ASEAN summit and CLV meeting to be hosted at conference hall next to Hun Xen's "pyramid mausoleum office"

Hun Xen's pyramid-shaped Council of Ministers

Cambodia to host ASEAN summit in 2012: PM

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that his country will host ASEAN summit and ASEAN plus dialogue partners' meeting in 2012.

"Now we are building the meeting center and conference hall near the new office of the Council of Ministers. It will be used for the meeting. The new facilities will be opened in November 2010," he said in a graduation ceremony of a University in Phnom Penh.

Hun Sen said that "in past years when we had international meetings, we always went to hold them at the hotels."

"We will also host the top level meeting of the leaders of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (CLV) in the near future which will also be conducted in the new building," the premier said.

ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Khmer Intelligence News - 25 April 2009

KHMER INTELLIGENCE NEWS
25 April 2009

Japan suspends financing of major bridge (1)

The $70-million Neak Loeung Bridge on the Mekong River will not be completed in 2010 as originally scheduled. No works has started yet for the construction of this major bridge on National Road # 1 from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City. Japan, which has accepted to finance the project, now refuses to make any disbursement as long as the Cambodian government is unable to reach an agreement with local residents who must be evicted. The agreement is related to financial compensation to be given to those villagers whose homes must be removed because located on the construction site. Corrupt government officials are used to evicting villagers without proper compensation, the former stealing allowances earmarked for the latter.

Former Khmer Rouge soldiers defending border with Thailand (2)

The ongoing Khmer Rouge Tribunal influences Cambodia's defense policy. The bulk of the Cambodian armed forces recently sent to defend the border with Thailand is made up of former Khmer Rouge soldiers. Because the current Phnom Penh government thinks that prosecuting former Khmer Rouge leaders could jeopardize national unity and political stability, it has second thoughts when dispatching former Khmer Rouge military units, now incorporated within the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, to face Thai troops along the border. The government wants to ensure that former Khmer Rouge soldiers would not be able to defend their former leaders facing prosecution if there were any appeal to do so. Government strategists remember that the Khmer Rouge had vigorously fought against the Hun Sen regime from 1979 to 1998.

China unhappy with Hun Sen for discarding Beijing-financed building (2)

Council of Ministers building (Photo: http://tumnei.worldpress.com)

China is not happy with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen following the latter's refusal to use a brand new building which has just been completed with Chinese technical and financial assistance. The impressive building was destined and designed to be the seat of the Council of Ministers. But a few days before its scheduled inauguration Hun Sen surprisingly said he did not like the building layout. But why didn't he let the Chinese know when they first showed him the blueprints? The fact is that some influential fortune tellers very lately asserted that the building had shapes and features that make it look like a mausoleum, which is a bad harbinger for Hun Sen's political fortune.

Worsening corruption at Customs Department (1)

Corruption is expected to worsen at the Customs Department in the next few months with the end of the contract on Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI) between the Finance Ministry and BIVAC. French-based BIVAC replaced Swiss-based SGS in 2006 as Cambodia's mandated PSI agency. PSI is inspection of goods being exported prior to the shipment by a mandated agency. PSI services cover:

• verifying the quality and quantity of imports;
• verifying the accuracy of tariff codes classification;
• assisting Customs with collecting the correct amount of duties & taxes;
• providing Customs with an independent opinion of the dutiable value for customs purposes;
• computing the correct duties and taxes payable; and
• providing Customs with an up-to-date price database.

Without proper PSI services, first introduced in Cambodia by then Finance Minister Sam Rainsy in the early 1990's, Cambodia will lose larger and larger amounts of customs revenue because of corruption.

Cambodia's Central Bank to massively print money (3)

Several factors will lead the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) to massively print money (bank notes) in the next few months:

• The government is facing a steep fall in revenue because of the economic recession compounded by increasing corruption. See news above "Worsening corruption at Customs Department" and "Sharp drop in customs revenue" (KI News, 11 March 2009).
• The national budget cannot be implemented for lack of resources. See "State budget for 2009 in jeopardy" (KI News, 11 March 2009).
• State bankruptcy is looming. See "Foreign currency reserves evaporating" (KI News, 25 March 2009).
• The government refuses to recognize the seriousness of the situation and to conceive any economic stimulus package to counter the ongoing crisis.
• Without a formal request for financial assistance to counter the crisis and a credible economic stimulus package, international financial institutions such as the IMF cannot adequately help.

Knowing that its piecemeal and ineffective approach to the worsening crisis could lead to social unrest and political instability as predicted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the government can only ask the very docile and secretive NBC to massively print money as a short-term solution to the country's woes. But this easy monetary policy will lead to an acceleration of inflation and other problems.
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25 March 2009

Foreign currency reserves evaporating (2)

The National Bank of Cambodia has seen its foreign currency reserves evaporate. NBC Governor Chea Chanto indicated at a recent Council of Ministers meeting that the country is seriously suffering from a rapidly deteriorating current account balance (sharp drop in exports and revenue from tourism) and capital outflows (reversal of foreign investment inflows). Taking also into account fiscal revenue shortfalls and subsequent budgetary problems, the government will be unable to meet its obligations in the next few months. See "Sharp drop in customs revenue" and "State budget for 2009 in jeopardy" (KI News, 11 March 2009).

11 March 2009

Sharp drop in customs revenue (2)

In the 2008 state budget, the Customs Department accounted for over 60 percent of all tax revenue, which is a relatively high figure in the region. For 2009, it should collect US$585 million, a figure that now looks impossible to achieve given the ongoing economic slowdown.

For the first two months of 2009, customs revenue reached only US$64 million compared to US$86 million for the same period last year, which represents a 25 percent drop [adjusted for the collection of a US$7 million duty pertaining to 2008].

State budget for 2009 in jeopardy (2)

The government will soon be obliged to revise downward the state budget for 2009 that was adopted last December because it is unable to collect the projected revenue. See above news "Sharp drop in customs revenue" while noting that the fall in revenue also holds for other sources of income. The projected 2009 budget amounts to US$1.75 billion compared to US$1.37 billion for the 2008 budget, representing a 28 percent increase. This 28 percent increase will likely evaporate and be replaced by a decrease instead. Cambodia is facing the world economic crisis with a collapsing budget, let alone a strong budget with an appropriate economic stimulus package.>

Hun Sen’s superstition: Tomb-like building for the Council of Ministers will see his power demise

The pyramid-shape new building for the Council of Ministers. (Photo: Chea Phal, http://tumnei.wordpress.com)

By Chan Kosal
Khmer Post (Cambodian newspaper in the US)
No. 03, Vol. 33
06-25 April 2009
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

The pyramid-shape building styled after an ancient Greek (KI-Media note: Egyptian?) tomb has almost been completed to lodge the new office of the Council of Ministers. This building also includes a room for prime minister Hun Sen.

The elegant and luxurious middle-eastern looking pyramid building did not please Hun Sen because his office space is smaller than Sok An’s. Furthermore, the building is located next to a street thoroughfare and Hun Sen’s office is located right underneath the pyramid itself. Hun Sen’s wife does not want him to work there because she is concerned that he will meet his power demise in the future.

In this luxurious building, each high ranking government official will have their own international-standard office, as planned by Sok An, Hun Sen’s in-law. However, when the building was almost completed, Hun Sen was not pleased at all and he delayed its inauguration and he did not want to work from there.

Hun Sen was angry at Sok An, his in-law, for the construction of this building in which China provided $36 million in financing, and the Cambodian government paid $6 million. Rumors circulated that corruption affected this construction project.

Along with Hun Sen’s displeasure on Sok An, an official at the Council of Ministers revealed that Hun Sen used to visit the construction side, and he was not pleased that (1) his office is smaller than Sok An’s, (2) there will be a lot of foot traffic nearby, and (3) it is located on the ground floor. What Hun Sen wanted was an office space at the top of the building where his helicopter could land and take off in case of danger.

The same official above added that rumors are circulating in which Hun Sen’s wife is not pleased as well with the pyramid-shape building. She went to consult a fortuneteller who told her that the building is not good, and if Hun Sen insists on working there, he will meet his power demise for sure. Therefore, the best solution is to find another place for him to work instead.

The source above said that Hun Sen decided to buy a piece of land belonging to Yeay Phu – a major tycoon [and crony of Hun Sen] in Cambodia – located nearby to build a new office building, regardless of the cost involved. Furthermore, the building contractor for Hun Sen’s office is also a relative of Sok An also, observers see in this action a renewed corruption case.

The source added that, based on the type of the building, the construction cost for the pyramid-shape building would be about $20 million only, therefore, rumors are circulating about a major case of corruption ($42 million actually spent for the construction) under Hun Sen’s leadership.

Even though Hun Sen knows that Sok An is stepping all over him, he did not dare scold Sok An because the latter is his major Guru (teacher), and Sok An used to lead him for several years already. Therefore, any misunderstanding between the pair will be resolved sooner or later.

Major Chumteavs (wives of high-ranking officials) ran around town looking for fortunetellers to look for the feng-shui of their husbands’ workplaces, but the majority of them found out that the location [of the new Council of Ministers building] is “ bad.” Furthermore, government leaders can clearly see the corruption of those involved in the construction of this building, and Hun Sen himself also clearly sees the major corruption involved in the construction of the Council of Ministers building, but he is not willing to deal with it.

It should be noted that pyramids in the Middle East were mainly built to hold the body of dead rulers. Most of these pyramids are thousands of years old, and nowadays, they are considered as famous World Heritage sites.