Hun Sen's Crime against humanity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IH9Zh24EXw

Botched World Bank project leads to evictions

Mar 22, 2011
By Irwin Loy
Inter Press Services

PHNOM PENH - The World Bank botched the handling of an ambitious multi-million-dollar land-titling project in Cambodia and has done little to protect thousands of people in a lakeside slum from eviction.

That is the finding of the World Bank's inspection panel, the financial institution's main accountability mechanism. Unfortunately the judgement came after local authorities issued final eviction notices to many of the remaining residents of Boeung Kak.

"The claims of the Boeung Kak lake community are serious," Roberto Lenton, the chair of the panel, said in a statement. "The issues raised involve fundamental questions of their land rights and tenure security. the panel found that the evictions took place in violation of the bank policy on involuntary resettlement and resulted in grave harm to the affected families and community."

Officials accused of pillaging villa [-A case of the rich robbing the rich?]

Sok Kong

Authorities carry out an eviction on a Russey Keo district villa in compliance with a Supreme Court warrant on Friday. (Photo supplied)

Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Thet Sambath
The Phnom Penh Post

A FORMERLY well-heeled resident of Russey Keo district says that local authorities robbed her of hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewellery and removed US$2 million worth of property last week while serving a Supreme Court warrant to evict her from her villa.

Hang Borey said $60,000 in cash and $260,000 worth of jewellery were removed from her home during the raid on Friday, along with $2 million worth of other property.

“They removed all my property – I’ve lost everything now,” Hang Borey said. “I was not informed in advance about my removal from the villa.”

Hang Borey said her partner, Yors Sokuntheary, purchased the villa in 2007 from the brother of its Chinese owner, who was serving a jail term overseas. She added, however, that she never received a land title or a deed to the property. Hang Borey says that after the original owner returned to Cambodia, he took her to court in 2008 to get his property back, and that the Supreme Court ruled in his favour earlier this year.

The home’s original owner has since transferred his rights to the property to Sok Kong, president of the Sokimex development company, Hang Borey said. She added that she had filed a complaint against Sok Kong to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Russey Keo deputy Governor Koub Sleh said district officials were simply following the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“I have no right to talk about the court’s decision. We were just following the court’s warrant,” he said.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Hing Bunchea said he had not seen any money or jewellery lying around the house when local officials entered to serve the warrant.

Sok Kong could not be reached for comment.

ANZ subsidiary linked to Cambodian army

The ANZ subsidiary has denied any involvement. (ABC News: Michael Janda, file photo)

Wednesday, March 03, 2010
By Liam Cochrane for Radio Australia
ABC News (Australia)

ANZ Royal, a subsidiary of one of Australia's largest banks, has denied it is involved in a scheme that creates partnerships between private businesses and Cambodian military units.

Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen announced the initiative last week and said more than 40 partnerships had been established to provide food, medicine, tools, buildings and transport for troops and their families.

One of the businesses named as a sponsor of the Cambodian army was Metfone, a subsidiary of a mobile phone company owned by the Vietnamese military.

Another on the list was ANZ Royal, a joint partnership between Australia's ANZ Bank and one of Cambodia's biggest business conglomerates, The Royal Group.

Cambodian council of ministers spokesman Phay Siphan says the scheme reflects Cambodian culture.

"Some Cambodians on management [at ANZ Royal], they have the chance to mobilise their charity to support some [soldiers]," he said.

"The charity hasn't just been supported today, it's been years already. It's just that they have been assigned it so that the people understand who they help."

ANZ Royal has declined to comment to ABC's Radio Australia, but chief executive Stephen Higgins has been quoted in local media saying that he is unsure how his company's name appeared on the list of military sponsors, saying it might be "some type of printing error".

A statement from ANZ in Australia said "it is not appropriate for ANZ to provide support or sponsorships to individual military units in any country in which we operate".

"ANZ Royal Bank, as a subsidiary of ANZ, has not and will not be providing such support," the statement said.

Seeking answers

The initiative to formally link businesses with the military has raised concerns among human rights groups that work in Cambodia.

Naly Pilorge, a spokeswoman for the rights group LICADHO, says "it is especially concerning because some of these ministries [involved] have absolutely no link to the military, such as those that are supposed to focus on youth or women or health".

"That's the question we are trying to find the answers to, because right now it is very unclear.

"It is alarming because some of these ministries have nothing to do with the military, and for good reason."

Ms Pilorge says a similar scheme would not be tolerated in other countries.

"In most countries, developed countries and developing countries, it would be illegal for business in the private sector to openly and directly fund the milliary," she said.

"But by dealing so openly there is an assumption that the military is open to any group or any company that wishes to use the military to protect its interests and its private interests.

"We have see this over the country over the years in terms of land grabbing. We have seen the military used, especially in the rural areas... to evict people to protect the interests of economic concessions.

"This is really disturbing because legislation says the miliary is to protect citizens equally and not be used for the private interests of companies.

Oddar Meanchey invaded by a black-clad 5-star general and his stylishly-clad Madam?

Hun Xen in black-clad uniform saluted Cambodia's flag, but somehow, the rug seems out of place at the frontline (All photos: DAP)

The stylishly-clad Madam Hun Xen and her entourage of crony tycoons and power-abusers, including the CPP tycoon-senator-cum-land-grabber Lao Meng Khin and his wife, Chhoeung Sopheap (aka Yeay Phou) of the Pheapimex Co.

A row of soldiers, but all wearing different uniforms from one another?

Omnach Neung Ketekyous - "Power and Honor": A Poem in Khmer by Khemarak Botra

Click on the poem in Khmer to zoom in

Poem by Khemarak Botra

Property dispute between Kith Meng and Kith Thieng led to one dead bodyguard

23 April 2009
By Sun Ly
Khmer Nation News
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

A source revealed that on the eve of the Khmer New Year, a shooting took place between two powerful oknhas (rich tycoons) who are also siblings. The shooting led to one person dead and created a stir. Police officers who went to intervene in the incident, when they heard the names of the two okhnas, they all became scared.

The same source added that on the eve of the Khmer New year, Kith Meng went to the Rock Karaoke center for entertainment, but there, he had a dispute with Kith Thieng, his older brother and the owner of the rock center, in a VIP room. Following the intense dispute, the shooting took place.

An unofficial source indicated that the shooting between the two brothers could involve property dispute between the pair. The same source added that the shooting between the rival siblings led to the death of one of Kith Meng’s bodyguards and significant damage in the VIP karaoke room.

The two brothers could not be reached over the phone to provide clarifications on this shooting case.

Past shootings that occur in Phnom Penh involving rich people, or offspring of powerful government officials, or bodyguards of powerful government officials led to a great stir and fear among the city dwellers. For example, in the case involving the bodyguard of Kep Chuktema, the city governor, and the bodyguard of Chhoeun Chanthan, Chea Sim’s bodyguard chief, in the city center on 18 March 2009, Kep Chuktema’s bodyguard was injured and Chhoeun Chanthan’s bodyguard died in a pool of blood. Up until now, the cops have not even found the shooting bodyguard to send to jail yet because they are afraid of touching their superiors. This case clearly shows the impotence of the Phnom Penh police force led by police commissioner Touch Naroth.

However, when poor children played with plastic toy guns or when they are involved in shootings in public places, the cops always bring them in to sentence them. In these latter cases, the cops would then write reports to their bosses to make themselves look good. However, when it comes to sons of rich tycoons or government officials, or powerful tycoons shooting each other in anarchy in public places, the cops are never seen arresting the culprits and take them to jail, nor sentence them according the law, even when the cops know full well the identity of these perpetrators. This shows that the cops apply the law on sons of the poor people who are not related to the powerful government officials, but when it boils down to the offspring of powerful officials, the cops hesitate to touch them.

Overseas aid benefits whom? [-Ask the one-eye chauffeur and his cronies]

Hopes sunk: As houses on the Boeung Kak shore collapse (above) due to flooding caused by filling in of the lake in Phnom Penh, displaced residents are being resettled in squalor far from the city in places such as Andoung. (Photos: CENTRE ON HOUSING RIGHTS AND EVICTIONS)

Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008
By STEPHEN HESSE
The Japan Times

"Japan, the U.S., and the EU have a choice: They can follow China to the bottom, giving millions in aid to corrupt, crony politicians; or, they can raise the bar and establish more ethical approaches to helping the world's neediest achieve human security."

PHNOM PENH CAMBODIA — Despite widespread awareness and censure of human rights violations, Japan, the United States and member nations of the European Union continue to give aid to governments that use the money to enrich themselves while ravaging ecosystems and brutalizing their own citizens. China is now a major donor, too, but China doesn't claim to care about human rights.

It is particularly troubling that Japan, which has its own environmental and human-rights tragedies — such as the Minamata Disease mercury-poisonings and the ongoing World War II "comfort women" atrocity — effectively encourages similar abuses in other nations by giving loans and grants to governments that blithely commit crimes against nature and humanity.

In 2007, Japan distributed Overseas Development Aid (ODA) totaling more than $7.7 billion ($116.5 billion if loan repayments are not deducted), according to the OECD.

Compounding the problem, environmental and human-rights abuses no longer occur in isolation. With the world's human population climbing toward 7 billion, environmental destruction and human-rights abuses come in tandem. Resource extraction, industrial agriculture and energy infrastructure are particularly destructive, but local development projects can have sweeping impacts on the lives of thousands as well.

A good example is Boeung Kak, one of seven natural lakes in central Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. The lake plays an important role in urban life, providing recreation and serving as an essential natural reservoir for excess rainwater during the six-month monsoon season. It is also home to thousands of marginalized poor families who live along its shores.

Boeung Kak was long ignored by Phnom Penh's powerful elite — until recently, when they found a way to profit. In February 2007, the city entered into a 99-year lease agreement with Shukaku, Inc., a private domestic firm with close links to local politicians and Chinese developers. For a mere $79 million, Shukaku now controls 133 hectares, including Boeung Kak and surrounding land.

The plan is to fill in 90 percent of the lake and turn the area into "pleasant, trade, and service places for domestic and international tourists." The problem is what to do with annual floodwaters and the 70,000 lakeside residents.

"This contract, which threatens to displace at least 4,252 families, was negotiated in a shroud of secrecy without even the pretense of participation from the tens of thousands of people who will be directly affected," says David Pred, Cambodia Country Director of Bridges Across Borders (BAB), a member of the Cambodian Housing Rights Task Force. "If these families are forcibly removed from their homes, this would mark the largest single displacement of people in Cambodia since the privatization of land in 1989."

A drainage and flooding assessment released earlier this month by an Australian team warns against the project.

"It should be recognized that not only will flood levels increase, but the frequency of flooding will also increase (in the Boeung Kak Area). The combined effluent and stormwater drainage system in Phnom Penh means that any flooding will have serious water-quality and public-health implications," the report states.

Other groups, too, are outraged that lakeside residents have not been informed about the development scheme, and are simply being told that they will be compensated and moved.

"The development will lead to evictions, despite many of the affected families having strong legal claims to the land under the Land Law. . . . (A)ffected communities are currently being made nonnegotiable offers of compensation or houses in a relocation site on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. The compensation offered is insufficient for families to obtain comparable alternative housing, and housing at the relocation site is inadequate: infrastructure is poor, basic amenities, including clean water, are lacking, and access to work opportunities is very limited given the distance from the city. Moreover, offers include no formal security of tenure for those agreeing to move," says a statement released this month by organizations working on human-rights and housing issues in Cambodia.

The authors include Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE).

Life has not been easy in Cambodia for decades, even at the best of times. In recent years, the government has struggled to staff offices and provide public services. "In many cases, this was achieved through delegation of de facto power to existing local authorities, creating layers of bureaucracy that the government could not afford to pay," explains COHRE in a November 2008 report titled, " Title Through Possession or Title Through Position?"

"This led to a revival of traditional Cambodian practices in which public servants buy their offices from more powerful patrons. In order to pay their debts — and make ends meet — officials are then tacitly expected to skim public proceeds and impose unofficial fees for services," notes the COHRE paper.

"The prevalence of corruption in contemporary Cambodia dictates that many essential public services . . . tend to be contingent on the payment of bribes often unaffordable to the poor," adds the report.

Pred, of Bridges Across Borders, points out that lawlessness is another problem.

"The lease agreement that Shukaku Inc. signed with the Municipality of Phnom Penh violates numerous provisions of Cambodian Land Law that protect natural resources, such as lakes, from commercial development and destruction. The lease calls for the filling of Boueng Kak Lake — a crucial natural reservoir for excess rainwater, but it also deprives the city of one of its last remaining open spaces and landscape amenities. An environmental impact assessment — required by law before the commencement of any major development project — has not been made public or approved by the Ministry of Environment, yet the filling of the lake has already begun," he explains.

Filling began in August, and local residents' houses are already collapsing, one by one, into the sodden shoreline. Meanwhile, as aid money continues to pour in, the Cambodian government is not the least bit sheepish about such flagrant violations of law and human rights.

This month, Cambodia announced that aid pledges for 2009 already total $951.5 million, up almost 30 percent from 2008's $690 million. China has promised the most ($256.7 million), followed by the EU ($214 million) and Japan ($112.3 million). U.S. aid will be announced after the new president takes office.

While government officials are smug, civil society groups have voiced concern about growing Chinese influence and "urge Western governments to be less complacent about corruption," according to an article by Kay Kimsong in the Phnom Penh Post (Dec. 8).

"Despite worries about the kingdom's endemic corruption, government officials have interpreted the unsolicited donations as a unanimous vote of confidence for the (Cambodian) government," she writes.

"We (are) a train running on the right tracks," Minister of Finance Keat Chhon told the media.

"We have put on a good performance. If we had not, (donors) would have canceled their aid," Kimsong writes.

Civil-society groups and some politicians are more honest.

"Opposition leaders have lashed out at the pledges, questioning both the philanthropic intentions behind the aid and how far the kingdom is set to benefit from such a vast injection of cash," explains Kimsong.

Japanese Ambassador Katsuhiro Shinohara is reported to have said that Japan is delighted to see the achievements of the Cambodian government and continues to support development of the economy and poverty alleviation. But if Japan truly wishes to see poverty reduction, will it look the other way as urban ecosystems are compromised and tens of thousands of Cambodians are made homeless?

On paper, at least, Japan professes concern for promoting "human security" in aid-recipient countries. "It is important to protect people who face various threats in developing countries, and to help them to acquire the capacity to deal with those threats themselves," says Japan's Official Development Assistance White Paper for 2007.

Without economic power or political influence, the rule of law is the only hope for displaced families to defend their "human security" from greedy speculators. Yet the White Paper admits that "rule of law remains an issue" in Cambodia.

That the phrase "remains an issue" is an understatement. As one local resident said, the privileged and powerful of Cambodia are conspiring together to "eat the kingdom."

Transparency International is a Germany-based nonprofit organization that "measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among a country's public officials and politicians." It defines corruption as "the abuse of public office for private gain."

The situation in Cambodia is so bad that, in 2006, TI rated it 162nd out of 180 countries for perceived government corruption. Since then, aid has increased, while in 2008, Cambodia's TI rating dropped further to 166 out of 180. Cambodia shares its lowly rank with two other prominent recipients of Japanese aid — Zimbabwe and Uzbekistan.

At the other end of the TI rankings, Denmark sits on top, with Germany at 14, and Japan and the U.S. at 18. China is 72nd.

Japan, the U.S., and the EU have a choice: They can follow China to the bottom, giving millions in aid to corrupt, crony politicians; or, they can raise the bar and establish more ethical approaches to helping the world's neediest achieve human security.

This Christmas 2008, I'd like to believe the latter is within our reach.

Stephen Hesse can be reached at: stevehesse@hotmail.com

Kith Meng and Sun Chanthol: Are they good role models for Cambodians?

Kith Meng
Sun Chanthol

Fertile frontier

Monday, September 01, 2008
Yoolim Lee and Netty Ismail
The Standard (Hong Kong)

Kith Meng grew up in Australia as an orphan and a refugee from Cambodia's genocide. He tells of washing dishes and mowing lawns to make ends meet while living in Canberra. Being a poor outsider made him stronger, he says, and unusually driven.

Back in Cambodia since 1991, Kith Meng has built his Royal Group into an empire that owns Cambodia's biggest mobile phone company and television network and is developing a US$2 billion (HK$15.6 billion) resort and casino on a fishermen's island on Cambodia's coast.

The country's most successful businessman, he supports Prime Minister Hun Sen and benefits from his ties to the government, which granted the 99-year lease on the island for his resort.

Black-and-white photographs of Kith Meng's parents adorn one wall of his office in the capital city of Phnom Penh. They starved to death during Pol Pot's reign, when Cambodia's fertile countryside became the killing fields - two victims among the 1.7 million, or 20 percent of the population, who perished.

Kith Meng fled the terror, first to a refugee camp in Thailand and then, in 1981, to Australia. "Suffering is my mentor," he says.

Thousands of former refugees, with their own harrowing stories, have returned to Cambodia, and now investors hoping to profit in the next frontier market - a term Standard & Poor's coined for economies smaller or less developed than traditional emerging markets - are coming to the country, too.

The entrepreneurial drive and technical skills the
returnees bring with them from overseas are breathing life into the economy.

Three decades after Pol Pot exterminated the country's educated classes and emptied its cities, Cambodia's gross domestic product is just US$8 billion a year.

Political and business leaders are grappling with poverty, inadequate health care, poor education and a lack of roads in this nation of 14 million.

"The trick with a frontier market is getting the timing right," says Douglas Clayton, who founded Leopard Cambodia Fund last year and is raising US$100 million to invest in real estate, banking and agribusiness. "Cambodia is really a discovery story - and it's being discovered." Cambodia grew 9.5 percent a year from 2000 to 2007, the fastest pace in Asia after China, which expanded 9.9 percent a year. Political stability under the administration of Hun Sen, has helped the Cambodian economy take off, says Bretton Sciaroni, chairman of the American Cambodian Business Council in Phnom Penh.

Hun Sen, whose Cambodian People's Party won a landslide victory in July's parliamentary elections has run the country since 1985.

An opposition leader has alleged manipulation of voter rolls, and the royalist party that shared power in the 1990s has been reduced to two seats in the legislature.

Clothing exports and tourism have buoyed the tiny economy. A 1994 law to open the country to foreign investors has encouraged some to put money in. Approved foreign direct investment rose to a record US$4.4 billion in 2006, according to the Cambodian Investment Board. Investors can own 100 percent of a company, and they face no restrictions on taking money in and out of the country - in contrast to China or Vietnam.

From 1994 to 2007, foreign exchange reserves expanded 16-fold to US$1.6 billion. Cambodia is scheduled to open its first stock and corporate bond markets by the end of next year.

The country is now outpacing Asia's other frontier markets in Bangladesh, Laos, Mongolia and Myanmar, says Clayton. Cambodia is represented by just one company in the S&P/IFCG Extended Frontier 150 Index.

"Cambodia is Vietnam 8 to 10 years ago and Thailand 20 years ago," says Marvin Yeo, the co-founder of Phnom Penh-based Cambodia Investment & Development Fund.

He says the boom will move fast in Cambodia, because it's a smaller country than Thailand or Vietnam and has more pro-business policies.

Investors face many hurdles - not just the risk of getting in late. In a report this year, the World Bank and International Finance Corp. ranked Cambodia 145th out of 178 countries as a place to do business. The assessment weighed criteria such as how difficult it is to register property, secure credit or move goods across borders. In Transparency International's 2007 survey of perceptions about corruption, the Berlin-based watchdog group put Cambodia among the world's worst, ranking it 162nd among 180 countries.

As much as US$500 million a year is diverted from government coffers, the US Agency for International Development estimated in 2004 in its most recent report on the issue.

Hun Sen hasn't passed an anti- corruption law, despite pledging in 2003 to push it through the assembly. The leader says he wants to diversify the economy to ease reliance on textiles and tourism.

Clothing and other manufacturing account for 26 percent of the country's GDP, agriculture makes up 31 percent and tourism and other services 43 percent. The violence of Pol Pot's time, and the uncertain years that followed, have left the country to this day without the factories, roads and bridges needed to make and move basic supplies.

"Other than bricks, we have to import pretty much everything," says Jung Myung Sik, a representative of South Korea's World City, which is constructing a US$2 billion complex called Camko City near Boeung Kak Lake, a 20-minute drive from Phnom Penh's central district. Camko City, modeled on a successful satellite city outside Seoul, will include the planned stock exchange, residential and commercial buildings, three schools and a medical center. Khaou Phallaboth, who returned to Cambodia in 1991, is among those trying to create the industry the country needs.

He spent some of his 20 years as a refugee in Paris and Brussels as a Buddhist monk and an artist.

He and his father, Khaou Chuly, have rebuilt the family construction business decimated by the Khmer Rouge. Khaou Chuly Group has set up a venture with Siam Cement, Thailand's biggest cement producer, to make 1 million tonnes of cement a year. Khaou Phallaboth plans to triple capacity to meet the country's demand of 3 million tonnes.

A third of the country's people still live on less than 50 cents a day. Eighty percent live in rural areas, and 60 percent of the population is younger than age 20.

Kith Meng owns a hotel on the banks of the Mekong River in Phnom Penh and is planning a boutique resort with India's Oberoi Group near Angkor Wat.

In his office overlooking the Royal Palace in one direction and Cambodia's first shopping mall in another, he flips through a 20-page document that outlines his island resort-casino plan, which will take more than a decade to complete.

Public Works and Transport Minister Chanthol Sun is another former refugee lured back by the chance to play a role in transforming his country.

He lost his mother and a brother when the Khmer Rouge drove the population out of the cities. The rest of the family managed to escape to a refugee camp in Thailand.

He had been sent to the US in 1973, escaping the violence with a one-way airplane ticket and US$50 in his pocket. After earning a master's degree in public administration at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he went to work at GE. Then came a call for help that Chanthol Sun decided he couldn't turn down.

The Cambodian government asked him to set up a Cambodia development council, and he came back in 1994 to the country of his birth.

"When I worked at GE, I worked hard for the shareholders, but who are they?" he says. "Here, my shareholders are men, women and children in the streets I see every day."

Land Crisis Echoes Pre-Revolution Period

Click here to download a translation in Khmer of George Orwell's Animal Farm (Once upon a revolution)

By Pin Sisovann, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
25 August 2008

With land disputes widespread in the provinces, longtime Cambodia observers say the conditions are similar to those of the 1960s that gave rise to the Khmer Rouge, even as they warn against revolution.

Human rights and democracy advocates say Cambodia's current land crisis has signaled an evolution of the country's former revolutionaries into powerful officials similar to those that were toppled in the past.

The mechanisms to solve land disputes, which can include forced evictions, arson and arrest of residents, have failed, with most decisions coming in favor of the wealthy and powerful, said Kek Galabru, president of the rights group Licadho.

Victims of land disputes have little recourse, Kek Galabru said, as evidenced by their pilgrimages to Prime Minister Hun Sen's front door.

"Until now, no measures have come out to readily solve the crisis," she said. "Having no other choice, they come to Phnom Penh, begging for the prime minister's intervention. This can't be the way. We must have a powerful system that can solve the crisis effectively, unlike the National Authority for the Resolution of Land Disputes."

Hun Sen has publicly warned land-grabbing officials, who often have high posts in the government or military, to stop the practice or face a revolution over the land, she said.

"The prime minister has warned about this more often than us," she said.

So far, the landless have maintained non-violent protests, Kek Galabru said, but that may not always be the case.

"If more and more farmers continue to lose their land, continue to face a state of anger and suffering, I'm afraid one day they will lose their patience," she said.

The best way to prevent a violent revolution, she said, is the democratic election of leaders.

The full scope of land grabs in the provinces is not known, but they are pervasive, occurring in every corner of the country.

On a trip to the northeast last year, UN human rights envoy Yash Ghai warned that landlessness could lead to political instability.

Keat Sokun, a leading member of the Human Rights Party, pointed out the land-grabs of the early 1960s were actually smaller than they are now. The land thefts that in part fueled the Khmer Rouge took place in the areas of Ta Moeun and Samlot in Battambang province.

"People suffering from land-grabs are falling into a situation where they have nothing to loose," he said. "They are losing hope, which forces them to resort to whatever means and it could lead to what is called a revolution over the land crisis."

Hun Sen has been unable to stop the land crisis because the causes of it are people surrounding him, and even as he solves one dispute, another takes its place, Keat Sokun said.

"I see that those who grab farmers' land are powerful," he said. "They are not punished, but became senators, lawmakers and powerful officials in government. So these ties make the crisis more serious. Do you think senators who would grab farmers' land would write a law to serve the people's interest?"

Those who had led a revolution in years past were now leading a new feudalism, he said, comparing modern Cambodia to the Western novel, "Animal Farm," by George Orwell.

In that book, a group of barnyard animals overthrow their human owners, only to become mired in an authoritarian power struggle of their own.

"We are not different from it," he said. "They are not only pigs, but others join the pack."

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said such comparisons were not warranted, as the government had been democratically elected, and that a revolution over the current land crisis was not possible.

Around 420,000 people in a population of 14 million are involved in land conflicts, which was a reflection of economic boom, he said, adding that the government was paying close attention to the issue.

Revolution meant violence and was therefore a poor choice, he said.

"It is not like 'Animal Farm,'" he said. "This is a comment from a dream. What I am worried about is not whether revolutionists have become feudalists, but the cry that 'four legs are good, two legs are bad,' which alleges that the ruling CPP is bad and the consequence is 'ducks and chicken protest.'"

Such criticism by the opposition had become stereotypical and ignored the facts, he said. "Don't take what the opposition says as always right."

Whether Cambodia is traveling on four legs or two, powerful men can turn to personal interest, and the quest for land and property can give rise to feudalism, said Lao Monghay, a senior researcher for the Asian Human Rights Commission.

Even Karl Marx saw this, he said. This is normal for human nature and that is why a country needs checks and balances, between executive, legislative and judiciary bodies.

"It is normal among all nationalities of the world turning from poor to rich and revolutionaries toppling feudalism to become feudalists themselves," he said. "Leaders who abided by Karl Mark’s doctrine to topple capitalists become capitalists themselves."

Few communists don't have a desire to be rich, and a lot of revolutionaries forget their own social class or become feudalists, he said.

To keep themselves in power, they motivate the youth to enjoy happy lives and to forget national problems, he said.

Still, he warned, no matter how serious the land crisis becomes, a violent revolution ending in bloodshed is not the answer.

The democratic selection of leaders is a system honored by countries around the globe, and revolution doesn't necessarily lead to a better regime.

Lao Monghay said he had heard this from one of the country's Khmer Rouge revolutionaries, Nuon Chea, the senior-most surviving leader of the regime.

"I asked him to compare the society that he toppled and present society, to say which is better," Lao Monghay said. "He said it was the society that he toppled. I was shocked with anger to hear that Cambodia toppled a better society for the worse."

Cambodia: Evictions in name of development

CPP Tycoon-senator Lao Meng Khin (center) and his powerful wife Choeung Sopheap (aka Yeay Phu) in red shirt (Photo: CPP)

IRIN

22 August 08 - Vanndy Sambath had lived next to Phnom Penh’s lush Boeng Kak lake for years, peacefully growing vegetables and accommodating tourists to support his family.

IRIN, Phnom Penh - That all changed in 2006, when a contractor arrived and announced government-sponsored plans to fill in the lake, forcing his neighbourhood to relocate in the future.

Two years on, he worries for his family’s future. Finding a new job will be difficult, he told IRIN.

“They came here and didn’t give us a choice,”Vanndy said. “We haven’t moved yet, but we’re all scared when they come and clear us out. We don’t know what they will do.”

Since 2006, Cambodian construction firm Shukaku Inc. has been filling in one of the city’s only remaining lakes - where Sambath lives - to make way for guesthouses, shopping centres, and an array of high priced apartments.

According to a 2007 report issued by the Cambodia Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR Cambodia), 4,225 families will be forcibly evicted from Boeng Kak.

Nothing new

However, sidelining Cambodia’s vast slums for urban development is far from new.

A joint South Korean and Cambodian firm has similarly filled in most of Phnom Penh’s Pong Peay lake since 2006 to build a US$2 billion satellite city called Camko, which will showcase boutique shops and skyscrapers.

Pong Peay had previously been home to numerous shanty towns.

South Korean construction tycoons building the massive International Finance Centre - heralding Phnom Penh into a new age of skyscrapers - have also forced slum dwellers to the city’s outskirts.

Yet many of the planned spaces remained unsold, with questions raised about whether there are enough rich people in the country to sustain such a project.

“The problem is that this caters to a tiny powerful group,” Ou Virak, director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, told IRIN. “The government is attempting to develop and modernise Cambodia quickly, but they’ve lost sight of the people they’re trying to help.”

Mass evictions

When the genocidal Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975, they immediately ordered an evacuation of the capital to transform Cambodia into an agrarian society. In a matter of hours, the communist victors displaced millions, turning a bustling metropolis into a mere ghost town.

According to activists, recent forced evictions in Cambodia are the largest since those in the 1970s.

“This is close to the largest forced displacement of people if you count all the elections and years that it has been happening,” Virak said.

Adhoc, a Cambodian rights watchdog, says about 50,000 people throughout the country were evicted for development projects in 2006 and 2007.

In contravention of the law?

But Cambodia’s 2001 land law clearly states that lakes are public property and cannot be sold.

Another 1996 law states that the natural resources of Cambodia should be “conserved, developed, managed, and used in a rational and sustainable manner,” said land activist Chak Sopheap.

To get around this, instead of directly selling the lake to developers, the Phnom Penh Municipality has leased it for 99 years to Shukaku Inc., said David Pred, co-founder of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Bridges Across Borders.

“The lease is illegal because the lake is state public property and cannot be leased for more than 15 years or damaged or destroyed,” he told IRIN. “By filling in the lake, it will be destroyed.”

Added to that is the fact that most Boeng Kak residents are unaware of Cambodian land laws, he said.

Despite this, developing the capital remains a priority for the Phnom Penh municipal government, which has stated in official releases that evictions were necessary for progress.

When the Boeng Kak lake project first got under way, Environment Minister Mok Mareth cited concerns that filling in the lake would seriously affect Phnom Penh’s drainage system.

He called the project ’illegal’ after HSC Company, a contractor for Shukaku, began constructing a pipe without a license to fill the lake with sand.

HSC Company responded that it had the permission of the city authorities, not the Ministry of Environment, to begin construction. Neither Minister Mareth or Shukaku could be reached for comment.

Mareth now supports private development at the lake. Others, however, remain steadfastly opposed.

“Filling Boeng Kake lake will have untold environmental consequences, as it is the primary natural reservoir where rainwater is collected during the monsoon season,” NGO leader Pred warned. “It is hard to believe city hall officials that the lake filling will not lead to flooding and other negative environmental consequences.”

Compensation woes

Meanwhile, residents of the proposed project await news of their fate.

“I don’t protest against the government’s development plan,” Yim Sokhom, an army commander and Boeng Kak resident, told IRIN. “But I don’t agree with private developers using the government’s name to get their way.”

Sokhom added that Shukaku Inc. representatives offered to reimburse him to the tune of US$4,000 for his property, while similar properties around Phnom Penh sell for over $40,000.

’’What am I supposed to do with $4,000? I can’t buy a new house in Cambodia with that money. If they’re willing to reimburse me fairly, I’ll gladly move.’’

Human rights activist Virak also cited concerns over reimbursement. “As with any policy, if you cannot fairly compensate those negatively impacted,” he said, “then it goes to show that the policy is not an effective one.”

Opposition lawmakers from the country’s Sam Rainsy Party in January tried to halt the lake plan until the government had fully considered the project’s environmental impacts. They did not receive much support from the National Assembly, according to the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

In a similar development scheme around a lake in Kandal Province, which turned out to be illegal, the Cambodian government removed a governor and his two deputies on corruption charges, then demolished the construction projects.

Family connections, corruption

Forestry watchdog Global Witness released a report in 2007 detailing Prime Minister Hun Sen’s family connections with illegal logging and land grabbing in various provinces. The government had previously banned the organisation in 2005 from operating in Cambodia.

Ty Sokun, director of the Forestry Administration, responded to the report by calling Global Witness a group of “insane, unprofessional people”, according to the International Herald Tribune.

Both Human Rights Watch and Freedom House noted in 2008 that Cambodia had not made sufficient progress in its good governance. Freedom House’s 2008 index criticised government officials for engaging in land grabbing without regard for a majority of the population.

Senator Lau Meng Khin, owner of the land companies Pheapimex Co. Ltd. and Shukaku Inc., is also chairman of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce and is close to Hun Sen’s family, according to the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

In addition to the land around Boeng Kak, Senator Lau was also granted 315,025 hectares in Kompong Chhnang and Pursat provinces, according to the OHCHR report.

[Kith Meng's] Royal to raise $2bn to develop island

August 17 2008
By Raphael Minder in Hong Kong
Financial Times (UK)

Royal Group, a Cambodian conglomerate whose interests range from banking to mobile telephony, is raising $2bn from private investors, together with Hong Kong-based Millennium Group, to develop Koh Rong, an island off Sihanoukville, Cambodia’s only deep-water port.

The move comes as property developers are planning billion-dollar investments to transform Cambodia’s coastline into one of Asia’s leading holiday destinations.

Such investments are designed to help diversify a Cambodian tourism industry that is heavily reliant on Angkor Wat and the country’s other inland historic treasures.

The amount planned by Royal will only cover the initial stages of the development, according to Mark Hanna, chief financial officer of Royal Group.

“We are talking about an island that is the same size as Hong Kong island, where we want to add things such as an airport, so ultimately we are certainly looking at several billions,” he told the Financial Times.

Meanwhile, MPDI, a subsidiary of Seng Enterprise, a family-owned group that is one of Cambodia’s leading construction companies, is working on another $2bn project, with unnamed US, Japanese and Middle Eastern investors. The project will triple the size of Kep, a neglected former French colonial resort

Seng’s plan involves reclaiming land along a 6km stretch of coastline and building luxury towers and bungalows. that will be able to house about 10,000 families.

They also include Preah Vihear, another temple that straddles the border with Thailand and whose disputed ownership has threatened to spark a military conflict between the two countries.

After decades of war and genocide overseen by the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia is playing catch-up to other south-east Asian tourism hotspots in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.

In the 15 years since Cambodia’s return to multiparty democracy, the country has made an impressive economic recovery and tourism has grown almost tenfold to become the second most important sector after textiles. The number of visitors to Cambodia breached 2m for the first time last year, but of those only 122,000 visited the country’s beaches.

Vantha Seng, chief financial officer of Seng Enterprise, said construction in Kep was likely to start next year, thanks to a first round of financing of about $250m, with contributions from “well-known” Japanese, American and Middle Eastern funds and private equity firms.

She said the project could become Cambodia’s first offshore listing, either on the Hong Kong or Korean stock exchange. As to the targeted clientele, the developers are betting particularly on wealthy Asian pensioners from Singapore, South Korea and Japan. Some of the housing will also be reserved for Cambodians.

“We already have some bookings and it’s mainly from people under 50 who are preparing their retirement plans,” she said. “Thailand has shown how you can develop beautiful beaches but we also want to avoid some of the mistakes there and certainly want to remain upmarket.”

Cambodia to Open Bourse in 2009; Urges Corporate Transparency

By Netty Ismail and Yoolim Lee

July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Cambodia plans to open its first stock exchange and start a corporate bond market in the fourth quarter of 2009 in a bid to attract foreign funds to Southeast Asia's second-poorest nation, a government official said.

Six to 10 companies, with a combined market value of $200 million to $400 million, including Sokimex Group, the country's biggest petroleum company, and Acleda Bank Plc, its largest bank, will likely be listed on the exchange within a year of it being set up, Kao Thach, head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance's financial market division, said late yesterday.

Cambodia, which abolished money under the Khmer Rouge three decades ago, is seeking to lure foreign funds as economic growth slows after peaking at 13.5 percent in 2005. The government will need to improve the legal system and urge Cambodian companies to open their accounting records to investor scrutiny, said Agost Benard, who covers the country for Standard & Poor's.

``Given all the uncertainties and lack of transparency, at least initially, it will probably be the local people who are willing to take the punt,'' said Benard, associate director at the rating company in Singapore. ``International investors who expect higher standards of disclosure and transparency will take a wait-and-see attitude.''

The government last year asked more than 400 companies, most of which are family businesses, to get their financial statements audited to improve transparency, Thach, 34, said in an interview in Phnom Penh.

Local Rules

``Cambodia has been effectively cut off from the rest of the developed world for the past three decades, so a lot of business has been done based on unwritten local rules,'' said Marvin Yeo, co-founder of Frontier Investment & Development Partners in Phnom Penh.

Frontier Investment, a private-equity fund, is raising $250 million to put in the second-poorest of 10 Southeast Asian nations, and will cash out of some of its planned investments through listings on the exchange, Yeo said.

The listing requirements in Cambodia will likely be modeled on the Kosdaq, South Korea's second stock market that was set up 12 years ago for small- and medium-sized firms as well as venture start-ups, Thach said.

Companies seeking a Kosdaq listing need to be in business for at least three years with minimum paid-in capital of 500 million won ($495,417) and debt-to-equity ratio of less than 150 percent of the industry mean. Venture capital firms have less stringent requirements under the South Korean government's program to prop up smaller technology companies.

Raising Capital

South Korea's exchange is helping Cambodia set up its bourse. The Cambodian government, which will likely own at least 51 percent of the planned venture, and the operator of the Seoul-based bourse, Korea Exchange Inc., will begin discussions next month to decide on their shareholdings, Thach said.

The Cambodia Securities and Exchange Commission will likely be set up as early as September, Thach said.

``They're nowhere near getting the rules together, the criteria for listing, transparency, proper accounting,'' said John Brinsden, vice chairman of Acleda Bank, the largest Cambodian bank with 209 branches in 24 provinces.

Acleda Bank will ``need a lot of capital over the next few years'' as it opens more offices in Cambodia and neighboring countries including Laos, Brinsden said in Phnom Penh.

Sokimex, which has monopoly rights to ticket sales at the Angkor Wat ancient temple ruins in Siem Reap, plans to expand its hotel and resorts business, Chief Executive Officer Sok Kong said on the company's Web site.

Transparency Concerns

Other Cambodian companies considering initial public offerings include Canadia Bank Plc, Union Commercial Bank Plc and Mong Rithy Group, which has palm oil plantations in Sihanoukville, Thach said.

Royal Group, which owns the country's biggest mobile-phone operator and has a partnership with Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Cambodia, will consider a listing ``in the future,'' Chairman Kith Meng said in an interview in Phnom Penh.

Companies can sell shares or bonds in Cambodia's currency, the riel, or the dollar, which will mitigate any foreign exchange risk for international investors, Thach said.

Still, ``the biggest concern would be the credibility of the companies or their reporting standards,'' said Frontier Investment's Yeo. Transparency International, a private monitoring agency based in Berlin, ranked Cambodia 162nd of 179 countries in its annual report on perceptions of corruption last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Netty Ismail in Singapore
nismail3@bloomberg.net.

In Cambodia Urban Renewal Takes A Nasty Twist

16 April 2008
Vincent MacIsaac
Asia Sentinel (Hong Kong)

Excluding Burma, “Cambodia has the most abusive record of forced evictions in the region” - David Pred, country director Bridges Across Borders NGO
------
...[Mrs. Bun Rany Hun Sen's] Cambodia Red Cross’s appeal for funds to resettle people evicted as a result of land grabs by people closely tied to the prime minister is, to use the phrase of one diplomat, “more than a little off-putting.”

The government is using the fiction of slum clearance to grab land from the poor

Just a stone’s throw away from Cambodia’s National Assembly in Phnom Penh, a fading billboard trumpets an urban renewal campaign promising to transform 100 poor communities into thriving neighborhoods within a year. Included is the decimated slum that lies behind parliament – Dey Krahorm, or Red Earth village.

The billboard, erected a few months before national elections four years ago, shows Prime Minister Hun Sen leading a band of impassioned officials as they stride toward this much publicized goal.

They never reached it. After the election, urban renewal turned into poverty expulsion. Red Earth now resembles a moonscape of rubble, teetering shacks and evacuated spaces. Fewer than 100 of the nearly 1,000 families who lived there when the billboard was erected remain. The rest have been trucked off to one of the many relocation sites 20 to 30 kilometers outside the city, most of which lack electricity, clean water, toilets, schools, clinics and, importantly, access to jobs.

Excluding Burma, “Cambodia has the most abusive record of forced evictions in the region,” said David Pred, the country director an internationall NGO called Bridges Across Borders.

In an interesting twist, the Cambodian Red Cross, which has been appealing for donations to resettle squatters, is headed by the prime minister’s wife, Bun Rany Hun Sen. Besides widespread allegations of corruption and misuse of funds, the Cambodia Red Cross’s appeal for funds to resettle people evicted as a result of land grabs by people closely tied to the prime minister is, to use the phrase of one diplomat, “more than a little off-putting.”

An official at the International Red Cross agreed: “There’s something not quite kosher about this,” he said.

Although evictions have been a companion to Asia’s “asymmetrical growth”, over the past 25 years, the situation in Cambodia is exacerbated by the lack of legal protection for those facing eviction, Pred explains. “At least in a country like the Philippines, affected people can go to court and a have some chance at stopping [evictions] or getting fair compensation. That is not possible in Cambodia today,” Pred said.

Dey Krahorm resident Lee Luleng was blunter: “If I call the police [for help] they will arrest me.” Lee Luleng, 61, is among those who have declined the offer of either relocation outside the city or compensation equivalent to less than 10 percent of the land’s market value of more than US$3,000 per square meter from 7NG, the shadowy company that claims ownership of the land. (7NG describes itself as a publicly listed company in a country that does not have a stock exchange. In a telephone interview, 7NG chairman Srey Sothea said the company is not listed on a foreign bourse and that all its funds are sourced in Cambodia. He declined, however, to identify the exact source of the company’s funds or name its board of directors. He did say, however, that 7NG is “seeking foreign investment.”)

Declining a bad deal from 7NG can come at a heavy price. At least 13 residents of Dey Krahorm, including six community representatives, have been charged with criminal offenses, according to the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, which has documented a three-year campaign of what it calls “harassment, intimidation and provocation” against the community by private security officers and municipal police.

“They shout, ‘Get out, dogs!’ We shout back, ‘You’re worse than Pol Pot,’” is how Lee Luleng described the frequent standoffs with police and security officers. Along with insults and obscenities, police sometimes toss bags of urine at them, residents say. Police erected a wall along one end of the community to block access to street-side shops (forcing owners to sell or relocate) and tried unsuccessfully to block access to the market that is the community’s main source of income.

Srey Sothea, the 7NG head, said no employees of his company were involved in altercations with residents of Dey Krathorm. “We’re a construction company, not a security firm,” he said. He also denied allegations that 7NG is paying police officers to drive the residents from their homes.

“When Cambodians hear the phrase ‘development plan’, they know it means evictions,” explained Chuon Chamrong, a land-rights program officer at the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Organization. “Usually they give up quickly because they know they are up against companies or individuals connected to the government,” she explained. In 2006, Adhoc recorded 16 cases of entire communities being forcibly evicted. Last year, the figure rose to 26.

Brittis Edman, a researcher with Amnesty International, pointed to another disquieting trend. “What we are seeing over the last year is that the courts are increasingly being used as tools to silence housing rights activists,” she said before the February release of AI’s report “Rights Razed: Forced Evictions in Cambodia.” The report warned that “at least 150,000” Cambodians are at risk of forced evictions.

The government’s response was unintentionally amusing. It insisted there were no forced evictions in Cambodia and accused Amnesty International of trying to grab headlines. Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak went further. He told reporters that if the government did not respect human rights, it would have expelled Amnesty’s representatives from Cambodia.

What he failed to mention, however, was that police tried to stop Edman from meeting a group of residents facing eviction near Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak Lake on February 10. “They told us we didn’t have a permit to hold the meeting, but we explained we were just having a discussion,” Edman said. After a brief face-off, police allowed the discussion to proceed, but they photographed every resident, journalist and activist present, and tape-recorded the meeting.
Villagers say they are crammed together now in a ditch with no access to clean water and no source of income. The impact of forced evictions on public health has yet to be measured – at either the local, provincial or national levels – but NGOs working with communities that have been evicted are scrambling to find funds to expand their medical outreach programs. Illnesses include malnutrition, weakened immune systems, bronchitis and other lung infections, skin rashes, ear and eye infections, diarrhea, fever, intestinal worms, fungal infections, and post-traumatic stress.

Andong, a resettlement site where the evicted have been moved to about 20 kilometers from Phnom Penh, is a public-health disaster. The lack of sanitation, clean water and access to health care leaves the 1,500 families crammed into what has been called a “fetid swamp” highly vulnerable to any outbreak of infectious disease, health workers warn.

Five children died of dengue fever there in March last year alone, resident Kat Vijay recalls. Like most of residents of the site, Kat was evicted from Sambok Chap, a settlement along the banks of the Bassac River in Phnom Penh in June 2006.

Resident Sum Khum says living in Andong is worse than the refugee camp in which she spent 13 years on the Thai border. “Then, we had food and water. We had medicine and schools. Aid workers used to visit us,” said the 74-year-old widow. “Now, we have nothing. Sometimes the Christians come with rice and noodles, but they don’t bring enough.”

After almost two years, the evictees are still waiting for running water, electricity, a sewage system, a clinic, a school, and toilets that work. The 12 that were installed last year, along with 12 bathing stalls, can’t be used because they are not connected to running water.

When he lived in Phnom Penh, Kat Vijay worked in construction, mainly restoring the city’s French colonial mansions, for US$2.50 a day. Since then he has had no work except for a three-month stint building a row of 41 rooms at Andong for the Cambodian Red Cross, he says.

Brittis Edman of Amnesty International noted a new development in forced evictions that many diplomats may find even more off-putting. Some residents at resettlement sites are being threatened with eviction again, possibly to make more room for newcomers, she said.

Chinese ‘Black Gold’ to Flow from Cambodia

Thursday, February 14, 2008
By WILLIAM BOOT / BANGKOK
The Irrawady

“What the Chinese really want out of Cambodia is the oil and gas, just like in Burma. Nothing else really matters” - Collin Reynolds, energy industries analyst-consultant based in Bangkok

Forced evictions from settled land; government collusion with commercial interests; a failed legal system; large untapped gas and oil reserves—and increasing Chinese influence.

Sound familiar?

It could be Burma, but it describes Cambodia today as the country awakens from its Khmer Rouge nightmare.

A new Amnesty International report says the Cambodian government involvement in land grabs for business merely underlines a process that has been underway for some time.

The report comes as evidence also emerges of China’s growing “fraternal” relations with the Phnom Penh government.

The closer ties aren’t because Beijing is keen to help the Cambodian people, say observers, but because of the insatiable Chinese appetite for oil and gas resources under the sea in Cambodian territorial waters, as well as the potential of the country’s rivers for Chinese state hydroelectric enterprises.

Cambodians might be sitting on as much as two billion barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of gas, according to recent reports by the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

But both organizations have voiced concern that unless these resources are handled well, Cambodia could become the Nigeria of Southeast Asia.

Nigeria has netted US $450 billion from its oil during the last 35 years, but more than half the population still earns less than $1 a day, and there is a national debt of $30 billion.

About one-third of Cambodia’s 14 million people live on much less than $1 a day, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said in 2007.

The Amnesty report warns that 150,000 Cambodians are at risk of losing their home and land as vested government-business interests push self-enriching developments.

“Depending upon the world price of oil, Cambodian reserves may be contributing annual revenues of $2 billion, several times the current level of domestic revenue and ODA (overseas development aid) combined—within perhaps five to ten years,” says a World Bank report.

But the bank adds: “International experience suggests that such petrochemical wealth may equally well result in a ‘resource curse’ that actually retards development and poverty reduction.”

That curse is the corruption which often ensues from sudden large wealth. Cambodia may be stable and improving after the years of Khmer Rouge chaos, but there is little sign of progress toward accountable and transparent government.

Prime Minister Hun Sen and his cronies maintain a tight grip on power.

Much of Cambodia’s potential is under the Gulf of Thailand, less than 200 kilometers from the sleepy port of Sihanoukville that is set to become a black-gold boom town—again with Chinese involvement.

Cambodia has six potential offshore hydrocarbon fields in its territorial waters, plus several sea areas disputed with neighbor Thailand. Only one of them has so far been explored.

The US oil company Chevron currently has the lead in undersea exploration work, with France’s Total, South Korea’s GS Caltex and Japan’s Mitsui Oil bidding for a slice of the action. But analysts say Chinese influence over the Hun Sen government could beat most of them to the big prize.

Two Chinese state enterprises, the China National Offshore Oil Company and China National Petroleum Corporation—which are also exerting influence in Burma in the offshore Shwe gas field and a planned oil transshipment land pipeline—are also studying the fields.

The China National Chemical Engineering Group Corporation is set to build an oil refinery in Sihanoukville capable of processing 40,000 barrels a day. The refinery will likely cost more than $400 million.

The Cambodian NGO Center for Social Development estimates that, aside from international donor agencies, China has become the biggest commercial investor in the country, ranging from timber to textiles.

“What the Chinese really want out of Cambodia is the oil and gas, just like in Burma. Nothing else really matters,” said energy industries analyst-consultant Collin Reynolds in Bangkok.

“China is becoming increasingly dependent on importing both, and the closer to home they can get them the more they will seek to exert their influence to achieve that.”

Two more TV stations belonging to Hun Sen’s cronies to start

Monday, October 22, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Two additional TV stations plan to start their broadcasting in the near future in Cambodia. According to the Kampuchea Thmei newspaper, which quoted a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Information recently, two new TV stations will be aired soon: CTN Plus (owned by Kith Meng (?), one of Hun Sen’s crony) and Southeast Asia TV. Khieu Kanharith, the minister of information, informed about the plan to open these two TV stations, but he did not specify the scheduled date the two stations will be aired. He only indicated that these two stations will be opened very soon. Currently, in Cambodia, there are 400 newspapers and magazines published; 33 radio stations, 23 of which are based in Phnom Penh, and 10 in the provinces and municipalities; and 16 TV stations, 9 of which are based in Phnom Penh, and 7 in the provinces and municipalities. With the 2 new stations, the total of TV stations in Cambodia will reach 18.

Hun Sen's confession: Army vehicles are rented to private businesses for illegal transportations

The general trio: Tea Banh (L), Sao Sokha (C) and Pol Saroeun (R)

Army Brigade 70 truck fully laden with [illegal] timber, Route 2, April 2005(Photo: Global Witness - Cambodia's Family Tree)

Small truck used by Army Brigade 70 to distribute [smuggled] goods within Phnom Penh (Photo: Global Witness - Cambodia's Family Tree)

Hun Sen orders the roundup of army vehicles rented to private businesses

Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered General Tea Banh, the vice-prime minister and minister of defense, General Pol Saroeun, and General Sao Sokha to immediately round up and bring back all army vehicles. Hun Sen’s order was issued during a meeting between the government and the private sector which took place at the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC). Hun Sen issued this order after Oknha So Nguon requested that the government uses fairness in the transportation.

Hun Sen said that while the ministry of defense asked for budget for the transport of troops, the army vehicles are being rented out to transport private merchandises instead. Hun Sen revealed that more than $4 million were spent by wives of (government) leaders to visit troops and to bring miscellaneous helps to the troops. Hun Sen demanded that the leaders of the ministry of national defense review the cases of vehicles rented out for private transportations, should these vehicles belong to the army, they should be rounded up and returned back to the state because of the current lack of transportation means.

Hun Sen scolded army officers in the administration of vehicles for committing these mistakes, and he called them of not respecting the rules. Hun Sen warned that the soldiers are not standing above the head of the government, and that government soldiers are very easy to be removed from their positions. Hun Sen said that these cases not only affect those vehicles bearing the KM license plates (army vehicles), but they also affect vehicles bearing the NB license plates (police vehicles) as well. Hun Sen pushed the army to find 500 vehicles for him so he can distribute them to areas in need.

Hun Sen reminded that in 1989-90, there were 400 (surplus) vehicles in stock, and two years later, they were all distributed out. Hun Sen also said that the main problem caused by army vehicles is the fact that they transport merchandises over the weight limits, they can cause damages to roads, and no police officers dare stop them. Hun Sen also called all levels of the army to round up army vehicles and return them back to the army, they should no longer be rented out for transportation of private merchandise when the army is in need. The army civil engineering unit needs these vehicles to transport dirt for the construction of canals. Hun Sen requested that this action must be set in place immediately, and he also warned that (in Cambodia), there are tons of generals.

Hun Sen said that if army vehicles are indeed used for private transportation rental, this is a tragedy. He also said that private vehicles are backed up by army units, these units will be dealt with because the unit leaders do not respect the law. Hun Sen added that vehicles bearing the license plates KM or NB are found not to transport army materials, they must be stopped immediately because Cambodia needs vehicles for transporting dirt in the construction of canals, dikes, and roads.

Khieu Kanharith: Global Witness report affects Cambodia's national security -sic!-

Khieu Kanharith provides clarifications to the NA committee on the Global Witness case

02 July 2007
By Sok Serei Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

On Monday, the National Assembly (NA) committee on foreign affairs and international cooperation, and information, summoned Khieu Kanharith, the Minister of Information (MoInf), to provide clarifications on the reason why the MoInf banned the publication of the Global Witness report in Cambodia. The report accused relatives of Cambodian government leaders, and high ranking government officials, of involvement in illegal logging in Kompong Thom province.

SRP MP Son Chhay, chairman of the above NA committee, told RFA on Monday that the MoInf ban of the report in unacceptable.

Son Chhay said: “The MoInf banned the publication of the Global Witness (report) about illegal logging in Tumring and at other national parks, involving government officials, this is a problem which we want to have more information about.”

Regarding this issue, Khieu Kanharith said: “In summary, this is an explanation to the NA question, they must understand a lot about what the MoInf must perform, and what else must be planned (by the MoInf) to be performed in the future.”

After direct clarification from Khieu Kanharith, Son Chhay said that he agreed with some of the points in the publication reviews, but he does not agree on the ban of research documents, including the Global Witness report which (the government tries to) link to national security matters.

Son Chhay added: “There must be some reviews of published information, but in the past activities, we did not see that it (Global Witness report) affects the national security.”

Dr Pung Chiv Kek, President of Licadho human rights organization, said that Cambodian people have the rights to freely receive information. “In order for our country to have democracy, there should not be any ban in the publication of information.”

On 8 June, the MoInf sent a declaration to all newspaper and magazine publishers to stop all publications of the Global Witness report. In this banned report, the London-based Global Witness leveled serious accusations on the relatives of the prime minister of Cambodia, on the relatives of Chan Sarun, the minister of agriculture, and on the relatives of Ty Sokhun, the director of the Cambodian forestry department, saying that they are involved in illegal logging in Cambodia.

These accusations were met by rebuttal claims from the accused government officials who said that the accusations were baseless.

Cambodia: Logging abuse

Activists and journalists who exposed eco-scandal under threat.

29.06.2007
By Andrew Wasley
Index on Censorship for free expression

Journalists and campaigners working to expose an environmental scandal in Cambodia are under threat from the political and business interests with most to lose from their investigations. Andrew Wasley reports.

Journalists and environmental activists investigating deforestation in Cambodia are facing harassment, death threats and censorship after a report accused senior officials within the country's government of involvement in illegal logging, kidnapping and attempted murder.

In Cambodia's Family Trees UK-based campaign group Global Witness claims that leading figures in Cambodia's government - including relatives of Prime Minster Hun Sen - are complicit in destroying large swathes of the country's remaining forests and is calling for international donors to conduct a thorough inquiry into the activities of this 'forest mafiosi' before pledging future development money.

The Cambodian authorities responded to the report's allegations by banning its publication inside the country, threatening Global Witness campaigners and harassing journalists reporting on the story.

The prime minister's brother directly threatened Global Witness earlier this month, stating, ‘if they … come to Cambodia I will hit them until their heads are broken’. Copies of the investigative report have subsequently been confiscated in Phnom Penh and several journalists targeted for covering the story.

Lem Piseth, a reporter with Radio Free Asia, received an anonymous death threat by mobile telephone after producing a piece looking at deforestation in the Kompong Thom province in central Cambodia. The caller accused Piseth of being insolent and asked if he ‘wanted to die’ before stating that there ‘will not be enough land to bury you in’.

The journalist also claimed that whilst researching the story, he was followed by police and the military and was unexpectedly forced to leave a hotel by its owners, who provided no explanation. Piseth, fearing for his life following the death threat, has now fled to Thailand.

Soren Seelow, news editor with the French language daily Cambodge Soir, also suffered after publishing extracts of the Global Witness report in an article highlighting the pressure group's findings. Seelow was summarily dismissed by the paper's owners who claimed the article would upset the authorities and put them in a difficult position.

Employees on the newspaper subsequently went on strike in protest at Seelow's removal, and have now been told the newspaper faces closure.

The worldwide press freedom organisation Reporters sans Frontières commented: ‘It is obvious that the Global Witness report on the over-exploitation of the Cambodian forests is upsetting some people. Since this report was released, all media have been subjected to unjustified state censorship... and we urge the authorities to identify those who made threats (to Lem Piseth) so he can safely resume his work.’

The report alleges that one of the most powerful logging syndicates in the country is the Seng Keang Company, allegedly controlled by the prime minister’s cousin Dy Chouch; his ex-wife Seng Keang; her brother Seng Kok Keang; the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Chan Sarun; and, director-general of the Forest Administration, Ty Sokhun.

Under the guise of a rubber plantation scheme, the syndicate is accused of logging timber from the Prey Long forest. The targeting of resin trees has also destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds, if not thousands, of families living in the area, states the report .

Global Witness also claims that the company attempted to kill two community forest activists who had protested against illegal logging in Prey Long. It is alleged that the elite army unit, known as the Brigade 70, which reportedly has close connections to senior politicians, including the prime minister, has transported illegally logged timber and other smuggled goods.

Environmentalists and human rights pressure groups are now calling on a ‘complacent’ international donor community to launch their own inquiry into the allegations - and support the prosecution of those involved. Failure to do so, argue campaigners, will effectively mean that international money will continue to be fed into a corrupt regime and ultimately offer little benefit to Cambodia's impoverished people.

It is not the first time the Cambodian authorities have attempted to stifle the findings of Global Witness. In 2005, copies of a previous report Taking A Cut were confiscated by customs officials at Pochentong Airport; in 2002 a senior Global Witness campaigner was beaten by a gang of masked men armed with sticks in Phnom Penh. Prior to this, activists had received threats by email from forest concession security staff.

Illegal logging, in Cambodia and across the world, is big business and frequently linked to organised crime and corrupt government officials.

Index on Censorship previously revealed the dangers facing journalists and activists reporting on environmental abuses (‘Dangers lurking in the forests’, 2002) following a brutal attack on an Indonesian reporter, Arbi Kusno, investigating logging issues. Kusno was attacked by thugs armed with machetes and was so badly injured he was presumed dead, only waking up en-route to the morgue.