2012 aug 13-20
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Weekly news in mixed sources of Cambodia daily, PhnoM penh post< and Dem Am Pil NewspaperTRANSCRIPT
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Cambodia's ambassador recalled from PhilippinesMonday, 13 August 2012David Boyle
The government last week recalled its ambassador to the Philippines, Hos Sereythonh, the PhilippinesDepartment of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday amid a protracted scrap between the two countries.
Sereythonh was summonsed by the DFA to explain comments he made in a newspaper article accusing thePhilippines of “dirty politics” after relations turned bitter between the two countries during the ASEAN summitin Phnom Penh in July.
But the DFA statement said the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had told them Sereythonh had beenrecalled because it was the end of his assignment.
“It is the prerogative of governments to appoint or to recall ambassadors, as they deem fit and appropriate,” thestatement reads. ASEAN foreign ministers failed to issue a joint communiqué because of bickering aboutwhether bilateral disputes with China over the South China Sea should have been included.
Officials and the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs either declined to comment or said they were too busyyesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: David Boyle at [email protected]
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Asian Development Bank maps Cambodia’s needsTuesday, 14 August 2012Gregory Pellechi
Peter Brimble, deputy country director of the Asian Development Bank in Cambodia, sitsdown with a reporter from the Post. Photograph: Mey KimlayThe private sector and industry professionals were engaged yesterday in the first consultation with the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) and the government in an effort to understand the factors affecting Cambodia’seconomy, and ultimately determined that human capital, infrastructure, innovation and regulatory issues as thekey areas on which to focus.
The workshop was part of a year-long study being conducted by the ADB, in conjunction with the government,to help determine the needs that should be prioritised, such as human capital, infrastructure, governance, macro-and micro-economic policy, public sector delivery, poverty and inequality, among others in the policy advicethat the ADB will provide to the Cambodian government.
ADB Deputy Country Director Peter Brimble said, “This is not just a ‘growth’ diagnostic but a broader countrydiagnostic study, considering both the constraints to growth and to ‘inclusiveness’.
We intend to examine the extent to which the gains from growth are shared at all levels of society, to which alllevels of society can contribute to growth and can seize the opportunities created, be they workers, famers,business people or youth seeing a first job.
“The way we spend our expenditure depends on our knowledge.”
While discussing the role this latest survey will take in the coming years as the ADB seeks to determine itsfunding for the 2014 to 2018 period, Brimble said loans and aid were likely to continue to be geared towardsvocational training, infrastructure improvement, and agricultural development.
Stakeholders who attended the workshop expressed great interest in the survey and its likely results.
Gordon Peters, manager of Emerging Markets Consulting, said: “As the diagnostic is assembled in draft and
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subsequently final format, I expect that there’s going to be a fair bit of attention paid to private-sector growth,small, medium and large enterprise groups, and all the constraints that exist in those areas, such as access tocapital, infrastructure, human capital, and focus attention on strengthening key areas to help businesses grow.
“Overall, the idea that was mentioned a few times was ensuring that the approach forward was a multi-sectoraland multi-faceted approach that was well co-ordinated.
“For example, consider you invest in human-resource development, but don’t pay attention to access to capital,health or education. It needs to be a co-ordinated effort among all priority areas – that concept wasmentionedimes by a number of senior speakers, and I think that’s something I’d emphasise.
“Going forward, I think the challenge is going to be prioritising what are the most important components tofocus on for the inclusive growth strategy of Cambodia.”
The survey will include a special chapter highlighting the coming ASEAN Economic Community, which willbe established in 2015, and the challenges that Cambodia will face in joining.
The Overarching Inclusive Growth Diagnostic process has included discussions with the ADB’s developmentpartners, including the Ministry of Economics and Finance and the Council for the Development of Cambodia,and training on how to conduct the survey.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Pellechi at [email protected]
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Upswing in tourists equals more operatorsWednesday, 15 August 2012Rann Reuy
The number of tour operators registered with Ministry of Tourism increased by more than 10 per cent in the firsthalf of this year compared to last year due to an upswing in the number of tourists visiting the Kingdom,insiders say.
Figures from the tourism ministry showed newly registrated tour companies reached 568 companies in the firstsix months while the figures for last year were only 516 tour companies, for the same period.
Among those companies last year, 403 were head offices and 113 branches in the provinces. Head officesincreased to 459, but the brances decreased by 4 in the first six months of 2012.
Prak Chandara, director of the Tourism Industry Department of the Ministry of Tourism, said the increase in thenumber of tour companies resulted from an increase in the number of tourists visiting Cambodia.
“Registration increased because they are seeing more tourists come through,” he said.
Among those companies, 205 companies, which are members of Cambodian Association of Travel Agents(CATA), have 76 branches in provinces, mostly in Siem Reap province.
Ang Kim Eang, president of CATA, agreed with Prak Chandara and said some newly established companieswere preparing themselves for the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015.
"When the ASEAN Economic Community comes into force in 2015, there would be an increase in the easycirculation of goods, but tourists from the region as well", he said.
“This is good preparation for Khmer tour operators,” he said, adding: “I think that some companies will beready to open branches in other countries by 2015.”
Phoan Sopheak, tour operator at Angkor Seventh Travel company in Phnom Penh, said he saw the numbers oftourists increase considerably in recent months, particularly in Siem Reap where there were crowds of tourists,even thoughout the rainy season.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rann Reuy at [email protected]
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Preah Vihear to get new border crossingThursday, 16 August 2012Rann Reuy
A boy visiting the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on the Thailand-Cambodia border lastmonth. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh PostThe Cambodian government is seeking a new international border checkpoint in Preah Vihear province to linkwith Thailand’s Ubun province, officials say.
Preah Vihear provincial governor Um Mara said officials from both countries had met to examine the possibilityof opening a new international checkpoint.
“These days, this gateway is open only two days a week, but we want it to become an international checkpointthat is open every day of the week,” Mara said.
There is no scheduled deadline to open the new international checkpoint, to be named Anses, becausediscussions are still in the early stages.
“We are preparing the infrastructure there first, but the opening date is unknown at this time,” Mara said.
When the gateway becomes an international checkpoint, it will allow more goods to be transported through, andtourism in the province would soar as a result.
Kong Vibol, director of the Tourism Department in Preah Vihear province, said the Preah Vihear temple wasonly a 60-kilometre drive from Anses.
Ho Vandy, co-chair of the Tourism Task Force of the Government-Private Forum, said he welcomed the news.
Opening the gateway would open the area up to the tourism industry, as associations have suggested sinceMarch, 2008.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rann Reuy at [email protected]
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Cambodia gains 53 factories this yearFriday, 17 August 2012May Kunmakara
The Cambodian government has approved 53 new garment and footwear factories, worth an estimated US$338million, during the first half of this year, compared with 38 last year valued at $180 million, despite the increasein the number of strikes affecting the industry.
Officials and industry representatives said the increase was mainly a result of rising wages in China, as well asCambodia’s preferential tax status in foreign markets. They said the strikes have been a concern at some pointsbut were not defining in how the industry was developing.
Official data from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) showed the total number new factoriesconsisted of 40 garment factories worth $239 million; two glove factories worth more than $10 million; eightshoe factories worth $60.5 million; two sock factories worth $$25 million; and one textile plant worth $2.58million.
Kong Putheara, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce told the Post yesterday that Cambodia’s garment,footwear and textile industry has enjoyed a preferential tax status in many countries around the world, includingthe European Union, the United States and Canada.
“We have a lot of markets for them [factory owners] to export to, and our labour costs are still low – whyshouldn’t they come?” he said.
Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers’ Association of Cambodia (GMAC), pointed torising labour costs in China as the main reason behind the growth in new factories in the Kingdom.
“We have more investors from China because the factories owners cannot find enough workers for theirfactories, as they face rising of labour costs and worker shortages. So they are moving from China to othercountries. Cambodia is just one country they are looking at,” he said.
“As a result, we have around 50 new factories as the members of GMAC.”
Loo said the new factories were from countries including China, Taiwan and South Korea.
To contact the reporter on this story: May Kunmakara at [email protected]
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Cambodia names new envoy to PhilippinesFriday, 17 August 2012Cheang Sokha
Cambodia has a new ambassador to the Philippines.
A week after former envoy Hos Sereythonh was recalled amid a firestorm over comments made in a Philippinenewspaper, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has tapped veteran diplomat Tuot Panha for the post, ministryspokesman Koy Kuong confirmed yesterday.
On July 9, following a contentious ASEAN Foreign Ministers summit in Phnom Penh in which backroombickering over the South China Sea prevented the signing of a joint communiqué – a first in 45 years of suchmeetings – Sereythonh accused a Filipino diplomat of playing “dirty politics” in an op-ed piece that ran in ThePhilippine Star.
The former ambassador also took the governments of the Philippines and Vietnam – a fellow claimant to areasof the sea claimed by China – to task, saying they had wanted to “sabatoge and hijack” the joint communiquéby insisting references to the dispute be part of the language.
The Philippine government subsequently publicly summoned Sereythonh to explain the comments, an offerSereythonh declined to accept, sending a deputy in his stead.
Yesterday, the government continued to deny that ending Sereythonh’s term as ambassador was connected withthe row – a theory widely touted in the Filipino press – insisting it was simply the end of his assignment.
“The changing of the ambassador is a normal diplomatic issue,” Koy Kuong said.
“Other countries do the same thing . . . removing the ambassador from one country or to another country. I don’tthink this is strange.”
Panha, currently, an undersecretary of state, has been at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for many years. Hepreviously served as deputy cabinet chief for Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.
Asked if the new ambassador would be mending fences with the Philippines, Koy Kuong said that would not benecessary.
“We still have a good relationship [with the Philippines],” he said.
Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez and ambassador to Cambodia Noe Wongdid not respond to inquiries from the Post yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Cheang Sokha at [email protected]
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Khmer Rouge tribunal feels financial crunchFriday, 17 August 2012Joseph Freeman and Stuart White
A view of the trial chamber at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, takenearlier this year. Photograph: suppliedDavid Scheffer, the UN-appointed Special Expert for the Khmer Rouge tribunal, met with representatives fromseveral donor countries yesterday in Phnom Penh to discuss the court’s latest funding crisis.
The meeting, held at the Japanese Embassy, comes at a crucial juncture for the cash-strapped tribunal. Theinternational budget is scheduled to run out of money at the end of this month, several governments who havepledged funds have yet to make deposits and a hiring freeze remains in effect.
Moreover, Scheffer said in an e-mail, even if pledged funds are paid, they would only sustain the internationalbudget through October, leaving a US$4 million shortfall for the rest of 2012.
To try and fill the gap, Scheffer has been on an intensive fundraising drive, and was “optimistic we will getthrough this cash crisis, at least temporarily”.
“Several donor states have pledged funds which have not been paid in yet, and until they are paid in, the cashshortage remains very serious,” he said.
He expects donor countries such as Norway, which Scheffer said pledged $1 million to the court on Wednesday,and Australia, which announced a $1.4 million donation last month, to make good on their offers soon.
Japan has traditionally contributed the most to the tribunal, followed by Australia. Officials from bothembassies in Phnom Penh did not respond to requests for comment about their ongoing financial commitment.
Some donor countries, like the United States, which was represented at yesterday’s meeting, have tried to keepup with the court’s needs.
“In the last three years, the US government has contributed a total of approximately $11.2 million to the
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Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts in Cambodia,” said US Embassy spokesman Sean McIntosh, adding thatthe US upped its donation from $1.2 million in 2010 to $5 million in 2011 and 2012.
All the same, financial constraints have become routine for the court, according to tribunal spokesman LarsOlsen.
“This is not a new trend, but this year we are even shorter than usual,” he said.
As it gradually expanded to take on all of its functions, the court’s expenditures rose almost 300 per cent since2007 – to an estimated $45.7 million, according to court figures – with a large part of that increase coincidingwith the global financial crisis.
“We experienced that the global financial crisis makes it more difficult to raise funds, as many countries areforced to cut their public spending,” Olsen said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Joseph Freeman at [email protected] White at [email protected]
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Witness gives emotional 'tell-all' in Khmer Rouge courtFriday, 17 August 2012Joseph Freeman
The wife of co-accused Khieu Samphan paid a visit to witness Sa Siek in 2010 to tell her and her late husbandnot to conceal anything from investigators with the Office of Co-Investigating Judges, according to testimonyyesterday at the Khmer Rouge tribunal.
A former Ministry of Propaganda employee and member of an arts unit, Siek said that the Khmer Rouge headof state’s wife, So Socheat, also wanted to learn more about places that Khieu Samphan had visited, but Siekdidn’t go into any more detail. She did not mention Khieu Samphan’s wife by name.
How Siek came into the orbit of one of the three elderly leaders accused of war crimes was not clear. She toldthe prosecution yesterday that she got to know him and his family members “after 1979”.
She told the court that she saw Samphan briefly at the Ministry of Propaganda in 1975, just after the KhmerRouge evacuated Phnom Penh that April.
“He came to the propaganda section, and was seen sitting on a steel bed,” she remembered. “He stayed in thearea with the other people who worked at the location; he spent a few days and nights there.”
“I think perhaps he chatted with people, and I believe it was immediately after the liberation. He just spent afew nights there and left.”
When Khieu Samphan’s wife visited the couple decades later, she encouraged them to be open with theirmemories, “that if investigators ask any questions about Khieu Samphan, we had to tell the whole truth.”
Calls to Socheat to try and confirm that the meeting took place or that she made these comments were notreturned. She has, however, defended her husband’s innocence in the past.
Trial President Judge Nil Nonn adjourned a little early as Siek began to break down and became emotional. Thestrong feelings were provoked by questions from the prosecution about colleagues who disappeared foreverfrom the ministry where she worked.
Judge Nonn also ordered that Siek be provided support from counselors who work with witnesses underemotional stress.
Testimony from Suong Sikoeun, a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs employee who has been taking the standonly in the morning due to fatigue, will testify again on Monday.
Siek is scheduled to continue testifying in the afternoon.
To contact the reporter on this story: Joseph Freeman at [email protected]
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Friday, 17 August 2012 18:23 DAP
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday met Sun Jinlong, thedeputy secretary of Anhui's provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, expressing Cambodia'swillingness to work with the central China' province in promoting trade and investment.
During their meet, Sun spoke highly of Cambodia's fast economic development under the 27-year leadershipof Hun Sen.
Also, he dedicated his maiden visit to this kingdom to the strengthening and expansion of friendship andcooperation between China's Anhui province and Cambodia.Moreover, he hopes to seek potentialpossibilities for his province to invest in Cambodia in all domains.
Introducing his province, Sun said Anhui is both an agricultural and industrial province with over 100universities located in, guaranteeing intellectual support in all dimensions.
Meanwhile, he also invited the premier to visit Anhui province at his convenience.
Hun Sen said that Cambodia would be pleased to see more Chinese investors from Anhui doing business inCambodia in order to boost the bilateral trade volume to 5 billion U.S. dollars in 2017.
He said that the Government of China has provided tax exemption for 418 items of Cambodia's products toits market, so this could be a good opportunity for Chinese investors to put their ventures here and produceany types of duty-free products to export to China.
The premier also accepted the invitation to visit Anhui and asked Chinese ambassador to Cambodia toarrange his visit to Anhui province when he visits China.
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Sunday, 19 August 2012 16:16 DAP
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has cultivated 1.93 million hectares of land, only 82 percentof its 2.36 million hectare target, due to a delay in monsoon rains which hampered rice sowing in the country,according to a media release from the Ministry of Agriculture on Sunday.
The report said that drought has been hitting Cambodia for more than five weeks and tens of thousands ofhectares of rice seedlings in some 14 out of the 24 cities and provinces have been affected.
To date, the drought has damaged 10,690 hectares of rice seedlings and affected other 135,450 hectares.
Rainy season begins in May and lasts until October. But this year, there is a lack of rain, said Keo Vy, chief ofthe Cabinet of the National Committee for Disaster Management. "If the rains delay for another one or twoweeks, the damage will be bigger," he said.
Cambodia is an agrarian country with more than 80 percent of the population being farmers. This SoutheastAsian nation produced some 8.25 million tons of paddy rice last year, said a report of the Ministry ofAgriculture.
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Monday, 20 August 2012 09:27 DAP
PHNOM PENH, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Dr. Noeleen Heyzer, Under- Secretary-General of the United Nationsand Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) , willmake her first official visit to Cambodia from Aug. 21-24 to further enhance ties between the UN andCambodia.
The visit is aimed at discussing topics and issues regarding to sustainable development, regional integration,and Cambodia's achievements and challenges towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by2015, according to a press release from the National Committee for the Economic and Social Commission ofAsia and the Pacific (NC-ESCAP) on Monday.
During the visit, Dr. Heyzer will hold meetings with other key senior government officials and will also pay acourtesy call on Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, said the press release.
Heyzer is the ninth Executive Secretary of the UN-ESCAP, she was appointed by the United NationsSecretary-General to the position in August 2007.
Her visit to Cambodia is made at the invitation of Cambodia's senior minister Ly Thuch, the NC-ESCAP'sChairman.
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We can help Myanmar, says ASEAN headMonday, 20 August 2012Vong Sokheng
Cambodia's Foreign Minister and chair of ASEAN, Hor Namhong, said in a statement on Friday that he and hiscounterparts can lend “necessary support in addressing the humanitarian assistance” in Myanmar’s state ofRakhine, where sectarian clashes have displaced thousands and killed at least 80 since May.
The statement coincided with Myanmar President Thein Sein’s announcement, about two months after thefighting erupted, that he was forming a commission to investigate the clashes between Rakhine Buddhists andRohingya Muslims.
Namhong also said that ASEAN foreign ministers expressed that “harmony among the various communities inMyanmar constitute an integral part of Myanmar’s ongoing democratisation and reform process’’.
Thein Sein, who has introduced reforms since taking over last year after decades of military rule, has referred tothe clashes as an internal affair.
To contact the reporter on this story: Vong Sokheng at [email protected]
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Software licences in Cambodia debatedMonday, 20 August 2012Gregory Pellechi and Meas Chansatya
Kasper Skårhøj, founder of the TYPO3 open source content management system, is tossed inthe air at Cambodia’s first open source software conference. Photograph: Gregory Pellechi/Phnom Penh PostOpen source software is an important way forward and a useful impetus for development in Cambodia,according to attendees of the Kingdom’s first software conference this weekend.
Open source is a designation for anything, generally software, that is developed jointly by a community orindividuals around the world, which can be used, changed or developed further by users without the need topurchase a licence.
The conference, which centred on TYPO3, an open source content management system (CMS), was held thispast weekend at the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Centre at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, whereattendees from Cambodia, Europe, America and even other ASEAN member states were able to share ideas andexperience.
The keynote speech was conducted by TYPO3 founder Kasper Skårhøj, a Danish citizen who came toCambodia to offer his own perspective on the importance of open source technology, a philosophy he hasbecome something of an evangelist for, and as an attempt to inspire young Cambodians who are learning the insand outs of TYPO3 as well as other systems.
Skårhøj, who stopped developing TYPO3 five years ago but remains a supporter of the system, believes thecommunity, the goodwill and the fact that information is shared not just among TYPO3 developers but by allusers, along with the lack of licences to be purchased, make open source software the key to Cambodia’s, andother emerging economies’, development.
“The issue of licensing costs is actually a player in these contexts, and to me it would be sort of obvious that ifyou can have the licence for free, then it’s going to help people with less money than, for instance Denmark orthe US,” he said.
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Skårhøj continued: “If you have money, you can have open source and you can buy the consultancy that usuallyfollows a mature open source product, for instance TYPO3 would not usually be free for a company to use –you want to get a website you would usually find a Web agency to help you, that costs money – that’sconsultants, but you don’t pay a licence fee.
“If you don’t have money to pay consultants, then you can still have the product for free and you can investyour time, so in my view this is the democratic principle of open source.”
Open source software is not without its barriers to use. For one, the learning curve can be quite steep, as HakKimthong, a graduate student who attended the conference, highlighted: “This conference is a good start forCambodia; it’s generating ideas about communication and creating for the Web.
“The disadvantage is that because the English levels of students vary, it can be difficult for them to understandtechnical aspects of the work.”
Skårhøj recognises that learning TYPO3, just like any system, can be quite difficult but said that comes with theterritory.
“Naturally, the learning curve of TYPO3 is definitely high, but it’s also because what you need to learn withTYPO3 is the inner technical details of the CMS. This is what is required to implement it.”
Pily Wong, Microsoft’s country manager and president of the ICT Business Association of Cambodia, arguesthat although open source software is important, especially to the localisation of products for smaller marketslike Cambodia, it is hampered by the lack of a dedicated developer.
“Most open source software is not developed by professionals, but by individuals or independent communities.That results in no real integration of the solutions, and the products are not the most reliable, nor fully integratedwith one another. It takes a long time before any bug is patched, and most of the time, new versions never comeout. The problem is that most open source software is free and has a small market share, so there is no realincentive for developers to create and innovate on this platform.”
Cambodia’s largest internet service provider, Ezecom, supported the event, providing an alternative location forthe participants to upload their data, photos and presentations to, so that those interested, both in and out ofCambodia, could easily access the information.
Ezecom chief information officer Glen Miller was also in attendance, as well as a number of otherrepresentatives from local IT companies.
To contact the reporters on this story: Gregory Pellechi [email protected] Meas Chansatya at [email protected]
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Situation ominous in South China SeaMonday, 20 August 2012Roger Mitton
The disputes over sovereignty in the South China Sea are approaching a tipping point. As former ASEANSecretary-General Rodolfo Severino said last week: “The disputes cannot be resolved any time soon, if at all.The most that can be done is to prevent them developing into armed conflict.”
It now appears that may be almost impossible. And any ensuing conflict will not be just an extended version ofthe skirmishes between fishing vessels and patrol boats that have gone on for years.
No, it will be the fire next time. And every country in the region will be sucked into the cauldron.
Let us recap this frighteningly nasty can of worms.
The body of water around which Southeast Asian nations lie is the South China Sea – not the West PhilippineSea, nor the East Sea, as Manila and Hanoi now prefer to call it.
It’s called the South China Sea because it sits south of China, not because it “belongs” to China, any more thanthe Irish Sea belongs to Ireland, or the Persian Gulf to Iran.
There are six claimants to all or part of this sea, which is traversed by more than a third of the world’s shippingand holds rich fishing stocks and vast reserves of oil and gas.
Only three of the six claimants to the South China Sea really count: China, the Philippines and Vietnam.
An infamous “nine-dash line” marking Beijing’s claim runs around the entire sea, hugging the coast of thePhilippines and Vietnam and swallowing all their offshore territories.
Naturally, the Philippines and Vietnam are furious, and their fury has recently boiled over on several fronts.
It began in June, when Hanoi passed a law stating that the Spratly and Paracel islands, which pepper the sea, areVietnamese territory.
China retorted by setting up a municipality and a military garrison on the Paracels, which it has occupied sinceevicting the Vietnamese in 1974.
Concurrently, Beijing beefed up its presence at the Scarborough Shoal, 200 kilometres west of Subic Bay,forcing a dangerous confrontation with Manila.
At the ASEAN ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh last month, the Philippines and Vietnam urged theircolleagues to publicly support them. Cambodia, this year’s chairman of the group, would not allow it.
Under pressure from China, it ruled that the group’s closing statement could not mention the South China Seadisputes. As a result, no final communiqué was issued for the first time in 45 years.
This rupture of solidarity led to bitter recriminations. As well as China confronting members of ASEAN, wehave the group fighting within itself – so much so, that after intemperate accusations of “dirty politics”,Cambodia replaced its ambassador in Manila.
Exacerbating matters, Washington, already imbued with growing anti-Beijing sentiment, has been bolstering theresolve of ASEAN’s claimants, while Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand strengthen their ties to China.
Consequently, we now have two ominous face-offs: one between the rival sovereignty claimants, and a muchbroader strategic tussle between Beijing and Washington.
“The South China Sea has become more dangerous because it has become a forum for rivalry between the US
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and China, and an uncomfortably probable setting for a clash between them,” Michael Wesley, of Australia’sLowy Institute, says.
With pro-Beijing Cambodia remaining ASEAN chairman till year’s end, then Western-inclined rival claimantBrunei taking over, followed by Sinophilic Myanmar, the prospects for averting a clash look dismal.
As well, Surin Pitsuwan, the group’s pragmatic secretary-general, will soon end his five-year term and handover to Vietnam’s Le Luong Minh, a colourless bureaucrat who dances to Hanoi’s tune.
Minh will be the opposite of Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, in that he will do his best to ensurethat future communiqués highlight the sovereignty disputes.
Could China back down? Not a chance. It will go full bore with its claims, and very soon its warships andsubmarines will be patrolling the disputed waters. One mis-step and the fire will begin.
Contact our regional insider Roger at [email protected]
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Pricey petrol punishes poorMonday, 20 August 2012Rann Reuy
A man refuels a motorbike at a roadside petrol stall in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph:Pha Lina/Phnom Penh PostPetrol prices have jumped by 150 riel (US$0.03) a litre, much to the dismay of Cambodia’s poor, as NGOsappealed to the government to take action.
Tuk-tuk driver Chev Channy, who has driven a moto for more than 20 years, said the price of fuel had jumpedto nearly 6,000 riel a litre, adversely affecting his already-low gross income, which is about 30,000 riel per day.
He said he used about three litres a day, which was nearly two-thirds what he earned in a day.
“When gasoline was cheaper, I saved about 20,000 riel a day, but now that the price has increased, my income isjust below 10,000 riel a day,” he said, adding: “Each day, I earn or just about break even, but sometimes it is notenough.”
Cambodia’s fuel prices were always higher than in neighbouring countries, Chev Channy said, but he did notknow of any action being taken to decrease the prices and he thought it unlikely that officials would payattention to such matters.
“We drive every day; we don’t know how it works. The gasoline producers increase or decrease the price; it's upto them. If we protest, they consider us as oppostion.”
For Channy, a suitable price would be 3,000 riel a litre, because he could save at least the price of half a litre offuel per client, but with such expensive fuel nowadays, there is a litte hope of saving anything.
“If the price drops, I am happy because I could save for my family’s daily living expenses. We would havemoney for emergencies, like doctor’s bills.”
Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), issued a letter dated August 16
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appealing to Prime Minister Hun Sen to take action to lower fuel prices below the current price of 5,650 riel alitre for super and 5,450 riel for regular.
“When gasoline prices are high, the first people affected are those with low incomes,” he wrote, adding thatlow-income households included garment workers, teachers, civil servants and farmers.
Bin May Mialia, commercial manager for the Thai-based PTT Oil Company, said there were three factorsleading to increased petrol prices in Cambodia: instability in the Middle East, where most gasoline is produced;natural disasters in Asia, such as those in China and the Philippines; and the drought in the US, which hasaffected the raw materials needed to produce ethanol to mix with gasoline or diesel, thus increasing demand inthe US as well.
“In my view, the price will not decrease,” he said, adding: “The trend for Cambodia is for the price of gasolineto increase at least another 100 to 150 riel per litre in a few weeks.”
Sorn Chey, from the rights group Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific, saidpetrol prices in Cambodia were raised faster than they were lowered.
“What we are interested in is gasoline, because in Cambodia it seems to be connected with politics. Before theelection, the price of gasoline dropped in line with the election campaign.” Chey said.
The price increase had substantially affected the poor and those on low incomes, but officials for the most parthad been unaffected because they were provided with fuel vouchers, he added.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rann Reuy at [email protected]
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New latrines granted in rural areasMonday, 20 August 2012Sen David
Men build a new latrine in a rural village as part of a project sponsored by the NGO EastMeets West with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Photograph: suppliedA new US$10.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will fund a three-year project byinternational development NGO East Meets West (EMW) to improve sanitation and hygiene among the poor inrural Cambodia and Vietnam.
According to EMW, the program seeks to combat the negative effects of open defecation and poor hygiene byfinancing the construction of latrines and hand-washing devices and by offering community-based hygieneeducation.
The need for such a program is dire in a country where about 80 per cent of households have no sanitation facilities,leading to thousands of deaths each year, EMW said in a statement.
The grant is the first from the Gates Foundation to support a results-based approach to sanitation.
The program will operate by first investing in sanitation projects among rural families.
Partners for the project in Cambodia include the Cambodian Women for Peace and Development, KampotProvince’s Department of Rural Development and the Ministry of Rural Development.
Seang Keang, deputy director of Kampot’s rural development department, said families in rural areas rarely havetheir own latrines, but that’s changing.
“In rural areas, the norm is open defecation, but nowadays, people understand the health consequences of thispractice and have begun to install latrines for each family,” he said.
EMW hopes to encourage this trend and will specifically target families making less than US$2 per day.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sen David at [email protected]
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Borei Keila evictees given hopeMonday, 20 August 2012Chhay Channyda
Borei Keila families have slept under staircases near piles of rubbish since they were forced from their homeson January 3, but they are hopeful of compensation following an unexpected visit from city officials last week.
Representative Chum Ngan, 39, said village, commune and Phnom Penh City Hall officials visited a smallnumber of families on Thursday to examine their squalid living conditions.
“My family was interviewed and photographed on their bed and asked if we had any legal documents,” she said.
Ngan said the 117 evicted families had not been told why authorities visited, but hoped it indicated developmentfirm Phan Imex was preparing to complete the final two residential buildings it agreed to construct in 2003.
Keov Sakol, Veal Vong commune chief, and City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said many families still hadto be interviewed.
“So we can’t speak in detail about it,” he said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chhay Channyda at [email protected]
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