Government
Cyber bill raises concerns
Cambodia’s highly secretive draft law on cybercrime, which has never been released publicly, seeks to criminalise online content that “slanders or undermines” government agencies, ministries or officials or affects “political cohesiveness”, a copy obtained by the Post reveals. The law, which was first announced in May ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cyber-bill-raises-concerns
Cambodian Red Cross building luxury hotel in Preah Vihear
The Cambodian Red Cross, which bills itself as the country’s largest humanitarian organization, is building a six-story luxury hotel in Preah Vihear City. Government officials said Tuesday that the hotel would be used to generate revenue for the Cambodian Red Cross (CRC). The hotel is being ...
Khy Sovuthy and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodian-red-cross-building-luxury-hotel-in-preah-vihear-56147/
Garment union president in court over incitement allegations
Ath Thorn, the president of the union that led strikes at the SL Garment Factory last year, appeared before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday for questioning over allegations of incitement. The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU), headed by Mr. Thorn, spearheaded ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-union-president-in-court-over-incitement-allegations-56136/
Gov’t seeks cash for flood rebuilding efforts
The National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) said Tuesday that it needs an additional $217 million from donors and NGOs to help recovery efforts from the floods of September and October 2013. A document accompanying the Post-Flood Early Recovery Needs Assessment Report, prepared by the ...
Matt Blomberg and Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-seeks-cash-for-flood-rebuilding-efforts-56158/
City Hall to shepherd public bus operation
City Hall has taken over the recently launched public bus route in Phnom Penh pending a review of the Chinese-owned firm that is contracted to run the fledgling service, a company official said yesterday. Lim Andre, Global (Cambodia) Trade Development’s manager in Phnom Penh, said yesterday ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/city-hall-shepherd-public-bus-operation
Rethinking investment laws
Cambodia’s 11-year-old investment law may be the most liberal in the region, according to the World Bank, but in practice, day-to-day business operations are far from simple, economists and business operators say. Mey Kalyan, senior adviser to the Supreme National Economic Council, said that despite a ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rethinking-investment-laws
Ministry shake-up as AEC integration looms
The Ministry of Commerce is undergoing an internal shake-up to better position itself for the opening up of trade across the region. Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol told the Post yesterday that ahead of Asean Economic Community (AEC) integration in 2015, new divisions were being established and others realigned ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ministry-shake-aec-integration-looms
Schools take funding plan to the bank
Like mob deals and black market trades, the Cambodian school budget is dealt in suitcases of cash. Four times a year, the school operating budget is dispersed in stacks of cash transferred from the central bank to the Ministry of Education, eventually ending up with the ...
Laignee Barron and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/schools-take-funding-plan-bank
Cops on call for KNY
As hundreds of thousands participate in the annual mass migration from Phnom Penh to their home provinces for Khmer New Year next week, military police will remain at their posts. National Military Police in the capital and provincial outlets will be working at full capacity 24 ...
Vong Sokheng and Maria Wirth
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cops-call-kny
Evicted railway families await ADB’s help
In 2011, Oeun Phirun took out a $450 loan from the Asian Development Bank, using half to buy a used motorbike and spending the rest on a small flock of ducks and chickens he hoped to raise. His family and about 1,000 others have been evicted ...
Zsombor Peter and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/evicted-railway-families-await-adbs-help-56128/
Opposition maintains call for reform of National Election Committee
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy told supporters on Tuesday that his Cambodia National Rescue Party is sticking to demands that the National Election Committee be reformed. But he did appear to back away from a previous demand that would have the NEC voted on and approved in ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/opposition-maintains-call-for-reform-of-national-election-committee-/1888820.html
Scot honoured for clearing landmines
A SCOTTISH man has become a Knight in the Kingdom of Cambodia for his services to landmine clearance in the country. ...
Herald Scotland News Staff
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/scot-honoured-for-clearing-landmines.23888303
CPP not worried over merger of CNRP, NP: Cheam Yeap
Senior official of Cambodian People’s Party said that his party was not worried over the merger of Nationalist Party and opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ZmQwOTEwMzg4ODk
Sar Kheng and Sam Rainsy to meet soon: CPP official
The working groups of the Cambodian People’s Party and Cambodia National Rescue Party are working together in order to arrange a meeting for the two parties, according to senior official from Cambodian People’s Party today. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=MmI4MDVmODhiMDB
Cambodia will put refugees at risk: academics
Dangerous political instability in Cambodia could put asylum seekers at grave risk, a leading academic has warned, as Immigration Minister Scott Morrison gave his strongest indication yet that refugees may be resettled there. University of NSW emeritus professor Carl Thayer said he was shocked the government would ...
Sarah Whyte
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/cambodia-will-put-refugees-at-risk-academics-20140407-zqrv5.html
Cambodian PM urges for tourism, agriculture cooperation with Maldives
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that the country wanted to see cooperation with Maldives in tourism and agriculture for the interests of the two countries and peoples. The premier made the remarks during a meeting with Maldives ex- President Mohamed Waheed Hassan at the ...
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/853160.shtml#.U0SuCvmSxqV
Unions press ahead with strike plans despite arrest threats
Union leaders planning a stay-at-home strike to demand a higher minimum wage for the country’s garment workers say they will press on with the strike after the Khmer New Year, despite the threat of arrest for anyone handing out leaflets promoting their plans. On Sunday, a ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-press-ahead-with-strike-plans-despite-arrest-threats-56012/
Rice sector credit boost
The government-backed Rural Development Bank (RDB) will lend $64 million to Cambodia’s agriculture sector in 2014, the bank’s top official said yesterday. Sun Kunthor, president of RDB, said most of the funding would be used to support growth in Cambodia’s rice sector as it strives to ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-sector-credit-boost
Families demand more dam compensation
Representatives of more than 250 ethnic Lao families in Stung Treng province, near the border with Laos, met under a mango tree Monday and decided to reject a compensation package offered by the developer of the Lower Sesan II dam. In January, the government approved a ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-demand-more-dam-compensation-56034/
Hun Sen urges safe driving during New Year
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday urged Cambodians to keep safe as they celebrate Khmer New Year this weekend and instructed law enforcement officers to be vigilant during a period renowned for causing an annual spike in traffic accidents. Speaking at a graduation ceremony on Koh ...
Khy Sovuthy and Hay Pisey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-urges-safe-driving-during-new-year-56040/
Education Ministry to delegate junior high exam to schools
Education Ministry officials on Monday confirmed that the ministry would no longer organize or oversee the junior high school exam, delegating the process to individual schools. As part of Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron’s reform of the graft-riddled education system, his ministry will forgo coordination of ...
Kuch Naren and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/education-ministry-to-delegate-junior-high-exam-to-schools-56015/
Palace says King’s name still intact
The Royal Palace yesterday said the letter sent by opposition leader Sam Rainsy to King Norodom Sihamoni last week that elicited a furious response from the government for “insulting” the King, did not, in fact, disrespect the monarch’s “honour and name”. A statement signed by the ...
Kevin Ponniah and Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/palace-says-king%E2%80%99s-name-still-intact
Mercedes halts imports over luxury tax
The sole retailer of Mercedes-Benz cars into the country, Hung Hiep (Cambodia) Co., has suspended imports since January over what it claims is a new import duty on luxury cars coming into the country. Other luxury car importers including Porsche, Audi, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/mercedes-halts-imports-over-luxury-tax-56050/
Factories not monitoring chemicals, says ministry
Following the mass fainting of hundreds of workers at garment factories last week, an official at the Ministry of Labour has raised concerns over the control of toxic chemicals. Leng Tong, director of the Labour Ministry’s occupational health and safety department, said factories should be providing ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/factories-not-monitoring-chemicals-says-ministry