Internet censorship comes to Cambodia

Welcome to the machine.

Reahu.net is currently not accessible by Internet visitors in Cambodia, while there is no issue with access in the U.S.

Reahu says:

The Cambodian government had issue a note of blockage to many internet providers in Cambodia to block this website from the local people. If this kind of basic freedom is deny God knows what will happen next. Anyway, there are approximately 6 ISPs in Cambodia, some had taken the privilege to block the site from Cambodia, but others did not due to the lack of technological know how or it’s too costly.

Sacrava Toons also appears down. Attempts to reach sacrava.blogspot.com end up at the Thai government’s de facto banned page, http://w3.mict.go.th/(result may vary depending on your Internet service provider.) Perhaps there are others?

Using anonymous proxies will get you through to banned sites. The Privax Network is a good place to start. Privax offers dozens of anonymous proxy servers to use. Here’s just a few.

1. HideMyAss.com
2. Anonr.com
3. ProxyPimp.com
4. 250.eu
5. Browse.ms
6. Unblock.biz
7. InvisibleSurfing.com
8. Kroxy.net
9. ProxyMafia.net
10. ArmyProxy.com

Hor Namhong vs Sam Rainsy

On Tuesday the Phnom Penh Post ran a story with the headline “French court to rule on defamation case“.

A FRENCH court is scheduled to deliver a verdict today on a case filed by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong accusing opposition leader Sam Rainsy of defamation and disinformation.

And then … nothing. Follow up, please. Guilty.

UPDATE: Story in Thursdy edition, “Rainsy gets guilty verdict.” Coverage in The Daily too.

Hard times for Snake Island

Coastal development is in trouble.

The bridge linking Koh Puos island to the Cambodian mainland is under construction, but the timetable for building a yacht club, shopping centres, villas and hotels is under review as global credit markets dry up and international travel slows.

“We had hoped to finish everything by 2016, but we are probably now thinking more in terms of 2019 or 2020,” says Oleg Khaidarov, construction director for the $900m (€682m, £635m) project intended to challenge established Thai beach resorts and make Cambodia a draw for more than the Angkor Wat ruins.

In a best-case scenario, executives such as Mr Khaidarov say projects will benefit from lower construction costs. But for tourism developments in Vietnam, Macao and elsewhere in Asia in early financing stages, the outlook is gloomier.

Delicious fertilized duck fetus eggs

VIA Metro News: Turns out there is a semi-proper English name for the popular Asian delicacy: balut.

A balut (Trứng vịt lộn or Hột vịt lộn in Vietnamese, Pong tea khon in Cambodian, Khai Luk in Lao) is a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. They are common, everyday food in some countries in Southeast Asia, such as in the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Popularly believed to be an aphrodisiac and considered a high-protein, hearty snack, balut are mostly sold by street vendors at night in the regions where they are available. They are often served with beer. The Filipino and Malay word balut (balot) means “wrapped” – depending on pronunciation.

Balut is number one on cracked.com’s “6 Most Terrifying Foods in the World.“

Balut are duck eggs that have been incubated until the fetus is all feathery and beaky, and then boiled alive. The bones give the eggs a uniquely crunchy texture. They are enjoyed in Cambodia, Philippines and the fifth and seventh levels of hell.

Yummy.

City of Peace

Ka-set catches up with the lucky group of previous slum dwellers who now, thanks to the kindness and generosity of 7NG and the Cambodian government, are on their way to living happily ever after in the City of Peace.

Makeshift camps made of bits and pieces provide shelter for some of the families who were not recognised by 7NG. Some dream about the house they might be given while others, duly registered on the list, are still asking 7NG for financial compensation rather than being allocated a dwelling there. They ended up on the site and are here “temporarily, waiting”, having nowhere to go to, they explain. For their everyday needs, they have a canal with water looking more than cloudy, and vast ricefields.

[...]

First, the zone is indeed connected to the electricity and drinking water networks… but not the houses. And the price for individual installation goes about USD140 for electricity and USD150 for water.

It’s not enough that 7NG rescued these families from dilapidated, rat-infested housing, now they want running water, too? The gall of some people. Really.

Getting personal

David Pred, director of Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia, rips the media for its failures over Dey Krahom.

What is most unfortunate is that the media has not only failed to tell the full story of this gross and criminal violation of human rights and Cambodian law, but it has adopted the language of the perpetrators in describing the victims. Words like “squatters”, “slum” and “controversial neighbourhood”, which have been used to describe Dey Krahorm, give false credence to the justifications used by those responsible for this crime and deny victims’ rights.

Let’s set the record straight. The land that was grabbed on Saturday morning rightfully belongs to more than 150 poor families who have refused to sell their homes to 7NG for the pittance that was offered to them. Most of these families have the documentation to prove their possession rights under the 2001 Land Law. Moreover, these families were beneficiaries of the Social Land Concession granted to the entire community by the Council of Ministers in 2003, and the Development Plan, which called for a land-sharing arrangement with a private company in exchange for onsite upgrading.

To justify their claims over the land, the 7NG company relies on a dubious agreement signed with former community representatives to exchange the villagers’ homes for flats at the Damnak Treyoeng site outside Phnom Penh. This agreement was immediately rejected by most Dey Krahorm families, who dismissed their former “representatives” and filed a civil complaint against them for breach of trust, along with a separate complaint to cancel the contract.

Meanwhile, the government encourages you to buy a new house.

Top this

Why does 012 keep sending the same text message over and over? Six times now, and counting.

Bank rules reversed

The National Bank of Cambodia has reversed rules it made in July to staunch runaway inflation. The Bank’s concern now is a failing economy.

THE National Bank of Cambodia has cut the bank reserve requirement from 16 percent to 12 percent and eliminated  restrictions on real estate lending effective February 1, in a bid to boost sagging property prices and stimulate lending.

The industry applauded the move, which constitutes a reversal of its monetary tightening measures brought in last year to cut inflation and rein in soaring property values.

Officials say they hope the looser rules will stimulate lending amid a worsening economic crisis.

The Bank’s move might stall the free fall in real estate prices temporarily, but it seems unlikely to reverse the downward trend. Cash-rich Koreans with more money that sense fueled the last boom. They are gone now, and unlikely to return any time soon. What Cambodia needs now is not a revision in its banking law; it needs a new class of sucker.

Save the Renakse

Help save the Renakse Hotel from destruction.

From its foundation in the early part of the twentieth century, the building was part of the Royal Court of Justice instituted during the French Protectorate. It was there that the world famous writer/adventurer André Malraux was first tried for his attempt at looting the temple of Banteay Srei in the Angkor region. Later, in 1979, the first post-Khmer Rouge Cambodian government settled in its walls. For many people engaged in the reconstruction of a post-conflict, modern and democratic Cambodia (including members of the Cambodian People Party which owns the building), the Renakse was their meeting-ground, and an important place of activities. The old walls of this venerable building are therefore charged with the history of modern Cambodia.

Good luck to Heritage Watch.

Quote of the day

Jenny Jing, a consultant in Shanghai, explains why she is not vacationing in Cambodia.

“Originally I was not considering Thailand because I’d already been and because I’m concerned about safety. But now Vietnam and Cambodia are so popular they’ve gotten expensive so Thailand is back as my Plan B.”

Whether that’s acutally true or not doesn’t matter. Perception is reality.

Hopes flattened at Dey Krahom

The government this morning wrote the final chapter in the Dey Krahom saga.

Cambodian police fired teargas and eight people were injured on Saturday during the forced eviction of 80 families from a Phnom Penh slum, rights activists and police said. …

Witnesses said an old woman and a boy were hit by a bulldozer, while others were hurt in clashes with the workers armed with clubs and stones. …

The eviction came after the squatters rejected the company’s offer of $20,000 per family in compensation for the prime 2-hectare (4.9 acres) plot of land facing the Mekong River.

Jinja has the play by play, John Vink some arresting photos.

POSTSCRIPT: The Post has more.

CORRECTION: Change ‘Day’ to ‘Dey,’ as the latter seems the more common spelling.

UPDATE: Ka-Set has a multi-media slide show and news.

The case of the dead Canadian, cont

Say goodbye to speculation. Vincent MacIsaac does some real reporting.

During four interviews with doctors at Calmette Hospital between January 15 and 20, the doctors said that there were no physical signs that Zivny had been struck on the head. During the first interview, on the afternoon of January 15, doctors treating the patient allowed me to see him. If he had been struck on the face the wound had healed by then. Zivny died in VIP room No.3 of the neurological ward of the hospital later that day, at 5.15pm.

Brain scans taken during the six days Zivny was in the ward show that his condition deteriorated steadily. At the same time, the description of Calmette Hospital in the Canadian media also deteriorated ­­– to the point where it was being described as being infested with rats.

“His injuries were not unlike those of other motorbike accident victims,” said Dr. Phak Dararith, one of three doctors treating Zivny. “The swelling was internal,” he said. There were no bruises or lacerations on his head that would indicate he had been struck by an assailant, he and other doctors at the hospital said. “I can’t say whether or not he was robbed before he died, but there are no signs that he had been struck on the head [by an assailant],” Dr. Phak Dararith said.

Five doctors at the hospital on Tuesday expressed bewilderment at the media reports about the patient, as well as the fact that these reports included no information from the doctors treating him. “Why haven’t they contacted us?” asked Dr. Yit Sinarong.

So where did those erroneous media reports come from? MacIsaac doesn’t come right out and say it, but the implication is clear. International Humanitarian Hope Society, the group for which Zivny had recently traveled, saw a fund-raising opportunity it just couldn’t pass up.

The Christian who invented brothel raids

Samantha Power offers a terrific look at Gary Haugen in the New Yorker this month. Gary Huagen is the founder of the International Justice Mission, the organization that came up with the controversial tactic of raiding brothels.

The story is available in PDF form at the IJM web site.

Filmmakers seeking donors

Brad Cox and the people behind the movie “Who Killed Chea Vichea” need your financial help.

A typical documentary of this scale costs $400,000 to $600,000. We are making our film for half of that. Beyond putting in our personal resources and countless hours of work, we are making every additional dollar count.

Why? Because like you, we’re passionate about the truth. We’re passionate about this case and we’re passionate about human rights in Cambodia and around the world.

While we are receiving public television funding, it is not enough. We are only a few months away from finishing the movie but we still need to raise money to help pay for a small office space in New York, to help pay for an editor, for graphics and sound mixing, and more.

You can donate at the “Who Killed Chea Vichea” web site through Paypal and other means.

Helmet flaws

From today’s Post.

DESPITE the much-touted introduction of the new helmet law – which makes protective headgear compulsory for motorbike drivers – over two weeks ago, drivers and passengers are still at risk due to a lack of regulations governing the quality of helmets sold in the Kingdom.

It’s true. Wearing a $4 helmet is about like wearing a krama on your head, probably even worse. Cheap helmets have a tendency to split at the seam and splinter like shards of skull-piercing glass, say experts. Still, it’s a start. Not a particularly good start, but a start nonetheless.

Cleaning up the riverfront

Matthew Robinson sounds off on the recent storm-trooping of riverfront al fresco dining establishments.

In these times of desperate global recession, the removal of selfishly-parked cars and motorbikes – not tables and chairs – would do much to make Phnom Penh far more appealing to the world’s fast-vanishing tourists.

And tuk-tuks!

‘We don’t serve dog’

So says an outdoor menu board in Siem Reap.

Kampuchea Krom persecution

Human Rights Watch documents the abuses suffered by Kampuchea Krom minorities.

The 125-page report, “On the Margins: Rights Abuses of Ethnic Khmer in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta,” documents ongoing violations of the rights of the Khmer Krom in southern Vietnam and also abuses in Cambodia against Khmer Krom who have fled there for refuge. Wary about possible Khmer Krom nationalist aspirations, Vietnam has suppressed peaceful expressions of dissent and banned Khmer Krom human rights publications. It also tightly controls the Theravada Buddhism practiced by the Khmer Krom, who see this form of Buddhism as the foundation of their distinct culture and ethnic identity.

[...]

The report also examines rights abuses of Khmer Krom who have moved to Cambodia, where they remain among Cambodia’s most disenfranchised groups. Because they are often perceived as ethnic Vietnamese by Cambodians, many Khmer Krom in Cambodia face social and economic discrimination and unnecessary hurdles to legalizing their status.

Hatred and fear of Vietnam are — still – causing Khmers to turn on each other. What a catastrophic failure to understand history.

Duch gets his day

The trial of Khmer Rouge executioner Kaing Guek Eav opens February 17, 2009. Maybe.

While setting a trial is tangible progress, the process has been fraught with obstacles, and the tribunal today remains unproven, Michelle Staggs Kelsall, deputy director of the Asian International Justice Initiative at the monitoring group the East-West Centre, told the Post Monday.

“This is very much a test case in how proceedings will be run, which will establish how the trial chamber is going to function and the dynamics between the parties,” she said, adding that trial will likely set a precedent for future proceedings.

The Tribunal Report has more.

If it sounds to good to be true

It probably is.

A rights worker and a victim of fraudulent marriage, who traveled to Taiwan and was exposed to danger and hardship, warned other young Cambodian women not to take the risk or fall for promises of lucrative work abroad.

“Do not fall into a trick when people say they will give you a lot of money to work abroad,” said one young woman, as a guest on “Hello VOA” Monday.

The woman, who asked that her identity remain anonymous, said she was forced to work constantly, without rest, and escape was impossible. She was told she would have to pay back all of the money she owed in expenses for her travel, or she would have to call and ask her parents to pay.

“I was afraid they would kidnap my parents for money,” the woman said. “That’s why I continued to work until I was rescued.”

No word on whether Cambodia or Taiwan is prosecuting anyone for kidnapping and enslaving this woman. Surely her abuser belongs in prison.

The awful Khmer language

Writer Antonio Graceffo once wrote an article titled “On Learning the Awful Khmer Language,” a self-deprecating look at the Brooklyn native’s struggle to learn the local language. Based in spirit on Mark Twain’s “The Awful German Language,” Graceffo’s Khmer version is largely a satire not of Cambodians and their lovely, ancient language but of blissfully ignorant Americans and their often misguided attempts at accepting the world around them. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, but not everyone saw the humor.

Once the article was published, I received a constant slue of emails, primarily from overseas Khmers, complaining that I had insulted their culture. It became so bad that my life was actually threatened on more than one occasion. The pinnacle came when one of the magazine editors received an anonymous email saying, “We know your daughter goes to X school. And we know where your wife is. If you ever publish another story by Antonio Graceffo, we will kill them.”

So Graceffo reflected. Maybe Cambodia, after all it had been through, didn’t need another American using her as a source for one-liners.

Thanks to the literally hundreds of Khmer who wrote in, I sat down to revise the piece. Aside from starting from a position of not making fun of the Khmers, but leaving New Zealanders and Canadians as fair game, another positive about the rewrite was that I had since learned a lot more about the Khmer Language. There were a number of factual errors in the original, so I was able to correct those, while including some new information.

It’s not nearly as funny.

The case of the dead Canadian

The Cambodia Daily — that altruistic NGO “training” newspaper that refuses to publish its stories online and threatens its student journalists who contemplate looking for work elsewhere — followed up on the story of Jiri Zivny today.

Sihanoukville police say the Canadian died in a motorcycle accident. They deny he was clubbed over the head. In fact, they are offended by such a suggestion. They have produced two people, both of whom say they were involved in a crash with Zivny. One of them is in Phnom Penh receiving treatment for his injuries, the police say, although he currently cannot be located.

The Canadian Embassy is not buying it. They have requested a further investigation.

Witnesses say Zivny was last seen with a Cambodian girl. ATM records show he made two withdrawls from an ATM on the night of his death, withdrawing $250 each time. Doctors who treated Zivny say he suffered no bruises or scratches –  typical injuries in a motorcycle accident — only head injuries.

Speculate at your leisure.

Killing me softly

VIA Eric: Brad Cox talks to Ka-set about the upcoming release of “Who Killed Chea Vichea” and the motivations behind making the film.

The basis [of the movie] is Chea Vichea’s case but also a microcosm of some of the problems that continue to exist in Cambodia and make the people suffer. I think they have been let down by their leaders and deserve better. And you think the international community will be more helpful. But its representatives always talk about democracy, the rule of law… I don’t think their actions follow their word: they are somehow passive accomplices to the impunity and corruption going on here.

Understatement of the year.

Quote of the day

KP, on legalizing prostitution.

You need sex, you can go to brothel; you need food, you can go to foodcourt. So simple as that.

Spoken like a true frat boy.

POSTSCRIPT: Rape is not a crime of passion It’s a crime of violence.

Billions with a “c”

Superfluous drug-dealer stories aside, the real nugget in the Mirror story (mentioned below) is this:

When it was reported that the US company PHI Mining had bought the Indochina Mining Corporation, now a subsidiary of PHI Mining, and that it now cooperates with the Cambodian company Angkor Metal Corporation, it was not big news. But maybe it had been big news before, and we had missed to see it – or it should have been big news. As we have mirrored yesterday, his cooperation relates to Cambodian natural resources , where the initial valuation of this copper ore area is estimated at USUS$1 billion. And we also mirrored yesterday that the Angkor Metal Corporation does not disclose much about itself in the way other companies do, though the US partner company writes that the “Founders of Angkor Metal Corporation include a son and a son-in-law of Mr. Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, thus ensuring political support to acquire and extend mining license.”

Surely AMC won the $1 billion copper-mining contract in an open, transparent bidding process, right?

Perception is reality

The Mirror does some reflecting about corruption, and makes mention of the Danish woman recently busted with $5,000 worth of narcotics.

When a Danish Woman had bought several thousand over-the-counter painkiller tablets with codeine, that can be easily and legally bought at many pharmacies all over Phnom Penh, and she tried to mail them at the Post Office – they are cheap here, and she hoped to sell them abroad to make some small extra money to support her son – she was arrested. Now she was convicted to serve 15 years in prison and fined approx. US$7,500 for drug trafficking. None of the press report said anything about any involvement with illegal substances.

Now, 30,000 codeine tablets might not be illegal in Cambodia. But that’s not the point. The 55-year-old Johanne Vinther Axelsen tried to ship those 30,000 tablets to another country. Axelsen was arrested, tried and convicted of “illegal drug smuggling.” That’s hardly corrupt.

Cigarettes, too, are perfectly legal. Just don’t get caught trying to smuggle 10,000 cartons out of the country.

Long on CamEx

Bloomberg reports that everything is on schedule for the new stock exchange.

Cambodia, the second-poorest country in Southeast Asia, plans to complete the listing requirements for its first stock exchange by April in preparation for a December opening, a top exchange official said today.

“Everything is on schedule so far,” Ming Bankosal, director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia, said by phone from Phnom Penh. “We will finalize the issuing requirements by the end of the first quarter, and after that we’ll accept applications from companies.”

Yes. Everything is fine. Except …

“Now the U.S. is in the process of recovery and this recovery can spread to the world,” Ming said. “We hope that in late 2009, everything will be okay.”

The guy in charge doesn’t have a clue. Oh, brother.

Lakefront property

Great cover shot on the Post today of “Boeung Kak Beach.”

This place is a dump

Daniela at Pepi Ride weighs in on the Stung Meanchey dump.

Like traveling to Myanmar, there are places here in Cambodia where I would argue that a visit is doing more harm than good. Places like the garbage dump in Phnom Penh, which I too visited and thought “as long as I do something to support groups countering the poverty, environmental degradation, and human rights violations here, my visit is justified” are areas I now, three years later, try to dissuade others from visiting at all. By making the squalor of the countries largest dump site a tourist attraction, a peripheral economy is able to grow around those visits. People can sell you water or begging can take the place of garbage picking, all of which make living on the dump more profitable than the opportunity to make up to .50 per day by collecting recyclable materials. This then creates more incentive to live on the dump, provides more reasons for families to send their kids to live and work there, and provides higher income to the adults who “buy” or “rent” kids to work on the dump for them.

She probably won’t be happy to learn that Nick Kristoff has moved on from the ladies of the night to the children of the day.

Lady Penh dot com

It’s not what you think.

Lady Penh – this website – is all about events in Phnom Penh. We are a bunch of fellow PhnomPenhers with the feeling that our city is somewhat at crossroads: it’s getting kind of tough to keep track of what’s going on here – which had not been too hard until now (to say the least). Phnom Penh is awakening… And this website is our participation to this process. What to do in Phnom Penh: you can now ask Lady Penh, spread the word!!

Consider it spread.