Cambodia: Details are Sketchy

Cambodia PM slammed for disowning lesbian daughter [Reuters]

Cambodia convicts first unfaithful man on monogamy law [DPA]

Animal-rights group asks Cambodian PM to bar KFC [Xinhua]

Cambodia’s ‘demoralised’ ex-king celebrates quiet birthday [AFP]

Report: Cambodia vulnerable to rising oil prices [Xinhua]

Alt.Map.Cambodia asks: Who is Bon Bon World? Considering the company has recently won a string of land concessions totaling 1.2 million hectares, it’s not a bad question to ask. At the company’s slick but incredibly vague web site, the only contact email listed is one at the very professional domain of yahoo: bonbongroup@yahoo.com. (Feel free to email them with your questions; they are “happy to address you.”).  Assuming that the list of projects on the company’s projects page is not completely bogus, it seems likely the company is tied to the Russian businessman who was recently arrested for debauchery. But that’s just a hunch.

As the new school year gets underway, VOA checks in to see how the kids are doing.

With primary and secondary schools opening their doors for another season, poor students find themselves in an annual bind. Without money to proffer their underpaid teachers, they fear they will be flunked, or beaten.

Students at public schools unofficially subsidize their teachers’s salaries according to the educational levels. In primary school, the students pay between 500 to 1,000 riel.

“When I have no money, I don’t dare go to school,” second-grader Poch Srey told VOA Khmer Monday. “I am afraid the teacher will hit me.”

Lovely.

This reads like something from the Onion, but, apparently, it is true.

Cambodia’s prime minister said that his adopted daughter is a lesbian and he was severing ties with her, but he urged the country not to discriminate against gays.

“My adopted daughter now has a wife. I’m quite disappointed,” Hun Sen said.

He made the rare revelation about his closely guarded family life during a speech at a university graduation ceremony.

Hun Sen said he plans to file a civil court case to disown his adopted daughter, whom he did not name, so that she cannot claim any inheritance from his family.

“We are concerned that she might one day cause us trouble … and try to stake her claim for a share of our assets,” he said.

Breathtaking in its coldness, stunning in its hypocrisy: Prime Minister Hun Sen is legally disowning his daughter because he is afraid she may one day force him to part with some of his hard-gained riches. You stingy, heartless bastard. Conversely, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s daughter has made a conscious choice to give up all the wealth and power a human being could ever want, and instead follow her heart. Cambodia would do well to follow in her footsteps.

Ms. K, doing the academic thing in Syracuse, rocks Halloween.

The people at World Rainforest Movement are sounding the alarm about dam building in Laos.

A series of large dams are currently proposed for the Sekong River Basin in southern Laos. In addition to the tens of thousands of people in Laos who would be affected by these projects, the livelihoods of 30,000 people living along the Sekong River downstream in Cambodia are also under threat. Yet the dams are being planned with no consideration of the impact on people and the environment in Cambodia. [...]

For ten years, villagers living along the Sesan River in northeastern Cambodia have seen the devastating impacts of dam construction upstream in Vietnam. Dozens of villagers have drowned following sudden releases of water from the Yali Falls dam. Villagers have lost livestock, crops and fishing equipment. Poor water quality has caused skin rashes and stomach problems. More than 3,500 people have now abandoned their homes near the Sesan River and moved upland to get away from the river’s floods and unpredictable flows, according to recent research by the Cambodian NGO 3S Rivers Protection Network (”3S” refers to the Sekong, Sesan and Srepok Rivers). “Villagers have lost their hopes and dependencies on this river, because nearly all of the river resources are gone,” Roman Mal, an Indigenous Jarai village chief, told the researchers.

It’s not quite clear what the best answer is here, or who exactly is to blame for such a critical state of affairs, but considering all the NGOs and outspoken political activists in the kingdom, surely there are people around to give voice to these 30,000 Cambodians. Where are they?

Government spokesperson Khieu Kanharith, with the apparent backing of the establishment, has asked newspaper editors to stop protecting the rich and thuggish.

A few hours after the publication by local newspapers that the authorities had arrested a navy general’s son without mentioning the names clearly yesterday morning, Mr. Khieu Kanharith, the Minister of Information and the government’s spokesperson, asked all media agencies to publish the names of the parents of culprits clearly so that it is easy for higher level authorities to take action. This wide permission was announced by the Ministry of Information after many newspapers had not dared to publish the names of culprits who are children of high ranking officials or bodyguards of high ranking officials, by just saying that they are the children of Ta Ta [grandfathers – this refers to high ranking officials]] or the bodyguards of powerful people.

According to the story, even Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly supported the move and warned parents that they would be held responsible for their out-of-control kids. Considering the context, however, such a statement sounds awfully hollow.

The Navy official in question is Admiral Ung Samkhan. His son, Ung Vanna, was arrested Wednesday for “car racing” and “making a threat” against CTN newsman Soy Sopheap. As the Sralanh Khmer story points out, Admiral Ung Samkhan is part of the CPP faction loyal to CPP President Chea Sim. Soy Sopheap, despite his steadfast protestations to the contrary, is a bought-and-paid-for mouthpiece for the CPP faction not loyal to CPP President Chea Sim. The cleft between the two is well-known. And the prime minister using current events to browbeat his detractors while making himself look good is simply politics as usual.

Is Toul Sleng haunted? Mysterious Universe attempts to find out.

Usually when a person goes out ‘ghost hunting’, you need to make certain preparations. For a start there is your kit: still camera, video camera, thermometer, electro-static detector to name a few. Here I was: About to enter the most haunted place in Cambodia with virtually nothing!

My video camera had been left back home, the flash on my camera had been damaged on the flight and forget about any of the other equipment. Another vital component I didn’t have was a partner to accompany me.

I was about to enter the most haunted place in Cambodia alone, with no equipment except for a small torch and not really knowing what to expect. I had a choice: call it off or go for it. Against all common sense, I decided to go for it!

Alone at Toul Sleng in the dark? No, thank you.

Seth Mydans picks up the trail of Nhem En, the man who took all those harrowing photographs hanging in Toul Sleng.

For just £35,000, you could be rollin’ in a black 1973 4-door Mercedes formerly owned by Pol Pot.

The car has its original 3.5L diesel engine and air conditioning has subsequently been repaired by the current owner. The car is black and the interior has been reupholstered to a high standard. No wing mirrors exist since it was impossible to find the original ones locally. The Khmer Rouge regime detroyed all official documents during their tenure as the de-facto government in Cambodia during the 1970’s (even blowing up the Bank of Lao and destrying all currency) and hence no official papers for the car exist. It enjoys a reputation in Phnom Penh as “Pol Pot’s Car or PP1′. … Interested parties can view the car at its current resting place (The Renakse Hotel).

UPDATE: AP has more.

VOA speculates about the recent arrest of the Sihanoukville Russian.

The recent arrest of a well-known Russian businessman on charges of debauchery could mean the police are taking the problems of human trafficking and sexual exploitation more seriously. It could also mean they are looking to improve their standing in the eyes of the US, which puts out an annual report where Cambodia consistently scores poorly.

More than likely, however, it means that the Russian urinated in the wrong person’s Wheaties. Because, let’s face it, with $300 million at your disposal there is nothing you can’t do in this country and get away with. The Russian’s debauchery was well-known. Yet as long as the hush money kept coming, his sickness was never a problem. Then something changed all that. The odds that it was Cambodian cops who got religion on pedophilia are zero.

China gives Cambodia more patrol boats [Reuters]

Cambodia requests more funds for genocide tribunal [Associated Press]

Officials Optimistic about Women’s Web Portal [Rasmei Kampuchea/The Mirror]

North Korea to Sign Seaport, Trade Agreement With Cambodia [VOA/KI]

Akron Man Dies While Traveling In Cambodia [Yahoo]

Is it offensive for a foreigner wearing shoes and a backwards ball cap to pose in the lotus position in front of Angkor Wat? Could it be considered karma that not long after posing for the photo somebody stole his shoes.

UPDATE: Actually, the photo was taken before his shoes were stolen. Cruel foreshadowing, no?

VIA APC: The latest Open Institute initiative is a Khmer-language web site focused on women’s issues. The web site, About Women at http://women.open.org.kh/, promises to serve as an information clearing house on issues related to Khmer women. In addition, About Women also plans to create an online community that allows “government, NGOs and individuals to share their concerns and announce their activities, in search of synergies with other organisations.”

Mrs. Chim Manavy, Executive Director of the Open Institute, commented in her speech that “The Women’s web portal is an important resource to disseminate information, share knowledge, and facilitate communication in society. Information is power. Expression of opinions helps improving confidence. Therefore, when women have access to sufficient information, understand about rights, have access to knowledge, and are confident, their participations through various activities in social development will be strengthened.”

In a story about law and order in India, Bijo Francis comments on the relative dangers of Phnom Penh.

Guns, grenades and other weapons are easily available on the open market in the kingdom. This may explain in part why the crime rate is alarmingly high. In Cambodia, to be relatively sure of one’s personal safety it is advisable to have personal bodyguards.

That is beyond ridiculous. What a daft thing to say.

VIA Andy: Today marks the 16th anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreements. Simon Taylor, director of the Cambodian government’s favorite NGO Global Witness, forgoes the political niceties and blasts away at the shortcomings of the government and the donors who enable it.

Today marks the anniversary of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords - the agreement which signalled the beginning of the end of decades of violent conflict in Cambodia and the start of the biggest and most costly peacekeeping operation in history. Yet 16 years later, the country once regarded as the international poster-boy for post-conflict nation building is fast becoming South-East Asia’s newest kleptocracy; its reputation marred by allegations of massive corruption, impunity, human rights abuses, and repressive, undemocratic governance. The international community - whose money has bankrolled this shattered state’s rehabilitation - has singularly failed to stop the rot.

That’s just the beginning. Over the next 800 words Taylor touches on the management of the country’s natural resources, business sector, forests, land, mining, ports, national buildings, casinos, textile and tourism industry, all of which he says have been mismanaged by an incompetent, corrupt kleptocracy who have stolen Cambodia’s democracy and gotten fat while the masses starved.

Yet even against such a desperate backdrop of moral turpitude, Taylor suggests a glimmer of hope remains.

It is not too late for the international community to redefine its terms of engagement with Cambodia, but it will require a fundamental shift in mindset. At its core must be a recognition that stripping a country of its assets for personal gain represents a mass violation of the social and economic rights of the country’s people. Next, Cambodia’s donors must impose sanctions on those individuals and their family members who they have good reason to believe are corruptly profiteering from the exploitation of the state’s resources. These measures should include a freeze on all assets, restrictions on international travel and a ban on doing business with nationals of the donor country.

Surely Taylor believes no such thing; else he must be smoking the sawdust. Over the last 16 years the donor community has never once shown the slightest hint of having a spine. There are zero good reasons to think that things are about to change.

VIA MangoZeen.

Last night Pattaya police responded to a complaint of a Khmer woman abusing a young girl. The four year-old’s crime? A bad night begging. Little Bo bore bruises on her arms and legs. Some old. Some new. During interrogation at the police station, the older woman claiming to be Bo’s ‘mother’ confessed that Bo could score 1000-2000 baht/night during high season.

Not good.

Standard & Poor’s this week announced the launch of the S&P Select Frontier Index. A subset of the benchmark S&P Extended Frontier 150, the Select index comprises 30 companies from Emerging Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East and includes one company from Cambodia.

The S&P Select Frontier Index is comprised of 30 of the largest and most liquid companies from countries with smaller economies or less developed capital markets than traditional emerging markets, and as a result, have previously been excluded from most emerging market benchmarks and investment funds. [...]

The universe from which index candidates are drawn includes publicly listed companies from 11 markets in the Standard & Poor’s Emerging Market Data Base (EMDB) that are generally accessible to foreign investors but are excluded from the S&P/IFCI Emerging Markets Index.

At launch, the S&P Select Frontier Index includes companies from Bulgaria, Cambodia, Colombia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Panama, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. The biggest country weightings include Pakistan (28.97%), UAE (23.12%), Jordan (13.23%), Vietnam (11.54%) and Panama (7.74%), while the top three constituents are MCB Bank (Pakistan), Emaar Properties (UAE) and Copa Holdings (Panama).

Attracted to the region by torrid economic growth in Vietnam, world-class, big-money investors are making serious appraisals of investment opportunities in the rest of the region. Unfortunately, Cambodia is still way too corrupt for most sane investors. The S&P Extended Frontier Market 150, for example, which is the parent index of Select, includes only one company from Cambodia.

Which one?

S&P won’t say. Or at least not for free. But judging by S&P’s listing criteria, it seems unlikely that the single Cambodian company listed is actually a Cambodian company. Eligible companies “must have a minimum float-adjusted market capitalization of US$100 million, a minimum average daily value traded of US$2 million and a minimum of 15 days traded over the previous six months.” Any guesses?

Jayakhmer recently asked “Can we be Civilized?” — “we” being Cambodians. Jayakhmer doesn’t allow comments on his blog, but KI Media does. And when KI reposted Jayakhmer’s article, comments it got.

What happens when a group of villagers who have had their land stolen come to the capital and demand redress from their elected officials? Do you really need to ask?

On October 16, shortly before 7pm, approximately 80 police and military police - some armed with pistols - surrounded a group of about 200 Svay Rieng villagers camped in the park outside Wat Botum near the former National Assembly. The villagers, who had only arrived at the park a few hours earlier, were forced into vehicles including two buses and sent back to Svay Rieng.

According to witnesses, some of the villagers were beaten during the raid on the park, and two persons were later taken to hospital unconscious. NGO workers were blocked by authorities from entering the area, but heard cries coming from the villagers.

“This action by the authorities was unlawful and they clearly knew this – it’s why they did this at night, under the cover of darkness,” said LICADHO president Kek Galabru. “To beat and abduct people, and forcibly take them back to their province in the middle of the night, is appalling.”

The villagers say they represent about 500 families in Tros commune who have had their land taken by the Peam Chaing rubber company. Five hundred families is no small contingency. Nationwide, the number of newly landless must by now reach into the tens of thousands, if not more, with no end in sight.

The landless problem is not new, of course, neither here nor to the region or even the world. Latin America has struggled for decades with similar problems. China, too, faces a rapidly growing class of landless farmers. If Cambodia has anything approaching what might be termed a policy on the matter, it appears to be taking its cues from Beijing (gulp). In both countries, the strategy for dealing with the newly landless is as cruel as it is simple: ignore them. Should they protest, as in the case of the Svay Rieng families, crush them.

The result of such wicked short-term thinking is a burgeoning population of disaffected rural people incensed at the government’s corrupt, urban ruling class. And now, with no land and no work, those people have nothing to do all day but stew in their resentment. What could possibly go wrong with a policy as clever as that?

Via the UC Berkeley Library comes news that DANIDA has recently launched cambodiaatlas.com, a web site “created to provide civil society, government institutions, development partners and the public at large with information on the state of the environment and natural resources in Cambodia and related social and economic issues.” Among other interesting “layers” on the map are “forest cover” indications from 1976, 1997, 2002 and 2006. No prizes for guessing the direction of the trend.

Mongkol offers “A Brief History of Cambodian Currency,” with pictures.

Bisean peaks under the dome at Central Market and says “the architecture, the design, the history and the character of the building itself is worth the visit. It is so unique that there is no other building in Southeast Asia quite like it.”

Shawn Crispin, writing for the Committee to Protect Journalist,  profiles Radio Free Asia’s Cambodian operations and investigates the continuing threats and harassment from which the radio station continues to suffer.

Jennifer Noveck explains Pchum Ben, American-style.

Theary Seng, director of the Cambodian Center for Social Development, has just put all of her past “Voice of Justice” columns online. The VOJ column runs in the Phnom Penh Post. Sadly, the columns are only scans from the newspaper, not actual text, which makes them impossible to search and difficult to read. Still, it’s an extremely valuable contribution.

Thai authorities have arrested 32-year-old Canadian pedophile Christopher Paul Neil. “Bingo! We’ve got him,” Thai police Major General Wimol Powintara told reporters. Reuters has the details.

Not long after the arrest of Nuon Chea, Voice of America spoke to former Khmer Rouge Head of State Khieu Samphan. In a 90-minute interview, the aging KR diplomat dismissed his government’s responsibility for the Cambodian holocaust and, instead, suggested that Vietnam should bear responsibility.

In rhetoric peppered with the kind of paranoia that eventually manifested itself in homicidal purges within the regime, Khieu Samphan said Vietnam would have annexed Cambodia into an Indochinese federation had the Khmer Rouge not risen against it.

Vietnamese overtures to the Khmer Rouge to become “like the Viet Minh” were rebuffed, Khieu Samphan said, because Pol Pot wanted to be “independent and self-sufficient.” [link]

[...]

“I did nothing wrong,” he said Thursday. “In the name of Cambodia, I could not cross my arms and watch [Cambodia fall to Vietnam]. So I became involved with the Khmer Rouge.”

“If there were no Khmer Rouge movement in 1970, Cambodia would be in Vietnam’s grip, and if there were no Khmer Rouge struggling in 1979, there would be no Paris agreement and no present day Cambodia,” he said. [link]

Shorter Khieu Samphan: We had to destroy our people in order to save them from the Vietnamese. As a legal defense, such “Ben Tre logic” sounds a lot like a prelude to pleading insanity.

The VOA interview, in five parts:

1. Khieu Samphan, Public Face of Khmer Rouge: Arrests ‘Have an Effect on Me’
2. ‘Truth Becomes the Enemy’ for Former Public Face of Khmer Rouge
3. Khieu Samphan: ‘Why Would It Kill Its Own People?’
4. Evacuation ‘To Rescue the City Dwellers,’ Khieu Samphan Says
5. Khmer Rouge ‘Warlords’ Killed, Abused Power, Khieu Samphan Says

POSTSCRIPT: Via the KRT portal, Moneaksekar Khmer offers a local take of the VOA interview.

Cambodian police have arrested yet another foreigner for sexual crimes against minors.

A Russian businessman has been arrested for allegedly having sex with at least six girls in Cambodia, a senior police official said Thursday.

Alexander Trofimov, the chairman of an investment company, was arrested Wednesday at Cambodia’s coastal city of Sihanoukville, said police Maj. Gen. Bit Kimhong, director of the Interior Ministry’s antihuman trafficking department.

Trofimov allegedly had sex with five girls in 2005 and another one this year, Bit Kimhong said, adding that the girls were between 12 and 18 years old.

Chairman of an investment company?  Oh, that’s right. Trofimov, you may remember, was awarded a 99-year lease on Snake Island last September. The $300 million deal included plans to build a resort and a connecting bridge to the mainland.

Perhaps they can hang him from it.

The hunt for the ‘twirly-face’ pedo has led to Thailand, where police say 32-year-old Canadian Christopher Paul Neil arrived from South Korea about a week ago. So where do such monsters come from? Why, the seminary, of course.

Neil worked as a chaplain and counsellor at the Greenwood Air Cadet Summer Training Centre in Nova Scotia from 1998 to 2000, said Capt. Hope Carr, an Canadian forces public affairs officer. [...]

Anne Kully, principal of Saint Patrick’s School in Maple Ridge, B.C., said in 2000 and 2001 Neil volunteered at the school as part of his training at Christ of the King seminary where he was studying to become a priest.

How fitting.

UPDATE: Thai police issue warrant for Neil’s arrest; Interpol releases passport images.

If Reuters is right, Cambodia has lost another plane.

A cargo plane flying between Cambodia and Singapore disappeared from radar late on Wednesday, leading officials to believe it had crashed.

“We lost a cargo plane from radar about an hour or so ago,” one fire-fighter at Phnom Penh’s international airport told Reuters. “We don’t know where it has gone.”

UPDATE: AP fleshes out the details.

Him Sarun, Cabinet chief for the Secretariat of Civil Aviation, said the plane took off at about 9 p.m. and was headed to Singapore when it crashed about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the airport. He said the plane was an Antonov AN-12, but he had no details about its crew or ownership. … The officer said the plane was exporting clothing — Cambodia’s biggest export.

Is the Riverhouse the new Heart of Darkness?

David Chhaynava, Chea Sim’s advisor in charge of legal affairs, is currently charged by the police of shooting in public and disturbing public order, last Sunday.

Chhit Vuthy, the deputy police chief at the Phsar Kandal 1 market, said that at 1:00 AM on 14 October, 30-year-old David Chhaynava used a Glock (?) hand gun, and fired 4 shots into the air after partying at the River House restaurant, located along the river, parallel to Quai Sisowath.

Police say it’s only a “light” problem, since Mr. Chhaynava just shot in the air. But still, police will gather evidence and turn the case over to the courts, as is required by the rule of law when your father is not the ultra-rich magnate of a petroleum giant.

UPDATE: The Daily says Mr Chhaynava had requested his friends refer to him as “Excellency.” When his friends declined the request, Mr Chhaynava reached into his car, pulled out a handgun, and fired four shots into the air.

So what’s it like for a young village boy on his first trip to the capital?

“Sleepwalking Through the Mekong,” a movie about the band Dengue Fever (you’ve heard of them, right?), will be playing the Hawaii International Film Festival. Along with some background on the movie, the Honolulu Star notes the band’s soon-to-be-released third album, “Venus on Earth,” which World Music Central says is expected in January.

Cambodian pop band  Dengue Fever announced this week that they will release “Venus On Earth”, their eagerly anticipated third full-length CD on January 22, 2008 from M80 Music. “Venus On Earth” features eleven new original tracks and will be distributed in the USA through Allegro/NAIL.

Since playing Cambodia in ‘05, the band has been busy working the global music circuit, winning critical acclaim nearly everywhere they play.

Dengue Fever’s uncommon pop/world music sound has garnered critical acclaim since  Escape from Dragon House debuted. In 2005, the editors of online retail giant Amazon named their record #1 International release of the year. In 2006, Mojo (U.K.) named the same album into their Top 5 World Music releases of the year. The New York Times, Associated Press, Pitchfork, Los Angeles Times, BBC, Reuters Television, Spin, NPR,  World Music Central and other influential outlets have praised the band’s psychedelic Khmer Rock sound. More recently, European outlets such as French magazines Monocle and Chronic’art, the London Observer have extensively covered the band, while Italian Vogue and Song Lines (U.K.) features have been confirmed.

AP follows up on the story of the belligerent cow responsible for several traffic accidents and at least six deaths.

A Cambodian villager has finally solved how to avoid further trouble from his cow that allegedly caused six traffic deaths this year — he has butchered it.

“The man has butchered the cow and sold its meat so that it will stop causing him more problems in the future,” Pin Doman, a police chief on the outskirts of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, said Tuesday.

He said Kop Ri, the owner, killed his cow on Sunday.

Police took the cow into custody after a 66-year-old motorcyclist last week crashed into the white, 1.5-meter (5-foot) tall animal, which was standing in the middle of a dark road. The man died from his injuries.