all you need to know about property in cambodia
INSIDE
Issue NUMBER 1651
16 pages
Successful People Read The Post
THURSDAY, june 20, 2013
The rise of the 2,500-riel stores
Business page 7
Cambodia Eagles prepared to defend turf
Torture, assault for failed thief
Shane Worrell and Phak Seangly
HYDROPOWER dams on the Lower Mekong River, such as the controversial Xayaburi project in northern Laos, could spell the end for the already critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, a study commissioned by WWF says. A Mekong Giant, released today, says the existence of the giant catfish – which experts say could number only a couple of hundred adults – is under further threat from the 1,285-megawatt Xayaburi dam, the first of 11 planned for the Lower Mekong’s mainstream. “Impacts from the dam could conceivably cause the extinction of the species,” the report states. The study’s author, Zeb Hogan, an associate research professor at the University of Nevada in the US, said the Mekong giant catfish likely uses and spawns in the stretch of river where the $3.5 billion Xayaburi dam is under construction. The effects of the dam could alter the flow of the river and disrupt the giant
POLICE in Preah Sihanouk province have arrested two Russian nationals and a Ukrainian on charges of illegally detaining and torturing a Cambodian man who allegedly tried to rob their home but only succeeded in making off with a mobile phone. Kol Phally, deputy police commissioner of Preah Sihanouk province, told the Post yesterday that the three foreign men were arrested on Tuesday night after neighbours alerted police that a man was being tortured in a neighbouring rental house. “I am not sure whether they are here for business or how long they were staying but they have a house there,” Kol Phally
They then tied me up by my legs with my face hanging down . . . I stole a mobile phone
Continued on page 6
Sport page 21
Threat to giant catfish is mounting
Cheang Sokha
said of the suspects, adding that the three men will be sent to court to be officially charged today. Phally said that when the police raided the suspects’ home, 26-year-old Mom Rithy was found with a metal chain around his neck attaching him to the wall, a water pipe gagging his mouth and his hands tied behind his back. The thumbnail on his right hand had also been ripped off, Phally said. The official police report, a copy of which was obtained by the Post yesterday, identifies the three suspects as Russians Sundakov Vadym, 34, and Kulikov Alexander, 26, and 27-year-old Ukrainian Anatoll Vlamirovich Krukatov. According to the report, Vadym and Alexander arrived at Phnom Penh International Airport in March as tourists, while Krukatov’s passport appears to have been lost. The Russian embassy said they were unable to comment on the case yesterday. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Rithy, who was recently released from prison on unknown charges, climbed over the wall
4000 RIEL
Waist deep
A resident carries his belongings through an alley flooded with the rising water level of the Yamuna River after heavy monsoon rains flooded parts of New Delhi yesterday. The subcontinent is experiencing rains at least twice as heavy as usual. REUTERS
Continued on page 4
Hun Sen says he may sue Meas Sokchea
E
MBATTLED opposition party leader Kem Sokha may soon be facing yet another lawsuit after Prime Minister Hun Sen threatened as much yesterday, saying he would take the party to court should they continue to maintain that the controversy surrounding Sokha’s alleged mistress is a political machination. The premier issued the strongly worded ultimatum regarding the so-called mistress and her mother – who claims to have been assault-
CNRP urged to drop claims ed by Sokha’s bodyguards – during a speech made in front of thousands of onlookers at an inauguration ceremony for a new school in Kandal province. “Please stop saying that the [Cambodian] People’s Party is the organiser [behind these women]. If you keep saying this, we have the right to sue,” Hun Sen said. “We don’t need to sue after the election, [we can] sue before the election.” “Any individual in that party who
says that the People’s Party is the organiser, we will sue them in court so they’ll have even more lawsuits,” he added, noting that Sokha is already embroiled in lawsuits with not only Keo Sophannary, the alleged mistress, but also S-21 survivor Chum Mey, who accused Sokha of defamation in the wake of an alleged S-21 denial. The threat marks the second time in less than a week that Hun Sen has warned off the opposition. Last
Thursday, after devoting an entire speech to the sordid details of the alleged affair as well as scandals of other unnamed opposition leaders, Hun Sen told them he would sue if they claimed it was a CPP staging. Only days later, the ruling party government posted a salacious interview on the website of the Council of Minister’s Press and Quick Reaction Unit, in which Sophannary details the extent of the alleged affair to an interviewer from a government-affiliated TV station. Continued on page 2
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
National
Hun Sen threatens lawsuit Continued from page 1
CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann yesterday said he was not interested in Hun Sen’s threat, calling it unimportant when compared to the issues facing Cambodia. “Whatever he wants to do, it is his right,” Yim Sovann said. “The national issues are very important, and the election is also important. So whoever makes unclean problems before the election must be responsible for that.” Sovann went on to call on the premier not to use the courts to stifle freedom of expression, and urged him to join in a debate on the matter, but declined to comment on whether he still maintained that the situation with
Sophannary had, in fact, been concocted by the CPP. When contacted yesterday, Sophannary confirmed that she had already filed a complaint to the Prey Veng Provincial Court. In Prey Veng town, where Sophannary made her first appearance – and where Sokha’s bodyguards allegedly beat her mother – CNRP president Yan Yoeun said yesterday that the thousands of people who had been present when the altercation was purported to have taken place were prepared to testify on Sokha’s behalf. “There was no one who dared to hit either of the women; that woman just insulted Mr Kem Sokha,” he said. “I have a video clip as a witness. All the people in Prey
Veng town agree to be witnesses in this issue.” Prey Veng town villagers Sun Phally, 42, and Yen Mom, 39, said they had visited the forum to listen to Sokha’s speech, and hadn’t seen anyone attack the women. “This is a twist. I speak after seeing with my own eyes that there was no one beating her. If there is anyone filing complaint, I guarantee I would be a witness. I guarantee that 200 women in my village will agree to be witnesses,” Phally said. “I dare to be a witness because I was there too,” said Mom. “It is nothing to be afraid of. The group I was with told that older woman to get out and let [Kem Sokha] finish his meeting, and my group also called a motodop to take her away.”
M&V garment factory workers block Phnom Penh’s National Road 2 during a protest yesterday. The workers have been on strike over a week, demanding higher pay and better working conditions. vireak mai
PM: Stop striking, or the economy gets it Chhay Channyda
P
Keo Sophannary, who claims to be the estranged mistress of opposition leader Kem Sokha, speaks at Calmette hospital in Phnom Penh last week. hong menea
rime Minister Hun Sen yesterday appealed to the approximately 500,000 workers employed in Cambodia’s garment industry to avoid strikes or risk losing factory owners’ business to other countries. Speaking at the inauguration of a high school in Kandal’s Ang Snuol district, home to 38 garment and footwear factories, the premier noted that garment workers’ monthly minimum wage rose in May to $80 – a rate significantly better than in India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. “Now salaries are not in line with [workers’] demands, but at least salaries have increased more than in some countries that are competing with us,” he said. “Do not allow investors to leave our country or there will be consequences for us.”
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Without naming the worker or factory, the Prime Minister said that after a prolonged strike caused a factory to close, the strike’s leader had been unable to find other factory work because of his “bad background”. Hun Sen urged that worker representatives, the Labour Ministry and employers convene regularly to balance wage increases against the risk of overpaying workers, which, he warned, could result in a situation like Greece’s debt crisis. The premier’s speech came amid daily strikes for better working conditions and higher salaries. At a demonstration yesterday morning, about 1,000 workers from the M&V garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district blocked National Road 2 for an hour. In response to Hun Sen’s speech, Eak Chan, M&V representative for the Coalition of
Cambodian Apparel Workers’s Democratic Union, said “workers’ demands are never too excessive, because they’re legal and show that companies must respect the law.” Free Trade Union president Chea Mony said factories in Cambodia, unlike those in Bangladesh and India, do not have to pay import taxes to the US and EU and therefore could afford to pay workers more. Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said the recent spate of strikes were concerning to investors because “all the strikes are illegal – they don’t go through the proper resolution procedure.” But he added that although GMAC had seen some companies leave Cambodia, “they don’t tell us why they leave.” ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JUSTINE DRENNAN
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
National Army major arrested for threatening murder Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
Keo Near (left), Nuth Sakhorn (centre) and Buot Chenda, victims of last year’s garment factory protest shootings, exit the Svay Rieng Provincial Court last week. vireak mai
Free-speech activists call for reform Kevin Ponniah
E
VEN as freedom of expression advocates from across the world gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday, a new report provided a sobering reminder of the risks facing Cambodian human rights defenders. Outspoken Boeung Kak lake activist Tep Vanny participated in a panel discussion to open the bi-yearly IFEX conference, calling on delegates to appeal for the release of her imprisoned fellow activist, Yorm Bopha. “We are advocating for our lives. We don’t want power. We want justice,” she said. “An independent press is very important. Without it we will be marginalised,” she added. The freedom of expression network brought together representatives from member organisations in 67 countries, with five regional advocates joining Vanny to share their stories at its opening session yesterday. Melinda Quintos de Jesus, executive director of the Philippines-based Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, told delegates that the wider public also had a responsibility to fight for free speech. “The defence of journalists must come from the community itself … they must feel like they are also losing something [valuable],” she said. De Jesus comes from one of the world’s most dangerous places for the press and wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words Stop Killing Journalists. Seventy-three journalists have been killed in the Philippines since 1992, including 34 in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre – recognised as the single deadliest event in press history. “Democracy and freedom both involve hard work, you can’t just sit there and take everything for granted,” she said. That theme was echoed by Malaysian political cartoonist Zunar, who mocked his country’s liberal use of sedition laws to stifle dissent, saying the government was close to labelling “breakfast” as seditious. “You have to come out and fight in a crisis. You cannot be neutral. Why pinch when you can punch?” he asked.
The conference opening also saw a new report released by co-organiser, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, and international freedom of expression organisation ARTICLE 19 examining threats facing local activists. “We have found that the primary victims of human rights violations in Cambodia are people who are at the fault lines of defending their right to share in the [country’s] economic growth,” Dr Agnes Callamard, executive director of ARTICLE 19, said. The report identified grassroots land rights activists, unionists and outspoken female land activists as being particularly vulnerable to threats most likely to include physical violence, arrest without charge and legal harassment. The shooting of three garment workers at a Svay Rieng demonstration last year, the April 2012 killing of logging activist Chut Wutty and the continued imprisonment of Bopha are cited as examples in the report. The conference opened a day after the “Phnom Penh Declaration” was signed by a number of regional press unions, announcing the formation of a new Southeast Asian Journalist Union (SEAJU) to defend press freedom. Unions representing journalists from the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar all signed. Although the region has yet to have its own Arab Spring, a free-expression “movement” was developing within ASEAN, CCHR president Ou Virak said. Echoing the recommendations of an IFEX statement also released yesterday, he called on ASEAN to empower its human rights commission to receive complaints, investigate violations and demand accountability from member states. “If ASEAN is known for anything it should not be known for exploitation and violations … human rights and democracy should be a minimal standard within ASEAN,” he said. Although the bloc adopted a human rights declaration during Cambodia’s chairmanship last year, it has been criticised for vague wording that could place individual rights below national interests.
AN OFFICER working at the Ministry of Defence was arrested yesterday for allegedly threatening to murder a security guard in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district following an argument, police said. Sen Sok District police chief Mok Hong said Major Prum Soeun had been arrested in Phnom Penh Thmey commune after he reportedly brandished a gun and
threatened to shoot Thoeun Sary, a security guard at the New World Building yesterday morning. “He was in a verbal dispute with this security guard, so he took out his pistol to point it at the victim, and threatened to shoot him,” Hong said. “And he threatened to shoot the victim in the thigh.” According to Hong, after the altercation the victim immediately filed a complaint to Sen Sok district po-
lice, who surrounded Soeun and arrested him on Hanoi Street as he tried to escape by motorbike. During the arrest, police confiscated a pistol along with seven bullets, and found that Soeun’s licence to carry the firearm had expired. “He was preliminarily accused by our police with two charges: attempted murder and illegal weapon use,” Hong said. “He is now being detained
and questioned at the Sen Sok district police station. He will be sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court for charges [today].” In January – amid a spate of similar abuses of power by those in the armed forces – Prime Minister Hun Sen urged the Ministry of Defence to improve its professionalism and slammed senior military officers for breaking the law and violating RCAF regulations.
NagaWorld strikers disband their demonstration Chhay Channyda
STRIKING casino workers who were forcibly evicted from park land opposite NagaWorld on Tuesday agreed yesterday to temporarily suspend their protest and go home, a union official said. Sok Narith, deputy secretary-general of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers’ Federation, said Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong had met with the casino workers’ representatives yesterday morning. During the meeting, he had promised them “a solution”, on the condition they moved
on from where they had spent most of the past week campaigning for a wage increase, Narith added. “The meeting took place at 11am this morning,” he said. “The governor told us to maintain public order outside the casino and instructed us not to use the park or the front of the casino for protesting – or he won’t talk to us about a resolution. “We agreed and all protesters returned home to wait for a resolution at 3pm [today].” Workers have been demanding NagaWorld management increase the minimum wage at the casino to $150 per month
and also award a pay hike to workers who receive above that amount. Security guards and police cracked down on hundreds of strikers on Tuesday, dismantling tarpaulins and detaining 19 workers and their union leaders, including 11 women. All were released later without charge. Narith said yesterday that, in total, more than 1,000 workers had been involved in the strike on Tuesday. Hundreds of workers took similar industrial action in February, taking to parkland outside the casino with placards bearing the names of manag-
ers to demand the resinstatement of sacked unionists. Most of their demands were eventually met, but NagaWorld bosses refused to respond to the workers’ demands for a wage increase, representatives of an in-house union said. Workers say they were told in February that the wage issue would be discussed after three months, prompting a strike this month when management refused to meet with them. Socheatvong could not be reached. www.phnompenhpost.com check the post website for breaking news
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
National
Threats to giant catfish mounting Evacuation was Continued from page 1
catfish’s spawning cues, the report says. “Mortality is likely if fish pass through dam turbines [and] . . . the cumulative impacts of the dam are a serious threat,� it adds. Hogan said the Mekong giant catfish, which can grow up to three metres in length and weigh 300 kilograms, needs large, uninterrupted stretches of water in which to migrate. “A fish the size of a Mekong giant catfish simply will not be able to swim across a large barrier like a dam to reach its spawning grounds upstream,� Hogan said in a statement. Conservation groups have long expressed serious concerns over the potential effects the Xayaburi and other dams could have on millions of people downstream who rely on various species of fish for food and sediment flow for agriculture. These same groups condemned Laos when it began building Xayaburi last November, accusing the country of ignoring requests from fellow Mekong River Commission (MRC) members Cambodia and Vietnam to examine potential trans-boundary effects. Environmental group Inter-
national Rivers (IR) has said that Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand have a right to seek compensation for any harm caused by Xayaburi. The three countries’ governments, however, have remained mostly silent since Laos broke ground at the site – possibly because of their own hydropower interests on the river. “The governments of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam are planning to build eleven large hydropower dams on the Lower Mekong River,� IR said in a statement in March. “If built, these dams would destroy the river’s rich biodiversity and threaten the food security of millions of people.� Te Navuth, secretary-general of government body Cambodian National Mekong Committee (CNMC), said yesterday that he wasn’t aware of WWF’s findings and refused to comment on the Xayaburi. “The Mekong River Commission has a fisheries program. But I have no comment on the Mekong giant catfish,� he said. Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture’s fisheries department in Phnom Penh could not be reached, but Sean Kin, fisheries chief in Kratie province, said he had already seen evidence of the fish’s decline.
the master plan
Stuart White
F
A giant catfish on a fisherman’s boat on the Mekong’s Lower Tonle Sap River last October. zeb hogan
“[The report] was undertaken by foreign experts,� he said. “I agree with them that building Xayaburi will affect fish.� Kin added that he had not seen a giant catfish for years. “Our fishermen rarely see them either. Only a few remain in Kratie.� Despite the giant catfish already being ravaged by overfishing, destruction of habitat and the construction of dams along the Mekong’s tributaries, it can still be saved, the report says. “Measures to identify and
safeguard Mekong giant catfish migratory corridors and critical habitat are urgently needed,� it states. “The Mekong giant catfish would also benefit from increased international cooperation, including a basin-wide management plan.� Tim Chamreun, 25, a fisherman on tributaries in Stung Treng province for 10 years, hopes the species survives; he wants to catch a glimpse of one. “People say how big it is – I want to see it with my own eyes,� he said.
ORMER sugar palm harvester Nou Mao testified at the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday that even as “just an ordinary person�, he was aware of a master plan to empty Cambodia’s cities well ahead of the 1975 fall of Phnom Penh. While his characterisation of himself as “ordinary� may be debateable – he was a villageand commune-level cadre in the revolution’s earlier days – Mao asserted that Khmer Rouge leaders had planned to evacuate cities as early as 1973, contrary to past arguments by the defence, who have characterised the 1975 emptying of Phnom Penh as a snap decision made to ease a food shortage. “Sometimes [military commander Ta Mok] asked me to attend military meetings, and he would then talk about attacking Phnom Penh, and that immediately after liberating Phnom Penh, all the population had to be evacuated,� Mao said, describing a
CONSULTANCY SELECTION FOR ELECTRICITE DU CAMBODGE (EDC) TERMS of REFERENCE FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CONTEXT
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 efďŹ ciency 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-proďŹ t social marketing organization with programs in more than 60 countries. PSK will have an organic and sustained connection with PSI in order to beneďŹ t 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 OfďŹ cer 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, efďŹ ciency, 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 ďŹ nance, 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 ďƒ˜ ďƒ˜ ďƒ˜ ďƒ˜ ďƒ˜ ďƒ˜ ďƒ˜
A dynamic, innovative and strategic thinker who can achieve results in a large and complex organization At least ďŹ ve to seven years work experience in a senior management position with both personnel and ďŹ nancial 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 beneďŹ ts package is available. Please send CV and cover letter (Do NOT attach certiďŹ cates 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.
two-month education session in 1973. “And he, at times, also warned the local cadres, in particular those who challenged such evacuations. “They were of the opinion that the city dwellers would not know much about farming, and should stay were they were,� he noted of the dissenters. “And these people . . . would then be reprimanded by Mok on several occasions.� Ultimately, the dissenters were more than reprimanded, however. While co-accused Khieu Samphan supported emptying the cities, Mao said, high-level cadres Chou Chet, Hu Nim and Hou Yun all expressed scepticism at the prospect, and all eventually found their way to infamous torture centre S-21. “Hou Yun came to hold an assembly . . . and a lot of people who were members attended that gathering, and he was talking against the evacuation of the people,� he said. “Later on, he disappeared, and I have no idea where he could have been.�
On March 7th, 2013, ElectricitĂŠ du Cambodge (EDC) sent to Agence Française de DĂŠveloppement (AFD) two RIÂżFLDO Applications for Financing for i. the 115kV Transmission Line and Rural (OHFWULÂżFDWLRQ Project in the Provinces of Kampong Cham and Kratie (“Kampong Cham – Kratie Projectâ€?) and ii. the 115kV Transmission Line and Rural (OHFWULÂżFDWLRQ Project in Koh Kong province (“Koh Kong Projectâ€?). AFD is willing to support these projects by providing long-term loans to EDC for the purchase of equipment (115kV and 22kV lines and Grid substations), civil works and installation, as well as consulting services for project implementation. Kampong Cham – Kratie Project The project covers: approximately 100km of 115kV transmission line from Kampong Cham to Prek Pra Sob area, one 115/22kV grid substation in Prek Pra Sob area, one 115kV outgoing line bay in the existing 115/22kV Kampong Cham substation and approximately 100km of 22kV lines, along the western bank of the Mekong River. The initial cost estimate for this project is approximately USD 33 million. Approximately 32 600 households would EHQHÂżW from electricity access or improved energy services. The project will mainly cross agricultural land and it is estimated that limited resettlement will be required by the installation of the 115kV line. Koh Kong Project The project covers: approximately 100km of 115kV transmission line from Srae Ambel to Koh Kong, one 115/22kV grid substation in Botum Sakor district, one 230/115/22kV grid substation in Koh Kong town and approximately 100km of 22kV lines. The initial cost estimate for this project is approximately USD 47 million. Approximately 22 500 households and some industries in Koh Kong special economic zone would EHQHÂżW from electricity access or improved energy services. As part of the project will cross the Cardamom Area, it is likely the transmission lines will be built along road n°48 to limit the negative environmental impacts. SCOPE OF WORK The scope of work for these consultancy services includes: - a comprehensive feasibility study for the projects, including technical ÂżQancial, and economic analysis; - an environmental and social impact assessment of the projects, including relevant Environmental and Social Management Plan; and - preparation for the procurement for the projects, including projects detailed design, procurement plan, bidding documents and ToRs for consultancy services for project implementation. The consultants will be required to present a comprehensive team with all relevant skills to fully respond to the assignment. The consultants will be required to present concrete team coordination solutions in order to fully integrate environmental and social aspects into the feasibility of the projects. For this assignment a total of approximately 10 to 15 personmonths of consulting services will be engaged over a period of 3 months.
APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCESS All consultancy ¿UPV applying for this work must provide in their application some relevant information showing that they have the set of skills and the experience required to conduct the study (presentation booklet, similar study references, comparable experiences, adequacy of the knowledge of the staff). Whether independent or in consortium with other consultancy ¿UPV all relevant applications will be considered for the work. It is expected that the team of consultants present the following skills/experiences: - Strong expertise and track record in feasibility studies for transmission lines and substations (15 years experience minimum) - Long-term experience in environmental and social impact assessment of transmission lines (10 years minimum) - Long-term experience in economic and ¿QDQFLDO analysis of projects in the energy sector (10 years minimum) - Proven track record with international ¿QDQFLQJ institutions’ practices, including for feasibly studies, ¿QDQFLDO and economic analysis, procurement and environmental and social requirements (10 years minimum); - Experience in developing countries, and especially Cambodia is not mandatory but will constitute and comparative advantage. The list of individuals who would be working on the assignment must be precisely mentioned and their CVs provided. Expression of Interests must be limited to a maximum of 50 pages. All documents exceeding this limit will only be considered based on the information provided in the ¿UVt 50 pages. All Expressions of Interest must be sent to the following addresses by 1st July, 2013 12pm (Phnom Penh time): Attn: HE Chan Sodavath, Deputy Managing Director Mobile: +855 12 895 454 Email: sodavath@edc.com.kh EDC, Phnom Penh And Dr. Praing Chulasa Director of Cooperate Planning and Project Department, Mobile: +855 12 444 968 Email: chulasa_praing@yahoo.com Tel : +855 23 42 6938 / 426 018 Fax : +855 23 426 938 EDC, Phnom Penh Attn: Mr AndrÊ POUILLES-DUPLAIX Agence Française de DÊveloppement 5, street 106, BP102 Sangkat Wat Phnom. Khan Daun Penh Phnom Penh – CAMBODGE Email: afdphnompenh@afd.fr Based on all the received applications, EDC/AFD will thereafter establish a shortlist of the most relevant candidates for the task, and send them the corresponding Request for Proposal.
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
National Crime never pays
PM takes CNRP to task for racist claim
T
Vong Sokheng
Counterfeits ends in real arrests for 3
HREE suspects in Battambang province were arrested for their alleged involvement in a counterfeit money ring when police found thousands in fake US dollars on Tuesday. The three men, a Cambodian, a Malaysian and a Vietnamese, were all detained at the provincial police station for questioning, Battambang Deputy Police Chief Chet Vanny said yesterday. Police searched the Battambang hotel room where the three stayed, after receiving complaints from people who received counterfeit bills from the men, said Mean Lay, director of the light crimes office. A search turned up stacks of fake US dollar notes ranging from $1 dollar bills to $100 dollar bills. Some of the stacks had real bills on top, so a quick inspection of the money would make it appear legitimate, Lay added. One of the three men cut a deal with police and is informing on the other two, said Vanny. But police are wary of the validity of his claims and are still investigating. KIM SAROM
PRIME Minister Hun Sen yesterday mocked an alleged claim made by the opposition that more than 4.5 million illegal immigrants from Vietnam are living in Cambodia, before threatening to send related “racist” audio clips to foreign embassies in Phnom Penh. “[Their allegations] mean teachers, students and elderly people here in Ang Snuol district are Vietnamese immigrants,” he said at school inaugurations in Kandal province. “We’ve all been insulted by being branded Vietnamese immigrants.” The premier said he believed that between 70,000 and 80,000 Vietnamese immigrants resided legally in Cambodia and he vowed to expose the opposition’s “racism” by way of yet another “incriminating” audio clip. “We copied an audio clip [of a speech] and will send it to foreign embassies as a message about the opposition party’s racism,” he said. CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said yesterday that there were tens of thousands of “illegal” Vietnamese immigrants in Cambodia. “If the CPP does not believe
it, we must conduct a census,” he said. Sovann added, however, that the CNRP was not trying to spark trouble. “We are not creating war, we are not creating violence with anyone, but we want them [illegal Vietnamese immigrants] to respect the law.” The Prime Minister also said any seats won by the CNRP at the National Election on July 28 would be given to other parties if the opposition refuses to recognise election results – something it has threatened to do in protest against what it calls unfair processes. “The NEC will divide your ballot up and give it to other parties,” he said. Tep Nytha, general secretary of the National Election Committee, echoed the premier’s statement, saying such action would be followed through on within 14 days of a party officially refusing to recognise the result. In a final dig at the opposition – for now – Hun Sen said he had no interest in a social media popularity contest with CNRP leader Sam Rainsy, following revelations that the self-exiled opposition leader’s Facebook popularity was soaring.
Young backpackers sit on the riverside promenade in Phnom Penh. Petty crime targeted towards international tourists, such as theft and pickpocketing, has risen since last year. pha lina
Tourists in trouble rise Khoun Leakhana
C
RIMES and traffic accidents of which tourists were the victims increased by 33 per cent in the first six months of 2013, compared with the same period last year. Tourism Police Department director Nhearn Vibol said that 396 tourists had fallen victim to crime and motor accidents so far this year, compared with 298 at this point in 2012.
“In response to this increase, we decided to release a directive to improve the security and safety for the people and tourists,” Vibol said. “Multiple police forces will join this action.” Vibol partially attributed the upsurge in crime against tourists to more tourists venturing into areas where they previously did not. He added that not all crimes against tourists were committed by Cambodians, referencing an armed robbery in Kampong province and
a murder in Phnom Penh committed by foreigners. Upon hearing of the recent uptick, Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism Noun Samet urged the tourism police and other departments to step up their protection of foreign and domestic tourists. The Cambodian government recently heightened its efforts to increase international tourism, setting a goal to attract four million tourists by the end of 2013.
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
National
police blotter
Koh Kong protests drag on May Titthara
KOH KONG villagers fighting for their land against two firms continue to protest in front of Provincial Hall, where they began demonstrating on Monday. Protesters represent about 300 villagers across six different communities in Koh Kong affected by Chinese firm Tianjin Union Development Group’s massive $3.8 billion tourism development in Botum Sakor and Kiri Sakor districts and Heng Huy Agriculture Company’s concession in Sre Ambel district.
Those camping out in front of the provincial hall are beginning to suffer from health issues including colds and diarrhea caused by dirty drinking water, said Phav Nheoung, community representative from Sre Ambel. “We will continue to be sick if the authorities do not resolve this for us and we will not return home,� Nheoung said. When protesters began demonstrating on Monday, they called for their cases be resolved before next month’s national election. The protest follows demands
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again
made last month that the contracts be annulled, while earlier this year, they threatened suicide. Hundreds of families have fought Tianjin Union Development Group since the firm was granted a 36,000-hectare concession to develop its mega tourism project in 2008 and a subsequent 9,100-hectare concession to build a hydropower dam. Officials yesterday invited 12 representatives of the protesters to state their cases to provincial authorities, Koh Kong Provincial Governor Bun Leut said.
A 40-YEAR-OLD Kampong Chhang man just might make the running for World’s Worst Son after allegedly pushing his elderly mother out of a second-storey window. Inebriated following a long night on the town, the man stumbled home and began assaulting his wife. She escaped his wrath, but his mother was not so lucky. When the wife fled, he then turned on his mum, shoving her out the window and causing serious injury. The man tried to get away, but police arrested him and sent him to court. Deum Ampil
Ex-Khmer Rouge appeal to PM Phak Seangly
FOUR representatives of 26 families of former Khmer Rouge soldiers living in Kep province who are currently on the run from encroachment charges briefly resurfaced yesterday to call on Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene in their case. According to village representative Khut Khean, 44, the families are now asking Hun Sen to resolve the issue nearly 20 years after he first granted the land – 1,000 hectares in Kampot prov-
ince – to 310 families of Khmer Rouge soldiers in 1994 in exchange for reintegrating with the government. “In 2005, a group of soldiers came and forced us to leave the 58 hectares,� said Khean. “They . . . cleared and demolished seven houses and all the crops.� Villagers filed complaints with NGOs and authorities, he added, but a provincial deputy prosecutor accused them of occupying someone else’s property. After two years of cooperating with authorities, the soldiers
sold the land to Hiev Lon, who in turn, renewed the charges, for which Kampot Provincial Court officials issued arrest warrants. Sok Sarad, administration director for Provincial Hall, declined to comment on the matter, and Sao Sambou, formerTeuk Chhou district governor, said he cannot recall the dispute. “We are calling for Prime Minister Hun Sen and his wife to intervene, or we will starve to death,� Khut Khean said, brandishing his member card for the Cambodian People’s Party.
This Friday evening June 21, Hagar Restaurant and The Phnom Penh Post proudly present: A dinner lecture by Royal University of Phnom Penh Professor Jean-Michel Filippi
.&/6 Welcome Drink - Sangria!
Phnom Penh 1865 – 1995 Birth and evolution
Appetizer Tomato and Artichoke Salad with French Dressing Prawn and Avocado in a GlassRock Melon wrapped in Smoked Ham Sushi Asparagus cream soup Chef’s Salad Bar Mixed Green Lettuce, Sliced Cucumber, Tomato, Onion, Capsicum, French bean With Dressing of your Choice Live Station BBQ pork wonton Soup (Egg noodle, sliced BBQ pork, Beef Ball and Vegetables with Condiments) Main Course Grilled Fish with Orange Cream Sauce Pollo al Rosmarino, Boeuf Bourguignon Mashed Potatoes and Carrots, SautÊed Vegetables in Butter Jasmine Rice Desserts Mixed Khmer cakes, Cream Caramel, Walnut and Carrot Cake Sliced Seasonal Fresh Fruits
Buffet Dinner Friday, 21st June
$49 per person includes dinner, unlimited wine and beer, and a signed copy of Filippi’s latest book “Strolling Around Phnom Penh�.
6:30 to 8:30 pm plus Question and Answer. Books signed by the author.
A44 5;>F >5 B>5C 3A8=:B 144A 0=3 F8=4 people. Limited to 60 #44 street 310 Phnom Penh sales@hagarcatering.com www.hagarcatering.com
X marks the spot: the confluence of the Mekong River, the Tonle Sap and the Tonle Bassac. Jean-Michel Filippi describes how and why this spot grew into what we now call Phnom Penh
Call to make your reservations now: Tel: 010333095 or 012306075
Disarming crash lands armed robber in clinic Mom Rithy, 26, was found by police after being beaten and tortured by three foreigners in Sihanoukville yesterday. stringer
Thief tortured, assaulted by 3 Continued from page 1
of the suspects’ home in an effort to steal their belongings, the report notes. He was, however, caught and subsequently tortured by the foreigners, with Vadym using scissors to cut out his thumbnail. From his hospital bed yesterday, Rithy spoke to local media, saying that on the day of the incident he had driven his motorbike to the suspects’ home with the intention of stealing whatever he could. He added that he had only managed to grab a mobile phone before getting caught. “A group of several foreign men were watching TV [in the house] when I saw them through the window. When they found me, they grabbed me and took my trousers off and beat me until I was unconscious,� Rithy told the press from hospital. “They then used a nylon cord to tie me up and they
covered my face before chopping off my finger. They then tied me up by my legs with my face hanging down ‌ I stole a mobile phone,â€? he said. Boun Narith, coordinator for local rights group Licadho in Preah Sihanouk province, said he was aware of the incident and would follow up on the case with police. “We are monitoring this case because it is strange that foreigners used violence against Cambodians. We want foreigners to know the laws of Cambodia before they commit any offences,â€? he said. Earlier this year, three Russian men, including wellknown tycoon Sergei Polonsky, were arrested on similar charges after they allegedly locked up six of their Cambodian crew in the cabin of their boat in Sihanoukville before forcing them to jump overboard at knifepoint. They have been released on bail after months of detention while awaiting trial.
Seven tried for drug trafficking in capital Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
SEVEN people arrested for drug trafficking and distribution in 2012 stood trial at Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. The five men and two women were arrested last November when police in the capital’s Tuol Kork district raided the guesthouse where they were staying and seized 13 tablets of crystal methamphetamine as well as a scale for weighing drugs and other drug-related materials, said presiding judge Kim Dany. Police believed the group had been selling drugs out of the Gold House II guesthouse for several months before the raid, Dany said.
“Gold House has been prohibited by the court from operating,â€? she added. All seven of the group on trial yesterday denied the accusations against them. “I was not a drug trafficker or distributor,â€? Mok Sath, 40, told the court. “The reason I came to the guesthouse was because I was trying to find my son, who was not at home‌. He would escape and would always stay at this guesthouse with his friends.â€? Kong Sovannara, 24, also denied involvement in drug dealing and said he had rented a room in the guesthouse simply to stay there with his girlfriend for a week.
A WANNABE armed robber is in the hospital after choosing a questionable venue for a stick-up: a busy road. Police say the man pulled up behind an intended victim, as they drove in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district on Monday with the hopes of making off big. Instead, he lost control and crashed his motorbike into another, wiping out and suffering serious injuries. At the scene of the crash, police quickly found the gun with which the man threatened his marks. Koh Santepheap
Thieves drag woman off moto, sent to court
TWO alleged thieves are in court after causing more damage than intended. As a woman drove past in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district on Tuesday, the two suspects snatched at her purse. Refusing to relinquish the bag, she was pulled off the bike and suffered serious injuries, police said. The pair tried to flee the scene, but police collared them. Both admitted to the crime, police said Koh Santepheap
Robbers didn’t count on making an impression REMEMBERING faces better than names can sometimes come in handy. On Tuesday night, two men allegedly robbed a woman at knifepoint in Battambang province. The muggers made off with $200 from the woman. But they didn’t count on a face-off, and when the woman remembered the pair and was able to identify them to police the next day, both were forced to admit to their misdeed, police said. Koh santepheap
One learns the hard way that a friend in need takes THE best of friends can make the worst of enemies, as a student in Takeo learned the hard way. The woman’s motorbike, which was unlocked outside her house, went missing shortly after her friend came over to borrow some books. She first doubted her friend was the culprit, police said, but when he never returned with the books, or even say hello, she began to grow suspicious. Police are now looking for the friend in need. Kampuchea Thmey Translated by Sen David
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Business Indicative Exchange Rates as of 19/06/2013. 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
4,082
1.3397
0.9455
0.7973
1.5629
6.1304
Customers browse through a selection of items sold at one of Phnom Penh's 2500 riel shops on Tuesday.
USD / JPY
USD / HKD
95.49
7.7581
USD / SGD
USD / THB
1.2617
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hong menea
Discount shops attracting crowds Hor Kimsay and Anne Renzenbrink
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WO thousand five hundred – for Mom Dalin, this is more than just a random number or the price of a coffee, it is her way of making a living. The 55-year-old sits at a small desk in her son’s shop on Sihanouk Boulevard, within sight of the Independence Monument, and asks a customer to pay for a pair of Angry Birds underpants, sunglasses and a pencil. She rings up a bill of less than $2. Dalin works in a so-called 2,500 Riel retail shop, where everything – from cosmetics to kitchenware to children clothes – costs, well, you get the idea. She says the cheap price tag attracts hundreds of customers every day. “The demand for daily products is going up,” Dalin says. “We import the same commodities as traditional markets do, but our cheaper prices give us an advantage.” Dalin’s experience is far from unique. The number of “Mart 2,500 Riel” or “Mart 60 Cent” shops – 2,500 riel is actually about 62.5 cents, but why quibble? – has skyrocketed in Phnom Penh over the last couple of years, due to an expanding economy and a growing middle class.
But while it brings profits to the shops, it can hurt small business vendors in traditional markets by undercutting them. “The proposition of ‘one price for all’ is loaded with a prospect that makes for a good deal, Karl Johan Remoy, acting general manager of Indochina Research (Cambodia) Ltd, said. The customer’s mindset is “I will probably find something”, he added. The proposition, however, should be tailored to the market. “One dollar shops have been
for 2,500 riel.” Cambodia is undergoing economic growth and people have more money to spend. “The role of the traditional market will most certainly change. More money in circulation will stimulate demand for products and services, but it will be increasingly difficult for individual vendors to compete with high volume retailers who can negotiate far better deals with their suppliers," Remoy said. Researchers from the International Labour Organization in Geneva esti-
A shop owner can accept lower margins as long as he can sell a higher volume and increase the speed of stock turnover around for years, even in Cambodia, but while $1 has been working in developing markets, it seems to have been asking too much of the Cambodian consumer,” he said. “In contrast, 2,500 riel is what you pay for a cup of coffee, a Coke, a bowl of rice or noodles. When a number of new categories are entered into this price range it becomes intriguing to find out just how much you can get
mate that in 2004, about 642,000 or 9.8 per cent of all Cambodian workers were middle class and above, meaning they were living on $4 or more a day. That figure increased to 1.2 million or 16.1 per cent in 2008 and is projected to rise to 2.8 million or 31.6 per cent by 2017. As people discover the range of products they can access, word of
mouth spreads. Entrepreneurs looking to start a business have caught on, too. Chhor Keang Thai, 28, stands in his shop near the Olympic Stadium. His parents run a business, but the idea to join the trend and open up a 2,500 riel shop came from his relatives, who own five shops in Phnom Penh. Like Dalin, he says middle-class and even wealthy Cambodians come to his store regularly. Srey Leak, a 25-five-year-old customer in the Sihanouk Boulevard shop, stands next to the cosmetics section. She says she comes often because she can buy “a lot of cute things” and it’s not expensive. She says the quality is the same as she would get in traditional markets, but the price is lower and the environment is “nicer”. On average, she says she spends $10 per purchase. No hard figures are available of how many 2,500 riel shops exist in Phnom Penh. But Dalin, who sold fried rice, noodles and ice-cream at a food stall in Dreamland before, estimates there are about 100 of them in the city. She says new merchandise – all produced in China and Thai-
land – are delivered at least once, sometimes twice a day, costing her about $500 per shipment. With a monthly rent of $1,000, her expenditures are high. But she says business is going well. Especially in the evening, her store is packed and customers sometimes stay until midnight or 2am. On average, people spend $10 in her shop. Thai plans to expand. He says he is in discussion with a house owner to open his second shop. “I am happy to see it is growing,” he says. “[But] I have become thinner since I established this shop, because I am very busy.” Remoy, with Indochina Research Cambodia, said: “There are good deals to be made. A shop owner can accept lower margins as long as he can sell a higher volume and increase the speed of stock turnover. “The shop will typically have a good bargain for a popular product category to attract the crowd, once the customer is in the shop he ends up buying into other categories where the margins are more favourable to the shop owner – for the shopper who is already in the shop it is now a question of convenience.”
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Business
Tolls to go up for Thai motorists THE Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (EXAT) board has approved a proposal to raise tolls on Bangkok’s urban and suburban expressways by at least five baht ($0.163). EXAT governor Aiyanat Tinapai said in a written statement statement yesterday the toll increase for the urban expressway network will come into force on September 1 and the toll hike for the suburban network will take effect on November 1. Tolls for the urban network will rise from 45 to 50 baht (about $1.50) for four-wheel vehicles; from 70 to 75 baht for vehicles with six to 10 wheels; and from 100 to 110 baht for those with more than 10 wheels. Details of the increase on the surburban network were not given. Aiyanat said the increase was based on the consumer price index in March. The last toll increase was in September 2008. Aiyanat said the Bang kok Expressway Company’s concession for the firststage and second-stage expressways has another nine years to run. BANGKOK POST
Value seen in cheap stocks Ian Sayson, Weiyi Lim and Michael Patterson
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HILIPPINE stocks are proving too cheap to pass up for two of the nation’s biggest money managers after falling the most since 2011, as companies post record profits and economic growth outpaces the world. BDO Unibank Inc and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co say they’re switching out of bonds to buy equities. The economy expanded at a faster-thanestimated 7.8 per cent pace in the first quarter, more than China’s 7.7 per cent, and analysts increased profit forecasts for companies in the benchmark index to a record. While foreigner investors sold $267 million of Philippine stocks this month and exports fell in April, BDO says the gauge will jump as much as 23 per cent by next year. “This correction has opened a very good opportunity,” said Marvin Fausto, who oversees about $20 billion as the Manilabased chief investment officer at BDO, the country’s biggest money manager. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index will rally to as high as 8,000 next year, Fausto,
A worker counts Philippine pesos and US dollar bills inside a money changer in Manila yesterday. In the first quarter, the country’s economy has expanded at a faster than estimated rate. reuters
who helps run this year’s second- and third-best performing Philippine stock funds, said in a June 9 phone interview. The $186 million BDO Institutional Equity Fund and the $267 million BDO Equity Fund both returned about 14 per cent since the end of December.
That compares with an average gain of 6.7 per cent for 32 Philippine equity funds tracked by Bloomberg. Metropolitan Bank, the thirdbiggest Philippine money manager, has been buying shares of lenders during the retreat and has overweight positions on
property and consumer stocks, Allan Yu, a Manila-based vicepresident who helps oversee $10 billion, said in a June 10 phone interview. Yu and Fausto declined to name specific stocks they are purchasing. The PSE index has retreated 12 per cent since May 22, the
biggest drop among 18 equity gauges in Asia tracked by Bloomberg after Thailand’s SET Index and Japan’s Topix. The MSCI All-Country World Index slipped 3.2 per cent during the same period as US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke’s comments that the central bank could consider paring stimulus should the employment outlook show sustainable improvement lifted US Treasury yields and reduced appetite for riskier assets. Philippine equity valuations are still high relative to regional peers and data this month cast doubt on the strength of the country’s economic growth. Philippine unemployment increased to 7.5 per cent in the three months through April, the highest level in three years, the government said on June 11. Exports shrank 12.8 per cent in April, exceeding the 5.3 per cent median of 12 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Gains in Philippine shares will be limited because the country’s economic expansion isn’t strong enough to counter rising interest rates around the world, according to Alan Richardson, a Hong Kong-based money manager at Samsung Asset Management. BLOOMBERG
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Markets Business Business chambers merge with Eurocham Post Staff
The French and German chambers of commerce have both merged into the larger European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia in order to gain combined strength and be more effective as an interface between European business and the Cambodian government. The agreement is set to be formalised today at Eurocham’s annual general meeting at the Sofitel, when a new 13-member board will be elected. Eurocham Chairman Dominique Catry said the net effect would be a better dialogue with the Cambodian government. “Our main task is advocacy and we want to bring to the government the difficulties European business people face.” The merger combines the 143 members of the French Cambodia Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (CCFC) and the 22 members of the German Business Group (ADW ), with existing Eurocham members to bring in total more than 200 members, according to Catry. Catry said the British Cham-
ber of Commerce chose not to be included in the merger with Eurocham because they felt the additional fees would be too much to ask of their 100 members. Eurocham membership costs $640 per corporate membership each year and $370 for individuals. British chamber members, however, are welcome to join Eurocham on a voluntary basis, Catry said. Both the French Chamber president Eric Mousset and the German Chamber president Tassilo Brinzer said the move to merge with Eurocham was popular with their members. “The last vote we had with the French chamber was unanimously favourable to this merger,” Mousset said. Brinzer said the decision had reached a consensus at the German chamber also. Jean-François Cautain, the European Union’s ambassador in Cambodia, said he trusts Eurocham Cambodia will be able to develop into a strong organisation. “To this end, an inclusive approach and the support of all EU Member States is highly desirable and necessary,” he said.
‘Chinatown’ for Cambodia Rann Reuy
T
OURISM officials yesterday said they were considering building a “Chinatown” in Phnom Penh in order to target more tourists from the second-biggest economy in the world. In a Seminar on Cambodia Tourism and Marketing Strategy Targeting China, held at the Phnom Penh Hotel yesterday, Thon Kong, Minister of Tourism, said Cambodia needs to create more modern shopping experiences to cater to Chinese visitors. “The main problem is, we lack the hotels, good restaurants, transportation services. Most importantly, we did only a little with advertising deep in the Chinese market,” he said, adding that “Chinese tourists prefer shopping more than other tourists”. “We need to do advertisements in Chinese language, websites in Chinese language.” The idea for “Chinatown”, in which governments and guide books promote tourism in areas with high concentrations of Chinese, is nothing new outside Cambodia.
A man looks at Chinese Lunar New Year lanterns at a shop in Phnom Penh in February. Tourism officials are considering building a ‘Chinatown’ in the capital to attract more Chinese tourists. afp
“This concept we are studying it and we will propose it to the government, because the idea of Chinatown is so attractive,” he said, offering no other details on timing and location except that it would be in Phnom Penh at a “proper place”. Bou Chanserey, deputy director of the department of planning and development
at the Ministry of Tourism, said 83 million Chinese tourists left home to travel last year, and spending as a result amounted to roughly $12 million. In the same period, he said, about nine-million Chinese tourists entered ASEAN countries, with the majority traveling to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam,
while Cambodia received slightly more than 330,000. Cambodia hopes to nearly double that number by the end of 2015, he said, and reach 1.8 million by 2018. He said that tourism officials arranged plans to attract Chinese tourists from mainland Chinese cities with crowded populations, such as Beijing and Shanghai.
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Business
In brief Dalian Wanda to spend £1bn in London, yachts
DALIAN Wanda Group, the closely held Chinese property developer, is spending £1 billion ($1.6 billion) to buy a stake in a British yacht maker and invest in a London property as it expands in the luxury industry. Wanda, controlled by billionaire Wang Jianlin, agreed to buy a 92 per cent stake in British yachtmaker Sunseeker International Ltd, whose vessels have featured in four James Bond movies, for £320 million, it said in a statement yesterday. BLOOMBERG
Hangzhou film producer becomes a billionaire FU Meicheng, chairman of Zhejiang Huace Film & TV Co, has become a billionaire as shares of the maker of Chinese TV shows climbed to a record after it boosted production of its historical dramas and spy thrillers. Huace, based in Hangzhou, China, makes and distributes programming to TV channels and video-sharing websites. Its TV production increased 65 per cent to 1,075 episodes in 2012, according to its annual report. Shares have more than doubled this year on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. BLOOMBERG
Green Tokyo real estate is best bet, says Mori JAPANESE billionaire Akira Mori said developing energysaving buildings in central Tokyo is the best way to benefit from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policies such as boosting the city’s competitiveness. Mori Trust Co may seek to acquire more land after it accumulated about 10,000 tsubo (33,000 square metres or 355,210 square feet) of space in the area, depending on how well Abe’s growth plan is implemented, said Mori, the owner of the nation’s most profitable closely held developer. Bloomberg
GM sees Chinese luxury vehicle demand down GENERAL Motors Co, which broke ground on a new Cadillac assembly plant in China yesterday, forecast demand for luxury autos will grow at a slower pace than the total vehicle market this year. Sales of premium cars in China will probably increase about four per cent this year, or about half the pace that the carmaker had expected at the start of the year, Bob Socia, GM’s China head, said in a briefing in Shanghai yesterday. BLOOMBERG
Vodafone raises Kabel Deutschland offer
BRITAIN’S Vodafone Group Plc has raised its preliminary offer to buy Germany’s largest cable operator, Kabel Deutschland Holding AG, a day after US media group Liberty Global Plc made a rival bid, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the bid Vodafone told Kabel Deutschland this week that it would be willing to pay 85 euros a share compared with its initial offer of 80 euros to 82 euros for the German company. REUTERS
China readies for wine wars F Suzanne Mustacich
OR years the Chinese have been buying up wine from Europe, but with domestic wine production predicted to overtake Australia and Chile by next year, Tiana Wu is hoping European drinkers are ready to be tempted by a glass of her “Yunnan Red”. “We produce one million cases per year. We’re exploring the possibility of exporting,” Wu said at this week’s Vinexpo in Bordeaux, one of the world’s largest wine and spirit fairs. “Our wines have a unique taste, and we want to see if consumers here accept it or not,” added Wu whose family runs a wine business, Yunnan Red, in China’s southern Yunnan province. Vinexpo chief Robert Beynat says China’s growing domestic wine production has enabled it to steadily climb the ranks of wine producing countries. “By next year we expect them to be number six, ahead of Australia, Chile and a lot of countries. We are very happy about that,” he said. “Why? Because the more a country produces, the more wine a country drinks, and the more it drinks, the more it imports. This is the story of America 50 years ago.” The big question for Chinese producers, however, is whether or not their wine, and other potential alcoholic exports, can please Western palates. Following the Chinese acquisition of Bordeaux vineyards in recent years, the producers of French wine now include Chinese owners. Zhang Jinshan, a tycoon who has been producing Goji berry-based alcohol for 30 years, acquired Chateau du Grand Moueys, a historic estate in Bordeaux’s Entre-Deux-Mers region where he also plans to build a golf course and spa. Exhibiting for the first time at Vin-
An enthusiast samples red wine at an international wine fair in Shanghai in February. Domestic wineries from China’s Yunnan province anticipate exporting their products to Europe by next year. AFP
expo, Zhang displayed his Bordeaux wine along with his Chinese alcohol, with an eye on exporting some of his 10-million-bottle production, and a clear game plan. Outlining his game plan, he said: “We bought the chateau. Now we will create a wine merchant business to buy other wines to sell in China, and then we will import Chinese wine into Europe.” But while Zhang said he found it fairly easy to adapt to winemaking, the language, culture and business practices in Europe presented a challenge, though he remains optimistic. “We will adapt, we will understand
them and we will work in harmony,” he said. Vinexpo research estimates that the number of potential wine drinkers in China could be between 200 and 250 million people. But Beynat warned that per capita consumption remained small – 1.4 litres (2.4 pints) per person per year versus 12 litres per year for Americans, 52 litres for the French and 23 litres for Britons. Nevertheless, a record number of Chinese wine professionals at Vinexpo was fresh confirmation of the rapidly developing nation’s influence as both consumers and producers, he said.
“For exhibitors, there are more Chinese, mostly in the spirit industry. In 2011 we had two, this year we accepted 18,” he said, adding that Vinexpo would even hold an event in Beijing in November 2014. According to Vinexpo, we are all drinking more wine. Worldwide wine consumption hit 2.6 billion cases in 2011, a 2.83 percent increase over four years, and the fair’s analysts predict it will increase 5.31 percent by 2016. Between 2012 and 2016 wine consumption is expected in China will increase 40 per cent, making it the second most lucrative market after the US. Vinexpo runs until Thursday. AFP
Huawei takes on Samsung, World Bank watching Apple with slimmest phone Fed, ready to respond Paul Ingrassia and Mike Peacock
Edmond Lococo
HUAWEI Technologies Co, China’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment, said it unveiled the world’s slimmest smartphone as it looks to gain share from market leaders Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc. Huawei’s new Ascend P6, with a depth of 0.24 inch (6.18 millimetres), will be released in China this month and in western Europe in July, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. That’s at least 19 per cent slimmer than either an iPhone 5 or a Galaxy S4, according to dimensions supplied on the official Websites of Apple and Samsung. Huawei is counting on
That’s at least19 per cent slimmer than . . . an iPhone 5 smartphones, tablets and cloud computing to help it achieve 10 per cent annual sales growth in the next five years, the Shenzhen-based company said in April. It has pushed into mobile devices as its sales of network equipment
Consumers look at Huawei’s new Ascend P6 phone, billed as the world’s thinnest smartphone, at an expo in Singapore yesterday. AFP
have been blocked in the US market by government concerns that the Chinese equipment maker aids intelligence agencies, a claim the company has denied. The Ascend P6, weighing 4.2 ounces (120 grams), features a 1.5 gigahertz quad-core processor, a 4.7 inch high definition high-definition display, a five mega pixel frontfacing camera and an eight mega pixel rear-facing cam-
era, Huawei said. The iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4 each have a depth of about 0.3 inch, according to the product websites. Huawei had a 4.3 per cent share of global smartphone shipments in the first quarter, in fourth place, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The market is lead by Samsung with 31.7 per cent, and Apple with 17.3 per cent. BLOOMBERG
THE World Bank is concerned about the spillover effects on developing countries of a slowing of US money creation and will move to provide affordable capital when borrowing costs rise, its president said on Wednesday. The US Federal Reserve has sparked a bout of financial market turmoil since its chief, Ben Bernanke, announced on May 22 that the Fed could, before the year is out, begin slowing the pace at which it creates dollars. Emerging markets, the recipients of much of that money as it has been printed, have borne the brunt of investors taking fright. “We’re constantly watching what the spillover effects are of these unconventional monetary policies on developing countries especially,” Jim Yong Kim said in an interview. “If the United States does back off . . . and slows down its [asset-buying] quantitative easing, borrowing costs will go up and we think they will also go up for developing countries. And that’s a real concern.” The Fed holds a policy meeting on Wednesday. Analysts
expect it to keep options open about such a move later in the year following some mixed recent economic data. Kim did not expect capital outflow from emerging markets on anything like the scale seen in the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. Nor did he expect the Fed’s policy switch to be “short and sharp”. “Ben Bernanke . . . has been a clear and steady voice on what’s needed,” he said. But he conceded that a world economy awash with money created by central banks, and with Japan now embarking on an unprecedented stimulus program, was in “uncharted territory”. “If the price of capital starts going up then we are going to have to move to find ways of creating new instruments for making capital available for infrastructure,” Kim said. The bank is working on a global infrastructure facility to do that. Kim said middle income countries were prepared to invest because they knew World Bank involvement would “crowd in” private capital too. “We think this is urgent so we are moving pretty aggressively,” he said. REUTERS
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the phnom penh post june 20, 2013
Markets Business Vietnam to strengthen trade ties with China Talks between the presidents of Vietnam and China, their first meeting since China’s leadership change, will focus on bolstering economic ties even as tensions rise over disputed territory in the South China Sea. Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang is set to meet President Xi Jinping during a three-day visit starting today, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. The two are among only five re m a i n i n g Co m m u n i s t nations worldwide, the others being North Korea, Laos and Cuba. Sang, who is facing pressure at home to stand up to China as he makes his first trip there as president, will seek to address disputes over islands and energy resources in the South China Sea while seeking Chinese investment to boost the Vietnamese economy, which his government targets to grow at 5.5 per cent this year. That would be Vietnam’s first period of three consecutive years of growth below six per cent since 1988, according to the International Monetary Fund data. BLOOMBERG
Romania’s rural economy blooms with elderflowers
Markets Thailand
Vietnam
Thai Set 50 Index, Jun 18 1100
Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, Jun 18 550
1025
500
950
450
875
400
800
350
957.39
Isabelle Wesselingh
South Korea
A
s elder trees add to the beauty of Romania’s landscapes, their white flowers help its rural economy grow when they are turned into cordials exported to Britain and Japan. Every year Romanians anxiously await the blossom season in May and June to pick the delicately scented flowers and concoct a traditional soft drink called “socata”. The refreshing beverage has also inspired US giant Coca-Cola to launch an elderflower-based drink, Fanta Shokata. In Transylvania, a picturesque region praised by Britain’s Prince Charles for its rich flora and traditional agriculture, hundreds of seasonal workers carrying wicker baskets set out early in the morning to pick elderflowers. They deliver their daily harvest to a small firm producing cordials, jams and chutneys, Transylvania Food Company (TFC), based in the village of Saschiz. “Last year we picked 27 tonnes of elderflowers,” manager Jim Turnbull said. As the flowers spoil rapidly, they are turned into juice which is exported to Great Britain. A processing company, Bottlegreen, then turns the juice into cordials and sparkling drinks which it sells in Britain, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan.
KOSPI Index, Jun 18 2100
503.37
Philippines
PSEI - Philippine Se Idx, Jun 18 7500
1975
7125
1850
6750
1725
6375
1600
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1,888.31
6,513.20
Singapore
Malaysia
FTSE Straits Times Index, Jun 18 4000
FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, Jun 18 1800
3500
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3,216.54
Hong Kong
China
Hang Seng Index, Jun 18 25000
A woman picks elderflowers near the village of Saschiz in the Transylvania region of Romania last month. AFP
“We’ve got a five-year rolling contract which allows us to develop our business” in Saschiz, Turnbull said. Set up in 2010, his company has five full-time employees and has become the second-largest private employer in the village of 2,000. Romanian, American and Australian businessmen invested 350,000 euros ($467,700) in TFC. Their aim was to help the region develop by stimulating traditional agriculture through a “middle-sized project”. About 1,300 seasonal workers pick
elderflowers every spring. TFC pays two lei (45 euro cents, 60 US cents) for a kilo of flowers, which is more than what they used to get when they sold the harvest to medicinal herb traders, one of the villagers said. “This revenue helps us a lot,” said Alin Barabas, whose parents are among the pickers. An experienced picker can collect up to 20 kilos per day, bringing in 40 lei (9 euros, $12) in a country where the minimum monthly wage is just under $200. AFP
1,772.82 CSI 300 Index, Jun 18 3000
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21500
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20,986.89
Japan
Nikkei 225, Jun 18 16000
2,400.76
Taiwan
Taiwan Taiex Index, Jun 18 8500
15250
8000
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7500
13750
7000
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6500
8,007.39
13,245.22
Laos
Laos Composite Index, Jun 18 1500
Indonesia
Jakarta Composite Index, Jun 18 6000
1350
5500
1200
5000
1050
4500
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1,338.82
International commodities
Cambodian commodities
Energy
(Base rate taken on January 1, 2012)
Commodity
Units
Price
Crude Oil (WTI)
USD/bbl.
98.77
Crude Oil (Brent)
India
USD/bbl.
NYMEX Natural Gas USD/MMBtu
106.3
Change % Change Time(ET)
0.33 0.28
0.34% 0.26%
4:07:38 4:06:50
3.92
0.02
0.49%
4:04:14
RBOB Gasoline
USd/gal.
289.03
1.09
0.38%
4:06:50
NYMEX Heating Oil
USd/gal.
297.13
0.96
0.32%
4:06:41
ICE Gasoil
USD/MT
898
5
0.56%
4:06:00
Agriculture Commodity
Units
Price
Change
% Change
Time(ET)
CBOT Rough Rice
USD/cwt
16.24
-0.05
-0.31%
2:38:04
CME Lumber
USD/tbf
284.7
0.9
0.32%
3:33:08
Item Rice 1 Rice 2 Paddy Peanuts Maize 2 Cashew nut Pepper Beef Pork Mud Fish Chicken Duck
Unit
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2800
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BSE Sensex 30 Index, Jun 18 21000
Karachi 100 Index, Jun 18 23000
20000
22250
19000
21500
18000
20750
17000
20000
Construction equipment
Food -Cereals -Vegetables - Fruits Average 2760 2280 1860 8100 2080 4220 24000 33600 18200 12400 20800 13100
(%) -1.43 % 3.64 % 3.33 % 1.25 % 4.00 % 5.50 % -40.00 % 1.82 % 7.06 % 3.33 % 15.56 % 0.77 %
Item
Unit
Base
Average
(%)
Steel 12
R/Kg
3000
3100
3.33 %
Cement
R/Sac
19000
19500
2.63 %
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
4,813.02
Pakistan
19,199.98
Australia
22,185.31
New Zealand
S&P/ASX 200 Index, Jun 18 5500
NZX 50 Index, Jun 18 5000
5250
4750
5000
4500
4750
4250
4500
4,861.38
4000
4,445.55
12
THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
World Assange in attack on ‘perverted’ Gillard gov’t Julian Assange has delivered a scathing attack on the Australian government in an interview marking one year since he walked into the Ecuadorean embassy in London and sought asylum. Assange told the press he hoped the predicted Coalition win in September would clean out the Labor Party and Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s “cronies”, who he said had relied too heavily on the United States and abandoned himself and WikiLeaks. “The duty of that government was to protect an Australian organisation and citizen, and it did just the opposite,” he said. “It bent over more than any country in the world to publicly satisfy the US.” Assange has many reasons for his dislike of the current Australian government, which he said was “as perverted a government as you can possibly imagine”. He took aim at Gillard for her initial labelling of him as a criminal and her push for a government inquiry into WikiLeaks, and at former attorney general Robert McClelland, who considered charging Assange with treason. Despite being granted asylum by Ecuador, Assange has refused to leave its London embassy for fear the UK government will extradite him to the US, where he may face espionage charges relating to WikiLeaks’ release of classified documents, or to Sweden, where he faces accusations of sexual assault. “We know there is an ongoing investigation in the US and we know I am a target of the federal grand jury,” he said. “There is a 99.97 per cent chance that I will be indicted, so if the Swedish government drops their request [to go to Sweden] tomorrow, I still cannot leave the embassy. My lawyers have advised me I should not leave the embassy because of the risk of arrest and extradition to the US.” He raised the possibility of travelling to the airport in a diplomatic car to avoid arrest, but noted: “We know the UK police were instructed [in the Sweden case] to break international law and arrest me even if I was in a diplomatic vehicle and had diplomatic immunity.” Assange’s WikiLeaks party, which is fielding candidates for the senate in several states in the September elections, has been buoyed by recent polls which suggest 20 per cent of Australians are considering voting for it. The party would announce more senate candidates, including well-known names, Assange said. REUTERS.
Litter ball A giant globe of 35 tonnes of garbage stands in the centre of Geneva yesterday. The city of Geneva has launched a campaign against the tonnes of trash that is littered there every day by exhibiting on Plainpalais Place a giant ball gathered from the rubbish collected in three days. AFP
Karzai suspends security talks A
f gha n i sta n ’ s president, Hamid Karzai, has suspended talks on a long-term security deal to keep US troops in his country after Nato leaves in 2014, accusing Washington of duplicity in its efforts to start peace talks with the Taliban. The announcement came the day after the Taliban opened a “political office” in Qatar, saying they wanted to seek a peaceful solution to the war in Afghanistan, and the US announced plans for talks with the insurgent group. News that American diplomats would sit down with Taliban leaders for the first time since the US helped oust the group from power in 2001 prompted speculation that real progress towards a negotiated end to the war might be in sight.
US officials underlined that they aimed mostly to facilitate talks between Afghans, although they do have issues to tackle directly with the Taliban, including a possible prisoner exchange. But while the Taliban hinted at meeting US demands of a break with al-Qaida – saying Afghan soil should not be used to harm other countries – there was only the barest of nods to the Afghan government’s request that they talk to the current administration and respect the constitution. Diplomats say Karzai was kept in the loop about plans for the formal opening of a Taliban office in Qatar, but had expected it to be couched differently. After hours of ominous silence, his office issued a terse statement in effect condemning the move.
“In view of the contradiction between acts and the statements made by the United States of America in regard to the peace process, the Afghan government suspended the negotiations, currently under way in Kabul between Afghan and US delegations on the bilateral security agreement,” the palace said. The final straw for Karzai was their display of a white Taliban flag and repeated use of the name “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”, both in their statement and on a printed backdrop used for a televised press conference, according a senior Afghan official. It was the name the group used when they ruled from Kabul, and together with their official flag gave the group’s representatives the air of a government-in-exile as they addressed the media.
The US had pledged the Taliban would only be able to use the office as base for talks, not as a political platform, and Karzai felt the press conference was a clear violation of that promise, an official Afghan source told the Guardian. The president was also unhappy about the lack of any reference to the country’s constitution, which both he and the US say the Taliban must respect. Instead the statement made more than one reference to the “establishment of an independent Islamic government”; as the group have often denounced Karzai as a puppet, that could be read as a call for a change of leader or change of system. The decision to suspend talks was made after a meeting on Wednesday morning with
his national security team and close aides, a source said. The Afghan government’s anger is a blow to hopes that the country’s warring factions could be taking the first real steps towards peace; despite US cash and military might, 12 years of fighting have shown it cannot secure the country alone. In another reminder of the fragile situation in Afghanistan, the Taliban claimed responsibility yesterday for an attack on Bagram air base that killed four American troops. A Taliban spokesman said insurgents had fired two rockets into the base outside the Afghan capital, Kabul, late on Tuesday. US officials confirmed the base had come under attack by mortar or rocket and four troops had been killed. THE GUARDIAN
Rousseff salutes ‘energy’ of democracy President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday sought to defuse a massive protest movement sweeping Brazil, acknowledging the need for better public services and more responsive governance as demonstrations continued in some cities around the country. Speaking the morning after more than 200,000 Brazilians marched in more than a half-dozen cities, Rousseff said her government remains committed to social change and is listening
attentively to the many grievances expressed at the demonstrations. “Brazil woke up stronger today,” Rousseff said in a televised speech in Brasilia. “The size of yesterday’s demonstrations shows the energy of our democracy, the strength of the voice of the streets and the civility of our population.” Monday’s demonstrations were the latest in a flurry of protests in the past two weeks that have fed on wide-
spread frustration with poor public services, police violence and government corruption. The protests, organised mostly by university students through snowballing social media campaigns, marked the first time that Brazilians have taken to the streets on such a large scale since economic volatility and a corruption scandal led to the toppling of a president in the early 1990s. The demonstrations started as small
protests in a few cities against an increase in bus and subway fares but quickly grew into a national movement after police fired rubber bullets at protesters in Sao Paulo last week in clashes that injured more than 100 people. Eager to ease tensions and prevent future protests, officials in at least five cities, including important state capitals such as Porto Alegre and Recife, announced plans on Tuesday to lower bus fares. REUTERS
13
THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
World
Putin torpedoes G8 on Syria R Andrew Osborn and Maria Golovnina
ussia’s Vladimir Putin derailed Barack Obama’s efforts to win backing for the downfall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad at a G8 summit on Tuesday, warning the West that arms supplied to the rebels could be used for attacks on European soil. After two days of intense talks that fell far short of what Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron had been hoping for, Putin fumed against Western moves to supply weapons to rebels while defending his own supplies of arms for Assad. “We are supplying weapons under legal contracts to the legal government. That is the government of President Assad. And if we are going to sign such contracts, we are going to deliver,” the Russian president said. Putin, isolated at the summit, repeatedly clashed with other leaders over the fate of Assad and resisted pressure to agree to anything that would imply Assad should step down. In the end, a G8 communique did not even mention Assad’s name. The summit in a secluded golf resort in Northern Ireland ended with G8 leaders calling for peace talks to be held as soon as possible to resolve the Syrian civil war. This has broadly been their position for months. No date was mentioned for a peace conference called by Moscow and
Vladimir Putin holds a news conference at the end of a G8 summit on Tuesday.
Washington, which was supposed to take place next month but now appears to be on hold, after the United States announced last week that it would arm the rebels. A source at the summit said the peace conference would now be put off at least until August. Putin struck a defiant tone: he hinted that Obama had tried to isolate Russia, that other leaders were
divided, and that plans to send arms to Syrian rebels could lead to murders such as that of a British soldier on a busy London street last month. “British people have lately witnessed a tragedy, and we lived through it together, when right in the streets of London a British army serviceman was brutally murdered outside his barracks,” Putin said. “Is it these people that the Euro-
President-elect approved of Iran’s secret nuclear program Years before he became Iran’s president-elect, Hassan Rohani spoke approvingly about concealing his nation’s nuclear program and said that when Pakistan got atomic bombs and Brazil began enriching uranium, “the world started to work with them”. The comments offer an intriguing window into the past thinking of Rohani, widely seen as a moderate or pragmatic conservative, whose surprise victory in weekend elections to succeed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was perceived by the United States and other Western powers as positive – at least at first glance. Rohani has said he intends to pursue constructive interaction with the world and “more active” negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, after his predecessor’s belligerence was met with painful international sanctions and military threats from Israel and the US. Ultimate decisions on Iran’s nuclear program will remain in the hands of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Western diplomats familiar with Rohani’s work as chief nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005 told Reuters the 64-year-old cleric was no pushover and had always been firmly committed to Iran’s nuclear program. He was secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council from 1989 to 2005. It was in the autumn of 2004 that Rohani gave a sweeping speech to Iran’s Supreme Cultural Revolution Council called “Beyond the Challenges Facing Iran and
the IAEA Concerning the Nuclear Dossier”.In that speech, Rohani said Iran did not want nuclear weapons. “As for building the atomic bomb, we never wanted to move in that direction and we have not yet completely developed our fuel cycle capability. This also happens to be our main problem.” But he argued in favour of a kind of nuclear fait accompli to force the West to accept Iran’s enrichment capabilities. He also referred to Pakistan’s successful acquisition of nuclear weapons in a positive light. “If one day we are able to complete the [nuclear] fuel cycle and the world sees that it has no choice, that we do possess the technology, then the situation will be different,” Rohani said. “The world did not want Pakistan to have an atomic bomb or Brazil to have the fuel cycle,” he said. “But Pakistan built its bomb and Brazil has its fuel cycle, and the world started to work with them.” Rohani also discussed the decision by Iran to conceal its nuclear activities in the late 1980s and 1990s, when it relied on an illicit nuclear procurement network connected to the father of Pakistan’s atomic weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, to purchase enrichment technology. “This [concealment] was the intention,” Rohani said. “This never was supposed to be in the open. But in any case, the spies exposed it. We did not want to declare all this.”
REUTERS
He said that in retrospect, it might have been a better idea not to hide the nuclear activities and that if Iran had disclosed them from the beginning, “we would not have any problems now, or our problems would have been far less than they are today”. In a paper published in 2006 by Brandeis University, Middle East analyst Chen Kane said Rohani’s speech was likely motivated by a desire to justify Tehran’s decision to cooperate with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency. In 2003, the IAEA launched an investigation into Iran’s nuclear program after it came to light that Iran had hidden its uranium enrichment plant at Natanz and other nuclear facilities. Rohani, who in later years criticised Ahmadinejad for his confrontational approach to the nuclear issue, spoke in 2004 in favour of a quiet and calculating strategy with the West. He recommended accepting an enrichment freeze as negotiated with Britain, France and Germany and ending it at some point. “If we decide to start enrichment in the face of opposition by the West, we must find the best time and the most favourable conditions, and if we decide to work with the West, we must utilise all our capabilities and everything that is in our power to achieve our objectives,” he said. “We should not rush into this. We must move very carefully, in a very calculated manner.” REUTERS
peans want to supply arms? What happens next with those weapons? Who will control in which hands they end up? They could possibly [end up] in Europe.” Obama and his allies want Assad to cede power while Putin, whose rhetoric has become increasingly anti-Western since he was re-elected last year, believes that would be disastrous at a time when no clear transition plan exists. Russia has been Assad’s most powerful supporter, shielding the Syrian leader from Western action as his forces struggle to crush an uprising in which 93,000 people have been killed since March 2011 and which is now drawing in neighbouring countries. It has vetoed United Nations Security Council resolutions censuring the Assad government, widely criticised for the ferocity with which it has waged the war. Syria is one of Moscow’s last allies in the Middle East. Its influence has declined since the collapse of the Soviet Union but the Russian navy still has a base at the Mediterranean port of Tartus. The United States and its European and Gulf Arab allies have repeatedly called on Assad to surrender power and predicted his downfall. Recent battlefield gains by government forces against the rebels make that prospect unlikely anytime soon.
REUTERS
In brief Russian fire caused by exploding shells
Exploding shells set off a fire that triggered more blasts at a military depot in southern Russia, injuring about 30 people and causing the evacuation of more than 6,000 from a nearby village, investigators and emergency workers said. No cause has yet been determined for the fire at the Chapaevsk military depot in the Samara region yesterday. The federal authorities said it was set off by the “involuntary” explosion of shells. THE GUARDIAN
NASA asks stargazers to help watch this space
NASA called on backyard astronomers on Tuesday to help track asteroids that could create havoc on Earth. The US space agency has already identified 95 per cent of the potentially planet-killing NEOs – near Earth objects – with a diameter of a kilometre or more, a size comparable to the space rock many scientists believe wiped out the dinosaurs. Now NASA wants to work with individuals, government agencies, international partners and academia to “find all asteroid threats to human populations and know what to do about them”. More information is at nasa.gov. REUTERS
14
THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
World
Nazi piece of work
N Korea in Hitler book kill threats
N
UN: refugees at 20-year high McChrystal resignation Jonathan Fowler
orth Korea has angrily denied a report that its ruler used Adolf Hitler’s memoir as a leadership guide, threatening to kill the authors of the report. The article by New Focus International, an online news portal run by North Korean defectors, said Kim Jong-Un had given copies of Mein Kampf to his top officials, urging them to study it as a leadership skills manual. He handed out translations of the German dictator’s manifesto to select officials at the time of his birthday in January, it said, citing an unnamed North Korean official working in China. The story was picked up by all major South Korean newspapers yesterday. But the North’s police agency later called the report a “thricecursed crime� aimed at belittling its leader and threatened to kill the “human scum� behind the article. “We are . . . determined to take substantial measures to physically remove despicable human scum who are committing treasons,� it said in a statement. “Sordid human scum will never be able to look up to the sky nor be able to find an inch of land to be buried after their death,� it said. AFP
W
ar and other crises drove one person from their home every 4.1 seconds in 2012, the UN’s refugee agency said yesterday, pushing the number of people forcibly displaced to a two-decade high of 45.2 million. All told, the UNCHR’s annual figures showed 1.1 million people fled across international borders in 2012, while 6.5 million were displaced within their homelands. “This means one in each 4.1 seconds. So each time you blink, another person is forced to flee,� Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees, told reporters. The total figure of 45.2 million included 28.8 million internally displaced people, 15.4 million border-crossing refugees and 937,000 asylum seekers. “War is the main reason for this very high number of refugees and people internally displaced. Fifty-five per cent of them correspond to the well-known situations of Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, and Syria,� Guterres said. Overall, Afghanistan re-
Syrian refugees walk under clotheslines at the Bab Al-Salam refugee camp in Azaz, near the Syrian-Turkish border, on June 9. REUTERS
mained the world’s top producer of refugees, a position it has held for 32 years. Worldwide, one refugee in four is Afghan. Guterres also blamed conflicts in Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic. Due to the raft of crises, he said, the total number of refugees and internally displaced has risen to a level unseen since 1994, a year marked by the Rwandan genocide and bloodshed in former Yugoslavia. While last year saw 2.1 million internally displaced people and 526,000 refugees return home, as well as the re-
settlement of 88,6000 in rich nations, fresh crises drove the global total higher. Guterres pointed out that the number of people who had fled the spiralling violence in Syria had soared from 650,000 at the end of 2012 to about 1.6 million now, surpassing last year’s total from all conflicts. The UNHCR has warned that Syrian refugee numbers could hit 3.5 million by the end of this year, while there are also fears that the number now displaced within the country, 4.25 million, will also climb. Syrian refugees have flooded into neighbouring Leba-
non, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, stretching those nations’ ability to cope. Guterres urged the international community to help shoulder the load, although he said UNHCR-brokered resettlement programs for Syrians in rich countries were not yet on the cards. With the economic crisis having sharpened the asylum debate in developed nations, Guterres said it was important to keep some perspective. “Who is supporting refugees in the world? Essentially, developing countries,� he said, stressing that 87 per cent of the world’s refugees were protected by developing countries, up from 70 per cent a decade ago. “So when we see discussion sometimes that exist about refugees in many developed countries, I think it’s good to remind public opinion in those countries that refugees are not people fleeing from poor countries into rich countries in search of a better life,� he added. Pakistan remained the world’s top host nation in 2012, with 1.6 million refugees mostly from Afghanistan, followed by Iran, with 868,200, and Germany, with 589,700. AFP
journo dies in car crash Journalist Michael Hastings, whose 2010 Rolling Stone magazine profile of the US military chief in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, led to the general being relieved of command, died on Tuesday in a car crash in Los Angeles, his employer said. A statement from the editorin-chief of online news outlet BuzzFeed reporting that Hastings, 33, had been killed, gave no details of the accident, and neither LA police nor the county coroner’s office would confirm his death. The driver was the lone occupant of the car, police said. “Michael was a great, fearless journalist with an incredible instinct for the story, and a gift for finding ways to make his readers care about anything he covered, from wars to politicians.� BuzzFeed editorin-chief Ben Smith said Hastings was best known for the Rolling Stone feature, “The Runaway General�, that brought about the resignation of McChrystal as commander of US forces in Afghanistan in June 2010. REUTERS
Coming up on Friday, June 28, The Phnom Penh Post proudly presents
Coming up on Thursday, July 4, The Phnom Penh Post proudly presents
INSURANCE CAMBODIA
The Fourth of July
A special report that reviews what’s available and what’s new in Cambodia for:
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Íť American companies doing business in Cambodia including motor vehicles, Íť A look at whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening for the United States of America in Cambodia: Íť The American Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia: whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening. Story ideas? Email stuart.becker@gmail.com borom.chea@phnompenhpost.com or call 012 763 481 / 011 743 998 Booking deadline: Thursday, June 27. Artwork deadline: Tuesday, July 2.
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15
THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
World
Obama follows in steps of JFK Louise Osborne
I
t is one of the most endearing gaffes made by a world leader speaking a foreign language. “Ich bin ein Berliner,” John F Kennedy intoned in a seminal speech in June 1963, apparently unaware of double entendre: some took it to mean he was declaring himself a citizen of the capital; to others it sounded as if he had announced himself to be a jam doughnut. Now, almost 50 years since that memorable intervention in support of the marooned millions of west Berlin, Barack Obama treads in his footsteps: an American president, a Europe divided, a keynote speech, only on this occasion, probably no reference to midmorning pastries. On Wednesday the US president is scheduled to speak before 4,000 people at the Brandenburg Gate. Eight thousand police will be on duty for the visit, drafted in from across Germany. Michelle Obama and their two daughters will undertake a separate tour of Cold War sites such as Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall mem-
US President Barack Obama and German President Joachim Gauck review the guard of honour yesterday upon arrival at Schloss Bellevue Presidential Palace in Berlin. Barack Obama will walk in John F Kennedy’s footsteps this week on his first visit to Berlin as US president. However, he will encounter a more powerful and sceptical Germany wary of the US’s trade and secret surveillance practices. AFP
orial at Bernauer Strasse. “JFK’s legacy is very much alive, at least here in west Berlin, where older people have fond memories of the American presence in the city,” said Nino Kipp, a student studying political science at the Free University of Berlin. The speech Kennedy wrote before his visit was intended to be modest and calm in an attempt to avoid any con-
flict with the Russians and East German authorities. But during his visit, he became emotional and rewrote the speech to make it more aggressive, said Alina Heinze, director of the Kennedys museum in Berlin. What Kennedy found in Berlin were people traumatised by the separation of the city and on the frontlines of a Cold War threatening to erupt
between the Soviet states and the Western world. “He gave the people a ray of hope,” said Heinze. “He said something important about being free and that the people of Berlin were free citizens. He gave them the confidence.” Obama on the other hand faces a more confident Germany and a more diffident people uncertain about American motives. His stance
on drones, unfulfilled promises over Guantanamo and the National Security Agency scandal, which revealed US authorities to be monitoring the internet data of Europeans, have made Germans more sceptical. “[He said] nice words, but when you look at his deeds – some people are very disappointed,” said Josef Braml, an expert in transatlantic relations at the Berlin-based think tank the German Council on Foreign Relations. He said there were likely to be more problems ahead for the relationship. “There is now a competition between the dollar and the euro – we will be competing for export markets in Asia,” Braml added. Obama’s speechwriters will seek to avoid any unwelcome double entendres, though many Germans say the JFK gaffe was overblown. “In Berlin nobody says Berliner for jelly doughnut. We call it a pfannkuchen,” Heinze said, adding that those watching would not have noticed the double meaning. “I’m not sure where the myth came from, but usually people from the US ask us about it.” THE GUARDIAN
News Corp in US court over hacking claim A stunt double for Oscarwinning actress Angelina Jolie has sued News Corp over allegations its British newspapers hacked her phone, the first lawsuit in the United States against the company since the scandal broke two years ago. The lawsuit, filed on June 13 by professional stunt double Eunice Huthart, said reporters from News Corp’s tabloids The Sun and the defunct News of the World, hacked her mobile phone while she was working for Jolie on location in Los Angeles. The allegations include stories that ran in the tabloids about Jolie’s budding relationship with actor Brad Pitt – when only a tight circle of people had knowledge of it – while they were filming the
movie Mr and Mrs Smith. A spokesman for News Corp declined to comment on the lawsuit. Huthart’s lawsuit said the hacking occurred in 2004 and 2005 while she was in the United States and Britain and resulted in lost voice messages that she never received. It said the London police have a file of Huthart’s phone logs demonstrating the times when representatives from The News of the World called her mobile. The missing voice mails provided information later used in news reports, according to the court document in the US District Court in California. In one instance, Huthart was instructed to meet Jolie, who was checked into a hotel under the pseudonym “Pocahontas”.
Huthart said she never received the message with the code name even though Jolie’s assistant said she left it for her on the phone. The lawsuit said the tabloids intercepted messages left by Jolie regarding her movie career. It cited a News of the World article with the headline “Pitt Stop for Jolie” that began “Hollywood babe Angelina Jolie has threatened to quit the movies for good”, according to the complaint. Huthart of Liverpool, England, is godmother to one of Jolie’s children. The phone hacking scandal sent shockwaves through the British establishment, forced the closure of the Sunday tabloid The News of the World, prompted a huge police inquiry and led to the arrest
of more than 60 people. But until the Huthart lawsuit, the scandal has been contained in Britain. Huthart, who is seeking unspecified damages, is being represented by New Yorkbased attorneys Siegel Teitelbaum & Evans and Steven Hyman of McLaughlin & Stern as well as The Stein Law Firm in Los Angeles. The New York law firms have ties to the British lawyer Mark Lewis, who represented the family of a murdered teenage girl, Milly Dowler. Two years ago, news broke that reporters from News of the World hacked the mobile phone of Dowler, provoking wide-spread outrage about the illicit news gathering practices of British tabloid journalists. Last summer, Lewis teamed
up with Norman Siegel of Siegel Teitelbaum & Evans and the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union and Steven Hyman of McLaughlin & Stern to pursue claims that four of his clients had been hacked by Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct tabloid on US soil. Siegel and Hyman have been pursuing their own inquiry into the possible hacking by The News of the World of the phones of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. News Corp is preparing to split its publishing assets, which includes its British newspapers, the Wall Street Journal and book publisher HarperCollins, from its cable networks and movie studio on June 28. REUTERS
Chinese city dogged by festival criticism Residents of a small city in southern China plan to hold an annual dogmeat festival on Friday amid intense criticism from animal rights groups, which have denounced the one-day event as unsafe and inhumane. Residents of Yulin in Guangxi province consider the festival an ancient summer solstice tradition. Many cherish their city’s dog-meat culture, which involves the mass consumption of dog-meat hotpot served with lychees and strong grain liquor. Animal rights groups say 10,000 dogs are slaughtered during the festival each year, and that many are electrocuted, burned and skinned alive. Pictures posted online show
flayed dogs, dogs hanging from meat hooks, and piles of dog corpses on the side of the road. In China dog meat is prized as a nutritious wintertime dish that doctors can prescribe to treat maladies such as impotence and poor circulation. Activists have tried to block the event on numerous occasions through open letters and street protests. Some have implored the UK and US governments to interfere with the festival via online petitions. “Please help us stop the Yulin Festival of eating dogs in Guangxi province. It is bloody and disregards life,” a petition on the US White House website was titled. “They use knives to kill the dogs
which are alive,” it said, according to the South China Morning Post. “Then people would like to burn the dogs, which are conscious, so they can eat them.” The petition was recently taken down because it failed to meet the 100,000 signature threshold required to elicit a response from the Obama administration. According to an open letter by the Hong Kong-based NGO Animals Asia, many of the dogs consumed during the festival are strays and abductees. Some are transported to the city on filthy, overcrowded trucks, significantly increasing the risk that they carry rabies and other contagious diseases. Yulin officials claim that the
dogs are raised by local farmers. “Stolen dogs without quarantine certificates are cruelly slaughtered and sold to restaurants at very low prices,” Master Huici, assistant director of the Hebei Buddhism Charity Foundation, told the state-run Global Times newspaper. Yulin officials did not pick up the phone on Tuesday afternoon, outside of working hours. Last month Chinese border officials seized 213 bear paws – an expensive ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine – and arrested two Russian citizens for trying to smuggle them into the country in vehicle tyres. THE GUARDIAN
In brief US names Great Lakes envoy to curb killings
THE United States on Tuesday appointed a new envoy to Africa’s Great Lakes region in a renewed bid to end an outbreak of killings and rapes by armed groups terrorising it. Former Democratic senator Russ Feingold was appointed by US Secretary of State John Kerry to bring a “very important focus on a long-troubled region.The suffering in the Great Lakes region of Africa and the ongoing crisis in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to trouble all of us greatly,” Kerry told reporters. “We are convinced that we have to help the parties find a path to a lasting peace, to a permanent cessation of hostilities and to the disarmament and demobilisation of M23,” he added. AFP
Egypt, Ethiopia look to hold dam-dispute talks
Ethiopia and Egypt cooled talk of war on Tuesday and agreed to more dialogue to resolve a row over a giant dam that the Horn of Africa nation is building on the Nile, on which Egyptians depend on for almost all their water. Africa’s second and third most populous nations have traded barbs in past weeks about Ethiopia’s new hydroelectric project, which Egypt fears will reduce a water supply vital for its 84 million people, who mostly live in the Nile valley and delta. Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi said on June 10 that he did not want war, but would keep “all options open”, prompting Ethiopia to say it was ready to defend its $4.7 billion Great Renaissance Dam, which lies near the border with Sudan. Ethiopia summoned the Egyptian ambassador this month after politicians in Cairo were shown on television suggesting they supported Ethiopian rebels and military action. ”Some pronouncements were made in the heat of the moment because of emotions. They are behind us,” Mohamed Kamel Amr, Egypt’s foreign minister, said. REUTERS
G8 agree to no longer pay ‘terrorist’ransoms
G8 leaders have agreed to stamp out the payment of ransoms for hostages kidnapped by “terrorists”, British Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said onTuesday. Downing Street said the world leaders meeting at a summit in Northern Ireland would also call on companies to follow their lead in refusing to pay for the release of abductees. “Leaders agree to stamp out payment of ransoms to terrorists and call on companies to follow their lead,” Cameron’s office said on its Twitter feed. The leaders of the world’s most industrialised nations were focusing on counter-terrorism during talks on Tuesday, the second and final day of the summit. British officials said Cameron had been keen to push the deal because funds raised by ransom payments were the main source of funding for terror groups, especially those in north Africa. AFP
16
THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Letter to editor www.phnompenhpost.com
editorial personnel Publisher Ross Dunkley Editor-in-Chief Alan Parkhouse Managing Editor David Boyle Editor-in-Chief Post Khmer Kay Kimsong Managing Editor Post Khmer Sam Rith Chief of Staff Cheang Sokha Deputy Chief of Staff Chhay Channyda National News Editor Chad Williams Deputy National News Editor Abby Seiff Deputy News Editor Vong Sokheng Group Business Editor May Kunmakara Deputy Business Editor Joe Freeman Property Editor Rupert Winchester Foreign News Editor Dan Besant Sports Editor Dan Riley Pictorial Editor Kara Fox Lifestyle and 7Days Editor Poppy McPherson Deputy Head of Lifestyle Desk Pan Simala Special Projects Officer Stuart Alan Becker Chief sub-editor Michael Philips Sub-editors Emily Geminder, Shane Worrell, Stuart White, Joseph Freeman, Justine Drennan, Joe Curtin, Julius Thiemann, Rosa Ellen, Claire Knox, Daniel de Carteret, Anne Renzenbrink Reporters Meas Sokchea, Mom Kunthear, Khouth Sophak Chakrya, May Titthara, Khuon Leakhana, Kim Yuthana, Roth Meas, Ung Chamroeun, Sen David, Phak Seangly, Rann Reuy, Buth Reaksmey Kongkea, Chhim Sreyneang, Sieam Bunthy, Lieng Sarith Photographers Vireak Mai, Sreng Meng Srun, Heng Chivoan, Pha Lina, Hong Menea Regional Correspondent Roger Mitton Web Editor Leang Phannara Webmasters Seng Sovan, Uong Ratana, Horng Pengly Siem reap bureau
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Youth more aware with social media Dear Editor, Every question asked by the youth who attended the Youth Rally organised by the Cambodia National Rescue Party last Sunday was about their lives. The need for change was loud and clear – contrary to the title of The Phnom Penh Post article Rainsy avoids Sokha issue in Talk with Youth that appeared the next day. The Cambodia National Rescue Party highlighted again that social media is a real force in Cambodia and it is seriously influencing the way youth are getting information, especially that which is missing from local mainstream media – be it state or private. The CNRP youth rally on Sunday, June 16, was standing room only. The audience was more than the 1,000 expected. How did the information about the rally reach the public? Facebook. Who are these youths who made the free choice to attend an opposition rally, taking the risk of being identified as pro-opposition – the only party shouting loud and clear for change? They are students and youth in the informal sector who are actively communicating with each other, hungry for news that matters to their lives and future. They are the youth who cannot be controlled by government pressure, by offers of money or a free meal. They are not youth of the top 10 per cent of rich Cambodians, but the youth whose parents make tremendous sacrifices and investments in their education. They are not youth with body guards and luxury cars, they ride motorcycles and bicycles. They are the youth who see very little hope in the current government. They are the youth who came not to cheer but to ask hard questions about the future to leaders of the opposition. And if the ruling party were to play the democratic game by coming out to public debates, these youths would be there too. LG, a very active Facebook user, was studying for her high school diploma in 2006 when the company
University students surf the web at an internet cafe in Phnom Penh.
excavators came to her community and wiped it all out as part of the many hundreds of Economic Land Concessions granted by the government to private companies in the name of development. LG’s family was forced to accept a meaningless compensation and had to move far from the city. As a result, LG dropped out of school. Today, LG is back on track – in her second year of university and has formed her network of Facebook friends. She amazes me with her skills to navigate through social media. She gives me only one reason why she counts on Facebook to bring change: free access to information and change is very much on the horizon. Just two days ago, a young man pushing his cart spotted me and gave me a big smile. I was sure he wanted to sell me his cakes. But he whispered to me: accept me as your friend on Facebook. I was stunned. He finished his Masters but has found no employment. When I enter an internet café, I
SOVAN PHILONG
know my “friends” are there. That is the hope and the evidence that the tides for change cannot be stopped even with the use of antiriot police. Youths love to challenge and to take risks. They may just be five per cent, but they are the critical mass and growing. Allegations of all forms against top leaders of the CNRP have made front page news of every media outlet in Cambodia in the past weeks. These allegations will continue without doubt. But not once did the youth who attended the opposition rally care to mention them. Instead, the burning issues were education, employment, a living wage, justice and freedoms. These are exactly the issues on the CNRP political platform. Should the “Sokha issues” have been raised, the CNRP leaders would have stayed focused on the real political agenda that matters to Cambodian citizens. Let’s give our youth hope and not get distracted with dirty politics. The “face-to-face” Skype con-
versation with exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy is a dialogue that respects the role of the youth and their right to free speech and information. Last Sunday’s youth rally was intended to further engage youth in political debates and to maintain their political activism. Change is in the air via social media that allows youth in Cambodia, like youth in other countries, to have a genuine voice in political debates. What last Sunday’s youth rally is teaching us is that the youth of Cambodia want to vote for freedom and for hope. The youth of Cambodia are looking for quality leadership – the kind that treats them with respect and dignity by speaking to them as equals and about the issues that matter to them. Social media has reached Cambodia and it will make a difference in the July elections. Mu Sochua, MP, Candidate for elections, Cambodia National Rescue Party
Send letters to: newsroom@phnompenhpost.com or PO Box 146, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Post reserves the right to edit letters to a shorter length. The views expressed above are solely the author’s and do not reflect any positions taken by The Phnom Penh Post.
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Lifestyle School: a way out of poverty T
HE importance of education has been my platform since I moved to Cambodia in 2010. Growing up as a refugee in the US, it was education that gave me a sense of belonging, a career to make a good living, and respect. According to UNESCO, only 1.6 per cent of Cambodia’s Gross Domestic Product (GNP) is spent on education. The GDP on education in most Western countries is anywhere between 5.5 to 6.4 per cent. Countries like Brazil, Greece, Denmark, Argentina, Sri Lanka and Barbados provide free education that is funded through charitable organisations or taxation. In Cambodia, education is not free, though NGOs and organisations have provided it to some. But many more children do not have the luxury of a quality education. The Venerable Punlork Gnim has devoted his time to making education accessible to
Soma Norodom gives a talk to novice monks at a Buddhist school in Kampong Cham province.
some of the young kids living in Kampong Cham province. “Buddhist School is still popular in educating Cambodian people, especially for the poor, as we focus much about quality of education,” stated Venerable Punlork. “Now there are 95 Buddhist monks who are studying here. Under my supervision and support, they are receiv-
ing free shelter, food, and education. All donations in my monastery are from supporters in the community, in Phnom Penh, and some from Cambodians who are living in the United States.” Born to a poor family in rural area, Chomkar Kor village, in Oreang Ov district, Venerable Punlork has never given up on education and has earned
SOMA NORODOM
a bachelor’s degree from a university in Phnom Penh. As Head Monk in charge of Oreang Ov Monastery, which has 25 monasteries under him, Venerable Punlork established a library called, “Indradevi”. “My purpose of establishing the library is threefold. I experienced difficulties of my own in finding books to read, and many public schools have
been constructed but there is no library to fulfil the need of students who want to do research, and I want to inspire people to read as a habit, as many Cambodian people do not care much about reading as compared to people in developing countries,” said Venerable Punlork. Venerable Punlork added: “Only education can help them to liberate from poverty. Without education, one will continue to suffer. I encourage those who have a vision of establishing a library to do it, because a vision, along with action, can help change the world.” If you would like to donate books to the library at Oreang Ov Monastery, please contact watoreangov@gmail.com. Note: The documentary film, Girl Rising, from CNN Films, and directed by Academy Award nominee Richard Robbins, will premiere in Phnom Penh at the French Cultural Center on July 2. The film focuses on the power of education to change the lives of girls around the world, and educating girls can break cycles of poverty in just one generation. In the film, each girl’s story is told by celebrated writers from their country and narrated by celebrities.
Lost music of the Holocaust comes alive Robert MacPherson
NICHOLAS Biniaz-Harris is a young American classical pianist who is more at home performing Bach, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff than the obscure works of Nazi concentration camp inmates. But as the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, the 17-year-old felt a special attachment to the variations on a Polish patriotic theme that Leon Kaczmarek put together in Dachau during World War II. On Tuesday, after just two weeks of rehearsal, he sat down at a piano in an auditorium at the US State Department in Washington and played Kaczmarek’s composition to American ears for the first time. “As a classically trained pianist, you’re always playing pieces the audience or judges or teachers have heard a thousand times,” said this year’s winner of National Symphony Orchestra young soloists contest.
“But in this case, it’s truly an original work, composed 70 years ago, that nobody has heard.” The pianist’s grandmother was among the 1,200 Jews shielded from certain death by German industrialist Oskar Schindler. His performance was the highlight of a multi-media “Lost Music of the Holocaust” forum at the State Department hosted by Ira Forman, the US special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. In large part, the event was a salute to the ongoing work of Francesco Lotoro, an Italian pianist who has been doggedly tracking down every piece of music composed by Nazi prison-camp detainees. He was unable to attend due to his mother’s recent death, but participants were told of how Lotoro has already recorded 24 CDs of Holocaust music, out of 5,000 known concentration-camp compositions. “Think of yourself in these horrific conditions –
my first tendency would be to lie down and give up,” said Dahlan Robert Foah of the non-profit Creativity in Captivity group that works with Lotoro in the United States. “But I think there is this driving human spirit which says, ‘I want to show myself I am still alive, and I want to show others that I am still alive,’” he said. US Holocaust Memorial Museum music curator Bret Werb said Kaczmarek, who died in 1973 at the age of 70, endured two forced medical experiments during his five years of internment. Yet he managed to oversee a 45-member German men’s choir and composed enough music to fill three notebooks that now are part of the museum’s evergrowing archives. “We continue to actively seek this kind of material,” Werb told the State Department forum that included some elderly Holocaust survivors. “And much to my surprise, we often find it.” afp
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In brief Brand told Katy Perry of divorce via text
BRITISH comic Russell Brand told Katy Perry he was divorcing her by text message, the US pop star said in a new magazine interview, adding that she hasn’t heard from him since. Brand issued a statement in December 2011 announcing that he had filed for divorce 14 months after the pair were wed in India, saying that “I’ll always adore her and I know we’ll remain friends.” Perry, in an interview in the latest edition of Vogue magazine, which features her as its cover story, tells it differently. “Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011,” she told the magazine. afp
MIA to make final attempt at album
MIA is having “[one] last stab” at releasing an album with Interscope. With a release date pencilled in for this autumn and a new single out this week, the artist revealed that her label still hasn’t approved her long-overdue fourth LP. “I’ve given up at this point,” MIA told the UK’s Radio 1’s Zane Lowe. “I keep finishing the record, handing it in, finishing the record, handing it in … I was literally just gonna start making records and putting them out from the bedroom straight on the internet.” AFP
N. Korean leader Kim stresses Hitler’s skills
NORTH Korean ruler Kim Jongun has reportedly given copies of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf to his top officials, urging them to study it as a leadership skills manual. Kim handed out translations of the German dictator’s manifesto to select officials at the time of his birthday in January, reported New Focus International, an online news portal run by North Korean defectors. The report, sourced to an unnamed North Korean official working in China, was picked up by all major South Korean newspapers on Wednesday. afp
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Motoring
Custom Franken-Dodge pick-up Jason Harper
T
ALK about pricing what the market will bear. How about $280,000 for an old Dodge pickup? Or $190,000 for a 1950s station wagon-cum-jalopy covered in rust? These are the kind of prices Jonathan Ward, owner and head designer of Los Angeles-based custom automobile maker Icon charges – and he still has a yearlong backlog of orders. “My customer is a guy who loves the aesthetic of old vehicles but doesn’t want to put up with a lousy ride, the creaks and rattles and breakdowns,” Ward says. Icon sources older models such as Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40s, Ford (F) Broncos and Jeep CJs and marries their exteriors to all-modern chassis and powertrains. They look old but drive like new. Ward also adds
My customer loves the aesthetic of old vehicles but doesn’t want a lousy ride one-off (and often wacky) details like hidden navigation systems and sun visors taken from private jets. At first glance the $280,000 pick-up truck looks like a wellmaintained 1965 Dodge D200. Then you notice that the behemoth has four doors and a reworked grill. The lights are LEDs and the tyres ludicrously oversized. The double set of side windows have an Art Deco shape and the glass itself has an odd, reflective quality (it’s special glass used in skyscrapers). Open a door and a running board slides out from under the vehicle automatically, making it easier to enter. Ward and his crew spent a year on the Dodge, removing body panels from the original truck and reworking them to fit the chassis of a heavy-duty 2007 Dodge Mega Cab 3500. The suspension was upgraded and a 5.9-litre Cummins (CMI) tur-
A 1952 Chrysler Town & Country station wagon from Icon Motors, with the front end of a DeSoto grafted on. bloomberg
bo-diesel six-cylinder installed. The engine was specially tuned to produce 975 pound-feet of torque and 575 horsepower. That incredible power sounds like hyperbole, but as I discover on a test drive along California’s Highway 1, it is not. Ward is riding shotgun as I negotiate the precarious curves and find that I rarely need to shift – the engine pulls like a locomotive even in fifth gear. The long stick from the sixspeed manual transmission pokes up from the footwell and takes a strong hand. As does the oversized, leather-bound steer-
ing wheel, which only adds to the impression that you’re driving a tractor-sized vehicle. The roof is padded with bison hide and the thick carpets underfoot pilfered from a RollsRoyce. While the radio looks like an old AM unit, it actually operates a bumping stereo system. The truck was a special order for a client from Wyoming, but Ward says: “I really don’t want to give this one up.” I sympathise with him. I feel like I’m driving the king of trucks. Still, good luck reconciling the mind-boggling price, which is partly a result of Ward’s near-
maniacal obsession with details. Some of the underpinnings (which you’ll never see) are aeronautical grade, and though the switches and knobs are the same shape as the originals, Ward mills them out of metal. His business has grown every year, he says, but the level of specificity slows production. Though Icon moved into a larger shop and delivered 30 vehicles in 2012, Ward says it is difficult to keep up with orders. His best-seller is the reworked Land Cruiser, which starts at about $130,000. Stepping out of the Dodge
with relief (you don’t want to mess up a vehicle before the buyer takes delivery), I move over to one of Ward’s personal rides, a literal rust bucket. Nominally, the car is a 1952 Chrysler Town & Country Wagon with the front end of a DeSoto grafted on. With a teethlike grill, a rusted patina and rubbed-off paint, it looks like it could have belonged to the Adams Family’s Uncle Fester. But no. As one of Ward’s “Derelict” series, it goes for $190,000. “It’s super fast. You can hammer the curves with it,”Ward explains handing me the keys. I have my
doubts, but turn it toward the winding canyon roads. The suspension ably handles dips and curves. Yet my subconscious is telling me the car is going to fall apart at any moment. Since this is Ward’s daily driver, I turn the wheel over to him. He promptly sends us hurtling down cliff-side roads, tyres shrieking and brakes smoking. I look into the abyss on the passenger side and momentarily lose my breath: For $190,000 you don’t get airbags or modern safety restraints – only a simple lap belt. bloomberg
On the road: Will women love Vauxhall’s Adam? Sam Wollaston
Vauxhall Adam Slam 1.4L: ‘My girlfriend has become rather fond of Adam.’ afp
IT’S been fashionable for a while to give dogs, especially male dogs, human names. Dave is popular. I’ve met Brians and Steves. Sams, too. It can be confusing in the park. Heel? But I don’t even know you . . . Oh, I see. Him. Now car manufacturers are crashing the party. I’m thinking about the Renault Zoe, and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta (also the only car to be named after a Shakespeare tragedy, until the Hyundai Titus Andronicus comes out in the autumn), and now the Vauxhall Adam. He’s named after Adam Opel, the founder of Vauxhall’s parent company, which made sewing machines. And he is a bit of a sewing machine, in that he’s small and not very powerful and he goes faster when you depress your right foot, though never very fast. But he’s also rather lovely, a chic little city car with endless options for personalisation – like a Mini or Fiat 500. So you can choose your body paint colour (I want Papa Don’t Peach Pearlescent), your roof colour (White My Fire?), your colour-coded alloys (18-inch Twister Manoogian with I’ll Be Black spoke clips) etc. Trim levels are called Slam
(Born To Be Wild), Glam (Turning Heads) and Jam (Attracts Wasps . . . I mean, Funky And Fashionable). I’m sure they’d do Ham if you asked, or Clam, or Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am. Adam is very consciously trying to be “fun”. And he is, for a cheeky urban runabout, surprisingly sophisticated. Certainly in Slam, which is what I’ve got, there’s a lot of kit you normally find only in bigger, posher cars: DAB radio, cruise control, beepy warnings when you drive too close to something. Fun, but not cheap. You might expect a car of this size, certainly one with an eco in his name, to go a bit farther on a gallon, and to be less flatulent. Adam may have to work on his green credentials, but otherwise he’s impressive. He’s also that rare thing, a likable Vauxhall. It all goes a bit wrong, though, when we park next to a powder-blue Fiat 500. Which one would you rather have, I ask my girlfriend. She thinks Adam is the better car, a less bouncy ride (steady) and better appointed. Better prospects, then: the sensible choice. And she would choose . . . the Fiat, all day long. Because, though Adam is cute, the Italian is cuter – charmingly and effortlessly so. Sorry Adam. the guardian
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 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
PHNOM PENH - BEIJING CZ 324
Daily
BEIJING - PHNOM PENH 08:00
16:05
CZ 323
Daily
14:30
20:50
PHNOM PENH - DOHA ( Via HCMC)
DOHA - PHNOM PENH ( Via HCMC)
QR 605
1.2..5.6
22:35
05:15+1
QR 604
1.2..5.6
08:00
21:00
QR 603
..34..7
15:50
22:25
QR 602
..3.4..7
01:25
14:20
PHNOM PENH - GUANGZHOU 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
AF 273
23:05
FM 833
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
2
SHANGHAI - PHNOM PENH
PHNOM PENH - SINGAPORE
2.3.4.5.7 19:30
22:40
SINGAPORE - PHNOM PENH
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
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, 023 881 178 /77718-333. Fax:+855 23-886-677 www.cambodiaangkorair.com E: mai@royalaviationexpert.com
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
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
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
BR 265
09:10
11:35
PHNOM PENH SORYA BUS TRANSPORT SCHEDULE INTERNATIONAL ROUTES
TAIPEI - PHNOM PENH
PHNOM PENH -TAIPEI BR 266
Daily
PHNOM PENH - VIENTIANE
Daily
VIENTIANE - PHNOM PENH
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
Residential and office buildings are seen surrounding New York City’s Central Park. bloomberg
New York’s wild side in a weekend Barbara Goldberg
N
EW York City has a wild side and it has nothing to do with its honking yellow taxis, towering skyscrapers and celebrity-studded nightclub crowds. It’s about soaring bald eagles, quiet tidal salt marshes and sweet berry brambles thriving along Jamaica Bay, the only wildlife refuge in the US National Park System, to Manhattan, where Central Park is a favourite birding spot, with more than 200 feathered species. Friday
6pm - Check into your hotel and head for 10th Avenue at 30th Street to the High Line, a park along what was once abandoned elevated train tracks on Manhattan’s West Side. Leave street noise 10 metres below as you walk past wildflowers such as shooting stars, purple prairie clover and rattlesnake master on paths meticulously landscaped to appear untended. 9pm - No walk on the wild side is complete without a memorable view of the city’s lights. Depart the High Line at its southern end, and enjoy a nightcap and 360-degree views at Plunge Rooftop Bar & Lounge at Gansevoort Meatpacking NYC hotel, 18 Ninth Avenue. Saturday
9am - Walk into Central Park at 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue. Known as the jewel of Manhattan, Central Park is quite a hefty bauble, with more land mass than Monaco. America’s first public park serves as a pit stop for millions of migratory birds each year and is home to some 230 bird species including the prothonotary warbler, rubycrowned kinglet and olive-sided flycatcher.
11:30am - Take a wild foods foraging tour through Central Park with Wildman Brill, to find cattails along the Lake that can be cooked like cornon-the-cob, and pick black raspberries. 4pm - Hail a taxi to the 40th Street Pier where kayaks and the cool waters of New York Harbor await. This section of the Hudson River is a tidal estuary, where the Atlantic Ocean’s salty water meets fresh run-off from Manhattan Island. Sunday
11am - Stop for brunch at New Leaf Restaurant, a 1930s cottage and outdoor patio that serves seasonal modern dishes inspired by local green markets, upstate farms and the city’s community gardens. 12pm - Stroll some of the miles of pedestrian paths in Fort Tryon Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr, whose father was a codesigner of Central Park. Meander through heather and alpine gardens and take in sweeping views of the Palisades, steep cliffs that rise so dramatically from across the Hudson River that they have been declared a National Natural Landmark. 1pm - Step back in time by entering The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art housed in the park in a medieval-looking building, itself considered a treasure. 6:30pm. - For one last look at the majestic skyline, board a New York Water Taxi Audubon Summer EcoCruise. The 90-minute cruise takes riders under the city’s famous bridges and past small islands dotted with birds like blackcrowned herons, glossy ibis, double-crested cormorants and egrets. bloomberg
20
THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Entertainment NOW SHOWING
Bowling @ Parkway
legend cinema
Limber and get in lane for bowling night. All welcome regardless of skills.
EPIC A teenager finds herself trasnported to a deep forest setting where a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil is taking place. 9:25am
Three games played each week with average scores recorded over the season for a final league ranking and winner’s trophy. Entry is $6.
FAST AND FURIOUS 6 Hobbs and Dom and Brian reassemble their crews in order to take down a mastermind who commands an organisation of mercenary drivers from across 12 countries. Payment? Full pardons for all of them. 7pm, 9:30pm
Parkway Square, corner of Mao Tse Toung Boulevard and Street 163 7:30pm
Ladies Night @ Nova
MAN OF STEEL In the latest reboot of the Superman franchise, a young itinerant worker is forced to confront his secret extraterrestrial heritage when Earth is invaded by members of his race. 9:25am, 1:55pm, 4:20pm, 6:35pm, 9:15pm
It's ladies night - is the feeling right? At Nova, their weekly ladies’ night provides groups of five or more ladies one free bottle of 12-year-old whiskey, one bottle of vodka or one free carafe of cocktail in return for their presence.
NOW YOU SEE ME An FBI agent and an Interpol detective track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists. 11:40am, 9:45pm AFTER EARTH A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher stranded on Earth, a millennium after events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help. 12:05pm, 1:40pm, 4:35pm
NOVA, #19 Street 214 9pm
TV PICKS
RAPTURE PALOOZA Two teens battle their way through a religious apocalypse on a mission to defeat the Antichrist. 8:05pm
cineplex cinema AFTER EARTH (See above) 11:45am, 4:10pm, 7:10pm MAN OF STEEL (See above) 9:15am, 1:35pm, 3:45pm, 6pm, 8:30pm
In between @ Showbox
Bowling night tonight at Parkway Square. BLOOMBERG
Michelle Williams stars opposite Eddie Redmayne in My Week with Marilyn. BLOOMBERG
6:50am - MY WEEK WITH MARILYN: Colin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier's, documents the tense interaction between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during production of The Prince and the Showgirl. FOX MOVIES
Live DJ, drink specials and the view from the highest bar in Cambodia on top of the Phnom Penh Tower.
6:05pm – CON AIR: A former US Army Ranger is about to be reunited with his family after eight years in prison. But on the ‘Con Air’ flight that is to take him to freedom, fellow prisoners hijack the plane. FOX MOVIES
Eclipse Sky Bar, Phnom Penh Tower, Monivong Boulevard 9:30pm
8pm– THE VOW: A man’s harmonious marriage is thrust into jeopardy when his wife awakens from a coma with no memory of her husband. Now he must start the relationship from scratch and make her fall in love with him again. Based on a true story. FOX MOVIES
Swing dancing @ Equinox
9pm – S.W.A.T.: An elite team of Los Angeles police officers must transfer a criminal mastermind to a maximum security prison after he promised on live television to give $100 million to anyone who breaks him out. HBO
DJ Orland takes requests in advance.
Every Thursday, swingers get together for a night of social dancing. Practice your moves, or just grab a crêpe and an Anchor and watch.
Equinox, #3A Street 278 9pm
Thinking caps “GUY TALK” ACROSS 1 5 9 14 15 16 17 19 20 21 23 24 27 29 34 35 36 38 40 42 43 45 47 48 51 52 53 56 58 62 64 67 68 69 70 71 72
Tread-bare Insect stage Gets really steamed Arch type Western blue flag, e.g. Open, as a bottle Lip balm brand Christmas dinner bird Done for Lead-in to “date” or “trap” “___ and improved!” (ad claim) Orchestral heavyweight After-bath wear Ben Savage coming-of-age sitcom Injection location Skin, as an apple Like a missed field goal Twice-monthly tide Law school course Fit to be tried? “Mutiny on the Bounty” island Terminus of all roads? Blaster’s need Musical about Don Quixote Anagram of “riot” Get in on the pot Fed. construction overseer Bunch Barely beats Browning’s ben Ezra, e.g. Resort for city slickers Ice house Abu Dhabi honcho Like white rhinos and black swans Hymn of thanksgiving Anger An upright in house framing
DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 18 22 25 26 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 37 39 41 44 46 49 50 53 54 55 57 59 60 61 63 65 66
Dark German beer Eastern pooh-bah (var.) Ballet move Sheriff’s sidekick Barbecue site Paranormal showman Geller Cropped photos? “Jeopardy!” contestants, e.g. Source of concern Musical Yoko Clickable image Beam intensely Erupt Make political promises Municipal native Saintly Sleek, for short Units of work Bluegill fish Biggest city in Nebraska ___-cotta Disinclined Ritchie Valens hit “A Bug’s Life” character “Law & Order” fig. Four gills 1970s Tony Musante series Twister’s force “Come in!” Bulldozer companion “Snow Falling on ___” Film crew member “Roots,” e.g. ___-bodied Russian assembly Buzzing pest Almond’s kin, color-wise Abandon ___ constrictor Archaeological site “... ___ he drove out of sight”
Friday’s solution
Friday’s solution
21
THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Sport
Cambodian Eagles eye China Reds in home tie H S Manjunath
Cambodian Eagles and Malaysian Warriors players contest a mark during their Aussie Rules match in Kuala Lumpur on June 8.
week, to the forward line in the hope of injecting some much needed pace and creativity. Though the Eagles were beaten 7848 in a tough game by the Malaysian Warriors in Kuala Lumpur two weeks ago, Fitzgerald’s men brought back some positives to work around. The Warriors led for the most of that match, but a third-quarter fightback by the Eagles brought them to within
three goals of their rivals. However, the visitors could not sustain the work rate at that critical phase as the lack of players on the bench began to pinch, allowing the well-drilled home side to kick away. The one who made a big impact against the Warriors with his relentless attack on the football was Phil Hammer, while David Parrot was very influential in the ruck and around the
PHOTO SUPPLIED
packs. The Eagles coach meanwhile, as a combatant on the pitch, kicked four of the best goals his team-mates are ever likely to see. It is the fear of the unknown that ultimately could work in favour of the Eagles, who, no matter how hard the game turns out to be, will zealously defend their unbeaten home record. That’s one thing the Eagles players and the coach are confident about.
‘Crazy’ Zheng lifts burden off compatriot Li Never-say-die Zheng Jie was hailed for her “crazy” tennis at Wimbledon by champion Serena Williams 12 months ago, and highly pressure compatriot Li Na couldn’t be happier. World number six Li, China’s first Grand Slam champion when she won the French Open in 2011, will go into Wimbledon next week in the unusual position of not being her country’s
After three weeks and nine matches so far in the inaugural Cambodian Basketball League, there will be no action this Saturday as the 2013 Leo’s National Volleyball Cup makes its preliminary stage run at the Beeline Arena. The CBL resumes on June 29. H S MANJUNATH
Irish sweep all before them at Royal Ascot
C
ambodian Eagles will play host to the China Reds at the Navy Field on Saturday at 3pm in their second Australian Rules Football home game of the season. This is the first time in many years that Cambodia will be up against visitors from China, who are bringing over a team drawn from the best of Beijing and Shanghai combined. “There will be a lot of unknown quantities going into the game. China are expected to be a strong side, but we want to continue our two-year unbeaten record at home,” Eagles coach Grant Fitzgerald told the Post yesterday. There will be some strong emotions going around the Eagles players and fans as one of the club favorites, Matthew “Big Cat” Rees, plays his final game before moving on and Allan “Prospect” Sortoris celebrates his recent victory over obesity. The Eagles will extend a warm welcome back to a number of players for this key fixture including two popular rugby converts “AFL Dan” Wetherall and Ritchie “Spud” Flanagan, both of whom will add the all important depth to the side. The Eagles have been working hard on the attacking part of the game. “Getting the ball to our forwards and converting those forward entries into goals have been a real focus in recent weeks,” the Eagles coach pointed out. “We need to convert possessions into goals in order to get a winning score.” The Eagles are planning a strategic move to push captain Simon Whitney, who celebrates his 30th birthday this
Basketball league gets a one-week breather
favourite to progress into the second week. The 31-year-old’s best performances at the All England Club remain two runs to the quarter-finals in 2006 and 2010. But it’s Zheng, the world number 47, who can boast the better record at the season’s third Grand Slam, having reached the semi-finals in
2008, two years after she and Yan Zi took the women’s doubles title. Zheng, who will turn 30 next month, pushed world number one Williams to a tough threesetter in the third round last year with the American edging the decider, 9-7. “After we finished the match, she just told me, You are crazy. You are crazy,” said Zheng.
Zheng Jie of China hits a return to Vesna Dolonc of Serbia during their women’s singles match at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris on May 27. REUTERS
The American had also ended her historic run in 2008. “I was like, ‘I just want to get this over’. She played really well, I think she played unbelievable,” admitted Williams. Li, meanwhile, heads for London having seen her halo slip in the aftermath of her tetchy 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 second round French Open defeat to unseeded American Bethanie Mattek-Sands. At her post-match press conference in Paris, Li reacted tersely when asked if she had an explanation for her fans at home. “Do I need to explain?” she said. “It’s strange. I lost a match and that’s it. Do I need to get on my knees and kowtow to them? Apologise to them?” On the men’s side, Asia’s best hopes of representation in the second week reside with Florida-based Japanese star Kei Nishikori, this week at a careerhigh of 11 in the world. Nishikori, who shocked Roger Federer in Madrid last month, made the fourth round at the French Open where he lost in straight sets to champion Rafael Nadal. “He’s a player with a lot of talent,” said the Spaniard. “I think
he’s a candidate to be top 10 without any doubt.” Nishikori failed in his quest to become just the second Japanese man to reach the last eight in Paris after Jiro Satoh, who made the quarter-finals in 1931 and 1933. At Wimbledon, he will be aiming to better Shuzo Matsuoka who made the quarterfinals in 1995 before losing to Pete Sampras. That remains Japan’s best men’s performance at the tournament. Nishikori’s best run came last year where he reached the third round before he came unstuck against giant Argentine, Juan Martin del Potro. Meanwhile, Kimiko Date Krumm, who was born almost three years before the WTA – which celebrates its 40th birthday this week – was founded, is still good enough to make the main draw of the women’s event. The Japanese woman, who will be 43 in September, first played Wimbledon in 1989 and reached the semi-finals in 1996 where she lost to Steffi Graf. She then retired for 13 years, returned to the tournament in 2009 but has won just one match since. AFP
Ireland dominated the opening day of the Royal Ascot meeting on Tuesday carrying all before them in the first four races including the feature race, the St James’s Palace Stakes. In doing so they denied challengers from the United States, Australia and South Africa as well as the massed ranks of the home country in the most prestigious racing festival in Europe. Aidan O’Brien was to the fore courtesy of a big-race double. But the honours belonged principally to Jim Bolger, whose brave decision to start Derby disappointment Dawn Approach in the St James’s Palace Stakes saw the colt win an epic renewal. Dawn Approach finished last at Epsom just 17 days earlier, having raced like a rodeo bull. But Bolger felt sure his horse had recovered and was fully vindicated. None of Dawn Approach’s competitive fire had been quelled as he fought tooth and nail to fend off Toronado by a short head. AFP
Thaworn prepares for tough Masters defence
Thai star Thaworn Wiratchant hopes to shake off his inconsistent form when he defends the Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters which starts in Malaysia today. The veteran Thaworn has been struggling to find his ‘A’ game this season after winning three titles in 2012 en route to a historic Order of Merit triumph. But he remains hopeful of turning the corner at the popular RM1.2 million ($400,000) Asian Tour event this week. He headlines an elite cast at the challenging Seri Selangor Golf Club which includes Scott Hend of Australia, who is currently third on the Order of Merit, Anirban Lahiri of India, Siddikur of Bangladesh and Angelo Que of the Philippines, the 2010 Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters champion.
THE ASIAN TOUR
Tigers’ pitcher Scherzer opens with 10-0 record
Max Scherzer became the first Detroit Tigers’ starting pitcher in 104 years to start a season with a 10-0 record, allowing one run over six innings in a 5-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. George Mullin had been the most recent Tigers’ starter to win his first 10 decisions during the 1909 season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The last Major League Baseball starting pitcher to open a season with a 10-0 record was Roger Clemens, who won his first 11 decisions in 1997. Scherzer had 10 strikeouts and was backed by Miguel Cabrera’s 19th home run of the season, a two-run shot during the bottom of the first inning in Detroit. BLOOMBERG
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Sport
Ferrer exits in a first-round shocker in the Netherlands Spaniard David Ferrer failed to get back on the winning track on his return after losing in the French Open final as he lost in the Hertogenbosch ATP title on Tuesday, going down 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 to veteran Belgian Xavier Malisse in the first round. Ferrer, who lost in straight sets to compatriot Rafael Nadal in the final at Roland Garros 10 days ago, admitted that he had not had the best training for the match as he had practised on hard courts last week back in Spain. Malisse, 32 and ranked 60th in the world, prevailed in 89 minutes over the top seed to set up a second round meeting with Yen-Hsun Lu, the Taiwanese player having beaten Frenchman Edouard RogerVasselin 6-1, 7-6 (7/3) earlier on Tuesday. Ferrer yesterday was seeded fourth for Wimbledon ahead of Nadal in fifth. Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Roger Federer take the top three places. AFP
Sport helps develop women leaders, Ernst & Young says
Playing sports can help boost leadership skills for female executives, according to accounting firm Ernst & Young. A survey published on Tuesday by the company said 55 per cent of women in senior management and executive roles in the US participated in sports at a university level, compared to 39 per cent of other female managers. Almost three-quarters of the women surveyed said women who have competed in sports work more effectively in teams compared to those who haven’t. BLOOMBERG
Sprinters look to Moscow S
print hierarchy could be established this week as the United States and Jamaica hold their trials for the athletics World Championships scheduled for Moscow August 10-18. Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin spearhead the US challenge to six-time Olympic gold medallist and double world record-holder Usain Bolt and his fellow Jamaican speedsters, including reigning 100 world champion Yohan Blake. Walter Dix, second to Blake in the 100-metre and to Bolt in the 200metre at the 2011 worlds in Daegu, South Korea, is also in the mix at the US championships that start today at Drake University, longtime home of the Drake Relays athletics meeting. The men’s 100-metre finals will be held on the same day – tomorrow – at both the US and Jamaican trials, which run through to Sunday in Kingston. The Jamaican meeting has been clouded by a potential doping scandal surrounding two-time Olympic gold medallist and current 200metre world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, who has accepted a provisional suspension while her case is being investigated. Blake, who receives a 100-metre wildcard into the worlds offered to reigning champions by the IAAF, on Tuesday withdrew from the trials, his manager citing coach Glen
Usain Bolt of Jamaica competes to win the men’s 200-metres during the IAAF Diamond League athletics competition at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo earlier this month. REUTERS
Mills’s concern over his fitness due to a right thigh injury. Bolt, disqualified from the 100-metre at Daegu because of a false start, must earn his World Championships berth in that event. “I’ll go to the trials to try to win, but it’s all about the qualification,” Bolt said after setting a meet record of 19.79 in winning the 200-metre at Oslo last Friday. The victory came after a rare 100-
metre defeat by Gatlin in Rome on June 6, although Bolt was unconcerned after the loss. “It’s all about the World Championships,” he said. “I’ve got two months to get it right. “You learn more from losing. You can’t win every race in your career, I’ve learned that . . . I’m not worried.” The 31-year-old Gatlin, for his part, was aware that he may have merely wakened a slumbering giant. Bolt saves his best for the biggest
stages and comes back strong from defeat. Last year Blake beat him in the 100-metre and 200-metre at the Jamaican Olympic trials, but couldn’t repeat the feat at the London Games. “I just want to be able to give him some competition when he’s at top form,” Gatlin said. “He’s a legend and I want to go out and just fight for the end. Much respect.” Gay and Gatlin – who has served a drugs ban since winning Olympic 100-metre gold in 2004 – come into the pivotal trials week with the fastest 100-metre times in the world this year, Gay with a 9.86 seconds posted at Kingston on May 4 and Gatlin with a 9.91 delivered in Beijing on May 21. Gay also boasts a wind-aided 19.79 second 200 metres this season, and after years of injuries is healthy and eyeing a multiple medal challenge in Moscow. Gay won 100-metre, 200-metre and 4x100-metre gold at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, but a hamstring injury derailed his 2008 Olympic campaign and 2011 hip surgery to resolve several chronic problems saw him sidelined for almost a year. To preserve his fitness, the 30-yearold veteran has run fewer races in 2013 and expected to arrive in Des Moines at full strength for the demanding challenge of the US trials, where the top three finishers in each event can book World Championship team places. AFP
IPC chief looks for London effect at the world champs
From June 16 and running through to June 27, for the first time and as second nation in Asia ever, Cambodia has the honour to be chairman of the 37th yearly convention of the World Heritage Committee. In the eight to 16 pages strong reports published in Khmer and English version of the Post, our newspaper will give insights into how Cambodia's UNESCO chairmanship will contribute to a robust future of the national tourism industry and the conversation of our World Heritage Sites such as Angkor Wat and Preah Vihear During the convention the Kingdom will host more than 1400 delegates of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee coming from 190 different countries and more than 200 members of the international press. The 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 the important series of meetings, including the Siem Reap closing ceremony on June 27. This is not only a chance for travel agencies, airlines, hotels, restaurants, banks, telecoms and all kinds of providers to highlight their companies in the special reports but all companies that are proud of Cambodia. For the special occasion the Post will increase its production by several thousands and distribute the papers to the international guests. Advertisers will be offered special discount rates for inclusion in both publications on June 14 and 28. Phnom Penh 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 This is a chance to show how much your company cares about the preservation of Cambodia's antiquities.
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United Nations
Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization
World Heritage Convention
The IPC world athletics championships in Lyon next month are an opportunity to build on the success of last year’s Paralympics and build awareness about disabled sport, the head of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) told AFP in an interview on Tuesday. French para-athletes have been critical in the past about the status accorded to them in relation to their non-disabled counterparts, while the amount of coverage on French television of last year’s sell-out Games across the Channel was also questioned. But with a new domestic television deal signed for the July 19-28 championships in eastern France, IPC president Philip Craven said the greater exposure could challenge traditional attitudes and improve media exposure. “I think already with the Games in London that’s what’s changed perceptions of the people who saw it and that will continue,” he said on a visit to Paris. “More people will watch Lyon, hopefully, and then looking forward to the next world championships in Qatar in 2015 then moving on to [the 2016 Paralympics in] Rio, it’s going to be fantastic.” Last year’s Paralympics were the biggest since the event began in Rome in 1960, with more than 4,200 athletes from over 160 countries, including reclusive North Korea, competing to packed venues after a successful Olympics. In a sign of the expansion of para-sport, 1,200 athletes from 97 countries will take part in
Brazil’s Alan Oliveira sits on the track at the end of the men’s 4x100 metre relay T42-46 final of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. AFP
Lyon, compared with 950 competitors from 78 nations at the last world championships in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2011, the IPC said. Among them will be Brazil’s Alan Oliveira, who just last week lowered the 100-metre world record to 10.77 seconds, breaking the world record for both the T43 double, belowthe-knee and T44 single, belowthe-knee amputee classes. T44 Paralympic 100-metre champion – the previous world record holder Jonnie Peacock – will be out for revenge. Other competitors include Britain’s multiple gold medallist wheelchair racer Hannah Cockcroft. One notable absentee this year will be South African sprint star Oscar Pistorius, who made history last year by becoming the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics. But he is currently awaiting trial for shooting dead his model girlfriend. Craven accepted that the
“Blade Runner” was the most recognisable name in Parasport before London but said that a new generation of stars had since emerged who were now household names. Craven said progress was being made in the public’s exposure to para-sport, with new broadcasting deals sealed with Britain’s Channel 4, the European Broadcasting Union, Brazilian and Australian television. “Different countries wake up at different times and it takes specific moments for that to happen. I think that’s what happened [at the Paralympics in London],” he added. “In comparison to what had been covered before, London could be viewed as a great triumph on French TV for the Paralympics. “I think it was the first time my mother-in-law, who’s French, didn’t have to switch on her television at two in the morning to watch the Paralympics.” AFP
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Football
Moyes to begin United tenure at Swansea City
Asia Europe University’s Soy Visal (third right) is restrained by a team-mate after a foul on Build Bright United’s Ros Kunrithy (grounded) in their Metfone C-League at Olympic Stadium yesterday. SRENG MENG SRUN
Svay Rieng’s Khoun Laboravy (right) tries to evade a tackle from National Police’s Oeung Tin in their match yesterday. SRENG MENG SRUN
Svay Rieng brutal on Police, BBU frustrate AEU with win T Dan Riley and Chorn Norn
wo Metfone CLeague matches of contrasting natures played out at Olympic Stadium yesterday, with Build Bright United edging Asia Europe University 1-0 in a game marked by a double dismissal at the death for AEU while Svay Rieng drew to within a single point of the league lead with a rousing 4-2 victory over National Police. Players and fans were
blessed yesterday with a break in the daily deluges that had plagued the preceding days in the capital. In the early kickoff, BBU took the lead on 28 minutes via the boot of David Ogudogun. It was an advantage that clearly frustrated AEU, with Sary Matnorodin scything down BBU’s Ros Kunrithy in the 88th minute to pick up a straight red. AEU were then further reduced when an incensed Soy Visal remonstrated with the referee before running
over to put in his own illegal challenge on Ros Kunrithy, affording the team’s second red card. BBU ticked away the clock to clinch the battle of the University sides and pick up another important threepoint haul, their third in as many games. Yesterday’s evening encounter gave supporters their money’s worth with goals strewn out from start to finish. Svay Rieng’s Tomasz Esua put them in front as early as the second minute,
although Police’s Tith Dina pegged things back level moments later. Military Police-backed Svay Rieng, formerly Preah Khan Reach, then pushed ahead with goals either side of the break from Sok Chanraksmey and Prak Mony Udom. Another Tith Dina strike on 65 minutes had the second placers sweating in the final stages, but Moung Makara stepped up to secure the win with a goal in the second minute of stoppage time. Yesterday’s results saw Svay
Rieng remain in second but reduce the gap between table toppers Boeung Ket Rubber Field, who are on 31 points, to just one. BBU, meanwhile, leapfrogged Police into sixth place and level with fifthplaced Kirivong Sok Sen Chey on 21 points. However, Kirivong hold their position due to a nine-goal lead in goal difference. AEU remain in the relegation dogfight with Ministry of National Defence, who are two points ahead but with two games in hand.
Tension, anger as Asian giants reach World Cup Asian giants Iran, South Korea and Australia scrambled into next year’s World Cup on Tuesday after scenes of crowd anger and high tension on the final night of group qualifying.
Irate South Korean fans hurled water bottles and other debris after Iran booked their ticket with a 1-0 smashand-grab win in Ulsan, following a tetchy build-up between the teams.
Iran’s Masoud Shojaei (right) fights for the ball with South Korea’s Ji Dong-won in their World Cup qualifying soccer match in Ulsan, southeast of Seoul on Tuesday. REUTERS
South Korea also accused Iran coach Carlos Queiroz of making an obscene hand gesture at his rival Choi Kanghee, and said they expected a FIFA investigation. No comment was immediately available from Queiroz. A South Korean newspaper condemned Iran’s players and officials, but made little mention of their own fans’ poor behaviour. “When their victory was confirmed, all the Iranian players ran towards the South Korean bench, pumping their fists and making insulting gestures,” the Sport Chosun daily wrote in an editorial. “There was no respect for the opposing team. They were not merely celebrating their victory. They stuck their tongues out at the crowd and jeered at them. They insulted and mocked South Korean soccer. The spirit of fair play and sportsmanship were completely forgotten,” the paper added. “Those who are only good at playing games but have no respect for sportsmanship do not deserve to go to the World Cup.” But some South Korean fans took to microblogging site Twitter with a different view of events. “The water bottles thrown out to Iranian player showed to the whole world how ugly we are as a nation,” tweeted one, @ulgongja. Another, @kcs9618, said: “I felt awful when seeing the Iranian players running around the stadium with their flag. But it felt even more awful seeing
South Koreans throwing bottles towards them.” Queiroz noted that it was a very difficult match, admitting that they “played a great team”. “My team played with a realistic approach, to try and wait for a weak point in the Korean team and with a counter-attacking attitude,” he added. South Korea’s Choi, who is now stepping down from the job, preferred not to talk about his row with Queiroz. “I am not going to comment on that. After this loss, whatever I say may sound like an excuse,” said Choi. It emerged after that South Korea had also qualified as Uzbekistan, despite beating Qatar 5-1, just missed out on goal difference. The Uzbeks will now face Jordan, 1-0 victors over Oman thanks to Ahmad Ibrahim’s 57th-minute goal, in a play-off. The teams will meet over two legs in September with the winners taking on the fifth-placed side in South America in a similar playoff in November for a place at the finals. Australia left it late before substitute striker Josh Kennedy earned a 1-0 win over Iraq in Sydney, enough to take the Socceroos through to their third successive World Cup. Iran, South Korea and Australia now join Japan, the Asian Cup-holders who booked their ticket a fortnight ago, at next year’s World Cup as the only countries to have qualified alongside hosts Brazil. AFP & REUTERS
Champions Manchester United will begin their title defence with a trip to League Cup winners Swansea, the English Premier League said yesterday as it announced the 2013-14 fixtures. New manager David Moyes, who was appointed after Alex Ferguson retired in May, takes his team to south Wales on August 17 and will take charge for his first home game the following week. United’s opponents for Moyes’ debut at Old Trafford will be Europa League-winners Chelsea, with Jose Mourinho reinstalled as manager and hungry for fresh success. Both fixtures last year ended in away wins. Moyes makes a return to Everton, where he was manager for 11 years, on April 19. AFP
Altidore winner keeps US on course for Brazil
The United States maintained their push for a 2014 World Cup berth with a third straight victory in the final round of CONCACAF qualifying on Tuesday after Jozy Altidore’s late strike saw off a stubborn Honduras 1-0 in Utah. US coach Jurgen Klinsmann had little to fear from the visitors as his side extended their unbeaten home record in qualifiers to 25 games but he can expect a much tougher test on September 6 with a daunting trip to second-placed Costa Rica, who beat Panama 2-0 at home on Tuesday. REUTERS
Platini praises Israel as Spain take spoils again
Israel came in for warm praise from European soccer’s supremo Michel Platini as the Euro U21 soccer championships ended with Spain thrashing Italy 4-2 to retain the title. “The stadiums were wonderful and well organised, the pitches excellent and the atmosphere in the stadiums was great with many families with young children attending. That is exactly the type of tournament that I like to see,” Platini told a news conference. REUTERS
Brazil to deploy special police for Confeds Cup
Brazil will deploy a special police force to help provide security for the Confederations Cup tournament following mass protests against government spending, the state news agency said yesterday. Officers belonging to the National Force, a branch of the federal police deployed in cases of social unrest, will be sent to five of the six cities where the tournament will be played, Agencia Brasil reported, citing the Justice Ministry. The government reaction is notable given that the Confederations Cup is seen as a dry run for the World Cup next year. The National Force, composed of police and firefighters from different states that are called up for duty on special occasions, is a “conciliatory, mediating” force and “not repressive”, the Justice Ministry said. AFP
tonight’s fixtures FIFA Confederations Cup Spain v Tahiti – 2am Nigeria v Uruguay – 5am
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THE PHNOM PENH POST june 20, 2013
Sport Heat beat Spurs to force Game 7 L
eBron James made the goahead jump shot and Ray Allen drained a two clutch overtime free throws as the Miami Heat rallied to beat San Antonio 103-100 on Tuesday to force a game seven in the NBA Finals. James hit a seven-foot jumper with 1:43 left in overtime to give Miami a 101-100 lead and the Heat evened the best-of-seven series at 3-3 after being down by five points with 28 seconds remaining in regulation. “That was by far the best game I have ever been a part of,” James said. Game seven will be played tonight in Miami, with tip off at 8am Cambodian time tomorrow morning. James scored 18 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as he sparked the late comeback for the Heat, who trailed by 13 points late in the third quarter in front of a crowd of 19,900 at American Airlines arena. Mario Chalmers scored 20 points and Chris Bosh added 10 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots for the Heat, who are a perfect 7-0 in games which follow a loss in the post-season. Miami dropped game five at San Antonio on Sunday. Tim Duncan finished with 30 points and 17 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who last won the NBA title in 2007 when they knocked off a Cleveland Cavaliers team led by a young James. “I don't know what happened in the overtime and fourth," Duncan said. "Just our shots weren't there. It is a disappointing loss.” San Antonio appeared to be heading for their fifth NBA title in franchise history when the wheels fell off late in the fourth quarter as they blew a 10-point lead entering the final quarter. “It was a helluva game. It was a helluva game,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. “It was an overtime game. It's a
Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (centre) goes to the basket past San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan (behind), Danny Green (right) and Kawhi Leonard during Game 6. REUTERS
game of mistakes and they ended up on the winning side.” Heat veteran Allen drained a clutch 25-foot three-pointer with five seconds to play in regulation time to tie the game at 95-95. Tony Parker had a chance to clinch the win for the Spurs in regulation, but his shot at the buzzer from 12feet never got near the rim.
“This is elite competition. Two teams that aren't backing up,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “We feel very grateful we have an opportunity to play for a title in game seven. There is nothing bigger than a game seven.” Allen helped spark Miami's season-saving rally as he scored all of his points in the fourth quarter and over-
time after missing his first four shots from the field. He made a lay up with six minutes left in the fourth to make it 84-82 and give the Heat their first lead since the opening quarter. After Spurs posted a wire-to-wire win in game five, Tuesday's contest started out as a tight affair with four lead changes in the first quarter. Miami led 27-25 at the end of the
first, but the Spurs went on a 17-4 surge to end the second quarter as they took a 50-44 lead into the locker room. The Heat win spoiled a brilliant performance by San Antonio's Duncan, who scored 25 points in the first half on 11-of-13 shooting from the field. Duncan scored half of the Spurs points in the first half. AFP