Khmer Intelligence News - 29 October 2009

KHMER INTELLIGENCE NEWS

29 October 2009

Government reduces soldiers and policemen’ bonuses (1)

Because of a fall in state revenue due to the economic recession the government is reducing bonuses usually paid to some 200,000 soldiers and policemen. The government normally pays the armed forces “basic salaries” and “bonuses for function fulfillment” on a monthly basis. Bonuses, which had been markedly increased in 2008, can be much higher than salaries. They are now being reduced by 30 percent to 50 percent.

Government withholds councilors’ salaries (1)

Over 3,000 district, provincial and municipal councilors elected last May have yet to receive their salaries. The government has been withholding their salaries for five months allegedly because of “administrative problems” and “budget constraints”. But in fact, the government also wants to slow down the decentralization process whereby the ruling CPP would have to share some power at the local level with the opposition SRP which controls approximately 20 percent of the commune, district, provincial and municipal councilors.

Canadia Bank now controlled by Hun Sen’s family (2)

Partly as a result of bad loans linked to the collapsing property sector, Canadia Bank, Cambodia’s largest commercial bank, has recently come under the control of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s family (wife and children). The information is not made public because of concerns about corruption probe and Canadia Bank is involved in several cases of land grabbing.

The Hun Sen family has also taken control of several large development projects abandoned by South Korean firms, such as the 42-storey Gold Tower.

Hun Sen’s brother Hun Neng to be appointed Phnom Penh governor (2)

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s elder brother Hun Neng, currently Kampong Cham province governor, will soon be appointed Phnom Penh governor, replacing Mr. Kep Chuptema.

Foreclosures expected by the end of the year (2)

The government finds it more and more difficult to prevent several nearly bankrupt commercial banks ridden with property-linked bad loans (Canadia Bank, Foreign Trade Bank) from conducting foreclosures. A large number of properties will be seized by the end of the year from the banks’ defaulting clients and sold at auction. Observers expect a further drop in property prices in the next few months.

Sam Rainsy in Cairo (1)

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy is currently in Cairo to attend the 56th Congress of Liberal International (LI). The SRP is a member of the center-oriented LI, the world’s third largest international political grouping behind those formed by the Conservative and the Socialist. Sam Rainsy who had received the prestigious LI Freedom Award in 2006 in Marrakech (Morocco), will be the main speaker in a ceremony to present a book covering 25 consecutive LI Prizes for Freedom whose recipients included Corazon Aquino (Philippines, 1987), Vaclav Havel (Czekoslovakia, 1990), Mary Robinson (Ireland, 1993), Aung San Suu Kyi (Burma, 1995) and Martin Lee (Hong Kong, 1996).

CPP rejected by Socialist International (2)

The CPP candidacy to be a member of Socialist International (SI) has been continuously rejected in spite of Mr. Hun Sen’s repeated demand to join the powerful left-wing international political grouping. The reason for the rejection is related to the CPP’s poor human rights records including the Cambodian government’s repressive policy against trade unions. Both the CPP and its partner Funcinpec are currently members of the right-wing Christian/Centrist Democrat International (CDI).

King informed about seriousness and complexity of land issues (1)

Since his accession to the throne in 2004, King Norodom Sihamoni has been officially informed about the country’s situation only by Prime Minister Hun Sen. For the first time, a group of opposition National Assembly members on October 27 shared with the Monarch the people’s concerns as perceived at the grassroots level. The most serious concerns are related to land issues with citizens increasingly and unfairly losing their lands all over the country because of rampant corruption undermining the whole government including the judicial system. The King was also informed about Cambodian farmers continuously losing their rice fields along the border with Vietnam. In a recent past, King-Father Norodom Sihanouk had expressed very strong reservations about the way the Hun Sen government “works” on border delineation with neighboring countries.

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