declared responsible for the crimes”. The law points to a pair of articles in the Criminal Code that lay out the conditions under which the legal entity could be held responsible and the punishments it could face.

Among the penalties listed in the Criminal Code’s Article 168 are “placement under judicial supervision”, “prohibition from undertaking one or more activities” and “dissolution”. Separately, the draft denial law provides for fines up to 500 million riel ($125,000).

The ability to punish legal entities Continues on page 6

Praying for land Khmer Kampuchea Krom monks gather at the Borey Prey Nokor Association in Phnom Penh yesterday to mark the 64th anniversary of losing land under French rule.

HONG MENEA

Dam firm violated law Shane Worrell

T

HE parent company behind a firm constructing the Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng has repeatedly violated Chinese law by building “massive” power projects without prior approval, China’s national auditor has found.

State-owned China Huaneng Group, of which Lower Sesan 2 partner Hydrolancang International Energy is a subsidiary, undertook projects including a 1,900 megawatt dam on

Chinese auditor lashes Sesan 2 builder the Mekong River without permission, a report released last month by China’s National Audit office says.

“As of the end of 2011, Huaneng had begun construction of 16 major projects – including the Huangdeng hydropower station – without prior approval,” the report states, adding that the projects were worth billions of US dollars.

In total, the auditor adds, the state-

owned firm had begun 75 projects by the end of 2011, “but 81,226.27 acres [3,2871 hectares] of land that the projects were being built on had not yet been approved for construction”.

The auditor also found that the company had over-reported assets, liabilities and profits, because its management procedures “lacked stringency and standardisation”.

An employee at Huaneng’s office in

China declined to give his name yesterday and said the company could not provide comment.

Hydrolancang, which is owned by Huaneng, announced last November it would build the 400-megawatt, $781 million Lower Sesan 2 dam in partnership with Cambodia’s Royal Group at the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok rivers. Parliament has since approved the project, but riv-

erside communities say they have not been given information about relocation or compensation, despite swathes of trees already being cleared to make way for the resulting reservoir. Environmental groups have said the Lower Sesan 2 poses serious risks to the Mekong River’s fish stocks and bioversity.

Ame Trandem, Southeast Asia program director for International Rivers, said the “major violations” revealed by Continues on page 4

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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

National

Murder case

Body found at dumpsite in capital

T

HE naked body of a woman, believed to have been murdered, was found near a dumpsite in Dangkor district’s Bakor village yesterday, Phnom Penh police said.

The body was draped in a red blanket, with a white cord wound tightly around the neck, police said. She was believed to have been killed two to three days before the grisly discovery was made.

District police chief Khem Saran estimated the woman’s age to be about 20, adding that he believed foul play was involved, as there were injuries on her neck.

Because she was wrapped in a blanket, Saran suspects that the woman was killed in a provincial guesthouse and disposed in the city.

“We are working on this case now, trying to identify the body and arrest the suspect,” Saran said. “We have also notified families that have reported missing family members, but no one has identified the body.”

If no one comes forward to claim the body, it will be cremated today, Saran said. KIM SAROM

Thais shut door to Rainsy David Boyle

OPPOSITION leader Sam Rainsy was denied entry into Thailand yesterday and reportedly told he would not be allowed back until after the Cambodian election.

Rainsy had been set to launch his new book We Didn’t Start the Fire: My Struggle for Democracy in Cambodia at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand tonight but said from Singapore yesterday that he had been turned away by immigration.

“They told me that I would be welcome back after the election,” he said, before declining to comment further, saying he was busy.

The FCCT stressed on its website that it was merely hosting, not sponsoring, Rainsy’s event.

“The club was given to understand that the refusal was in line with the Thai government’s policy of not allowing foreign political activity on Thai soil,” FCCT board member George McLeod said yesterday.

When asked if the Cambodian embassy had pushed Thai immigration authorities to deny Rainsy entry, Cambodian ambassador You Ay laughed and hung up on a reporter.

Thai ambassador to Cambodia Touchayoot Pakdi said he knew nothing about the incident, while officials at the Thai

Loans reflect on party: PM Vong Sokheng

P

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy is seen in Washington, DC, last month.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment.

Despite the apparent slap in the face, Rainsy’s Cambodia National Rescue Party remained quiet about the incident yesterday, with spokesmanYim Sovann saying he had no information.

Rainsy, who lives in self-imposed exile to avoid charges some argue are politically motivated, is not the first foreign visitor to be barred entry into Thailand under politically sensitive circumstances, though he has also previously travelled to the country without incident.

In September 2010, another event at the FCCT by the NGOs International Federation for

afp

Human Rights and Vietnam Committee on Human Rights was cancelled after the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs revoked the visas of attendees.

Political analyst Kem Ley said factors that could have influenced Thailand’s decision included the close relationship between Prime Minister Hun Sen and former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, border tensions and recent attempts by the government to link Rainsy’s party to “terrorist” movements.

“Maybe Thais are also afraid of that particular issue. Thais, they don’t want to be the [location] for political movements,” he said.

RIME Minister Hun Sen yesterday touted a pair of development loans from Japan and France as proof positive of the ruling party’s successes.

“Their assistance to Cambodia ahead of July’s general election truly reflects their trust in Cambodia’s political stability,” Hun Sen said, addressing hundreds at the inauguration of a new water treatment plant in Meanchey district.

Japan’s development agency arm loaned the Kingdom $40.6 million, while the French Agency for Development loaned roughly $20 million toward the $90.4 million water treatment plant. Tomorrow, the Japanese ambassador, Yuji Kumamaru, is expected to sign off on a grant aid extension of more than $36 million for two other projects.

Such funding, said the premier, demonstrated faith in Cambodia.

“If they were not clear [about the political stability in Cambodia], they would not have signed off,” he said.

Pointing to the 2003 elections, after which a year-long dead-

lock led a number of donor countries to freeze aid, Hun Sen stressed that the willingness of France and Japan to support the government would not go unheeded.

“I will not make my friends [development partners] be disappointed,” said Hun Sen. “When our friend helps us, we have to help our friend.”

The premier also took pains to remind his audience how far the country had come since the fall of the Khmer Rouge, recalling that when he first entered Phnom Penh, a mere 70 people were occupying the capital.

“If there was no liberation day on January 7, 1979, would we survive until today?”

“Now leaders of the Pol Pot regime are standing for trial,” he added.

Yim Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, said he agreed that there has been political stability both before and after elections, but said that this painted only part of the picture, noting that the lives of individuals were far from stable.

“It is a shadow of political stability, and there is a lack of justice,” he said.

Would-be lawmaker out Meas Sokchea

OPPOSITION lawmaker candidate Sam Sundoeun has withdrawn from the National Assembly election race because he is unable to afford to campaign, he told the Post yesterday.

The former Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker, who held a position in the National Assembly from 1997 to 2003, said he quit as a Cambodia National Rescue Party candidate for Phnom Penh constituency on Sunday.

“I lack the resources [to campaign]. I would like to ask for reformation in the [party’s] leadership,” he said, declining to explain precisely what reforms he sought.

CNRP spokesman Yem Ponharith declined to comment yesterday, saying he had yet to see Sundoeun’s resignation letter.

National Election Committee Secretary General Tep Nytha said that under the law, candidates may not be replaced once a party’s candidate list has been submitted.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

National

Rail evictees’ struggles remain Sean Teehan and Chhay Channyda

S

INCE Cambodia’s railway rehabilitation project forced Yoeung Pharun to relocate from Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district to Por Sen Chey in 2011, she and her husband have been unable to work.

“I sold second-hand clothes at Tuol Sangke market and my husband is a carpenter. But here, we stopped going to work in Phnom Penh because it’s far from the outskirts,” Pharun told the Post yesterday. “We have to pay about 30,000 riels [$7.50] travelling – we can’t afford it.”

Possessing more than $4,000 in debt, Pharun has been questioned six times by a Por Sen Chey district official for late payments. She fears she may be jailed.

Pharun and her husband are just one family among more than 140 that moved from homes located centrally along Phnom Penh’s railway to a farflung relocation site in Trapaing Anchang village.

According a report released yesterday by urban housing NGO Sahmakum Teang Tnaut, people who chose to find their own accommodations in the

A Railway Rehabilitation Project evictee begins construction on her new home at a resettlement site in Por Sen Chey district in December. pha lina

city are faring better than their counterparts who made the government-brokered move.

“This has been a resettlement failure,” said Nora Lindstrom, STT’s program manager and co-author of the report.

“Unfortunately, it was completely predictable.”

The project, which is primarily funded by the Asian De-

velopment Bank and AusAID seeks to rehabilitate or reconstruct 641 kilometres of main line railway. The project has involved mass relocations up and down the line, and NGOs and representatives have for years decried the process for providing insufficient compensation and support.

The latest study – the most

Kingdom of Cambodia Nation Religion King The Administrator of Mfone Co., Ltd. Insolvency and Liquidation Proceedings REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST FOR BIDDING TELECOME NETWORK ASSETS Mfone Co., Ltd (thereafter called the Debtor) is one of a giant mobile cellular service operator in Cambodia. The Debtor had been operating in mobile cellular service industry for almost 20 years. The Debtor had filled voluntarily for the insolvency and liquidation since early 2013.

In accordance with Court’s Orders issued by the Court for First Instance of Kingdom of Cambodia, the insolvency and liquidation proceedings are opened against the Debtor on 14 February 2013 and 12 March 2013 respectively. The Administrator, Mr. Ry OUK has been appointed as trustee and liquidator.

During liquidation proceedings, the following telecom network infrastructureare planned to be liquidated accordingly.

No.

Class of asset

1

Access Codes

Description

Conditions and terms In conformity with the Notification by the Royal Government of Cambodia, both subscribers and Access Codes are temporarily transferred to CamGSM Co., Ltd., (one of mobile operator in Cambodia) for the purpose of Access Codes are the mobile prefix number protecting the interest of subscribers. i.e. 099, 011, 085, 061 and 076.

The Court and Royal Government of Cambodia will make the final decision regarding the distribution of this Access Code.

2

3

Frequency spectrum and licenses

These include GSM 1800MHz, EGSM 900MHz, CDMA 450MHz, Microwave Link, WiFi, License of Wireless Telecommunications System andService, License of Internet Service, License of Voice Over Internet Protocol, JVA of Wireless Local Loop Services, and License of Cellular Mobile and Telecommunication Network and Services using 3G.

These represent the Base Tower Station (BTS) and telecom equipment and tools used as infrastructure to provide the mobile Networks Assets cellular and other telecom services. There are 1,037 BTSs locate nationwide and each BTS also has telecom infrastructure built-in.

In conformity with the Notification by the Royal Government of Cambodia, all access codes, frequency spectrum, and operation licenses are kept under the control of the Debtor and final decision regarding the distribution of these access codes, frequency spectrum, and operation licenses shall be vested in the Court and Royal Government of Cambodia.

The details of frequency spectrum and operation licenses will be given upon being entitled as qualified bidder.

The details of network assets will be given upon being entitled as qualified bidder.

The Administrator has the power to authorize any decision regarding the liquidation of these assets.

The Administrator would like to invite both eligible international and national bidders to indicate their interest in bidding for the above telecom network assets. Interested bidders must provide information indicating that they are qualified to bid (brochures, description of similar businesses, experiences in similar conditions, availability of appropriate resources, etc.)

Bidders will be selected in accordance with the “Guideline for Disposal of Telecom Network Assets” drafted and consented by the Administrator in conjunction with the Creditors’ Committee.

Qualified bidders will be given the detail information and data of the Telecom Network Assets and be invited to submit the proposal.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from background documents at the address below from 8:00AM to 4:00PM, Cambodian time.

The complete Expressions of Interest indicating the application’s interest in bidding the Telecom Network Assets with all relevant information as above with copies of relevant documents verification and full contact address shall submitted in two hard copies to the address mentioned below by 15June 2013 no later than 4:00PM, Cambodian time. No application shall be considered after the deadline.

Attention

: The Creditors’ Committee.

Insolvency and Liquidation of Mfone Co., Ltd. No. 721, Preach Monivong Blvd, Sangkat BKK3, Chamkarmorn, Phnom Penh Email: mfoneinsolvency@gmail.com

comprehensive released to date – surveyed 187 households comparing those who relocated with those who stayed, or moved from the resettlement site.

Employment dropped significantly among those who moved to Trapaing Anchang; 57 per cent of households included at least one person

who lost his job since relocating, the STT report said. Only 14 per cent of households that moved elsewhere experienced job loss.

Incomes among people who relocated to Trapaing Anchang dropped between 2011 and 2012, with an 89 per cent increase of people earning less than $150 per month and 97 per cent of them reporting they struggled to pay back debt.

Significant strides have been made in improving conditions in Trapaing Anchang since STT finished collecting data, Eric Sidgwick, ADB country director, said in a statement.

“Initial data from March 2013 involving 44 households in Trapaing Anchang shows the average resettled household debt has decreased to $875,” Sidgwick’s statement said. “Monthly average household income has increased to $373.67.”

Lindstrom acknowledged some attempts at improving Trapaing Anchang’s conditions, including financial training. But since ADB has refused to publicly disclose data gathered in a recent self-commissioned report – which STT and other NGOs have said is highly critical – it is unclear how deep the improvements run.

Protest over S-21 ‘claim’ on Sunday Meas Sokchea

S-21 survivor and Victims Association of Democratic Kampuchea president Chum Mey announced yesterday that a previously threatened protest against opposition leader Kem Sokha over his alleged assertion that S-21 was a Vietnamese invention will be held Sunday.

“I will continue to demand that this politician accept responsibility for the nonsense claim that Tuol Sleng was an artificial prison,” Mey said during a press conference held at the genocide museum.

The march, he said, would move from Freedom Park to the Cambodia National Rescue Party headquarters, where the group would deliver a petition calling on Sokha to apologise for his words. Mey said he expects 20,000 people to show up at his rally and denied claims made by the opposition that the ruling party was behind the protest.

Phnom Penh Municipality spokesman Long Dimanche said he had received no request for such a protest and that whether the city provides a permit or not will depend on the potential impact on public order.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

National

officials involved Activist’s day in court arrives Forest in logging, villagers say Khouth Sophak Chakrya

May Titthara

T

HE Court of Appeal will today hear the case of Boeung Kak lake activist Yorm Bopha, who has spent the past 275 days in prison, accused of ordering an axe and screwdriver attack on two motodops.

Since her arrest in September, the 29-year-old has been a divisive figure. On one side, Bopha’s supporters and rights groups have said her arrest and subsequent sentencing to three years in prison was designed to silence her community’s enduring dissent.

On the other side, an army of motodops, members of the Cambodia for Confederation Development Association (CCDA), say Bopha masterminded a bloody assault, carried out by her two brothers, on two of their comrades.

On the eve of the trial, both sides were confident of justice yesterday and vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court if judges don’t rule in their favour.

“I hope the Appeal Court will drop the charges against my wife and free her,” Bopha’s husband Luon Sakhon said.

Like he’s done many times since Bopha’s arrest, CCDA president E Sophors again

Motodops who claim jailed Boeung Kak lake activist Yorm Bopha beat two of their own held a press conference at the Cambodian for Confederation Development Association office in Phnom Penh yesterday. vireak mai

accused Boeung Kak activists and NGOs of wrongly linking the assault case to an enduring land dispute.

He also called on the International Labour Organization and UNICEF to investigate whether the Boeung Kak community’s use of child protesters was exploitation. “Two hundred children have been persuaded . . . to join the parade along the streets and in front of ministries and . . .

the Appeal Court,” he said. “This is against their rights.”

One of the NGOs Sophors criticised, Amnesty International, again called for Bopha’s release, saying allegations against her were “spurious”.

“The lack of credible evidence against Yorm Bopha suggests that the charges were baseless and she should not have been convicted,” said Isabelle Arradon, Amnesty

deputy Asia Pacific director. In the past year, the Court of Appeal has ordered the release of Beehive Radio director Mam Sonando, 13 women from Boeung Kak and Borei Keila grandmother Tim Sakmony – all of whom rights groups say were arrested for political rather than criminal reasons.

None of those, however, have escaped conviction. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHANE WORRELL

COMMUNITIES living in the protected Snuol wildlife sanctuary in Kratie province said yesterday that the sanctuary was being destroyed by private companies acting in collusion with local wildlife officers.

Snuol forest community representative Mom Sakim said private interests were claiming large areas of the sanctuary without any intervention from authorities, despite Prime Minister Hun Sen’s moratorium on land concessions and promise to title villagers’ land.

“The destruction is due to a conspiracy with Kong Ngim, the director of Snuol wildlife sanctuary, who turns a blind eye to those people and allows them to clear the land,” she said.

Ngim could not be reached yesterday.

“When the Ministry of Environment made our three village communities a conservation area [in 2003], there was a lot of forest, but now . . . [it] is being destroyed by the rich,” she said, identifying Vietnamese companies Binh Phuoc Kratie Rubber 1, Binh Phuoc Kratie Rubber 2 and Eastern Rubber (Cambodia) as the culprits.

These three firms were ordered by Hun Sen last June to stop logging some 85 per cent of ELCs they possesed in the neighbouring Seima Protection Forest that remained evergreen or semi-evergreen forest.

Chay Samith, director of the Ministry of Environment’s national conservation and protection department, said he was too “busy” to speak yesterday.

Chhim Savuth, a senior investigator at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, told the Post yesterday he had seen swathes of land deforested by companies and ELC concessionaires in Snuol district, adding that in his experience illegal logging can always be traced back to forestry administration officials.

“Actually, if there is no conspiracy with expert officers, the crimes cannot happen. We only have the law, but no one follows it,” he said.

The sanctuary, protected by a royal decree, is one of the 10 largest wildlife sanctuaries in the country.

In April, more than 100 Snuol district villagers patrolled the forest and were reportedly threatened with violence by authorities after they burned logged timber they found.

A villager looks to the Sesan river in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district in April. vireak mai

Dam builder violated law Continued from page 1

the audit showed there was no guarantee the Lower Sesan 2 would be built in accordance with Cambodian law.

“If they can’t follow laws in China, why would they follow any laws within Cambodia?” she said. “[Hydrolancang] is their company . . . there are serious concerns with the way they will act.”

Hydrolancang was likely to play a leading role in resettling thousands of people affected by the Lower Sesan 2, which was “concerning”, because it had built the first dam on China’s part of the Mekong River with “disastrous” consequences for villagers, Trandem added.

“A lot of communities . . . waited over 20 years for ade-

quate compensation.” Trandem’s comments came on the sidelines of the Mekong and 3S Hydropower Dams forum, which concluded in Phnom Penh yesterday with representatives of communities and NGOs from Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam calling for the controversial dam to be scrapped.

“The Lower Sesan 2 dam should be cancelled due to the immense harm the project poses to the Mekong River Basin’s fisheries, sedimentation and other natural resources and the livelihoods and food security of the people of Cambodia, as well as neighbouring countries,” a joint statement says.

Participants also called for governments to abandon projects such as the Xayaburi dam, which is under construc-

tion in northern Laos, and for financiers and investors to comply with international standards and respect human rights and the law.

During the forum, many villagers set to be affected by the Lower Sesan 2 voiced their concerns about the lack of information given to them.

“The Lower Sesan will be built and we will be relocated,” one villager said. “I ask for everyone to help us – we can’t help ourselves.”

Kith Meng, chairman of Royal Group, could not be reached for comment, while Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy secretary of state Ith Praing said he was in a meeting and could not respond to questions. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DANSON CHEONG AND MAY TITTHARA

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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

National

Civil parties tell tales Unions divided over clash of unforgettable loss Mom Kunthear

Justine Drennan

T

HE suffering under the Khmer Rouge still shapes the daily lives of the three civil parties who appeared in the tribunal’s final victim impact hearings yesterday.

Sophany Bay, whose three children grew sick and died during the regime, now works in San Jose, California, as a mental health counsellor for immigrant Cambodian families.

These families, like Bay herself, have “brought along with

for military training before 1975. Bay joined her husband in 1983.

Like Bay and many of her patients, civil party Seng Sivutha said she frequently has nightmares about the Khmer Rouge.

But Sivutha, who was nine when the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh, also bears a constant physical reminder of her experience.

While forced to carry pig excrement out of a pit, Sivutha

My body trembles when there is a loud noise. And sometimes I become short-tempered and hit one of my children them the traumatic life they experienced during the Khmer Rouge regime”, Bay told the court. “I try to reconcile them [with] the dramatic experiences they came across.”

All of Bay’s relatives died under the Khmer Rouge except her husband, whom the Lon Nol regime had sent to the US

fell down and was beaten by Khmer Rouge cadres. A blow to her eye caused it to become infected, and she has since become blind.

“My body trembles when there is a loud noise. And sometimes I become short-tempered and I have to hit one of my children,” she said.

Studies have found post-traumatic stress disorder to be prevalent among Khmer Rouge survivors.

Positive relics of the past were few in yesterday’s hearing. Civil party Soeun Sovandy showed the court his one remaining family photo, taken in the area of southern Vietnam known to some as Kampuchea Krom.

The Khmer Rouge targeted Khmer Krom, calling them “Cambodians with Vietnamese heads”, and Sovandy lost his whole family, he said.

Sovandy asked accused former leaders: “If you happened to return to lead this regime again, would you do it differently?”

Khieu Samphan reiterated that he had not known of the atrocities but said if he had, he “would demand categorically that the Communist Party of Kampuchea redirect its direction to its original plan … [of] peace and prosperity”.

Nuon Chea, speaking by video link from his holding cell, said simply that it would depend on the country’s “situation”.

THE president of the Free Trade Union has threatened to order a large strike if eight FTU members arrested on Monday during violent clashes at the ongoing Sabrina Garment factory strike are not released.

Chea Mony said yesterday that members of rival union the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), who remained working at the Kampong Speu factory during protests, were responsible for violence that resulted in injuries on all sides.

“I want to tell [the police] that if they do not release my members … we all will join together to demand their release, because they did not do anything wrong.

It is unfair,” he said.

The demonstrations at the Nike supplier turned violent for the second time in two weeks when protesters entered the factory on Monday and exchanged volleys of sticks and stones with employees still at work.

Mony said protesters were entering the factory to discuss their demands with the company when they were targeted.

“The company cooperated with a group of C.CAWDU members and used stones, sticks and fire hoses to attack the protesters,” he said.

Sabrina Garment Factory workers clashed with police during protests in Kampong Speu province on Monday. Eight employees have been arrested. reuters

“I think the company and C.CAWDU organised this violence . . . Why did the police not arrest the members of C. CAWDU?” Um Visal, a legal officer at C.CAWDU, denied the accusations yesterday.

“It is wrong, and we cannot accept what they said. We were not involved in the violence. I know who is right and who is wrong because I was also there,” he said.

A C.CAWDU protester, who declined give her name out of safety concerns, said she did not want to see innocent

FTU members arrested. “I entered the factory to ask [workers] to join the protest with us, but a few of the C. CAWDU members used strong objects to hit us and caused the outbreak of violence,” she told the Post.

“The police should arrest the culprits, who are members of the C.CAWDU.” The Sabrina garment factory owner filed a lawsuit yesterday with provincial police against the FTU demanding $160,000 in compensation for property damaged by protesters, local police officials said.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

National

In brief Khmer Krom mourn loss of land 64 years on

ABOUT 1,000 monks and onlookers gathered at the Borey Prey Nokor Association in Phnom Penh yesterday, commemorating the 64th anniversary of France turning over Khmer Kampuchea Krom to Vietnam. On June 4, 1949, France gave the land that made up Kampuchea Krom, once Cambodian territory, to neighbouring Vietnam. Yesterday’s event included songs and speeches mourning the loss of the territory. Thach Sitha, president of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Association, called for Vietnam to return the land to Cambodia. “We have asked the Vietnamese government to share control of Khmer Krom with the Cambodian government,” Sitha said.

“They reject. But we keep trying.” Phak Seangly

Drug-drivers targeted

PRIVATE companies employing drivers were yesterday urged to closely monitor their staff to ensure they are not taking to the Kingdom’s roads under the influence of drugs. Pov Maly, a Ministry of Public Works and Transport official, said drivers in industries such as construction were rarely caught, because they tended to be on remote roads where traffic laws weren’t heavily enforced. “I want [government] officials to work with company owners to check drivers,” he said at a road safety seminar in Phnom Penh. To make traffic laws clearer, the ministry will publish 10,000 booklets about road safety. Khoun Leakhana and Melissa McMorran

Suspects finger ‘Candy’ man Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

T

WO Thai women charged with smuggling more than three kilograms of cocaine into the country yesterday denied the charges leveled against them and told the Phnom Penh Municipal Court they were unwitting drug mules.

The women – Varangkana Phomdee, 29, and Tangboo Ketkarn, 31 – are being charged with drug trafficking under Cambodia’s Anti-Drug Law for smuggling the drugs into the country from Ecuador last August, said presiding judge Sous Sam Ath. “Varangkana Phomdee was arrested by anti-drug police forces at Phnom Penh International Airport,” said Sam Ath, adding that her luggage contained six packages of cocaine.

Sam Ath said Tangboo was

Thai nationals Varangkana Phomdee (centre) and Tangboo Ketkarn were charged yesterday at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court with trafficking more than three kilograms of cocaine. hong menea

later arrested based on the testimony of Varangkana, obtained during a police interrogation.

During their court hearing

yesterday, the women said they were hired by a Nigerian man named “Candy” living in Thailand.

Varangkana said she was

paid $3,000 by Candy to bring the drugs from Ecuador to Cambodia; Candy also made all her travel arrangements.

“I was not the owner of these drugs, they belong to Mr Candy, who is now in Bangkok,” she said. “I didn’t know what I was carrying was drugs.”

Tangboo then told the court she was paid $2,000 to transport the goods from Cambodia into Thailand. She had travelled across the border to pick up the suitcase from Varangkana.

“I am not a drug trafficker or have any relation to do with the drugs seized,” Tangboo said. “I would like to ask the court to release me.”

But Ly Sophana, vice prosecutor at the municipal court, urged the court to maintain the charges and punish the suspects according to the law.

The verdict will be handed down June 21.

KR crimes denial law set to pass Continued from page 1

would open political parties to severe liability, legal experts said.

“Any organisation that is registered according to the law [is a legal entity],” said Cambodian Legal Education Center director Yeng Virak. “A political party is a legal entity.”

According to the Criminal Code’s Article 42, entities “may be held criminally responsible for offences committed on their behalf by their organs or representatives”.

To hold a political party liable for the crimes of its members “goes beyond the intention of the criminal law”, said Panhavuth Long, Cambodian Justice Initiative program officer.

But though it violates the intention, he said, holding parties responsible in the case

of deniers follows the letter of the law. “Even if the [guilty] individual is not very strong [within the party], they could shut down the political party,” he said, adding that he would not be surprised if the law was used to do just that.

National Assembly spokesman Chheang Vun declined to comment, saying he was in a meeting and wouldn’t talk about the law until today. Senior ruling party lawmaker Cheam Yeap, listed as the chief drafter in the submission document accompanying the law, could not be reached for comment.

On May 20, the government released an audio clip in which Cambodia National Rescue Party president Kem Sokha can be heard saying that Tuol Sleng prison was “staged”.

Both he and the party maintained the words were taken out of context, but the ensuing

scandal led Prime Minister Hun Sen to publicly propose a denial law, a suggestion taken up almost immediately.

Widely reported as a genocide denial law, the actual draft is in fact far more artfully worded. Legalistically, genocide refers to the targeting of a particular national, ethnic, racial or religious group, and lawyers and historians are at odds over whether such a crime occurred under the Khmer Rouge.

The law obtained yesterday, however, makes no reference to genocide, instead broadly focusing on “crimes committed during Democratic Kampuchea”.

Individuals who publicly “refuse to recognise, oppose, deny or challenge” those crimes, or those who endorse them, face between six months and two years in jail and fines of up to two million riel.

police blotter Ants in pants elicits no laughs, much stabbing A PRACTICAL joke turned seriously sour on Sunday in Pursat when the prankster was stabbed by his friend. Police said a group of buddies were drinking while on holiday in Krakor district, when the victim put some red ants down his mate’s shirt for a laugh. The friend, 17, evidently didn’t appreciate the humour and flew into a rage, pulling out a knife and stabbing his friend in the stomach, arm and back, before attempting to escape on a motorbike. Police caught him and have packed him off to court. nokorwat

Two-fisted drinker slugs his way into slammer A 26-YEAR-OLD pub brawler was arrested Monday, while his two friends got away, after the trio threw down with two other drinkers. According to police, the construction workers were knocking back Angkors in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district when stern words were exchanged. Things quickly escalated, with a wooden pole making an appearance as a weapon. Police soon arrived to arrest one man, while the other two assailants remain at large. kampuchea thmey

Would-be hit-and-run artist blames victims TWO schoolchildren were seriously injured after a car collided with them in Battambang on Monday. The siblings, aged 10 and 14, were riding a scooter to school when a speeding car crashed into them from behind, leaving the children with serious injuries. The reckless driver, instead of stopping to help, sped up to escape from the scene. Luckily, police managed to pull over the car, finding a male driver, 26, who blamed the accident on the kids. kampuchea thmey

Cop raid ups ante for small-time gamblers PAILIN town police apprehended a threesome of female card sharks on Sunday after getting a tip-off from a motodop.

Though villagers had been gathering for months in the gambling den, the police raid only managed to net the three women, aged 32, 36 and 45. The women confessed afterwards, saying they had only bet small money. The police, however, said the size of the bets was irrelevant, as gambling remained a social menace. nokorwat

Cops cop to causing crash – in line of duty EVEN POLICE have accidents, a group of officers in the capital’s Chamkarmon district claimed yesterday after they hit a woman’s motorbike, leaving her with critical injuries. An eyewitness said the woman and her friends were riding without a licence plate when officers tried to stop them, to no avail. The police gave chase and hit the woman’s wheel from behind, leaving her with injuries to the arms and legs. The police said it was an accident and blamed the victim, who they said had violated traffic laws. Rasmei kampuchea Translated by Phak Seangly

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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Business Indicative Exchange Rates as of 4/06/2013. 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

4,095

1.3063

0.9726

0.8056

1.532

6.1246

USD / JPY

USD / HKD

99.58

7.7626

USD / SGD

USD / THB

1.2529

30.4

Garment IPO may arrive in time for polls Anne Renzenbrink and May Kunmakara

Monks visit Preah Vihear temple in 2012. Japanese company JOGMEC is currently exploring onshore oil opportunities in Preah Vihear province.

heng chivoan

Japanese oil study ‘positive’ May Kunmakara and Low Wei Xiang

T

HE hunt for oil around northwestern Cambodia has unearthed “positive” results for Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), which intends to continue exploring the area in a project that could last at least six more years, a government spokesman said.

JOGMEC’s survey on the area known as Block 17, which spans across Siem Reap and Preah Vihear provinces, has netted “positive and encouraging” results, said the Council of Minister’s spokesman, Ek Tha. It has also led “to numerous new geological information and understanding of Cambodia onshore petroleum potential.”

Such findings are “a result of a three-year joint study between JOGMEC and the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA), which includes Cambodia’s first ever on-

shore 2D seismic acquisition by way of using explosives,” he said.

Seismic acquisition allows one to study an area’s subsurface geological structures and features. The process analyses waves that are generated from explosives and carom off underground structures such as rocks.

cipal agreement with CNPA to study and assess oil potential in northwestern Cambodia. In late January last year, it started the 2D seismic acquisition operation, and drilled 6,000 holes, each with a six-millimeter diameter and a depth of up to 20 metres.

Men Den, CNPA’s deputy director-

If the pipeline leaks, it will pollute the environment and affect humans, animals and rice fields nearby.

“JOGMEC intends to nominate a Japanese oil and gas company to negotiate a petroleum agreement with CNPA to continue exploration in this Block, which is expected to take another six to eight years to complete,” Tha said. JOGMEC presented its final report two days ago to Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, who is also CNPA’s chairman.

In May 2010, JOGMEC signed a prin-

general in charge of exploration, development and production, said that JOGMEC’s successful initial results do not mean that extraction would definitely occur.

“They just did the seismic process which was not drilled in a long depth.

But, they just concluded that it may [have oil]. So, they will do regional study once again to know more about the potential,” he said

“The government welcomes any investments because it benefits our people to have more jobs. If they want to go forwards, they need to sign production sharing contracts that last for about 30 years.”

Men Den added that the exploration has no impact on the renowned temples in the area, as the exploration site is situated far away.

Mam Sambath, executive director of Development and Partnership in Action, said that if petroleum is eventually found and extracted, the company should consider the possible environmental impacts.

Pipelines would have to be installed to transport the petroleum to refineries, he said.

“If the pipeline leaks, it will pollute the environment and affect humans, animals and rice fields nearby,” he said. This is especially true because the area being surveyed is home to many protected areas and sanctuaries, he added.

AFTER the listing of Taiwanese-owned garment company Grand Twins International (Cambodia) Plc on the Kingdom’s stock exchange was delayed indefinitely, its underwriter said yesterday that the firm hopes to list before the national elections in late July.

According to the underwriter, Phnom Penh Securities (PPS) Plc, negotiations between the company and the Securities Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) over the initial public offering price are finished by now and “we hope [they can list] before the election…We still have a lot to do. We’ll try our best.”

In February, the Post reported that Grand Twins International said it intends to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) in March. PPS said then that the company would offer 12 million shares at $0.25 a share.

PPS said Grand Twins had “negotiated with the SECC about the IPO price, the listing price”, which was “higher than the SECC agreed”, adding that they have now agreed on a price, but declined revealing the amount.

According to an active market participant of the CSX, the existing status regarding Grand Twins International “is more of an administrative and compliance matter that the underwriter is trying to complete for documentation”.

“The timeline to list very much depends on the completion of the required documentation, if the documents are ready and can be approved

by SECC before election, it will be listed before election, otherwise the listing will need to be postponed to after election,” the person familiar with the matter said.

Ming Ban Kosal, director-general of the SECC did not reply to an email yesterday.

The Post reported in March that stateowned fixed-line company Telecom Cambodia’s plan to join the CSX had been postponed indefinitely due to poor financial performance.

On Monday, Lou Kim Chhun, director general of Sihanoukville deep sea port, told the Post that the company is still working with an underwriter, SBI Phnom Penh Securities, on its IPO. “We made a lot of progress on the project. Everything is going smoothly now,” he said, without offering a timeframe . “We have not set the exact time yet. But we will try our best to get it as fast as we can.”

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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Business

finance could Myanmar plays excited host Islamic fuel Asian investment

H

UNDREDS of global leaders, industry chiefs and foreign media are descending on Myanmar’s capital as the former pariah state showcases its political and economic reforms in a bid to entice investment.

Some 900 delegates from more than 50 countries will pour into Naypyidaw for the World Economic Forum on East Asia, amid huge interest in Myanmar as it opens to the world after decades of isolation under military rule.

Workers have been busily sprucing up the paintwork of the purpose-built city’s wide avenues as armed security forces stand guard outside its imposing conference centre ahead of the three-day event, which starts today.

“We are like cats on hot bricks,” Set Aung, deputy minister for national planning and economic development, said when asked about the preparations.

Hundreds of hotel rooms – some in establishments owned by cronies of the former junta – are ready to welcome the influx of visitors to the sprawling capital, built in remote central Myanmar by the paranoid former generals.

A woman walks past a billboard for Coca-Cola in Yangon on Monday.

Yesterday Coca-Cola began production in Myanmar for the first time in more than 60 years. afp

“This is our show. This is our performance to the world,” Tourism Minister Htay Aung said.

President Thein Sein’s quasicivilian government has astounded the international community since coming to power two years ago with wide-ranging changes that have thrust Myanmar back onto the global stage.

Efforts have also been made to begin repairing the moribund economy – the currency was floated last year, there are moves to give the central bank

more independence and a new foreign investment law has been passed.

The lifting of most Western economic sanctions on the resource-rich country has attracted swarms of international businesses, including Coca-Cola, which is returning to Myanmar after an absence of more than six decades.

Myanmar faces major hurdles, including an opaque legal framework and a lack of basic infrastructure. Several outbreaks of deadly religious violence have also cast a sha-

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Population Services Khmer (PSK) is an independent, local non-governmental organization registered with the Cambodian Ministry of Interior. PSK’s mission is to improve the health of low-income and vulnerable Cambodians through social marketing in collaboration with the Royal Government of Cambodia. Working in partnership within the public and private sectors, and harnessing the power of the markets, PSK implements programs targeting malaria, child survival, HIV and reproductive health. PSK’s core values are a belief in markets to contribute to sustained improvements in the lives of the poor; measurable impact through evidence based programming; speed and efficiency with a predisposition to action; empowered and accountable employees; ethical and transparent operational practices, and respect for the people we serve.

In 2012, PSK was established by Population Services International (PSI), which is the world’s leading non-profit social marketing organization with programs in more than 60 countries. PSK will have an organic and sustained connection with PSI in order to benefit from the global network to promote life-saving products, services and communications to help Cambodians lead healthier lives. PSK will maximize health impact through innovation and a culture of continuous improvement, made possible through our integration into an international network of social marketing organizations and a close relationship with PSI. For the Executive Director position, PSK seeks an entrepreneurial and dynamic candidate who will demonstrate excellence in leadership. The incoming Executive Director has a unique and exciting opportunity to take forward a newly established Cambodian organization. S/he will lead a large, high functioning organisation, working together with an exceptional Senior Management Team of Cambodian Directors, supported by Advisors. Cambodian Nationals only.

JOB SUMMARY: With more than 200 staff, PSK has a solid donor base and is well positioned for future growth and sustainability. The organization’s diverse portfolio includes health programs such as Family Planning and Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS program, Malaria and Child Survival. In addition, PSK has strong potential to grow into new programs to address other health areas in the near future.

The Executive Director is responsible for overall leadership and management of the organization. S/he will be accountable to the PSK Governing Board and is expected to work closely with the Board and the Senior Management Team to ensure that PSK achieves measurable health impact. In addition to a highly capable team of 7 Cambodian Directors, the Executive Director will receive support from the Chief Operating Officer and other expatriate Advisors in technical and operational areas to manage program quality and ensure operational integrity.

In addition to proven skills in organizational management, the ideal candidate will have demonstrated ability to maintain excellent partnerships with donors, the Government and other key stakeholders. S/he is expected to foster an organizational culture that emphasizes quality, efficiency, speed and scale through staff development and ownership.

The Executive Director will have lead responsibility for strategic planning and management of the program and organisation; fundraising and budgeting; external representation and relationships; internal management of finance, staff and other resources; and all reporting requirements. Full details of the roles and responsibilities are given in the Job Description, which is available on request from hr@psk.org.kh.

PERSON SPECIFICATION       

A dynamic, innovative and strategic thinker who can achieve results in a large and complex organization At least five to seven years work experience in a senior management position with both personnel and financial management responsibilities and proven ability to produce results; Knowledge of national health systems, international development and public health issues; Relevant post-graduate degree (MBA, MIA, MPH, etc.) or equivalent experience; Familiarity and experience in dealing with the international donor community; Proven leadership demeanor: calm under pressure, diplomatic, and decisive; and Fluency in Khmer and English

A competitive salary and benefits package is available. Please send CV and cover letter (Do NOT attach certificates or letters of reference at this time) by July 1, 2013 to: hr@psk.org.kh or PSK HR Department, #29, Street 334, Boeung Keng Kang I, Phnom Penh. Please reference the position applying to with Subject: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.

dow over the reform process.

A handout notice from the forum gives delegates some taste of the challenges facing the country, noting that there will be no cash machines for international customers, credit cards are not accepted and the 3G network “is not available” for users of BlackBerry and other mobile phones.

Myanmar, which will take the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year, currently contributes only 0.2 per cent of Asia’s gross domestic product, according to a recent study

by McKinsey Global Institute.

While the country has the potential to quadruple the size of its economy to $200 billion by 2030 if it presses on with reforms, there is also a “major risk of disappointment”, it warned.

The theme for this week’s forum is “sharing prosperity”, but you do not have to travel far in the capital to find people who have yet to taste the fruits of reform.

“I don’t know about it,” 32-year-old farmer Hlaing Htay said of the meeting, as he grazed his buffalo a few minutes’ drive from the conference centre. “Our livelihoods haven’t changed much.” AFP

ISLAMIC banks can help finance Asia’s burgeoning infrastructure investment needs while continuing to adhere to fundamental Sharia tenets, executives said yesterday.

Islamic banks, which emerged relatively unscathed from the global economic crisis in 2008, saw total assets top $1.6 trillion in 2012, a 20.4 per cent rise from 2011.

Asian nations hold 13 per cent of global Islamic banking assets, the highest outside of the Middle East, speakers said at the World Islamic Banking Conference in Singapore.

“Within Asia and the Middle East, there is a huge amount of infrastructure building to cater to the needs of growing populations in some countries and mass urbanisation in others,” Mohammad Y Al-Hashel, governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait, said in a keynote speech.

“Since Islamic finance dictates that lending should be backed by tangible real assets, it has the potential to offer the much needed funding for infrastructure building,” he said.

Ranjit Ajit Singh, chairman of the Securities Commission of Malaysia, said the region’s “staggering and substantial”

infrastructure capital needs could be a key driver for Islamic finance to gain a foothold in more Asian economies.

“These substantial amounts provide tremendous potential in my view for financing and capital raising through the issuance of sukuk [Islamic bonds] as many infrastructure assets are inherently Shariacompliant,” he said.

Singh said the growing affluence of middle-class Asian consumers could increase demand for Sharia-compliant investments and savings products, especially in Southeast Asia, which has a substantial Muslim population.

Apart from barring investments in “haram” or banned sectors such as gambling and alcohol, Islamic finance does not allow the payment of interest. Risks are shared between the bank and depositor so there is an incentive to ensure any deal is sound.

Kuwait’s Al-Hashel cautioned against the creation of financial products that fly in the face of the “true essence of Islamic banking”, arguing that innovations in Islamic finance are considered useful only if they generate genuine economic activity, he said. AFP

Water plant to broaden access Rann Reuy

Prime Minister Hun Sen and government officials inaugurated a new water treatment facility yesterday in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district that is expected to expand clean water access in the capital and its outskirts.

Made possible with about $90 million in funding from the Japanese government, the Niroth Water Production facility will add up to 466,000 cubic metres of treated water a day to residents, broadening the capacity of the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority.

According to Suy Sem, the Minister of Industry, Mine and Energy, approximately 1.7 million city dwellers will benefit from the increased services by the end of 2013, an increase of about 500,000 residents.

In Hun Sen’s speech, the premier said demand on the water supply is growing based on the construction of new buildings and a growth in commercial developments.

“PPWSA is the only state-owned unit that plays a role in bringing about this progress,” he said.

Armed with his own numbers, he said that since 2004, the water supply authority’s distribution pipes have helped an average of 14,000 families gain access to clean water every year.

The historical statistics tell of a rare success story. In 1993 only 20 per cent of the residents in Phnom Penh had access to a water supply

system, but over the last two decades, water coverage in the city has grown to 85 per cent in 2012, according to the most recent statistics from the water authority.

There are more projects in the works outside Phnom Penh. The Japanese plan to announce today a $30 million initiative to build two water supply plants in Kampong Cham and Battambang provinces.

Japanese Ambassador Yuji Kumamaru said during the inauguration ceremony in Meanchey district yesterday that the supply plants are a joint venture between both countries.

“I sincerely hope that the cooperation projects which are successfully implemented – including the water treatment plant inaugurated today – will further strengthen the existing friendly relations between the people of Japan and the Kingdom of Cambodia,” Kumamaru said.

Not everyone attending the inauguration was singing the praises of the water authority.

Lim Hong, a 56-year-old resident from Prek Thmei commune in Meanchey district said that clean water pipes have yet to reach his village and, that fact notwithstanding, he would be unable to afford any related fees associated with connecting them.

He said that he has eight members in his family and they are all still taking water from the river or a local well.

Thai survey finds rise in corruption Darana Chudasri

THE Thai Coalition Against Corruption (CAC) says corruption in Thailand has risen sharply over the past two years to an urgent level now.

Business leaders believe Thailand’s economic growth might be 50 per cent higher if not for corruption, according to the latest survey conducted by the CAC. The survey of 1,066 executives in Thailand was done from January to April, with

about 75 per cent of respondents saying corruption has increased rapidly and 93 per cent putting corruption at a high or very high level.

At present, 166 companies are CAC members and have vowed not to get involved in corruption and fraud. The CAC is a joint effort of eight leading private sector groups.

“Corruption hurts the country’s reputation and competitiveness,” said Bandid Nijathaworn, president and chief executive of the

Thai Institute of Directors.

Of respondents, 63 per cent said corruption has a very high impact on business and 54 per cent said it raises the cost of doing business by more than 10 per cent, he said.

Respondents said corruption happens most during the procurement process with the government, followed by registration or applying for licences, government project auctions and private sector procurement. BANGKOK POST

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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Markets Business

Retired doctor talks new venture Inside Business Rann Reuy

DR Ouch Dina’s new maternity clinic rests on the assumption that growth in Cambodia’s private medical sector continues unabated, potentially reversing a trend of going abroad for key treatments.

“Since the restoration of the country when the health sector was totally destroyed [during the Khmer Rouge regime], pub-

investment pool of about $1 million. The inauguration of the building, located in Tuol Kork district, took place in January.

A seven-storey structure with more than 40 rooms for patients, Dina’s clinic is just starting to see an influx of patients, mostly expectant mothers looking for moderately priced service. In slower times, however, the rooms sit empty.

“We think about the budgets and jobs of our families, and from one day to another, we evaluate to make improve-

We have the purpose to share the work from public hospitals, which have experienced an increase in patients lic opinion has doubted our health sector because we were the younger generation,” the 62-year old said. “I think if we try to promote our techniques, our human resources, they will believe in us.”

At the source of this ambitious goal is Dina’s Indradevi Maternity & Clinic, which took him two years to build and an

ments,” he said. “If we don’t follow the situation of status, our lives will be very difficult.”

Dina, a retired obstetrician, says he has the background and experience to make the clinic a success.

He started out as a specialist working in women’s health in the late 1980s, when he traveled abroad to study in the Czech

Dr Douch Dina speaks to the Post at the Indradevi Maternity & Clinic in Phnom Penh on Monday. hong menea

Republic. In 1999 and 2000, he went to France to gain advanced skills.

When he wasn’t traveling, he was working in the understaffed and overworked halls of Calmette hospital in Phnom Penh.

The crowded complex lacked beds for patients and lacked doctors to attend to them.

He saw an opportunity to both branch out on his own and fill a void.

“So we had this idea to con-

struct a building that would serve as a clinic to provide services for maternity and other health issues,” he said, adding that he still volunteered in the public sphere.

“For the nation, we have the

purpose to share the work from public hospitals, which have experienced an increase in patients.

“Nowadays, I am retired, but the hospital still needs me to help,” he added.

He said that costs at private clinics like his own could be upwards of 20 to 30 per cent higher than government-provided care because certain basic items – electricity, water – aren’t subsidised. Without that, the fees are similar.

Dina will have to compete with increased foreign investment in the sector, most notably the Vietnamese-funded Cho-Ray hospital in Phnom Penh, and Royal Rattanak, a Thai venture which is also in the capital.

Also a concern is the feasibility of convincing Cambodians who travel to Vietnam, Thailand and, on the lower scale, Malaysia and Singapore, to stay put and seek treatment here.

Dina said his long-term experience, training abroad and the human capital he plans to bring in will help make up for the gap.

“Nowadays, our service is working, but it is not luxurious yet,” he said.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Business

In brief Apple led ‘deliberate’ scheme on ebooks: US

A US government lawyer accused Apple on Monday of concocting a deliberate scheme to fix prices of electronic books as the antitrust trial against the tech giant got under way. “Apple knowingly and intentionally committed to a common scheme of publishers to raise prices,” Justice Department attorney Lawrence Buterman told the court in an opening statement that laid out the government’s case.

There was a “deliberate scheme by Apple” to “fix prices” in concert with major book publishers, Buterman said at the New York federal trial. AFP

Social networks hot targets for hackers

MCAFEE Labs on Monday reported a surge early this year in malicious software aimed at stealing passwords at social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. The security firm cited a “significant spike” in a “Koobface” social networking worm and a “dramatic increase” in spam in the first three months of 2013.

According to the quarterly global McAfee Threats Report, variations of Koobface, named in a play on the spelling of Facebook, in the first quarter of this year nearly tripled from the previous quarter. AFP

Fitch cuts Cyprus rating down to ‘B-’

INTERNATIONAL ratings agency Fitch on Monday downgraded Cyprus by one notch to “B-” with a negative outlook, citing uncertainties linked to the nation’s bailout programme and the restructuring of its banking industry. Fitch said it had cut the rating, as “Cyprus has no flexibility to deal with domestic or external shocks and there is a high risk of the programme going off track, with financing buffers potentially insufficient to absorb material fiscal and economic slippage.” Cyprus negotiated in March a 10 billion-euro ($13 billion) bailout from the EU and IMF, which in a controversial first forced large bank depositors to accept huge losses. AFP

Mitsubishi recalls 4,313 plug-in hybrids

MITSUBISHI Motors Corp yesterday recalled 4,313 Outlander SUV plug-in hybrids in Japan to fix faulty lithiumion batteries that may overheat, the second time it has asked most owners to bring the vehicle in for repairs.

The carmaker recalled a total of 4,428 cars, including 115 other electrical vehicles such as its iMiEV. In April, Mitsubishi Motors recalled 3,839 Outlander plug-in hybrids to fix a problem in the software that controls the front and rears motors. Mitsubishi Motors says the risk of overheating in the lithium hybrid batteries is likely the result of battery cells having been damaged after they were dropped during production. REUTERS

Japan’s wages gain in April Shamim Adam and Keiko Ujikane

J

APAN’S wages rose by the most in a year in April, a gain that supports Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s campaign to reflate the world’s third-biggest economy after 15 years of falling prices.

Monthly wages including overtime and bonuses rose 0.3 per cent from a year earlier to 273,427 yen ($2,746), the Labour Ministry said yesterday in Tokyo.

Abe aims to sustain investor and public confidence amid market volatility, with the Topix index of stocks swinging betweens gains and losses yesterday.

Japan’s economy expanded the most in a year last quarter as consumers responded to the campaign mounted by Abe and Bank of Japan chief Haruhiko Kuroda. Major Japanese companies may boost summer bonuses by 7.4 per cent, the most since 1990, according to a survey published last week by Keidanren, the country’s biggest business lobby.

“The effects of Abenomics are appearing little by little,” said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in Tokyo and a former

Morning commuters make their way to work in Tokyo’s financial district last week.

official at the central bank.

“Wages, mainly bonuses, will probably be on an upward bias as corporate profits are recovering. The improvement in wages will probably support consumption.”

Gross domestic product last quarter rose an annualised 3.5 per cent, the biggest gain in a year, the Cabinet Office said on

May 16. Private consumption, which makes up 60 per cent of the economy, contributed 2.3 percentage points to the increase.

The index of regular earnings, excluding overtime and bonuses, for full-time employees rose to 100.9 in April, the highest since October 2008, according to yesterday’s report.

bloomberg

The Topix index rose 0.8 per cent as of 12:47pm in Tokyo yesterday after falling as much as 1.9 per cent earlier. Japanese equities have corrected after soaring since elections were announced in November that brought Abe to power on a platform of monetary and fiscal stimulus. The Bank of Japan has pledged to reach 2 per cent

inflation within two years by doubling the monetary base through asset purchases.

Employment rose by 40,000 jobs in April, and the labour force participation rate was at 59.6 per cent from 58.9 per cent in March, according to the government statistics bureau. The jobless rate was 4.1 per cent, unchanged from March and compared with a 4.3 per cent rate in February.

UBS AG analysts said Japan’s shrinking labour force means salaries need to rise even more to prevent total wages from contracting and damping consumer spending capacity. The aggregate wage level may not rise even with wages growing 1 percent per worker, Hong Kongbased economists Duncan Wooldridge and Silvia Liu wrote in a May 23 report.

“Historically the growth rate in Japan’s labour force is an excellent indicator for inflation,” they said. “Can Japan sustainably lift aggregate demand above supply? If that cannot be done, then it’s hard to see deflation resolved in a fundamentally positive way.

Aggregate demand is heavily influenced by demographics and exports.” BLOOMBERG

BASF: massive investment drive in Asia GERMAN chemicals giant BASF unveiled yesterday plans for a huge investment drive in the Asia-Pacific region, where it hopes to take advantage of above-average growth to more than double its sales.

BASF, which currently generates around 16 per cent of its revenues in Asia Pacific, announced plans to invest 10 billion euros ($13 billion) there by the end of the decade and create up to 9,000 new jobs.

The German giant said it aims to generate annual sales of 25 billion euros in the region by 2020, up from 11.7 billion

euros in 2012.

More than 2.0 billion in regional sales would be achieved through new business and acquisitions by 2020.

In 2012, BASF booked total worldwide sales of 72.1 billion euros on a workforce of 110,000.

The cumulative annual growth rate for real chemical production for Asia Pacific is estimated at 6.2 per cent until 2020, well above the world average of 4.0 per cent, BASF said.

And the German group’s aim would be

to “grow profitably at least two percentage points above regional chemical output.”

“To achieve this, BASF plans to invest 10 billion euros together with its partners by 2020 to further develop its local production footprint in Asia Pacific,” it said.

In March, BASF announced it would focus its business in Asia on chemicals destined for the textile and leather industries.

The group said it aims to produce around 75 per cent of the total products it sells in Asia in the region by 2020.

“Local production improves resource efficiency by reducing the transportation needed for imports and exports, and by enhancing energy and raw material efficiency,” it explained.

BASF said it currently operates more than 100 production sites in the Asia Pacific region, including two highly-integrated sites in Kuantan, Malaysia and in Nanjing, China. In addition to those main markets, BASF said it also hopes to explore “untapped markets in Mongolia, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia.” AFP

Lenovo plans joint venture China: $3bn in loans Lee Chyen Yee and Umesh Desai

CHINA’S Lenovo Group Ltd, the world’s No 2 PC maker by shipments, said yesterday it was in preliminary talks with an unidentified party on a potential smartphone business joint venture. It gave no further details.

Japanese media have reported that Lenovo, just shy of overtaking Hewlett-Packard Co as the top global PC maker, would set up a joint venture with Japan’s NEC Corp to focus on smartphone manufacturing and distribution.

NEC was in talks with Lenovo, already a joint venture partner in PCs and tablets, early this year on the sale of its mobile unit, according to media reports and a source familiar with the discussions.

An NEC spokesman declined to comment on the possibility of a joint venture but acknowledged the troubles that unit is facing.

“Our mobile phone business is in a difficult state and we acknowledge that we need to

decide on a direction for the business.

For that, we are considering various opportunities and that stance up until now has not changed.”

Lenovo has spent heavily over the past few years to strengthen its PC business, with purchases such as Brazilian electronics maker CCE last year, Germany’s

And we need to decide on a direction for the business Medion in 2011 and IBM’s PC business in 2005.

It is also conducting a roadshow for a US-dollar-denominated notes issue on Tuesday, although it has given no details.

“The board would like to inform the shareholders of the company and potential investors that the company is in preliminary negotiations with a party in connection with a potential joint venture transaction,” Lenovo said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock

exchange.

With demand booming for mobile computing gadgets, Lenovo has been aggressively pushing out smartphones and tablet PCs and is now the second largest smartphone maker in its home market in China.

Apart from NEC’s mobile’s mobile phone business, Lenovo has been rumoured in the market over the past year to be on the hunt for other acquisition targets, including IBM Corp’s low-end server business, Nokia Oyj and blackberry maker Research In Motion.

“Lenovo lacks expertise in its enterprise and smartphone businesses, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it is making acquisitions in these areas to consolidate its position,” said Vincent Chen, a PC analyst at Yuanta Research.

Lenovo’s announcement came before the Hong Kong market opened. Its shares rose nearly 4 per cent in early trade to their highest in more than two months, compared with a flat benchmark Hang Seng Index. REUTERS

for Caribbean nations Joshua Goodman

CHINESE President Xi Jinping promised more than $3 billion in loans to 10 Caribbean nations and Costa Rica, Trinidad & Tobago’s prime minister said ahead of a summit in California with US President Barack Obama.

Xi pledged about $296 million in loans to help Costa Rica expand a key highway as part of 13 accords signed with President Laura Chinchilla on Monday. After meeting with leaders from 10 Caribbean nations in Trinidad on June 2, he promised about $3 billion in loans, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said. Further details weren’t disclosed, government spokesman Dennis McComie said in an interview.

There was no immediate confirmation of the plans from the Chinese government.

Xi arrived in Trinidad on May 31, three days after a visit to the island by US Vice President Joe

Biden, who was on a regional tour of his own that underscored the competition for influence in Latin America by the world’s two biggest economies. He departed Costa Rica for Mexico yesterday and will meet Obama in California on June 7.

The Caribbean loans may provide some welcome relief to island nations, most of whom have seen growth slow and debt levels jump as a result of increased spending and lower tourism receipts during the global economic slump.

Among the island economies, only the Bahamas is forecast to grow more than 1.5 per cent this year compared with 4 per cent for Latin America, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

China surpassed Mexico in terms of its market share in the US after joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, accounting for 19 per cent of goods sold last year. BLOOMBERG

11

the phnom penh post june 5, 2013

Markets Business IPOs fall off in China as authorities up scrutiny Gregory Turk

FUJIAN Guizhentang Pharmaceutical Co, a Chinese maker of bear-bile products, withdrew its application for an initial public offering as regulators increased scrutiny of companies seeking listings.

Guizhentang was among 269 companies to pull their applications this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said in statements on its website on May 31, without giving a reason for the withdrawals.

Animal-rights activists have opposed Guizhentang’s listing since last year, when Beijing Loving Animals Foundation sent the securities regulator a petition signed by 70 Chinese celebrities, including snooker champion Ding Junhui and painter Chen Danqing.

Guizhentang says on its website that it can harvest bile from bears without causing discomfort. Animal welfare groups say the process is inhumane.

Initial public offerings in China have been suspended since October as investor appetite for new stock waned amid equitymarket declines that dragged the benchmark Shanghai Composite index to near four-year lows. BLOOMBERG

Aussie bank holds rate at record-low 2.75 per cent

Markets Thailand

Vietnam

Thai Set 50 Index, Jun 3 1100

Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, Jun 3 550

1025

500

950

450

875

400

800

350

1,024.57

Michael Heath

South Korea

A

USTRALIA’S central bank left its benchmark interest rate at a record low, saying it has room to cut further and judged that the nation’s exchange rate remains high even after the biggest monthly tumble since 2011.

Governor Glenn Stevens and his board kept the overnight cash-rate target at 2.75 per cent, the Reserve Bank of Australia said in a statement today in Sydney, as predicted by 24 of 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

“The Board judged that the easier financial conditions now in place will contribute to a strengthening of growth over time,” Stevens said in the statement. “The inflation outlook, as currently assessed, may provide some scope for further easing, should that be required to support demand.”

Two percentage points of rate cuts in the past 20 months have boosted the property market, while a 7.7 per cent decline in the Australian dollar last month helped buoy manufacturing sentiment.

Policy makers are trying to shift growth toward industries such as construction to spur hiring as mining investment is predicted to peak this year.

“The exchange rate has depreciated since the previous Board meeting, although, as the board has noted for some time, it remains high considering the decline in export prices that has taken place over the past year and a half,” Stevens said.

KOSPI Index, Jun 3 2100

510.69

Philippines

PSEI - Philippine Se Idx, Jun 3 7500

1975

7125

1850

6750

1725

6375

1600

6000

1,989.51

6,673.47

Singapore

Malaysia

FTSE Straits Times Index, Jun 3 4000

FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, Jun 3 1800

3500

1700

3000

1600

2500

1500

2000

1400

3,288.47

Hong Kong

China

Hang Seng Index, Jun 3 25000

Pedestrians walk through a laneway in Melbourne on Sunday. Australia’s unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped April as the economy added 50,100 jobs, more than four times the number predicted by economists. bloomberg

The currency averaged about $1.03 in the past two years, compared with about 73 cents in the prior two decades, spurred by the resource investment boom and near-zero interest rates in the US and Japan. The RBA says some of its earlier rate reductions were aimed to help offset the drag on growth from the Aussie’s strength.

Australia’s unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to 5.5 per cent in April as the economy added 50,100 jobs, more than four times the num-

ber predicted by economists. Government data last week showed building approvals surged 9.1 per cent in April, more than twice the median of estimates. The median house price rose 2.6 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier.

Ford Motor Co announced on May 23 it would end production in the countryw after nine decades, with the loss of 1,200 jobs. The closure was a blow to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, whose Labor party is trailing in polls ahead of a September 14 election. BLOOMBERG

1,773.04 CSI 300 Index, Jun 3 3000

23250

2750

21500

2500

19750

2250

18000

2000

22,285.52

Japan

Nikkei 225, Jun 3 16000

2,565.67

Taiwan

Taiwan Taiex Index, Jun 3 8500

15250

8000

14500

7500

13750

7000

13000

6500

8,191.22

13,533.76

Laos

Laos Composite Index, Jun 3 1500

Indonesia

Jakarta Composite Index, Jun 3 6000

1350

5500

1200

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1,347.97

International commodities

Cambodian commodities (Base rate taken on January 1, 2012)

Energy Commodity

Units

Price

Change % Change Time(ET)

Crude Oil (WTI)

USD/bbl.

92.86

-0.59

-0.63%

4:26:48

Crude Oil (Brent)

USD/bbl.

101.66

-0.4

-0.39%

4:26:37

3.97

-0.02

-0.53%

4:26:03

278.66

0.15

0.05%

4:26:49

NYMEX Natural Gas USD/MMBtu RBOB Gasoline

India

USD/gal.

NYMEX Heating Oil

USD/gal.

282.78

-0.56

-0.20%

4:26:31

ICE Gasoil

USD/MT

852.75

-2.25

-0.26%

4:26:33

Agriculture Commodity

Units

Price

Change

% Change

Time(ET)

CBOT Rough Rice

USD/cwt

15.57

0.11

0.68%

3:50:15

CME Lumber

USD/tbf

310

3.2

1.04%

4:11:22

Item Rice 1 Rice 2 Paddy Peanuts Maize 2 Cashew nut Pepper Beef Pork Mud Fish Chicken Duck

Unit

Base

R/Kg

2800

R/Kg

2200

R/Kg

1800

R/Kg

8000

R/Kg

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33000

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17000

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12000

R/Kg

18000

R/Kg

13000

BSE Sensex 30 Index, Jun 3 21000

Karachi 100 Index, Jun 3 23000

20000

22250

19000

21500

18000

20750

17000

20000

Construction equipment

Food -Cereals -Vegetables - Fruits Average 2760 2280 1860 8100 2000 4220 24000 33600 18200 12200 20800 13000

(%) -1.43 % 3.64 % 3.33 % 1.25 % 0.00 % 5.50 % -40.00 % 1.82 % 7.06 % 1.67 % 15.56 % 0.00 %

Item

Unit

Base

Average

(%)

Steel 12

R/Kg

3000

3000

0.00 %

Cement

R/Sac

19000

19000

0.00 %

Energy Item

Unit

Base

Average

(%)

Gasoline

R

5250

5300

0.95 %

Diesel

R

5100

5050

-0.98 %

Petroleum

R

5500

5500

0.00 %

Chi

86000

77000

-10.47 %

Baht

1200

1300

8.33 %

Gas Charcoal

4,999.39

Pakistan

19,662.84

Australia

22,267.12

New Zealand

S&P/ASX 200 Index, Jun 3 5500

NZX 50 Index, Jun 3 5000

5250

4750

5000

4500

4750

4250

4500

4,900.81

4000

4,473.78

12

THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

World Thais find no haven for Rohingya refugees

Have a nice trip A paramilitary policeman knocks down a man role-playing as a plane hijacker during an anti-terrorism drill at Nanjing Lukou International Airport in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Monday. REUTERS

THAILAND said yesterday that it was unable to find any other country willing to accept about 2,000 Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar who have been detained for several months.

“There is no third country ready to take them,” foreign ministry spokesman Manasvi Srisodapol said. “They are worried that if they receive one group, tens or hundreds of thousands will follow.”

Many of the asylum seekers have been locked up in crowded detention centres in Thailand for several months, prompting rights groups to call for their release.

Manasvi said the government was aware of the crowded conditions in the centres. “ Government agencies are currently discussing ways to improve their conditions.” he said.

Since Buddhist-Muslim tensions exploded a year ago in the state of Rakhine in western Myanmar, thousands of Muslim Rohingya boat people – including women and children – have joined an exodus from the country.

Those who arrived in neighbouring Thailand have been “helped on” by the Thai navy towards Malaysia – their destination of choice – or detained as illegal immigrants.

Thailand initially said the asylum seekers would be allowed to stay for six months while the government worked with the UN refugee agency the UNHCR to try to find other countries willing to accept them.

Manasvi suggested they might stay longer, describing the timeframe as “hypothetical”. AFP

Garment factories rated unsafe T

HREE FIFTHS of garment factories in Bangladesh are vulnerable to collapse, according to a survey by engineers in the country.

Last month concrete pillars supporting the eight-storey Rana Plaza building on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, gave way. More than 1,100 people making clothes for UK retailers such as Primark were killed in one of the world’s worst industrial accidents.

The survey’s revelation that the lives of millions of Bangladeshi workers, often making goods for western firms, are at risk will concern western retailers.

Bangladesh is the world’s second biggest supplier of clothes. More than 80 per cent are exported to Europe or the US. The $20 billion industry employs about 3.5 million people, mainly young women, and is a major earner for Bangladesh.

The survey is the work of a team of engineers from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technolo-

Bangladesh survey says three-fifths at risk of collapse

gy (BUET). They have so far surveyed a sixth of 600 buildings that house more than 3,000 clothes factories.

“Somewhere around 60 per cent of the buildings are vulnerable,” said Professor Mehedi Ansary, leading the team. “This doesn’t mean they will collapse in the next week or month, but it does mean that to leave them unchanged would be irresponsible.”

Managers ignored warning signs such as cracks, which appeared in the days before the Rana Plaza collapse on 24 April in the Dhaka suburb of Savar. Workers said they were told there was no cause for worry and they should get back to work.

The BUET team is conducting a visual survey of buildings housing workshops, as well as examining soil tests and original plans. Although there are more than 3,000 active factories, permits have been given for more than 5,000. Many, particularly those in the centre of Dhaka, are in

buildings that have been converted from residences or offices.

According to the police report into the Rana Plaza collapse, permission was given in 2006 for a five-storey building. This was correctly designed and constructed, according to Ansary, who has examined the plans. But three more floors were later added, with documents falsified to obtain permission from local authorities, he said. This extension overloaded the structure.

Its owner, Sohel Rana, has been charged over the collapse. Investigations have suggested that he abused his influence as a local boss of the ruling Awami League party to divert the authorities’ attention.

The immediate trigger for the collapse appears to have been vibrations caused by generators to provide electricity during power cuts.

The factories in buildings not intended for industrial purposes, both

in Dhaka and Bangladesh’s second city of Chittagong, are of most concern. Many were set up without any regulatory oversight in the early years of the garment industry boom.

Ansary said that “there may be lots of very vulnerable [factories] we don’t know about” but the team “did not want to create panic so we are saying they can run for the moment”.

Two different agreements among firms such as Primark, Walmart, Carrefour, H&M, Gap, Tesco and other household names are being negotiated to improve conditions. These would theoretically commit retailers to take measures that would prevent another tragedy, as well as providing funds for improvements.

The Bangladesh Garment Makers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has also implemented further measures. The Ansary-led survey follows a new demand by BGMEA to its members to provide it with build-

ing plans and soil tests to show the structural strength of their factories.

“It is a hard time. We have to learn the lessons from Rana Plaza and Tasreen [a factory which burned down killing 114 last year],” said Atiqul Islam, president of the association.

Islam said 75 per cent of BGMEA members had now submitted plans for their factories for inspection, but making all existing workshops safe was a “massive job”.

Fire safety also remains a major problem. There have been a series of lethal fires in factories in Dhaka in recent years.

Last weekend, The Guardian visited a five-storey factory where more than 400 workers in tightly packed lines stitched and packed fleece jackets for sale in Europe. A single narrow stairwell was obstructed by cardboard boxes, windows were barred and an external fire exit had been removed. On the first floor an industrial boiler was separated from piles of card and clothes by a thin partition wall. THE GUARDIAN

13

THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

World

Relatives scuffle with police R Maxim Duncan

ELATIVES of workers killed as fire engulfed a chicken processing plant in rural northeast China blocked traffic and scuffled with police yesterday, demanding answers to one of China’s worst industrial disasters in recent years. At least 120 people died and more than 70 were injured.

A handful of men and woman knelt in the middle of the road in Dehui in Jilin province to stop cars, while a crowd of more than 100 people gathered around them. Police dispersed the protesters after about an hour.

Zhao Zhenchun, who lost his wife and his sister in the fire, said human error was to blame for the death toll.

“I don’t think safety was being managed properly. This should never happen again. They paid the price with their blood. So many of these big disasters in China are caused by lax supervision,” he said.

The world’s second-largest economy has a poor record on workplace safety.

Fire exits in factories are often locked to prevent workers taking time off or stealing things, or blocked entirely.

“The rationale behind the locked doors boils down to efficiency. With the doors locked, workers cannot wander about freely, and therefore concentrate on their work,” the official Xinhua news agency said.

Safety regulations are also easily skirted by bribing corrupt officials, and, in any case, China has relatively few fire safety inspectors.

“Tragically, most of the inspections usually come after a disaster like this,” said Geoffrey Crothall, a China labour expert with Hong Kong-based advocacy group China Labour Bulletin.

“There’s very little proactive or routine inspections of factories to make

Tourist allegedly gang raped in northern India

AN American tourist was allegedly gang raped by a truck driver and two of his accomplices in the tourist town of Manali in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, police said yesterday. “The 30-yearold was raped by men in a truck on Monday night. They offered her a lift and she accepted it,” police inspector Abhimanyu Kumar said. afp

Provincial official in Chinese graft probe

A FORMER provincial vicegovernor is under investigation for alleged disciplinary violations, state media reported yesterday, in the latest instance of a highlevel clampdown on corruption. Ni Fake, who was once the vice-governor of Anhui province in eastern China, is being probed for “suspected serious disciplinary offences”, the official Xinhua news agency said. The phrase is a euphemism for corruption in China’s state media. AFP People cry after their relative died in a fire at a poultry slaughterhouse in Dehui, Jilin province, yesterday.

sure everybody’s up to code and that’s largely because there are too many factories and too few inspectors.”

It is a safety record likely to prompt concerns overseas as Chinese companies buy stakes in or take over foreign food producers, such as Shuanghui International Holdings’ $4.7 billion offer last week to buy leading US pork producer Smithfield Foods.

Zhang Guijuan, 48, had been working in a room next to the one that caught fire, and ran out when she heard an explosion. From her hospital bed, Zhang said she had never

been given any advice or instruction on health and safety issues during her two years at the slaughterhouse.

“We never had [safety] training.

Whenever the director holds a meeting with us, he only talks about how to work . . . how to work hard. There’s never anything else,” she said.

The disaster is a major loss of face for a country that seeks to project a global image of a modern, rising power, different from developing countries like Bangladesh where such industrial disasters are frequent.

It is especially embarrassing as it

reuters

comes just days before an informal summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama at which China would very much like to be viewed as an equal to the world’s sole superpower.

Ironically, Monday’s fire in a building that was just four years old coincided with China announcing its latest manned space mission, a multi-billion dollar scheme designed to showcase the nation’s technological prowess and arrival on the world stage after decades of isolation and poverty. REUTERS

Officials crack down ahead Chen’s supporters call of Tiananmen anniversary for his parole from jail CHINESE police blocked the gate of a cemetery holding the remains of victims of the Tiananmen crackdown on its 24th anniversary yesterday, ahead of a vigil expected to see 150,000 people gather in Hong Kong.

Authorities launch a major push every June 4 to prevent discussion of the violently crushed 1989 pro-democracy protests, China’s most condemned human rights stain in recent decades, in which at least hundreds of people died.

Hong Kong and Macau both enjoy special privileges and are the only two cities in China where open commemorations are possible, with the large candlelit vigil in the former British colony a rallying point for critics of Beijing’s influence.

In Beijing, more than a dozen security officials were deployed outside the stone gate at the Wanan graveyard in the west of the city, which members of the Tiananmen Mothers, a victims’ relatives group, visit each year.

Zhang Xianling, who lost her 19-year-old son in the violence, was among at least 10 people escorted into the cemetery to visit relatives’ graves, she told AFP, adding that plainclothes

In brief

police officers stood close by, some filming the mourners.

Two security personnel had been stationed outside her door since Saturday, she said.

“I can leave the house when I want, but the officers will both follow me.”

For the first time in years she was allowed to speak to other mourners at the graveyard, she said. “We can only meet once a year, so preventing us from doing so is very cruel.”

I can leave the house when I want, but the officers will both follow me In a narrow street close to Beijing’s Forbidden City, security personnel patrolled outside the former house of Zhao Ziyang, the former communist party secretary who was purged and held under house arrest following the protests.

Individuals in civilian clothes tried to block filming in the area as a man was taken away.

Several police vehicles were positioned on Tiananmen Square itself, a vast concrete plaza in the centre of the capital, where huge video screens celebrated “Green Beijing” with images of a spinning wind tur-

bine. Hundreds of mostly Chinese tourists strolled, posing with national flags and snapping pictures on smartphones.

Some had their identification cards checked by police.

The uniformed police numbers were no higher than usual, said a snack vendor who asked not to be named. But he added: “Most police are plainclothes; you don’t know when they might be listening.”

The Tiananmen protests were the Chinese Communist Party’s greatest crisis since it came to power in 1949.

Deng Xiaoping justified the military intervention – which saw more than 200,000 troops deployed – as being against a “counter-revolutionary rebellion”. Discussion of the incident, however, has been so widely suppressed that most young Chinese are barely aware of it.

People were expected to flood into Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Tuesday for an annual vigil that is also a forum for protest over Chinese interference in the city’s affairs, amid fears it could lose freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland.

Organisers said they expected 150,000 people to attend.

AFP

SUPPORTERS of Taiwan’s former president Chen Shui-bian renewed calls yesterday for the government immediately to parole him for medical treatment after Chen attempted suicide in prison.

Chen, who is serving a 20year sentence for corruption, tried to hang himself with a towel in a bathroom of a prison hospital on Sunday night but was prevented by a guard.

Chen, who began serving his term in a Taipei jail in 2009, was transferred to the prison hospital in April after he was diagnosed with severe depression, a nerve disorder and other health conditions.

His family and supporters said the attempted suicide showed Chen’s frail emotional state. They expressed anger the 62-year-old was repeatedly denied medical parole even though doctors recommended home care for him.

“It is unacceptable for the government to ignore medical advice. We call for immediate parole for Chen for treatment,” said Lin Chun-hsien, spokesman for the opposition Democratic Progressive Party that Chen once led.

Rights groups also urged the government to examine some judicial problems raised by

Chen’s case, including what they see as the lack of transparency in reviewing medical parole requests.

“Currently, it is the justice ministry’s [sole] decision. There is need to form an independent committee to make the process transparent and effective,” said Tsai Chi-hsun, secretary-general of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights.

The justice ministry has said home care is not an option for inmates, and Chen does not qualify for immediate parole on medical grounds because he can receive treatment in the prison hospital.

Chen said the suicide attempt was in protest at being excluded from an amnesty that last week saw charges dropped against hundreds of local politicians and academics accused of misusing government funds.

The justice ministry said Chen has been eating properly and receiving visitors from Monday and his emotional condition has stabilised.

Chen was convicted of corruption and money laundering relating to his 2000 to 2008 presidency. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 but the term was later reduced after appeal. AFP

Putin says missiles not yet delivered to Syria

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Moscow had not yet delivered its sophisticated S-300 missiles to Syria, saying Russia did not want to upset the balance of force in the Middle East. “The contract was signed several years ago.

It has not been realised yet,” Putin said at a joint press conference with EU leaders.

“We do not want to upset the balance in the region.” afp

Turkish government apologises to protesters

TURKEY’S government apologised yesterday to protesters hurt in clashes with police during days of demonstrations and called for an immediate end to the protests. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc moved to calm tensions after days of street clashes that have left at least two people dead, saying the government had “learnt its lesson” from the disturbances.

“Responsible citizens will stop today,” he told a televised news conference in Ankara after meeting with President Abdullah Gul. afp

Judge postpones trial of Pistorius, slams media

A SOUTH African judge postponed the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius yesterday and criticised the media for sensationalist reporting of the Olympic and Paralympic athletics star’s shooting of his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day. Pistorius, 26, remained composed throughout the 10-minute hearing at the Pretoria Magistrates Court.

He was driven away afterwards in an SUV with tinted windows. The double amputee, nicknamed “Blade Runner” for his prosthetic racing legs, has admitted killing Reeva Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, by firing four shots through a locked toilet door on February 14 at his plush Pretoria home. afp

14

World Thailand launches milk drive Kate Hodal

THAILAND is asking citizens of all ages to drink at least one glass of cow’s milk a day in an effort to increase their average height by up to eight centimetres within the next decade.

Speaking at the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s World Milk Day yesterday, the deputy public health minister, Cholanan Srikaew, said a campaign to drink milk every day could increase the height of 18-yearold Thais by 8 centimetres from the current 167 centimetres for boys and 157centimetres for girls, as well as extend life expectancy from 74 to 80 years.

The move comes alongside a larger campaign to encourage women to breastfeed their children for longer, ensuring babies are given breast milk – not infant formula or other substitutes – for their first six months before moving them on to two or three glasses of cow’s milk.

Those in school would be encouraged to drink two glasses a day, and adults one, according to the head of Thailand’s health department, Jessada Chokdamrongsuk. THE GUARDIAN

THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Unwed mothers may face fines Jonathan Kaiman

T

HE central Chinese city of Wuhan has published a draft ordinance that would fine women who have children out of wedlock more than $26,000.

The move has raised fears of more of abortions and abandoned infants in a country with an entrenched gender gap.

The new regulation is intended to support China’s long-held family planning policies, which allow most couples to have only one child, but local media condemned the proposed ordinance as a value judgment against single mothers.

“Cases of children born out of wedlock are often complex and cannot be judged by a one-size-fits-all measure,” said an editorial in the usually conservative state-run Global Times newspaper.

“It only penalises mothers while ignoring the responsibilities of the fathers. It only seriously affects the poor while having almost no impact on the rich. It undermines social fairness.”

The editorial added: “In

A frame grab taken from AFPTV footage received on May 28, 2013 shows rescue workers breaking away bits of a pipe to remove a newborn baby boy in the city of Jinhua, in the eastern province of Zhejiang. AFP

places where these births are penalised, more cases of abortions and infant abandonment may occur due to these punishments and the associated stigma.”

An unmarried women who “cannot provide appropriate

licences from her partner”, or who “knowingly bears the child of someone with another spouse” must pay a “social compensation fee” commensurate with provincial family planning laws, said the 26th article of the

ordinance, which was published last Friday.

Because of grey areas in local legislation, the women could be fined up to six times the area’s average annual disposable income – more than $26,000 in Wuhan, the Global Times

reported. Other parts of China such as Beijing and Guangdong province have already adopted similar regulations.

The lack of a social safety net for single mothers was highlighted last week after a newborn baby was rescued from a sewer pipe in coastal Zhejiang province.

The infant’s 22-year-old mother, who alerted police to baby’s plight, originally claimed that she was only a bystander. While police initially treated the case as attempted murder, they later concluded that it was an accident.

The child is now with his mother and grandparents, yet experts say that he is unlikely to receive formal support.

Single mothers have long been stigmatised in Chinese society – “traditional Chinese views can make single mothers feel embarrassed and helpless,” said a 2010 article on the government-controlled website china.org.cn. “An unmarried woman with a child can be a constant source for rumours and gossip.”

Wuhan responded to the criticism by claiming that it will be soliciting “advice” on the draft, and that the article is subject to change. THE GUARDIAN

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.

15

THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Technology

Apps ease language barrier Natasha Baker

N

EW apps are aiming to make travelling in a foreign country easier by putting translation tools in tourists’ pockets, makers of the devices said on Monday.

A set of free apps for iOS devices from the language learning company Rosetta Stone give users short exercises so they can learn the basics of another language and commonly used phrases in French, Spanish, German and Italian.

The exercises in the Rosetta Stone Navigator apps use speech recognition to test whether the user is repeating a word correctly.

“It’s about speaking – not just about reading and thinking through it,” said Jonathan Mudd, senior director of global communications at Rosetta Stone, which is based in Virginia.

“When you get over that obstacle of hearing yourself say words in new languages, and messing them up, you will get comfortable a lot faster,” he added.

Another free language app launched by Duolingo, for Android and iPhones, makes

Parlez-vous français? New apps are putting translation tools in tourists’ pockets making it easier to order a meal at a Paris bistro. REUTERS

learning a new language into a game. Languages are broken down into different components, such as tenses and nouns, and when a user perfects a skill they can unlock new ones.

Other language apps, such as Google Translate and Vocre

for iPhone and Android, use speech recognition technology paired with translation technology to translate speech. After speaking a phrase, the app converts it to one of dozens of other languages.

An app called VerbalizeIt, for iPhone and Android, takes

Google says it won’t allow facial-recognition programs Charles Arthur

GOOGLE will not allow apps that implement facial recognition on its Google Glass product, the company says, citing privacy concerns, after an American company said it would offer a commercial service to recognise celebrities and others.

Developers have pointed out though that it is possible to load apps – which Google calls “Glassware” – onto the wearable system without needing Google’s permission. Those could then communicate with any of a growing number of services that say they can connect a name with a face once given a photo.

Equally, users could simply upload still pictures to other online services which would provide the facial recognition service. “A ‘ban’ is purely symbolic,” commented Martin Macdonald, a marketing director for Expedia EAN who has tried Google Glass.

The developers behind Lambda Labs, which offers a paid-for facial recognition service, tweeted: “Don’t worry. We think it’s a core feature. Google will allow it or be replaced with something that does.”

Being able to recognise faces has looked to a number of observers like an ideal application for Glass, because the device can “see” what the user is looking at, and display data such as a name in a small screen at the top right of the visual field, which is invisible to outside observers.

That, in turn, would drive demand for such apps.

Google though suggests that it stands as an intermediary between any online services and the display output on Glass, according to its developer overview, which says in part: “Google handles all of the necessary details of syncing between your Glassware and your users’ Glass.”

The result could be a cat-andmouse game between Google and facial recognition providers.

The search giant is able to kill apps remotely which it decides are “undesirable”, and it can force software updates on the devices that could block access to certain services. But companies could change the sites or destinations that services connect to in order to recognise faces – which would then require another blocking update.

Google has already come under pressure from US congressional members, who wrote on May 17 to chief executive Larry Page demanding to know how it would prevent “unintentional” collection of data, protect the privacy of non-users, and whether it would implement facial recognition. They demanded responses by June 14.

Apparently in response to the last of those concerns, the Google Glass project team says on its Google+ page that “many have expressed both interest and concern around the possibility of facial recognition in Glass. As Google has said for several years, we won’t add facial recognition features to our products without having strong privacy protections in place. With that in mind, we won’t be approving

any facial recognition Glassware at this time.”

Google has previously backed off introducing facial recognition systems in smartphones in Europe, which would have let people identify someone from a camera picture.

Glass, a wearable system that can take still and video pictures and upload them to the internet in real time using a Bluetoothconnected smartphone, as well as using voice recognition and location data to provide information about the surroundings.

The company has indicated that it wants to begin selling it for broad consumer use within the next year, and began its “Explorer” scheme with up to 8,000 users in the US in spring.

However Glass is not a closed system, and Google itself provided the information needed for developers to “hack” its Glass systems to provide such services during a session at its I/O conference in May called “Voiding Your Warranty: Hacking Glass”. Those methods are already being used to “sideload” apps onto Glass from computers rather than via Google’s services. It also offers facial recognition in its Google+ Photos app, previously known as Picasa.

At least two companies, Lambda Labs and Rekognition, have been working on facial recognition services aimed at Glass users. Lambda Labs, which offers facial recognition systems at prices ranging from zero to $256 per month, has said it is already making money from the service it offers for online use. THE GUARDIAN

a different approach. It connects translators around the globe with people struggling with a language.

Users choose the language they need to be translated and after touching a button on the app they are connected to a person on the other end of the

phone. The app is free but the cost of the service ranges from $1 to $2 per minute.

“That call from the customer is routed through our virtual call centre to the next available translator for that given language you need,” said Ryan Frankel, chief executive officer of New York-based company VerbalizeIt. The company said more than 8,500 translators, who have passed a language proficiency exam, work for it. It has also launched a platform for businesses to translate documents.

“We realised that when you build up this community of translators they’re capable of doing so much more than phone translations,” Frankel said.

He added that it may still be some time before apps can accurately translate speech from one language to another.

“I think the biggest hurdle – and this is the reason why you will always need humans – is that understanding local context, dialect, sarcasm and emotion is difficult. There’s so much that a machine cannot pick up on that humans are capable of picking up on,” Frankel said. REUTERS

Radiation may be too high for Mars trip RADIATION levels measured

by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover show astronauts likely would exceed current US exposure limits during a roundtrip mission to Mars, scientists said on Thursday.

Results taken during Curiosity’s eight-month cruise to Mars indicate that astronauts would receive a radiation dose of about 660 millisieverts during a 360day roundtrip flight, the fastest travel possible with today’s chemical rockets. That dosage does not include any time spent on the planet’s surface. A millisievert is a measurement of radiation exposure.

NASA limits astronauts’ increased cancer risk to 3 per cent, which translates to a cumulative radiation dose of between about 800 millisieverts and 1,200 millisieverts, depending on a person’s age, gender and other factors.

“Even for the shortest of [Mars] missions, we are perilously close to the radiation career and health limits,” NASA’s chief medical officer Richard Williams said. THE GUARDIAN

16

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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Our childen’s future is at stake COMMENT

Peter Brimble and Karin Schelzig

C

HILD malnutrition is a largely hidden crisis, less visible than food shortages and different in the sense of urgency that hunger brings.

But its effects become clear as children age: children who are malnourished are weaker and more prone to suffering from a deadly cycle of illness and disease.

Inadequate nutrition in the early years of life not only blunts intellect and saps productivity and potential, but can affect the following generation when poorly nourished mothers have low birth weight infants.

The poor nutritional status of Cambodia’s children poses serious long-term consequences for the physical and cognitive development of the country’s population, and therefore for productivity and economic development.

Despite strong economic growth and rapid poverty reduction, the high incidence of chronic childhood malnutrition in Cambodia has not improved over the past five years and may even be worsening.

The 2010 demographic and health survey shows 28 per cent of Cambodian children under five years old as underweight, with no improvement from 2005.

Worryingly, there was an increase in the incidence of severe malnutrition over the same period, with the incidence of wasted (thin) children rising from 9 per cent to 11 per cent.

At 40 per cent, Cambodia has the second highest prevalence of children in Southeast Asia who are stunted, meaning they are too short for their age.

There is strong international evidence that stunted children enroll in school later, do less well academically, leave school earlier and make less future income than their non-stunted counterparts.

In other words, malnutrition also stunts economic growth. In 2011, the United Nations estimated that Cambodia loses more than US$146 million in GDP every year due to the impacts of vitamin and mineral deficiencies alone.

A child’s future is greatly determined by the quality of her nutrition in the first 1,000 days, starting from conception up to her second birthday. A child conceived today will complete schooling around the year 2030.

If her cognitive abilities are seriously impaired by inadequate nutrition in the first 1,000 days, then her produc-

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tivity level as she enters the work force in 2030 will be significantly below potential, and likely well below the requirements of an increasingly sophisticated economy.

Malnutrition is caused by more than a lack of nutritious food. Poverty, open defecation, inappropriate feeding practices, mothers’ education and nutritional status are all risk factors for childhood malnutrition.

According to recent demographic surveys, more than half of all Cambodian households have no access to a toilet; and more than two-thirds of rural households defecate in the open.

ADB’s Asian Development Outlook 2013 identifies child malnutrition and the problem of the first 1,000 days as a critical development challenge for Cambodia (see www.adb.org/publications/series/asian-developmentoutlook).

The key to preventing the crisis of the first 1,000 days is to develop an interlocking series of interventions that provide better food security, nutrition, sanitation and hygiene.

This could include improving access to sufficient quantity, quality and variety of food through homestead food production, targeted social transfers and promotion of fortified foods; promoting breast-feeding and appropri-

ate feeding practices; and strengthening basic health services and micronutrient supplementation for women and children.

Identifying and managing child malnutrition through growth monitoring would help pinpoint problem areas. Government could also help decrease nutrient loss by improving the environment and sanitation and hygiene, and by increasing awareness of better food processing and storage techniques.

This ambitious agenda should not be just the responsibility of the government. Progress is possible only if partnerships are developed involving government, civil society, the private sector, researchers and communities.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is contributing to this agenda through a number of investments. The Emergency Food Assistance Project (EFAP) includes a new community-based nutrition and livelihood program in 100 communes around the Tonle Sap. Previous EFAP social safety nets included targeted rice distribution and school feeding.

EFAP has also increased rural incomes through a large cash for work program. Nearly 40,000 participants in seven provinces were able to secure an average of 30 days of work

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Children walk past a rice field full of cracks due to drought in Takeo province. The kingdom continues to suffer from drought affecting Cambodians in many provinces. HENG CHIVOAN

to improve 448 rural roads and 47 irrigation canals.

Improvements in sanitation and hygiene were a key outcome of the Tonle Sap Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project, with more than 500,000 villagers gaining access to safe water and about 250,000 gaining access to a durable and hygienic latrine.

The Second Rural Water and Sanitation Sector Project aims to reach an additional 400,000 people. Sanitation and hygiene promotion is also a feature of the Second Communicable Diseases Control Project, which is testing a community-based model health village approach in 180 poor border villages.

The project includes mass drug administration to combat parasitic worms (helminthes) in 10 provinces.

Together with government and other stakeholders we can help ensure that as the country grows, Cambodia’s children have better access to nutritious food, safe drinking water and clean environments so they can enjoy the bright future they deserve.

Peter John Brimble is ADB Deputy Country Director and Senior Country Economist for Cambodia. Karin Schelzig is ADB Senior Social Sector Specialist.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Lifestyle Cambodia’s ‘unsung heroes’ celebrated in a new release

In brief Penélope Cruz to play the next Bond girl

Bennett Murray

C

AMBODIA has no shortage of NGOs happy to take time and money from wellmeaning foreigners, but, for the donors, choosing a worthwhile organisation to support can appear to present a challenge.

Two journalists and a teacher have published a book that highlights the work of dozens of Cambodia-based NGOs whose work is less well-known abroad.

Titled Unsung Heroes Cambodia, the book launched last night at Monument Books in Phnom Penh. The store was packed with NGO workers nibbling hors d’oeuvres and sipping red wine, with dozens of copies of the book passed around.

The title was created to pay tribute to positive grassroots development in the Kingdom, said co-author Lee Anderson, a retired journalist who has worked in Samoa.

She worked on the project – a mixture of profiles and analysis – with friend Kerryan Griffin and American journalist Shawna Hartley over a three-year period including multiple visits to Cambodia.

“We feel that quite often there are people working away in the background, and they quite often get overlooked,” said Anderson. “Yet they make extraordinary differences in the lives of Cambodians just by going about their jobs.”

Among the 40 NGOs featured are Friends International, Wildlife Alliance and Cambodia Living Arts as well as some lesserknown names and the unusual stories of employees.

When choosing which would feature, the most important requirement was transpar-

OSCAR-WINNER Penélope Cruz will play a Bond girl in Sam Mendes’s followup to last year’s Skyfall, reports Yahoo.

Cruz, whose husband is Skyfall villain and fellow Oscar-winner Javier Bardem, will film her scenes next summer, according to the site.

Such a move suggests the 24th official James Bond adventure might hit cinemas earlier than expected, in late 2014 or early 2015. afp

Douglas denies oral sex blame for cancer

Co-authors Kerryan Griffin (left) and Lee Anderson worked together to produce Unsung Heroes.

ency, said Griffin, who works as a special needs educator for adults in Sydney. “An NGO must be transparent at all times, and annual general reports must be available.” The organisations included tended to be small, with high levels of community input, she added.

NGO Grace House works with schools near Siem Reap. supplied

“There are NGOs that have started in a community where there’s been a need, and they have grown up around that need with local input,” said Griffin.

“They’re not coming into the country, staying here for six months, starting a project, and leaving after doing what they think needs to be done but not what the Cambodian people think needs to be done.”

Furthermore, the authors said, they tend not have large overhead costs.

“They’re not paying for expensive cars and great big houses.

They’re out there working quietly away,” said Anderson, who said the organisations she studied stand in contrast to large international NGOs like World Vision and Save the Children.

scott howes

“They’re a really big business these days, even though they do good work,” said Anderson, who praised the big players for raising public awareness about the issues facing developing countries.

“Those sorts of organisations are doing quite a different job.”

Alan Cordory – whose Siem Reap-based NGO Grace House, which provides schooling and vocational training to poor families in three villages, was featured in Unsung Heroes – said his organisation was a good example of an NGO with a firm commitment to the grassroots.

“It’s run by a board of governors, and we work with the poor in the villages and the village elders providing education, health care and housing to the

community,” said Cordory.

In addition to paying tribute to quality NGOs in the Kingdom, Anderson said she hopes the book can serve as a resource for wannabe volunteers.

“A lot of people come here and think, ‘I want to change things, I want to do something that’s good,’ and they give money to people in the streets, and there’s child exploitation because of that,” said Anderson.

“What we’re saying is that if you’ve got a talent, OK, but research your placement carefully. Be sure what your job is going to be and that you bring something to that volunteer position. If you don’t, you’re better off making a donation.”

Unsung Heroes is available at Monument Books.

Ice cream melts hearts of Syrian refugees AN ENTICING aroma of boiled milk, vanilla, gum Arabic and pistachios; the rhythmic pounding of wooden mallets deep into stainless steel vats; the clink of spoons on glass. These are the sights, sounds and smells of Bakdash, billed as one of the oldest shops in the world selling Arabic ice cream and located in Al-Hamidiyeh bazaar in the world’s oldest capital, Damascus.

These delights make people’s mouths water in Jordan’s capital, Amman, but memories of them are also bringing tears to the eyes of Syrians who have fled their country.

What they are missing is Bakdash’s “booza”, a uniquely Middle Eastern type of ice cream that is elastic in texture, like taffy or chewy candy. .

Mohammad Hamdi Bakdash An employee serves cups of ice cream at a franchise of a Syr- opened his shop in Al-Hamidiyeh ian ice cream shop that opened in Jordan’s capital. afp in 1895, and it is still going strong

there despite the civil war that has killed more than 94,000 people and is increasingly threatening the capital.

Earlier this month, a Bakdash franchise opened in Amman on Madina Munawwara Street. The decor is identical to the fast-food ambience of Bakdash itself, with its glaring neon lights, large mirrors, long rows of tables.

“I am so moved,” said Sleiman Muhanna, a Syrian architecture professor. “They have recreated the spirit of Damascus.”

Janoub, the 25-year-old Jordanian who runs the Amman shop, said 60 to 70 per cent of his customers are Syrian, many of them among the nearly half a million of their countrymen who fled.

“I have seen elderly ladies weep when they come in.”

The pounding of the ice cream is done in Amman, and the final product mixed with pistachios and other delicacies for serving, but the ice cream itself is still made in Damascus to “preserve the true cachet of Syria”, Janoub said.

But getting it to Amman, 170 kilometres to the south, is fraught with risks.

“The ice cream is made in AlHamidiyeh and transported each day in refrigerated trucks,” Janoub explained. The trucks head south through Suweida, then across to Daraa before crossing the border, all the time skirting bombed-out areas and potential obstacles along the way.

“Sometimes it’s the FSA [rebel Free Syrian Army], sometimes the [national] army and sometimes criminal gangs.” AFP

A SPOKESMAN for Michael Douglas denied Monday that the veteran Hollywood actor had blamed his throat cancer on oral sex in a British newspaper interview. But the paper involved, the Guardian, stuck to its guns and posted an audio clip of the interview on its website, insisting that Douglas had been referring to his own cancer being caused by cunnilingus. Douglas’s spokesman Allen Burry said the 68-year-old Fatal Attraction star had discussed the link between oral cancers and oral sex, among other risk factors, but was not referring to his own specific case. AFP

Saudi prince spends $19.5m at Disneyland A SAUDI prince spent $19.5 million for three days of fun at Disneyland near Paris to celebrate his degree, sources familiar with the affair told AFP. Prince Fahd al-Saud booked entire areas of the park over May 22 to 24 for his 60-odd guests. The festivities included tailor-made events involving “rare Disney characters”, the sources said. Special security was put in place for the prince, one of the park’s top customers. AFP

Attenborough, Slash form pro-badger band Slash, Shara Nelson and David Attenborough have joined Brian May on a new song dedicated to badgers.

Badger Swagger, out today, is part of the England-wide campaign against this summer’s badger culls. The group are calling themselves Artful Badger and Friends.

Their debut single was created by music producer Rob Cass, who has previously worked with acts including Estelle, Robbie Williams and Baaba Maal. “To me all nature is beautiful,” he said in a press release. the guardian

18

THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Health

‘Ketamine capital’ battles to shake its bad reputation H Joe Sinclair

IDDEN away from the prying eyes of crowded Hong Kong, in school toilets, karaoke bars and public parks, young people are snorting a powerful and addictive drug – ketamine.

Cheap and abundant, with a supply flooding across the border from the mainland, abuse reached such levels in the late 2000s that the city was dubbed the ketamine capital of the world.

But in recent years Hong Kong has fought back, campaigning against what is a psychologically addictive drug that can cause irreversible health problems and take longer to treat than heroin.

On an isolated, jungled island, far from the city’s gleaming skyline, a group of young men are working bare-chested under the sun, painting the outside wall of a building.

This is the Shek Kwu Chau residential treatment centre, and these are some of its “clients”, ketamine abusers who come from mostly middle-class homes, with an average age of around 25.

Kin, now 27, arrived here after a 10-year habit that saw him go from user to dealer. He told AFP he only tried the drug in the first place to show his friend he didn’t need it.

“I didn’t realise it had such an attraction. I felt so weightless and free after taking it. I was in love with this feeling and got addicted to it,” he said.

Ketamine, which is closely related to PCP or “angel dust”, is used as an anaesthetic on both humans and animals.

The drug, often synthesised in clandestine laboratories in mainland China, can render users immobile. But it also makes

A ketamine abuser doing physical exercise at the Shek Kwu Chau residential treatment centre on an isolated island of Hong Kong.

them feel relaxed and floaty, and can produce a hallucinatory out-of-body experience known as the “K-hole”.

The centre’s superintendent Patrick Wu said ketamine’s psychological pull meant the rehabilitation program, which includes counselling and vocational work, lasted at least six months, compared to just two months for heroin.

“Yes, there’s not a physical addiction, but they are very much psychologically addicted,” he said. “They want to taste the excitement, it’s always on their mind.”

The government-funded centre is run by SARDA (Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers), and is both free and voluntary.

It mostly caters to heroin addicts but in 2010 it opened up to ketamine abusers after a sharp

rise in cases. The young men live together as a “family” in simple stone houses overlooking the sea.

In 2009 ketamine abuse peaked at 5,280 reported users, according to statistics from Hong Kong’s central registry of drug abuse. More than half of those were under 21, of which group 84 per cent took it.

By last year the number had fallen to 3,192, though drug workers warn its use is easily hidden, and often takes a long time to surface.

Narcotics Commissioner Erika Hui put the success of reducing ketamine down to a “holistic” five-pronged approach involving law enforcement, education, treatment, research and cross-border cooperation.

“Our focus has been to encourage people to seek help early rather than hiding. The first

priority will be to assist rather than to catch or prosecute people for taking drugs,” she said.

The success of this strategy could point the way for other countries with ketamine problems, like Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, though it would “depend on the local circumstances”, Hui said.

Criminologist Dr Alfred Mak of Hong Kong University said one reason locals were drawn to ketamine was because it was so cheap, costing around HK$100 ($13) for a bag that could be shared among friends – a fraction of the price of cocaine. But he also said the drug was particularly suited to the environment.

“We live in a very narrow space and we have a lot of interference, even from our neighbours, but people can take this drug in a hidden and secluded place,” he said.

afp

Ah-Wai started snorting ketamine in the top floor toilets of his school when he was just 16.

He became unable to hold his bladder for more than 15 minutes, afraid to use the bus in case he wet himself. One day he fell unconscious in the street, waking up three days later in hospital.

Dr Peggy Chu, a consultant urologist at Tuen Mun hospital, first linked ketamine to bladder problems in 2006.

Every week she sees patients whose bladders have been shrivelled because of ketamine, with some forced to wear incontinence pants.

“Currently it’s still not treatable. The only thing that works is to stop taking the ketamine,” she said, noting while some will regain full capacity other heavy users will not. afp

Hong Kong man told he is in fact a woman A 66-year-old who lived his whole life as a man was given a surprising diagnosis after visiting the doctor in Hong Kong with a swollen abdomen – he was a woman.

Doctors realised the patient was female after they found the swelling came from a large cyst on an ovary, the Hong Kong Medical Journal reported.

The condition was the result of two rare genetic disorders. The subject had Turner syndrome, which affects girls and women and results from a problem with the chromosomes, with characteristics including infertility and short stature. But he also had congenital adrenal hyperplasia, increasing male hormones and making the patient, who had a beard and a “micropenis”, appear like a man.

“Were it not due to the huge ovarian cyst, his intriguing medical condition might never have been exposed,” seven doctors from two of the city’s hospitals wrote in the study.

The patient, who grew up as an orphan, was found to have no testes, a history of urinary leakage since childhood, and stopped growing after puberty at 10.

The doctors said there have been only six cases where both genetic disorders have been reported in medical literature.

Turner Syndrome on its own affects one in 2,500 to 3,000.

The Vietnam-born Chinese patient decided to continue “perceiving himself as having a male gender with the possible need of testosterone replacement,” according to the journal.

Most men have a X and a Y chromosome and most women have a pair of X chromosomes.

But people with Turner Syndrome tend to have only one X chromosome or are missing part of their second X chromosome. afp

Vegetarians live longer, especially men: research Nicole Ostrow

Vegetarians, including those who also eat seafood, egg and dairy, have an average 12 per cent lower chance of dying from any cause than meat-eaters. bloomberg

A VEGETARIAN diet may help people, particularly men, live longer than those who regularly eat meat, according to a study of more than 70,000 Seventh-Day Adventists.

Researchers followed the participants an average of six years. During that period, vegetarians, including those who also added seafood or dairy and egg products to their diet, had an average 12 per cent lower chance of dying from any cause than meat-eaters, according to the findings published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The study also found that male vegetarians were less likely to die from heart disease than non-vegetarians, while there were no similar results in women.

Vegetarian diets have been associated with a reduction in chronic diseases like high blood

pressure, diabetes and heart disease, the researchers said.

The latest findings confirm earlier studies that show the health benefits of eating a vegetarian diet, said Michael Orlich, the lead study author.

“People should take these kinds of results into account as they’re considering dietary choices,” said Orlich, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at Loma Linda University, a Seventh-Day Adventist institution in Loma Linda, California, in a May 31 telephone interview.

“Various types of vegetarian diets may be beneficial in reducing the risk of death compared to non-vegetarian diets.”

It’s not clear whether avoiding red meat and processed meats plays a role in boosting life or whether the foods that vegetarians are eating lowers their risk of dying compared with nonvegetarians, Orlich said.

He said he is planning a study to help identify which foods are explaining these results.

Researchers in the study looked at 73,308 men and women who are Seventh-Day Adventists, a Christian church with about 17 million members worldwide.

The church, officially established in the US in 1863, is known for celebrating the Sabbath on Saturday and a view that a second coming of Jesus Christ is imminent.

Those who participated in the study were given a questionnaire to assess their diet.

Researchers found that 5,548 people were vegans, 21,177 were vegetarians that ate dairy and egg products, 7,194 were vegetarians that included fish in their diets and 4,031 were semi-vegetarian, which includes eating meat infrequently.

The rest were meat eaters. reuters

19

THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 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

Flighs

Days

Dep

Arrival

BANGKOK - PHNOM PENH

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

08:00

16:05

PHNOM PENH - BEIJING CZ 324

Daily

BEIJING - PHNOM PENH 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 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

PHNOM PENH - HANOI 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

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

PHNOM PENH - INCHEON 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

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

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

1 Monday

INCHEON - PHNOM PENH

KE 690

FM 833

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

CZ 324

VN 840

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

12:45

17:05

09:10

11:35

PHNOM PENH SORYA BUS TRANSPORT SCHEDULE INTERNATIONAL ROUTES

TAIPEI - PHNOM PENH

PHNOM PENH -TAIPEI BR 266

Daily

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

VN 840

Daily

17:30

18:50

VN 841

Daily

11:30

13:00

PP-HO CHI MINH DEPATURE

HO CHI MINH-PP

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

PAKSE,VIENTIANE-PP

6:45

7:30

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

BANGKOK - SIEM REAP Flighs Days Dep K6 701 Daily 02:55 PG 903 Daily 08:00 PG 905 Daily 11:35 PG 913 Daily 13:35 PG 907 Daily 17:00 PG 909 Daily 18:45 GUANGZHOU - SIEM REAP CZ 3053 2.4.6 08:45 CZ 3053 1.3.5.7 16:35 HANOI - SIEM REAP K6 851 Daily 19:30 VN 843 Daily 15:25 VN 845 Daily 17:05 VN 845 Daily 17:45 VN 801 Daily 18:20 HO CHI MINH CITY - SIEM REAP VN 3809 Daily 09:15 VN 827 Daily 11:35 VN 3821 Daily 15:55 VN 829 Daily 16:20 VN 3823 Daily 19:45 INCHEON - SIEM REAP KE 687 Daily 18:30 OZ 737 Daily 19:20 KUALA LUMPUR - SIEM REAP AK 280 Daily 06:50 MH 764 3.5.7 12:10 MANILA - SIEM REAP 5J 257 2.4.7 19:45 SINGAPORE - SIEM REAP MI 633 1, 6, 7 14:35 MI 622 2.4 08:40 MI 616 7 10:40 MI 636 3, 2 13:55 MI 630 5 07:55 MI 618 5 16:35 3K599 2.4.7 13:50 VIENTIANE - SIEM REAP QV 512 2.4.5.7 06:30 YANGON - SIEM REAP 8M 401 1. 5 17:05

19:10

Arrival 04:05 09:00 12:45 14:35 18:10 19:55 10:30 18:30 21:15 17:10 18:50 19:30 20:00

10:35 12:35 16:55 17:40 20:45 22:15 22:40 07:50 13:15 21:30 15:45 09:50 11:50 17:40 11:35 17:45 15:05 09:25 19:15

DOMESTIC ROUTES PP-SIEM REAP SIEM REAP-PP 6:15, 7:00- 12:00, 13:00, 14:00 5:30, 6:30, 7:00, 9:30, 10:30,12:30, 13:30 PP -SIHANOUK SIHANOUK-PP 7:00 To 12:00, 13:00, 14:30, 16:30 7:10, 8:00, 10:30,12:15, 14:00,15:30,17:30 PP-BATTAMBANG BATTAMBANG-PP 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, 12:00 5:30, 6:45, 7:45, 8:30, 9:30,10:30 PP-MONDULKIRI MONDULKIRI-PP 8:30 8:30 Further information, please contact: Tel: 023 210 359, Email:168@ppsoryatransport.com

REGULAR SHIPPING LINES SCHEDULES CALLING PORT ROTATION LINE RCL (12calls/moth)

CALLING SCHEDULES

FREEQUENCY ROTATION PORTS

1 Wed, 08:00 - Thu 16:00

1 Call/week

2 Thu, 14:00 - Fri 22:00

1 Call/week

SIN-SHV-SGZ-SIN HKG-SHV-SGZ-HKG (HPH-TXGKEL) SIN-SHV-SGZ-SIN SGN-SHV-LZP-SGN - HKG-OSA-TYO-KOB - BUS-SGH-YAT-SGN - SIN-SHV-TPP-SIN

3 Fri, 20:00 - Sat 23:59

1 Call/week

1 Th, 08:00 - 20:00

1 Call/week

2 Fri, 22:00- Sun 00:01

1 Call/week

SITC (BEN LINE (4 calls/onth)

Sun 09:00-23:00

1 Call/week

HCM-SHV-LZP-HCMNBO-SGH-OSA-KOBBUS-SGH-HGK-CHM

ITL (ACL) (4 calls/month) APL (4 calls/month) COTS (2 calls/month)

Sat 06:00 - Sun 08:00

1 Call/week

SGZ-SHV-SIN-SGZ

Fri, 08:00 - Sun, 06:00

1 call/week

SIN-SHV-SIN

MEARSK (MCC) (4 calls/moth)

Irregula

2 calls/month BBK-SHV-BKK-(LZP)

34 call/month BUS= Busan, Korea HKG= HongKong kao=Kaoshiung, Taiwan ROC Kob= Kebe, Japan KUN= Kuantan, Malaysia LZP= Leam Chabang, Thailand NBO= Ningbo, China OSA= Osaka, Japan SGN= Saigon, Vietnam

SGZ= Songkhla, Thailand SHV= Sihanoukville Port Cambodia SIN= Singapore TPP= TanjungPelapas, Malaysia TYO= Tokyo, Japan TXG= Taichung, Taiwan YAT= Yantian, China YOK= Yokohama, Japan

FLY DIRECT TO MYANMAR WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY YANGON - PHNOM PENH PHNOM PENH - YANGON FLY DIRECT TO SIEM REAP MONDAY & FRIDAY SIEM REAP - YANGON YANGON - SIEM REAP #90+92+94Eo, St. 217, Sk. Orussey4, Kh. 7 Makara, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Tel 023 881 178 | Fax 023 886 677 | www.maiair.com

A view of the Eiffel Tower from Les Ombres restaurant on the roof of the Musee Branly in Paris. afp

France’s fight to protect its foodie status

W

ORRIED that its gastronomic reputation is being damaged by substandard eateries, France is considering banning establishments from calling themselves restaurants if meals are not made from scratch by inhouse chefs.

The move, backed by the Synhorcat restaurant union and a group of politicians, aims to crack down on the proliferation of restaurants serving boil-in-a-bag or microwaved ready meals as restaurant-quality cuisine.

But the proposal is facing resistance from some restaurant owners, who fear it will hurt the industry by driving up costs and are warning of major job losses.

The proposal, from policymaker Daniel Fasquelle of the right-wing opposition UMP, is to be put to parliament this month as an amendment to a new consumer-rights bill.

It would limit the right to use the term restaurant to eateries where food is prepared on site using raw materials, either fresh or frozen.

Exceptions would be made for some prepared products, such as bread, charcuterie and ice cream.

The proposal comes after a Synhorcat study found that 31 per cent of French restaurants are now serving industrially prepared food products instead of their own cooking. And experts suspect many more restaurants are using industrial food but not admitting it.

Alain Fontaine, owner of Le Mesturet restaurant in central Paris, said that the dis-

tinction is an important one.

“It means we have chefs who develop recipes and prepare them, unlike those who have taken the decision to cut open bags and reheat,” he said.

Those behind the proposal are hoping to emulate a 1995 law that limited the use of the term bakery to establishments that prepared bread and pastries from scratch.

That law is widely seen as having given a boost to traditional bakers.

But six other restaurant groups last week declared their “massive opposition” to the move.

Led by the UMIH, the main association of restaurant owners, opponents said the proposal would “create complete confusion with the public, clients and especially foreign tourists”.

They said it would have “drastic consequences in terms of employment, especially for youth”, with about a quarter of France’s restaurant workers under the age of 25.

The group suggested that France instead create a new category of “artisanal restaurant” to highlight those which prepare food from scratch.

The proposal is only one of several recent attempts to address what many see as the declining standards of France’s famed restaurants.

In April the College Culinaire de France – a 15-member industry group founded by the country’s leading chefs – launched a new “quality restaurant” label awarded to those eateries that meet the highest cooking and service standards. afp

20

THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Entertainment NOW SHOWING

Dengue Fever @ Koh Pich

legend cinema

Rock out to the irrepressible pop and psychedelic jams of the crowd-pleasing Dengue Fever, playing for free as part as part of the Memory! International Film Heritage Festival. Songbird Chhom Nimol leads the five-piece LA band through the fiery soundtrack of Cambodia's 1960s golden era of film and music. Visiting French VJ Alexandre Elkouby will add a touch of cinema to the outdoor show.

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.

9:30am, 12pm FAST AND 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.

9:30am, 11:50am, 2:20pm, 4:35pm, 7:10pm, 9:245pm

Koh Pich (Diamond Island), Street 152, 6:30pm

Trivia @ The Willow Test your trivia prowess at one of Phnom Penh’s biggest trivia nights.

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.

4:20pm 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.

9pm

cineplex cinema

Set among orchids and potted plants in The Willow’s pretty courtyard, up to $100 in prize money can be won. Entry is $2, with a maximum of seven people per team.

The Willow, #1 Street 21, 7:30pm

Dengue Fever are set to rock Koh Pich tonight for a free outdoor concert as part of the Memory! film festival. PHOTO SUPPLIED

TV PICKS

EPIC (See above.)

9:15am, 11am, 12:45pm, 4:25pm, 8:45pm FAST AND FURIOUS 6 (See above) 9:15am, 11:35am, 2pm, 6:20pm, 8:40pm PEE MAK Adaptation of the Mae Nak Phra Khanong legend of Thai folklore. Some time during the Rattanakosin Kingdom, Mak becomes a soldier and has to leave his pregnant wife Nak at home in Phra Khanong.

In the distant frontline he meets four soldiers who become his best friends.

9:15am, 11:15am, 1:15pm, 2:30pm, 3:15pm, 4:20pm, 8:40pm

11:35am - CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2: Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt return as heads of the Baker family who, while on vacation, find themselves in competition with a rival family of eight children, headed by Eugene Levy.

FOX MOVIES

Legendary Cambodian director Ly Bun Yim's 1965 fantasy Sobasith, screens for the Memory! film festival at the elegant Chaktomuk theatre. Starring actress and muse Virak Dara, with music by Sinn Sisamouth.

1:10pm - CON AIR: A newly released ex-con and former US Ranger finds himself trapped in a prisoner transport plane when the passengers seize control.

FOX MOVIES

Chaktomuk Theatre, Sisowath Quay, 4pm

3:05pm - THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW: Jack Hall, paleoclimatologist for NORAD, must make a daring trek across America to reach his son, trapped in the crosshairs of a sudden international storm which plunges the planet into a new Ice Age. FOX MOVIES

Eugene Levy stars alongside Steve Martin as an irascible dad in Cheaper by the Dozen 2. BLOOMBERG

Memory! @ Chaktomuk

8pm - SHALLOW HAL: A shallow man falls in love with a 300 pound woman because of her “inner beauty”. FOX MOVIES

Dub Addiction @ Opera Dub Addiction’s Khmer, African and German Raggamuffin MCs pack into the intimate Opera Café tonight for a sweet ’n’ low semi-acoustic reggae session, to end their current local tour.

Opera Café, corner Streets 13 and 178, 8:30pm

Thinking caps “OF THEE WE SING” ACROSS 1 6 10 14 15 16 17 20 21 22 23 25 32 33 34 35 37 38 40 41 43 44 49 50 51 54 59 62 63 64 65 66 67

Highlander with land “Dragnet” star Had ___ (went bonkers) Cause a knot not to be Having wings “___ With the Wind” Singing siblings Air Relieves Important time, historically Scads Singing siblings Inter ___ Corduroy ridge Sine ___ non (essential thing) Snow transports Roof material Smears on messily Cul-de-___ LeBron’s squad Unit of distance Singing siblings Itch Vintage vehicle Pursue wild geese?

Like some night vision Singing siblings Seed case “Let’s Make a Deal” option Was admitted Decide not to take a hit ABA member Totally eliminate

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 18 19 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 36 37 39 42 45 46 47 48 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 60 61

Carnal craving Pot chip Type of type (abbr.)

Ceremonial act One who probes City on the Vistula North Sea feeder Pub kin Fraternity mem.

Horrified Nemeses Regarding She’s a Hardy lass Home of Blarney Castle Stiffened Nicholas II was the last one It’s often crude Object of many prayers Dorothy, to Em Dear old guy Smacks a baseball On a par (abbr.)

Russian coin Freelancer’s encl.

Li’l helper?

Not a hog Director’s shoot Bordeaux buddy Heart chart In a fair manner Ill-tempered Entertainer Hildegarde Search for food Book reviewers, of sorts Hind’s mate Operatic song for one “... and all ___ was this lousy T-shirt” Love god Meter maid of song Yale graduates Unit of force Rhoda Morgenstern’s mom Common “point” of j and i

Tuesday’s solution

Tuesday’s solution

21

THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Sport O’Driscoll relishes link-up Robert Kitson

B

rian O’Driscoll has come full circle. Much water has flowed down Perth’s Swan river since the 34-year-old made his Lions debut in this same city in 2001, but the competitive edge of the man set to lead out the touring side against the Western Force today is the same as it was when he first featured at the Waca 12 years ago.

What has changed are the people around him. O’Driscoll is now on his fourth Lions tour – only Willie John McBride and Mike Gibson have featured on more expeditions – and is the solitary playing survivor from the side who stuck 116 points on Western Australia a dozen years ago.

Alongside him in midfield will be the 22-year-old Manu Tuilagi, a schoolboy back in Samoa when ‘Drico’ was cutting the Wallabies’ defence apart on his first Lions tour.

This slightly odd-couple pairing is entirely untested, but the optimistically named Force may well feel the effect of something much more powerful.

Playing Tuilagi at inside centre is an ominous show of physical intent, with O’Driscoll and Jonathan Sexton on his tattooed elbow awaiting the faintest sniff of an offload.

“I’ve been following Manu around for the last couple of days because I’ll probably be following him around throughout the game,” joked O’Driscoll, accustomed to playing alongside the rather more diminutive Gordon D’Arcy for Leinster and Ireland.

As Tuilagi was swift to point out, however, only one centre leads the way when it comes to consistently

Baseball has been resurrected in the Kingdom from the ashes of its previous administration and currently enjoys fresh participation from local players, according to officials of the revitalised Cambodian Baseball Federation (CBAF).

Having struggled for years to maintain its activities under

New South Wales will be bidding to prevent Test-strength Queensland from winning an unprecedented eighth Australian State of Origin rugby league series in today’s opening game in Sydney. The Maroons, under the coaching of Mal Meninga, have not lost an interstate series against the Blues since 2005 and are again favourites to extend their dominance. In the past seven seasons Queensland have won 15 encounters against NSW’s six victories, but the Blues believe they are closing the gap.

Today’s match kicks off at 5pm Cambodian time. AFP

Djokovic, Nadal close in on semi-final showdown

British and Irish Lions’ Brian O’Driscoll (centre) trains on Monday in Perth, ahead of today’s test against the Western Force.

hard-edged commitment in the professional era.

O’Driscoll’s Lions career has included some golden highlights but, as yet, there is no series win to top it off.

With his retirement now confirmed for 2014 this is his last shot, and he sounds increasingly determined to make it count.

“No one on this tour has won a Test series . . . we’ve got to be ruthless and make ourselves very difficult to beat,” said O’Driscoll. “It is absolutely not

just up to me, it is up to everyone. It is very difficult [to achieve a series victory] if you are stuttering in the first five or six games.”

That collective mission statement has already been helped by the displays of Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies in the opening tour game in Hong Kong, both of whom set a standard O’Driscoll and Tuilagi will have to stretch themselves to exceed.

O’Driscoll has a high regard for the reliably street-smart Australia three-

REUTERS

quarters – “You have to really try and out-think them” – but reckons the developing Tuilagi has a broader range of skills than many appreciate: “People see the strong ball-carrier in him and the destructive tackler when he makes contact. But he has an array of skills that probably don’t get the credit they deserve. It’s definitely an exciting feeling to partner him and I’m looking forward to our first outing.”

Today’s match kicks off at 5pm Cambodian time. THE GUARDIAN

Cambodian baseball swings back into action Yeun Ponlok

NSW out to put a stop to Queensland dominance

the presidency of US-based CBAF founder Joe Cook, the national team set-up has been switched from its original home of Baribo ballpark in Kampong Chhnang province to a more modern facility at the Boeung Samrith resort in Baray district of Kampong Thom province.

Resort owner and National Assembly member Nhem

Thavy has been elected as the new president of the Federation, in a move wholly endorsed

by National Olympic Committee of Cambodia secretarygeneral Vath Chamroeun.

“Baseball in Cambodia used to encounter lots of problems due to the sport requiring vast expenses on uniforms, training materials, field maintenance, qualified and experi-

The Cambodian national baseball team pose for a photo with coach Mick Rhodes Natividad (right) at the Boeung Samrith resort field in Kampong Thom province’s Baray district. photo supplied

enced coaches, and especially talented players. However, now we have solved these problems,” Vath Chamroeun told the Post.

“The NOCC had already appointed Nhem Thavy as the president of Cambodia Basketball Federation, as he has enough capability and financial power to support the team’s needs.

“He is also an inspired leader that will instil confidence in the Cambodian national team, and will help them compete in international competitions.”

National team coach Mick Rhodes Natividad, a former Filipino baseball league Rookie of the Year, told the Post that 21 players from across the country have been selected for training at the resort.

According to the coach, a two-year agreement has been struck by the CBAF with foreign associates to host international friendly competitions once every three months at the field featuring players from the US, Japan and South Korea. A tournament was held on May 26 featuring members of the American, Japanese, South Korean and Philippine embassies.

While Natividad claims Cambodia have enough ability to compete at the SEA Games, this year’s edition in Myanmar in December has omitted the sport.

The Kingdom last sent a team to the SEA Games in 2007 in Thailand, where they came in last after losing all five of their games against the hosts, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar and Malaysia.

Cambodia’s first international victory came at the 8th Asian Baseball Cup in Bangkok in 2009, when they beat Malaysia 20-8.

“I dare to say that our players could finish fourth if we were to play at the SEA Games this year,” said Natividad.

The two most experienced national team players, Hul Sophu and Seng Vun, told the Post the squad trained together for four hours a day, received free food and were accommodated comfortably at the resort.

“If I compare our team to other teams in Southeast Asia, we are no different to them in terms of standard,” added Hul Sophu. TRANSLATION BY CHENG SERYRITH; ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DAN RILEY

World number one Novak Djokovic reached his 16th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final, while seven-time champion Rafael Nadal marked his 27th birthday by also reaching the French Open last eight on Monday. Top seed Djokovic carved out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over 16th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber with the German paying a high price for converting just two of 13 break points. Nadal, bidding to become the first man to win the same Grand Slam title eight times, trounced Japanese 13th seed Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-1, 6-3. AFP

Sharapova, Azarenka ease into Paris last eight

Defending champion Maria Sharapova joined third seed Victoria Azarenka in the French Open quarter-finals on Monday as both posted routine fourthround wins. Sharapova saw off American 17th seed Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-3 to set up a meeting with either Serbian 18th seed Jelena Jankovic or US hope Jamie Hampton, while double Australian Open champion Azarenka swamped 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-0.

AFP

Bruins blitz Pittsburgh to take charge in the East The Boston Bruins dominated Pittsburgh for a second straight game to stun the topseeded Penguins in a 6-1 win on Monday that gave them control of the Eastern Conference final. After capturing Game One in a 3-0 triumph, the Bruins blitzed the Penguins with four goals in the first period as they skated to a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Boston host Game Three tonight.

REUTERS

Santambrogio tested positive at Giro, says UCI

Italian cyclist Mauro Santambrogio tested positive for EPO during last month’s Giro d’Italia, the International Cycling Union said on Monday. The 28-year-old finished ninth overall on the Giro and won the 14th stage but tested positive for the banned blood-booster on the opening stage on May 4. AFP

22

THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Sport

Boxing infighting

Klitschko camp threaten to pull out of title bout

T

he manager of undisputed world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko is threatening to call off his October bout with Russia’s Alexander Povetkin over the issue of drug testing.

Klitschko, 37, has been ordered by the World Boxing Association (WBA) to face Russia’s Alexander Povetkin in Moscow with the fight scheduled for October 5.

Povetkin is the ‘‘regular’’ WBA champion and Klitschko the governing body’s ‘‘super’’ champion – an honour given to him when he relieved Britain’s David Haye of the WBA belt on points in July 2011.

Now Klitschko, who also holds the WBO, IBF and IBO belts, and Povetkin are obliged to fight in order to leave just a single WBA belt-holder.

But the Ukrainian’s camp are insisting Germany’s National AntiDoping Agency (NADA) handle any drug testing, while Povetkin’s camp want to use the Russian agency.

Should the German agency not be used, ‘‘there will be no fight and this is not up for discussion,’’ Klitschko’s manager Bernd Boente confirmed to SID, an AFP subsidiary.

Boente said Povetkin, 33, must also have his samples tested by the NADA-certified institute in Cologne.

The Klitschko camp wants to ‘‘rule out any inconsistencies with questionable analysis by Russian anti-doping agencies’’ before the fight goes ahead. ‘‘Better safe than sorry. I’ve already seen too much in this business,’’ added Boente.

The WBA have granted a sevenday extension for the fight’s details to be negotiated. ‘‘There are still huge gaps in the contracts, not only in terms of the drugs testing,’’ admitted Boente. AFP

Heat rip up Pacers to reach Finals L

eBron James scored 32 points and the defending champion Miami Heat advanced to the NBA Finals for the third year in a row on Monday with a 99-76 rout of the Indiana Pacers.

The Heat captured the best-ofseven Eastern Conference final four games to three and booked a championship series showdown against the San Antonio Spurs that will open on Thursday at Miami.

“They were just aggressive. They had that killer instinct, that look in their eye,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of the Heat. “They weren’t going to be denied. Their ball movement was spectacular.”

Dwyane Wade had 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds for Miami, while James, who hit 8-of-17 from the field, grabbed eight rebounds and Chris Bosh contributed nine points and eight rebounds for the Heat.

“It was about finding a way to win at home,” Wade said. “It’s game seven. You have to give everything you have got. My teammates did some things to loosen me up and that got me going.”

The Heat lost to Dallas in the 2011 championship series but defeated Oklahoma City for last year’s crown.

“Going back to the final three straight years is an amazing feat,” said Wade, who had his best scoring night since April 23. “I’m glad we were able to do it.”

Miami won both regular-season meetings with the Spurs, but each team benched top talent on the other’s home court, leaving neither game a true test of what they could offer with the title on the line.

“We just got finished with a twofisted series and now we have got to get ready for what that great team is going to throw at us,” Wade said.

James, the NBA Most Valuable Player, plans on the Heat giving the Spurs the same treatment they have their previous playoff rivals.

“Our game plan will not change,” James vowed. “We disrupt; we fly around; we help one another; we share the ball offensively. The only thing that changes is the personnel we’re going against.”

Miami swiped much of the drama on Monday with a dominating second quarter, outscoring Indiana 3316 to seize a 52-37 half-time edge.

“That first half was dispiriting,” Vogel said. “Give them credit. With their season on the line, they just brought a whole other level.

“They taught us a lesson. This team has been there before. They know how to win; they know how to ratchet up their defense and impose their will on a game.”

James scoring 18 points in the first half and said Miami’s mindset was to be aggressive.

“Just win, by any means necessary,” James said. “We came out and took care of business.”

The Pacers made 15 turnovers in

LeBron James of the Miami Heat dunks in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2013 NBA Playoffs against the Indiana Pacers. AFP

the first half, 10 more than Miami, and the Heat made eight first-half steals to only two for Indiana. For the game, Miami had 11 turnovers, half Indiana’s total. Miami had 11 steals. Indiana had four.

“We just turned the ball over too much,” Indiana’s David West said.

“With a team of this calibre on their home court, it’s too much to overcome.”

In the second half the Heat stretched the margin and held the Pacers at bay to the finish.

“Our respect goes to the Pacers.

They made us play better,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We had

to play our best game of the series to get this done. The competition brought out the best in us. There were harrowing moments.”

Roy Hibbert led Indiana with 18 points, but the Pacers fell one game short of reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000.

“Disappointed but encouraged about the future,” Vogel said of the team’s locker-room gloom. “I told them keep their heads high. Nobody gave us a chance to get this far. We overcame an awful lot to grab the nation’s attention.

“Everybody knows who the Indiana Pacers are now.” AFP

It’s your move, plan carefully.

Tigran Petrosian v Kozali 8

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A Cambodian Eagles player (fourth right) and a Malaysian Warriors player vie for possession during their AFL match on March 31 at the Navy ground on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. JIM HESTON

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Eagles to battle Warriors in KL

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HS Manjunath 3

2

1

a

b

c

White to play and win

d

e

f

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Solution on page 23

Moving house? Call 023 880 951 or visit www.asiantigersgroup.com for more information

The Cambodian Eagles will fly out a good-sized squad of 19 players to take on a full-strength Malaysian Warriors side in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday as the top two teams in the East Asian Australian Football League renew their rivalry.

A number of key players are coming back to the Eagles fold to reinforce the side, prominent among them being former captain Allan Sorteris, spiritual leader David Murphy

and the backline stalwart David Gordge.

Eagles head coach Grant Fitzgerald is quietly confident.

“We have some very handy inclusions for this game,” he told the Post yesterday.

“Although they don’t add a lot of pace they bring a lot of football experience, which will go a long way in tackling a strong Malaysian side.”

The Eagles have been putting in some hard yards on the training track over the last six weeks, working on some of the

areas that let them down during the Singapore tour that saw them draw with the Warriors but succumb to a narrow loss to the Singapore Wombats.

“Inaccurate goal kicking cost us dearly in Singapore, so we have been running a lot of goal kicking drills as we try to improve our conversion rate,” Fitzgerald added.

“We have also been focusing on our contested football as we want to build our reputation of being a physical side with attacking instincts.”

23

THE PHNOM PENH POST june 5, 2013

Football

Japan reach World Cup finals Patrick Johnston

A

sian champions Japan became the first side to qualify for the World Cup finals in Brazil when playmaker Keisuke Honda scored an injury-time penalty to claim a 1-1 draw with Australia in Saitama yesterday.

The Blue Samurai dominated for long spells but Australia hung on and Tommy Oar put them in front in the 81st minute when his cross from the left looped over Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, who flapped and failed to clear.

Matt McKay was then adjudged to have handled a cross from Honda in the penalty area in stoppage time and the bleach blond CSKA Moscow attacker stepped up to leather the spot kick straight down the middle.

The point leaves leaders Japan on 14 points from seven matches in Asian qualifying Group B, meaning they are assured of reaching the 2014 finals as one of the top two.

Japan lie seven ahead of Australia who moved above Jordan on goal difference with both sides having played a game less.

The draw was the least Japan deserved from a game they dominated for long periods with Honda, recalled after a thigh injury, and Shinji Kagawa causing the visitors all sorts of problems.

Both went close to goals in the first 20 minutes as the Australians struggled to deal with the high tempo and intricate passing of the Japanese.

The Socceroos recalled veteran defender Sasa Ognenovski to partner

Australia’s Tim Cahill (left) and Japan’s Yasuyuki Konno fight for the ball in their 2014 World Cup qualifying match in Saitama.

experienced captain Lucas Neill in the centre of defence and, despite sitting deep and inviting the Japanese on to them, the duo just about kept the home side at bay.

The second half continued in the

same fashion as Kagawa clipped the crossbar in the 60th minute and full back Yuto Nagatomo wasted a good break with a tame effort in the 80th minute from the left.

The Socceroos made them pay for

REUTERS

their wastefulness when Oar was the beneficiary of another error by Kawashima, but Honda came to the rescue with a late equaliser that means they will take part in a fifth consecutive finals. REUTERS

tells Blues: Neymar to help Messi Mourinho ‘I am one of you now’ Brilliant Brazil striker Neymar flew into Barcelona and signed a five-year contract amid great fanfare on Monday before announcing his priority was to help his idol Lionel Messi remain the world’s best player.

The 21-year-old, who is just under five years younger than Messi, will line up with the Argentinian in a fearsome Barca attack next season after the Spanish champions beat arch-rivals Real Madrid in the race to lure him from Santos.

After passing medical tests and penning a deal that ties him to Barca until June 2018, Neymar told the almost 60,000 fans who had turned up to welcome him at the Camp Nou

stadium that playing for the club was a dream come true.

“Barca is more than a club and a great team, and I want to contribute to Messi staying the best for many years,” he said.

At a later news conference, he told reporters jamming the press room he had struggled to fight back the tears when he had walked out on to the pitch.

“It is a great day for me and my family,” he said.

“Having the chance to play with so many important players who I have admired since I was a child is something I have to thank god for.

“I have never been concerned about winning the Ballon d’Or or being the best

FC Barcelona’s new player Brazilian Neymar da Silva Santos Junior gestures during his presentation at Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona.

AFP

player in the world. The best player is already here and that’s Messi. And now I can see him from close up and help him.”

Neymar was accompanied

by Barca vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu and sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta and Bar tomeu revealed that Barca had paid €57 million ($74 million) to sign Neymar.

His contract included a buyout clause worth €190 million, he added.

Quizzed about the complex ownership structure of rights to the player, Bartomeu said there was a confidentiality agreement in place that prevented him revealing how much Barca paid to each of the four parties who held a stake to secure the rights.

Local media reported the four were Neymar’s previous club Santos, investment firms DIS and Terceira Estrela Investimentos and an unidentified sports consultant.

Barca had not wanted to pay more than €40 million in total but the price had been forced up by the interest of Real and other clubs, Bartomeu said.

“He is one of the world’s best talents of his generation and he could be a reference point,” Zubizarreta told reporters.

“We will enjoy some magical nights with him and his teammates,” added the former Barca and Spain goalkeeper.

“They will be delighted to share a dressing room with Neymar.” REUTERS

JosE Mourinho insisted he is returning to Chelsea a better and more mature manager than when he left in 2007, claiming he wants to stay at the club “for a long time” after agreeing a four-year contract.

Mourinho, who will be officially introduced next Monday, completed the formalities of his protracted move in London on Monday and insisted he was ready to “marry again” after agreeing a return to the club he professes to “love” following a fiveminute conversation with the owner, Roman Abramovich.

Mourinho is set to become the highest paid manager in the Premier League, with a reported £8.5 million ($13 million) salary, and brings two backroom staff members, fitness coach Rui Faria and goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro, who worked at Stamford Bridge during his previous three-year spell, when Chelsea won two league titles, one FA Cup and two League Cups.

The technical assistant, Jose Morais, also follows from Spain while Steve Holland, Christophe Lollichon and Chris Jones will remain from the existing coaching set-up.

Mourinho, 50, left Chelsea six years ago after his relationship with Abramovich had seriously deteriorated, but claims he has matured following successful spells at Internazionale and Real Madrid, saying his bond with the owner has always been strong.

Red-hot Boeung Ket get back to business

Tearaway leaders Boeung Ket Rubber Field got back to their familiar territory after a somewhat disappointing trip to Singapore where local side Tanjong Pagar United dealt them a 4-1 defeat in the opening round of the 2013 RHB Singapore Cup. The defending Metfone C-League champions will be looking for their 11th straight domestic victory this season when they face one of the back-markers in Asia Europe University at the Olympic Stadium at 4pm today. On their current rousing form, Boeung Ket should go out as piping-hot favourites to stretch their lead by another three points to the dismay of the chasing pack. Any other outcome would go down as the biggest shock of the season. Before this fixture, two physically well endowed sides in Ministry of National Defence and National Police Commissary fight it out in their crucial game at 2pm. While MND will be anxious to clear out of the danger zone and put some distance between themselves and the two dreaded relegation spots, the Police, who take the field on the back of a tough win over AEU last week, will be equally eager to close the gap on the teams vying for the Super Four slots. HS MANJUNATH

Sevilla’s Navas set to join Man City, says club

Spain winger Jesus Navas will leave Sevilla after 10 seasons and join up with international teammate David Silva at English Premier League side Manchester City, the La Liga club said on Monday. Navas has been tormenting defenders with his electric runs down the right wing since making his top-flight debut for Sevilla in 2003. The 27-year-old was a key part of the team that won the UEFA Cup in 2006 and 2007 but was unable to take up a place in the Spain squad for many years because of his fear of travelling away from his Andalusian home. REUTERS

Everton, Wigan agree deal for Martinez: BBC

Jose Mourinho is back at Chelsea on a four-year deal, nearly six years after his first spell. AFP

Asked if hoped to build a long-term project at Chelsea, he said: “I hope so. When you look at the profile of the Chelsea squad I think it’s what they need at this time. It’s very important for this club for the balance of the squad, but it’s a young squad with a lot of talent and I think they need stability to reach a high point of their evolution and for their careers.

“They need stability, stability I hope I can give them, and between me, the owner and, of course, the club, we have no doubts about what we want to do and the approach we want to have.

“I am the same, physically the same, but every day you have to think about yourself and about evolution. I have the same nature but I’m much more mature with a different approach to things, I’m more ready to be in a club and stay for a long time.” THE GUARDIAN

Everton, searching for a successor to David Moyes, have reached an agreement with Wigan Athletic over compensation for their manager Roberto Martinez, the BBC reported on Monday. “Bill Kenwright [Everton chairman] and myself have agreed a deal,” Wigan chairman Dave Whelan told the BBC. Spaniard Martinez asked to leave relegated Wigan last week having guided the club to FA Cup glory. REUTERS

Monday’s Results International Friendlies Estonia 0 Belarus 2 Sweden 1 Macedonia 0

Tonight’s fixtures 2014 World Cup Qualifiers Malawi v Namibia – 7:30pm Kenya v Nigeria – 8pm

International Friendlies

Denmark v Georgia – 1:15am Uruguay v France – 2am

Chess Puzzle solution:

Rg7!! (Attacking the bishop at the same time threatening Nf4) if ...

Bc8, then Nf4 followed by Ng6+#