Khmer Intelligence Report - 16-18 June 2006

18 June 2006

Workers to testify about inhuman treatment (1)

A press conference will be organized in Phnom Penh on 20th June to allow workers from a remote rubber plantation in Cambodia to testify about human rights violations by their employer. Excerpts from a report published earlier this week: "A worker who is accused of selling some pieces of dry rubber outside the plantation to supplement his/her meager salary, is severely punished: he/she is arrested by the plantation guards and beaten; he/she can then be tortured with electricity and confined half naked (an even greater humiliation for women) for several days in an iron cage. If he/she does not answer quickly enough when summoned by the guards, he/she is shot dead (...). Since the beginning of this year, two workers have been shot dead and another has been seriously injured by a bullet. No sanction was given to the guards (...). Another act of violence took place this year in the same Chamcar Andaung plantation: on 10th January, two women "caught stealing food" were assassinated."

The plantation manager, Oknha (Lord) Lim Sun Leang is a relative of Prime Minister Hun Sen's. Full report at http://tinyurl.com/s8hok

Theng Bunma is dead (3)

Theng Bunma, the controversial Sino-Thai-Cambodian tycoon and former president of Cambodia's chamber of commerce, who has not been seen in public for many years, reportedly died a few months ago in Thailand. The news of his death has been kept secret in order to allow his children to quietly settle problems related to inheritance.

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16 June 2006

Government will repay $7.6 million to the World Bank (2)

The ongoing corruption scandal related to World Bank loans could have devastating consequences on the Cambodian government in that any serious investigation into the irregularities will expose the systematic manner in which funds are diverted. In particular, it will show how misprocurements are systematically organized with the participation of high ranking government officials, including ministers who act through family members working in their ministries under different family names. The misprocurements entail the participation in systematically manipulated biddings of companies that are fronts for powerful political figures and their close relatives.

Because he absolutely wants to avoid a thorough investigation Prime Minister Hun Sen has only two options: either to expel the World Bank from Cambodia (with the risk that many other donors will also cut their assistance) or to repay any amount of money the World Bank will ask for ($7.6 million is a negligible amount compared to the hundreds of millions involved in government corruption).

Unemployment rate exceeds 50 percent (2)

Confirming assessments made by independent economists who challenge obviously inaccurate government statistics, China's news agency Xinhua on 12 June 2006 confirmed that unemployment rate in Cambodia exceeded 50 percent in 2005.

According to Xinhua, "about 3.31 million Cambodians had jobs in 2005, 27,500 more than in 2004."

Cambodia has a population of about 14 million, of which 7 million are over 18 year-old and are either working or seeking a job.

Therefore, the jobless rate was 52.7 percent in 2005, compared to a government figure of only 4.0 percent.

On 16 June 2006 the Phnom Penh Post wrote: "According to the World Bank, roughly 300,000 people are added to Cambodia's labor force every year. The Economic Institute of Cambodia estimates that the country's economic growth generates only between 20,000 and 30,000 new jobs each year." Therefore, unemployement keeps increasing markedly every year.

For more details click at http://tinyurl.com/l96k9 See also Phnom Penh Post articles at http://tinyurl.com/jcguk and http://tinyurl.com/k2skr

For more information go to www.khmerintelligence.org