Freedom to break your legs

VOA is keeping tabs on the struggle for power in Kompong Thom province. Not everyone is pleased.

Som Sithavry, 28, of Kampuchea Thmei, said she was told she deserved to be “beaten,” following her coverage of a clash between military and police in Kampong Thom province.

Som Sithavry said she was interviewing Lork Vong, a military police chief in Kampong Thom province, when Bun Thy, a military policeman, got on the phone with her and threatened her.

“Actually, the threat is indirect,” Som Sithavry said Wednesday. “He said to do whatever is right, respect journalism ethics, or my legs would be broken.”

Just a wild guess, but, this has something to do about logs, right? It would have been nice for VOA to report about that, too.

Climate change threats and opportunities

The United Nations yesterday announced that climate change poses an immediate threat to Cambodia. Among the U.N.’s main concerns are drought, flood and disease. Fortunately, it’s not all bad. Climate change also presents many great opportunities for enterprising U.N. consultants.

For example, it said, Cambodia can seek technical assistance and financial resources to promote climate change mitigation and adaptation, and mobilize private sector partnerships to transfer appropriate technologies to promote renewable energy in order to support the development of other sectors such as health, education, and transport.

It’s quite lucky for Cambodia’s poor people that such opportunities exist. Otherwise, who else could they rely on to overcharge them for pointing out the obvious?

The Angelina Jolie cocktail

Khmer Intelligence, the web site dedicated to publishing sensitive information about Cambodia, courageously negotiates the deadly world of international espionage to pass along this bit of highly sensitive SIGINT:

ANGELINA JOLIE has been honoured in Cambodia – by having a cocktail named after her.

A bartender at The Red Piano restaurant in Siem Reap created the drink especially for the actress, when she visited the south east Asian nation to shoot Tomb Raider in 2002. …

The cocktail is a mix of vodka, Malibu rum and pineapple juice, served with an umbrella.

Great work, comrade.

You shoulda been here

Tinman flashes back to 1997.

We had read in some guidebooks that the Phnom Penh International Airport tourist information center was a must see: it was. There was a huge desk with absolutely nothing on our behind it, and an old man sleeping at the desk. …

When we came out of the airport, we were literally attacked by mobs of taxi drivers with nothing to do. How bummed were they when they saw just the four of us coming out of the airport (us and two French guys), realizing we would only require one of their services on that day. We worked our way through the throng of thirty or so drivers like movie stars surrounded by paparazzi, and settled on a fare of $10 per person. One of the French guys was complaining that he thought it should have been about 75 cents each!

The more things change…

Touch Srey Nich

The Sacramento Bee catches up with Touch Srey Nich.

Free rice

VIA Saorla: FreeRice is a twice-clever little online vocabulary game with a twist: For every correct answer, FreeRice donates 20 grains of rice through the United Nations World Food Program. On the vocabulary side of things, there’s this:

FreeRice automatically adjusts to your level of vocabulary. It starts by giving you words at different levels of difficulty and then, based on how you do, assigns you an approximate starting level. You then determine a more exact level for yourself as you play. When you get a word wrong, you go to an easier level. When you get three words in a row right, you go to a harder level. This one-to-three ratio is best for keeping you at the “outer fringe” of your vocabulary, where learning can take place.

On the rice-donating side of things, there are advertisers paying by the impression.

FreeRice is not sitting on a pile of rice―you are earning it 20 grains at a time. Here is how it works. When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.

As Saorla mentions, the game is “strangely addictive.” But that’s probably a good thing.

• 25,000 lives are lost every day from hunger and poverty; even a bad case of diarrhea can lead to death because of weakness caused by hunger.
• More than 800 million people know what it feels like to go to bed hungry; most of them women and children.
• Malnutrition causes more than half of all child deaths.
• Poor families spend over 70% of their income on food. (An average American family spends just over 10%).
• More than 100 million children are stunted physically and mentally from malnutrition, wrecking their chances for a good education and productive future.

Oral Fixation

What a peculiar name for a mint.

Live music news

Bong Sal passes on news of what sounds like a genuine cultural music experience: “Cambodian Music: An evening of popular songs with orchestra.” Performances are scheduled for December 1 and 2 at Chenla Theater and will be performed by the artists of the Faculty of Music, Royal University of Fine Arts.

In other music news, The FCC says that Australian blues band The Backsliders will play in Siem Reap on December 7 and in Phnom Penh on December 8. Paul Ubana Jones will also play the FCC concert circuit with December performances in Siem Reap on the 10th and 11th and in Phnom Penh on the 14th and 15th.

Lastly, MetaHouse is promoting something called Phnom Penh Rocks, scheduled for December 1 at the Bopha Phnom Penh Titanic. The featured act that night is Diva International from Germany, with opening act Beer Garden from Thailand. On the 5th, Phnom Penh rockers Thom Thom will play the MetaHouse rooftop.

UPDATE: Depending on your age and tastes, this may or may not actually qualify as music, but Korean girl group Baby VOX will play perform live at CTN on December 14. Says Wikipedia:

Although it initially had much internal turmoil, Baby V.O.X. eventually became a successful, cohesive group from 1999 to 2005, releasing many hit albums. However, after the dismal failure of their last album Ride West, it began to unravel again.

First Ronan Keating, now Babyvox. CTN sure knows how to pick ‘em, don’t they.

LATER UPDATE: Performing at Chaktomuk on December 21, 10-year-old wunderkind soprano bosbaPANH.

Graveyard effigies

Andy finds a Tampoun graveyard in Mondulkiri Ratanakkiri with about 100 life-sized, hand-carved wooden effigies. Wild.

Just because your paranoid…

As the old saying goes, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.”

Vannak understands. He won’t be involved in the 2007 Blogger Awards, and he did not attend the Clogger Summit, out of fear of government persecution.

Back in August 30 of this year there was a Cambodia Blogger Summit — I wanted to go, but didn’t. My friends also told me not to go. I told them I just wanted to go there to sit and listen what the summit was about. The organisers wouldn’t know who I am. As close friends, they even scolded me in reply “Why do you need to attend it for ? Unless you wanted to become the alligator food, then go”

I know the time is not right yet for me to attend these kind of social function.

One day my hope our leaders, lawmakers to fully embrace freedom of writing and expressing one’s own opinion without fear of being persecuted. Change we must for the better and I shall live to see this day.

Delusions of grandeur? Or legitimate fears of government persecution?

City supports street car plan

With all the certainty that it reported on the Phnom Penh Skytrain, Xinhua today says that a French company is discussing the possibility of carrying out a feasibility study for an airport-to-city-center tramway.

Jean Lousiv Menuel, president of Alstom, presented his company’s plan to run trams in Phnom Penh and later in Siem Reap province during a recent meeting between a French business delegation and Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Kep Chuktema, the Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper said. …

According to the plan, a railway to be called Tranway will connect the outskirts of Phnom Penh to its downtown, from Phnom Penh International Airport to the center.

Kep Chuktema offered his support to the plan, saying that he hopes it will help reduce traffic jams in the city just as the number vehicles on the roads is markedly increasing.

A tram (that’s British for street car) from Central Market — or even better, the train station — would be useful to many people and a lot less expensive than a sky train system. Much of the track is laid, street cars are cheaper than sky trains, and such a route could service Toul Kork residents, university students and passengers headed for the airport. That’s easily a few thousand each day, if not more. Most importantly, though, street cars tend to spur economic growth far, far beyond their building costs. And development doesn’t just flourish along track routes, but blocks beyond, which makes the old train line ideal.

Water Festival Alternative

On the other end of town, at Olympic Stadium, Cambodia will hold its first international sporting event since the 1960s: the 2007 WOVD Standing Volleyball World Cup. Play begins at 10 a.m. on November 24 and goes until December 1. The economist takes a look. The schedule and other cup details are available from the World Cup web site.

Root for the home team!

UPDATE: Andy did, but still couldn’t influence the outcome.

Cambodian Bloggers Award 2007

VIA Vutha: The Open Forum of Cambodia has announced that it will present a 2007 Cambodian Bloggers Award.  At least for the moment, there doesn’t appear to be any indication of categories, contest criteria, or most importantly, where and when and who gets to vote — all of which would be nice to know. Details, please.

April 16, 1975

The New Statesman today has published a story originally written on April 16, 1975, by author James Fenton. It’s a view from Preah Vihear temple, where the last of the Lon Nol army is holed up and prepared to fight to the end.

I went back, on Tuesday of this week, to visit the remains of the Khmer Republic — at least all that seems to remain of it (and by the time you read this it may have succumbed as well). It’s one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, a temple complex predating Angkor Wat, set on top of a 1,500-foot cliff, commanding a view which would rival even the Malvern Hills.

The only easy access is through the Dongrek mountains from Thailand. This is why the place has not yet been taken. To enter it, the Khmer Rouge are going to have to scale the cliff, which is possible although the approach has been well booby-trapped. On both occasions that I have visited the Temple of Preah Vihear, some sure-footed mountain creature has stepped on a mine and blasted itself into another existence. These occasional exploding animals must act as a disincentive to the Khmer Rouge. Perhaps when the communists enter they should drive a herd of goats before them across the minefield.

Despite the rather atrocious editing — much of the story looks like it was scanned by cheap character-recognition software — Fenton’s story is an enlightening read. Although no one at the time could have known the extent of the coming horrors, many were well aware that life under the Khmer Rouge was unlikely to be pleasant.

Mixing metaphors

Back in August, police in Banteay Meanchey province arrested Okhna Ou Chhay (family name also spelled as Oum and Om), an adviser to National Assembly President Heng Samrin, in connection to a massive precursor chemical bust in Kompong Speu, the country’s largest ever haul. As scandals went, this one reached into the highest levels of government. So when police officials said Ou Chhay committed suicide while in police custody by diving face first into the car park from a first floor window, not everybody believed the official report.

That was three months ago. In an edition two weeks ago, Moneakseka Khmer (as translated by Khmer Intelligence) explains how the rest of the story unfolds.

As claimed by the police a day after Um Chhay jumped to his death, although Um Chhay had died his confession could lead to a few people involved. But since this is a very delicate matter it was agreed that the case be shelved indefinitely but any party leaders who have some wounds in their backs should accept the conditions of the ones who hold aces in their hands. …

A source claimed that Um Chhay’s case has given the Hun Sen faction an upper hand within the CPP, for Hun Sen did not have any relationship with this type of person. The source said that under these circumstances Hun Sen can now remove any army chief from his post no matter which faction he is with or which wing he is under. But Hun Sen would not kill his comrades in arms or his own people like one would snap the neck of a buffalo. He would allow him to live and then gain his respect and fear as long as he lives.

A high-ranking CPP official said that the Um Chhay incident involved a high-ranked army commander. Um Chhay and the said military officer had been friends for a long time. …

It is not certain what kind of relations this military chief had with Um Chhay but in Um Chhay’s confession before he jumped to his death from a window of the police detention building inside the compound of the Interior Ministry he incriminated this army chief. For this reason, Hun Sen used this case as a weapon for counterattacking some leaders in his party. Um Chhay’s case is tantamount to the scepter with which Hun Sen can use to dispatch anyone he likes. For example, Hun Sen can remove the army chief involved with Um Chhay anytime he likes. He does not do it now only because he wants to keep him to bargain for something inside the party.

There is, of course, no telling whether any of this information is accurate. But such a scenario seems entirely plausible.

Violence against women

The Cambodian Committee for Women (Cambow), a coalition of 34 NGOs that focus on women’s rights, will mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25 by launching a 16-day public awareness campaign aimed at stopping violence against women. In an accompanying report, the group will address institutionalized discrimination in the country’s executive and judicial branches.

“Thousands of Cambodian women suffer from violence every day. After studying in detail the laws which are meant to protect women, Cambow found that some of the articles of these laws directly and indirectly discriminate against women, which leads to further abuses,” said Kek Galabru, chairwoman of Cambow.

“Now it is time for the government to reform the laws so that our obligations comply with the CEDAW, which Cambodia ratified in 1992,” said Kek Galabru.

According to a Cambow briefing released on November 19, thousands of abused women are seeking assistance from the committee.

More from the UN.

You buy Khieu Samphan exclusive, 1 dollah

Writing for the Christian Science Monitor, Erika Kinetz covers the ECCC’s first day of public hearings. Hundreds turned out to get a glimpse of Kaing Guek Eav, chief executioner at Tuol Sleng, as he appeared in court to contest his eight years of pre-trial detention. In addition to the written story the Monitor also provides a 2-minute audio clip that reveals the kind of first-person details typically omitted from news reports.

I was sitting about 20 feet away from him [Kaing Guek Eav], and I’ve never in my life confronted a guy whose been accused of killing on such a scale and it was strange to be in his presence — very inscutable, very calm, very quiet. He sat still for most of the 5-hour hearing. I was in a little group with about 10 victims and a lot then said after the hearing that they were just incensed to be in his presence and what they really wanted to do was stand up and punch the guy.

We also learn that on the day before his arrest, representatives of Khieu Samphan were flogging CDs of the man’s “exclusive final words” for a buck — a desperate and darkly befitting coda to the former Cambodian head of state’s final days of freedom.

Catching a giant catfish

Photo: shamelessly stolen from NatGeo.

When National Geographic and other international productions come to Cambodia, the one thing they all need and don’t have is local knowledge. For that they must hire someone.

Known as “fixers,” these guys and girls are the local intelligence without which no international production has the slightest hope of success. Good ones know how to open doors, get exclusive interviews and find things.

From simple requests like getting a telephone (not nearly as easy as it should be) to more delicate jobs such as negotiating an interview with reclusive KR leaders, the right fixer or fixerette can make it happen. Not many, however, would strip down to their skivvies and help man-handle a mammoth, 8-meterfoot-long giant catfish.

Fleeing the scene of an (ox-cart) accident

Phnom Penh is notorious for its snarling, undisciplined traffic. But what about the countryside? The Mirror reports:

Man, Whose Oxcart Was Hit [and damaged] by Another Oxcart, Was Chased by Police and They Fired a Gun at Him; He Escaped from His House for One Night [all this because of a complaint through telephone by a rich man who is another oxcart owner’s older brother – Rolea B’ier, Kompong Chhnang]

Ox-cart accidents? Who knew?

Why not nuclear?

Megan McArdle, exploring Cambodia on a junket with journalists from half a dozen other leading American publications, discovers the country’s “dire electricity needs” and wonders:

Why not nuclear? We asked. The World Bank doesn’t support nuclear, though it’s not clear why. Geopolitically, of course, there are proliferation concerns, and questions about whether developing countries can safely manage a nuclear plant. On the other side of the ledger, however, is the fact that without nuclear, all these developing countries are going to be dumping a gigantic load of carbon into the atmosphere. Shouldn’t we at least be thinking hard about safer reactors for the developing world?

No, we shouldn’t. And even if Megan doesn’t know, it’s crystal clear why: Per kilowatt, nuclear power is some of the most obscenely expensive electricity known to mankind. Cambodia has that already.

The oil bonanza

Writing in the Asia Times, Andrew Symon indulges in a bit of navel gazing over Cambodia’s looming oil prospects. Symon refers to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s recent remarks calling current speculation about future oil revenues “highly premature.” Estimates released by the World Bank are just that — estimates — Hun Sen recently reminded. In reality, the actual figures could be more, or less.

Or it could all be a flim-flam.

Hun Sen’s comments and Chevron’s low profile have led to downward revisions in some concerned quarters of the government’s earlier bonanza estimates. …

Yet speculative hopes and rising global prices have spurred ramped up multinational exploration activities in Cambodia. Since Chevron’s supposed find, other international energy concerns, led by Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production, Indonesia’s Medco and China’s China National Offshore Oil Corp, have taken up new exploration positions in Cambodian waters. …

All of this has occurred despite the fact that no petroleum project in Cambodia has yet to reach an advanced development stage – let alone achieve actual production. …

Indeed, there are even industry rumors that Chevron may instead move to sell its operating interest in the block, as the deposits may not be as large as the company requires to replace its proven reserves.

Stay tuned.

Why does Sam Rainsy hate Cambodia?

AP takes a look at the new buzzwords on which Cambodia is now pining its financial hopes — “securities market.” Not one to take hopeful talk quietly, political buzz-kill Sam Rainsy steps up to crush the dreams of his countrymen.

But Sam Rainsy, the country’s former finance minister and main opposition leader, warns that most Cambodian companies have questionable business practices.

“There are few companies that meet international standards. But the rest are rather dubious if not controversial companies, which are here doing business not in a transparent manner but rather (through) friends and cronies of political establishment,” he said.

“I am afraid that many potential stock holders will be cheated by stock manipulation” such as insider trading, said Sam Rainsy, the president of Sam Rainsy Party. “Big risk. They will be victims of manipulation.”

Got that, international investors? Go away. And keep your stinkin’ money.

Khieu Samphan arrested

From Reuters.

Rifle-toting Cambodian police arrested ex-Khmer Rouge President Khieu Samphan on Monday, the latest member of Pol Pot’s inner circle to be detained by the U.N.-backed “Killing Fields” tribunal.

The French-educated guerrilla leader was taken from a hospital in the capital Phnom Penh where he was treated after suffering a fall last week at his home in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin on the Thai border.

“My client is being transferred to the tribunal today where he will appear before the co-investigating judges,” Say Bory, Khieu Samphan’s lawyer, told Reuters.

The prize for Person Most Blinded By Denial goes to Khieu Samphan’s daughter. “I don’t know why they won’t let my father go back home,” Khieu Maly told Reuters.

Bless her heart.

Missionary position

The flow of clueless, arrogant Christians just never stops, does it?

What is the spiritual climate like in Cambodia?

The Cambodian people are extremely hungry for the gospel. The society has been devastated by war and genocide and the traditional Buddhist beliefs just are not able to offer the solutions that the people are looking for. Many in the population are consumed by guilt because of the things that they did in the past and many are consumed by bitterness because of what was done to them and their family. Only Jesus offers freedom from both guilt and bitterness!

However, there are governmental restrictions on how the gospel can be shared. Crusade evangelism is prohibited and most things require obtaining special permits. The church has to be very careful not provoke the government.

What has God been doing in Cambodia recently?

God has been doing amazing things in Cambodia! The church is growing at a remarkable pace and many of the pastors are having signs and wonders accompany their ministries. For example, in February at the Pastor’s Conference there was a man who gave a testimony of how he was raised from the dead. There is also another pastor in a remote part of the country who is experiencing many miraculous healings. In fact, the local hospital has been sending the hopeless cases to his church for prayer!

Yes. That is amazing. Amazingly stupid.

Angelina Jolie on the ECCC

Writing for the Economist, Angelina Jolie takes a brief survey of the history of war crimes tribunals. Far from being useless bureaucratic money pits, she says, such trials often make profound impacts at the grassroots level.

Make no mistake, the existence of these trials alone changes behaviour. Seeing the indictment of Thomas Lubanga and the detention of Germain Katanga by the ICC brought to mind a trip I had taken to Congo five years ago. In the Ituri region, where Mr Katanga’s reign of terror had been most intense, our group attended a meeting of rebel leaders. They had gathered in a field to discuss the prospects for a peace agreement—which were not looking very good. The conversation turned hostile and the situation grew extremely tense. At that point, one of my colleagues asked for the name of one of the rebels, announcing, perhaps a bit recklessly, that he was going to pass it along to the ICC.

It was remarkable: this rebel leader’s whole posture changed from aggression to conciliation. The ICC had been around for only five months. It had tried no one. Yet its very existence was enough to intimidate a man who had been terrorising the population for years.

As the ECCC appears poised to begin trying “those most responsible” for Khmer Rouge atrocities, the local courts are showing a new interest in prosecuting ordinary KR crimes, as evidenced by the recent arrests in the Christopher Howes murder case.

So will the ECCC ultimately prove to be some watershed moment in Cambodia’s long quest to erase the country’s notorious “culture of impunity”?

Such optimism might seem ridiculously naive. But looking back, many people thought the ECCC would never happen. They argued, not too unconvincingly, that Ieng Sary would never, ever, be arrested in a Cambodia ruled by Hun Sen. Those nay-sayers were wrong. And it seems likely that those who would now dismiss the Extraordinary Court’s positive impacts on the local judicial system will ultimately prove mistaken, too.

Vote for Somaly

VIA Bob Clapham: Somaly Mam is a finalist for the CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute readers’ choice award. Voting continues through November 26. Frankly, it all seems like crass U.S. commercialism of other people’s misfortune. But that’s show business. And the fact is, Somaly Mam and her organization can use all the publicity they can get. So go vote already.

Khieu Samphan interview

VOA caught up Khieu Samphan just hours before a reported stroke.

“I had no power,” he said of his position at the head of a Democratic Kampuchea presidium, or executive committee. He was, he said, “just a symbol, a representative.”

“The discipline was clear, and all levels had to adopt this discipline,” he said. “I do not mean that as head of state I did not have to respect the discipline… no. This was tied to me personally. I must not want to know, to hear, other people’s business. Other people were tied to it too. They did not dare tell me anything. I stayed in one place, and did not go anywhere. I did not know.”

Perhaps Khieu Samphan was too overjoyed with “beautiful and young women” to notice the 2 million dead bodies at his feet.

Arrests made in 11-year-old murder case of British deminer

After 11 years of virtual inaction, police this week arrested two former Khmer Rouge soldiers in connection with the murder of British deminer Christopher Howes and his translator Huon Huot.

Khem Ngun defected to the government in 1998 and was awarded the rank of major general in the Cambodian army. Loch Mao became a local government official after leaving the Khmer Rouge, which collapsed in 1998. [...]

The maximum punishment for premeditated murder is 20 years in prison and for illegal confinement is 10 years. Howes, of Bristol, England, and a group of his Cambodian co-workers were abducted in March 1996 by Khmer Rouge guerrillas while clearing mines in an isolated area about 17 kilometers (10 miles) north of the Angkor Wat temple, the country’s most popular tourist destination.

Howes, who was 37 years old at the time, persuaded the guerrillas to free his colleagues while he and Huon Huot remained hostages for ransom.

Their fate was unknown until a team of detectives from Scotland Yard said about two years later that they had firm evidence the two had been taken to the Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng and killed soon after their abduction.

It’s too soon to know whether these two arrests mark a shift in the government’s attitude toward prosecuting some of the lesser crimes of the Khmer Rouge. But as top KR leaders succumb to the grip of the ECCC (and/or the grim reaper), those leaders’ ability to shield their rank-and-file cadre from the law will vanish, and it should become much easier for the government to ratchet up the prosecutions against those further down the string. Arresting Khem Ngun and Loch Mao is a good start.

POSTSCRIPT: Andy has lots more.

French tourist killed in robbery

AFP reports:

A French woman was killed Wednesday when she was struck by a mini-bus after being pulled off a motorcycle taxi by purse-snatchers in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, police said.

Aurelia LaCroix, 23, died instantly following the noon-time robbery, which occurred when at least two young men on a motorcycle pulled up alongside her and grabbed her purse, said Ben Khun, deputy Phnom Penh traffic police chief.

“The victim fell off the motorcycle taxi and the mini-bus ran her over,” he told AFP.

How many is three twins?

And other bizarre tales of mathematics and death, courtesy of Khmer News.

Three Twins Born in a Destitute Family in Prey Veng

Prey Veng Province: Three twins born in a poor family at 11:30pm on 11 Nov at a referral hospital in Kampong Leav commune, Kampong Leav district. The twins’ mother known as Keo Kamsorth, 27 and her husband Hun Seng, 36 live in Me Bun village, Prey Veng district’s Me Bun commune. Keo Kamsorth said that she has five daughters. She was really difficult when she was pregnant. At first, she asked her husband and mother to have an operation to take them out, but they did not agree until she was sent to the hospital.

10 million Cambodian people can’t access to Lavatory

Phnom Penh: On 13 November 2007, Prime Minister, Hun Sen gave his recommendation to the forum concerning to the hygiene in rural area. According to the statistic research, 100% of Singaporean has the access to the toilet the same as that of Brunei. Also Thailand get this access for 99% similar to Malaysia 94%, whereas in Cambodia, only 17% of people are able to use bathroom, said Hun Sen. 47% of those who has no access to lavatory mentioned about their money, owing to the research result of ministry of Rural Development .

Died and Unconcious one after returning from Kak Then Celebration

Kompong Speu Province: At about 12am, on 11 November, two drunkens rode their motor C-100 korea aiming to leave the celebration from Butom Por pagoda, located in Krang De Vay commune. The two guys named Chie Chey, 17 and Khem Samnang, 21 live in Phnom Sroch villege, rode his motor to get back to his father’s house. When arrived at the scence, Chie Chey, the driver, crshed the small hill near the pagoda, which causing himself died instantly and left Samnang unconcious at the place, the police said.

A Woman Die of Choke on the way

Kampongspur Province: A 68-year-old woman died of choking on rice on Nissan, kind of vehicle, on the way from Kar Thoen festival in Takeo province. The incident happened at 1:35pm on 12 November 2007 in Phearey Meanchay commune, Bor Sad district, police said. The victim named Toek Noeung lived in Trapang Veng village, Bor Sad district’s Phung commun. After checking the corpse, local police let the victim’s family take her body to celebrate the traditional ceremony.