130627-The Post English

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all you need to know about property in cambodia

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Issue NUMBER 1656

16 pages

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THURSDAY, june 27, 2013

4000 RIEL

Rudd ousts Gillard in Australia James Grubel

KEVIN Rudd returned as Australian prime minister yesterday, executing a stunning party room coup on Julia Gillard almost three years to the day after being ousted by his former deputy and less than three months away from a general election. The reinstatement of Rudd as leader was a last-ditch effort to shore up support by the governing Labor Party, which opinion polls show faces a battering at the election scheduled for September 14. The Mandarin-speaking former diplomat draws strong popular support but has divided and destabilised his party after launching two failed bids for the leadership of the party in the past 18 months. Analysts, however, predicted the move could backfire. “I don’t think it will help Labor. I think they’ve dug themselves a deeper grave,” John Wanna, professor of politics at the Australian National University, said. The return of Rudd could now see Australia go to an election in August rather than the set date of September 14 to cash in on his greater popularity with voters and an expected honeymoon period with the electorate. The leadership change followed a series of opinion polls showing Gillard’s minority government could lose up to 35 seats, giving the conservative opposition a massive majority in the 150-member parliament. Gillard, Australia’s first female prime Continues on page 12

Hazy days A worker pours water to extinguish a blaze that is burning through his pineapple plantation in Indonesia’s fire-affected Riau province yesterday.

REUTERS

Drug use on rise in Kingdom M Justine Drennan

ETHAMPHETAMINE use and trafficking is a growing concern in Cambodia, where seizures of meth pills nearly tripled in a single year, the United Nations

Office on Drug and Crime announced yesterday. The UNODC’s 2013 World Drug Report, released on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking yesterday, shows that increasing methamphetamine use in Cambodia is part of a broader trend in the region.

However, no country saw a greater increase than Cambodia’s 189 per cent jump in meth pill seizures between 2010 and 2011, the report says, noting that the number of pills seized nevertheless was small when compared with numbers from countries like Thailand and China.

“In the East and Southeast Asia Region in general, the manufacture, trafficking and consumption of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) is increasing and a worsening problem,” said Olivier Lermet, country manager Continues on page 2

Campaign forces, merchandise deployed en masse Vong Sokheng, Sean Teehan and Phak Seangly

CHHAY Rachana remained in constant motion at Daiy Ek Silk Screen in Phnom Penh yesterday morning as a stream of customers filtered in to pick up T-shirts, hats and car decals emblazoned with the Cambodian People’s Party logo in preparation for today’s kick-off of the month-long campaign period.

In just 10 days, the shop has sold 10,000 CPP T-shirts, said Rachana, who, like many merchants selling CPP products, has seen business skyrocket. Outside the shop, 18-year-old Mon Keo Ravy used soap and water to paste CPP window decals onto each window of a silver Toyota 4-Runner as Hem, a 49-year-old employee with the government’s anti-terror-

ism department, watched his handiwork. A CPP member, Hem said he spent about $100 on party merchandise of his own volition. The logos turn his car into a rolling advertisement that familiarises people with the party’s logo, he said. Plenty of campaign gear will likely be on display today, as parties launch scores of rallies across the country. The CPP is hold-

ing nine separate events in nine different districts in Phnom Penh, said Ork Kimhan, CPP cabinet chief in charge of Statistic Central Department. Cambodia National Rescue Party spokesman Yim Sovann expects about 10,000 CNRP supporters to gather at Freedom Park, for a rally Continues on page 6


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