Punished At the Polls, Cambodia’s Long-Serving PM Is Smiling Again
His party is reeling from its worst-ever election result. His political opponents have grown bold and vocal. His people are protesting on the streets. So why is Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen smiling? The long-ruling autocrat emerged beaming from lengthy closed-door meetings this week with his ...
The Irrawaddy News Staff
http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/44319
Lawmaker’s morning at park ended by district guards
Senior opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua walked into Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Wednesday morning, trailed by a small group of news photographers, and stopped to pose in front of about 100 municipal riot police exercising in the park. Ms. Sochua’s small act of defiance against the ...
Alex Willemyns and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmakers-morning-at-park-ended-by-district-guards-55636/
‘We are not afraid’: Rainsy
In a fiery speech attended by thousands, opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday vowed that his party would boycott the National Assembly if a thorough investigation of election results is not undertaken and vowed mass demonstrations if preliminary numbers aren’t revised to reflect a Cambodia National ...
Meas Sokchea and Abby Seiff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98we-are-not-afraid%E2%80%99-rainsy
Government Reverses Ban, Agrees to CNRP March
The Ministry of Interior announced Tuesday in a last minute meeting that it would allow the opposition CNRP to take 1,000 people through the streets of Phnom Penh to deliver a petition to the U.N. and eight foreign embassies during its three-day mass demonstration that ...
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/government-reverses-ban-agrees-to-cnrp-march-45694/
Bavet City garment strikes gain momentum
Trade unions may have failed to get a stay-at-home strike for higher wages off the ground after the Khmer New Year earlier this month. But a strike for bonus pay is picking up steam in Svay Rieng Province, where some 20,000 garment workers protested at ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bavet-city-garment-strikes-gain-momentum-57447/
Myanmar’s siren song
Unions and labour rights groups have spent recent months unashamedly drilling home a stark reminder: Cambodia’s minimum garment wage, at $61 per month, compares poorly with those in Thailand – where workers earn more than $200 a month – and Vietnam, which has a base ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031861998/National/myanmar-s-siren-song.html
Private property, public greed in Cambodia
Mark Moorstein knew little about Cambodia before he got involved in a lawsuit on behalf of land owners there. But as it’s turning out, the suit could end up affecting most every country in Asia. Moorstein is a land-use lawyer in Northern Virginia who, like many ...
With Just One Party Present, King Convenes New Parliament
King Norodom Sihamoni presided over a nearly half-empty opening session of the National Assembly on Monday as all 55 elected lawmakers of the opposition CNRP followed through with their threat to boycott parliament to protest disputed results of July’s national election. Analysts and election monitors ...
Zsombor Peter and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/with-just-one-party-present-king-convenes-new-parliament-43033/
Cambodia Airports Comes Under Attack by a Former Executive
Philippe Laurent became secretary-general of Cambodia Airports in May 2008. He was one of six senior executives in charge of the country’s international airports in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and the little-used facility in Sihanoukville. Mr. Laurent is now carrying out a one-man campaign against ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/selected-features/cambodia-airports-comes-under-attack-17727/
Five More Years For Hun Sen; Some Ministers Reshuffled
A day after its opening session and still devoid of the 55 lawmakers-elect of the opposition CNRP, the country’s new, one-party National Assembly voted Prime Minister Hun Sen in for yet another five-year term Tuesday and approved an extensive reshuffle of his Cabinet. In a ...
Hul Reaksmey and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/five-more-years-for-hun-sen-some-ministers-reshuffled-43133/
Two Decades On, Constitution Fails to Live Up to Promises
The atmosphere in Phnom Penh 20 years ago today was one of jubilation and optimism as then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk signed Cambodia’s new Constitution into law and reclaimed the throne as King. The promulgation of the Constitution—which marked the end of the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia’s ...
Alex Willemyns and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/two-decades-on-constitution-fails-to-live-up-to-promises-43035/
Four Arrested In Attempt to Inspire ‘Rose Revolution’
Police said Sunday they have arrested four people believed to be involved in a conspiracy hatched by a dissident Khmer-American group plotting to topple the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. Two men and two women were arrested on Thursday suspected of attempting to hand out ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/four-arrested-in-attempt-to-inspire-rose-revolution-39976/
Wife of Pailin Governor Reaps Benefits From Casino Deal
Venturing into Cambodia’s casino market in May 2011, Macau-backed gambling firm Entertainment Gaming Asia (EGA) promised tens of thousands of dollars to the wife of Pailin’s provincial governor in order to lease land for the construction of a new casino, documents filed with the U.S. ...
Simon Lewis and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/wife-of-pailin-governor-reaps-benefits-from-casino-deal-40660/
The Missing Link
Resources to feed and educate a child, access to shelter and a life free of abuse arc fundamental rights, yet each day millions of Cambodians struggle to meet their basic needs alone. With more than 30% of the population living below the national poverty line of ...
In Cambodia, Cyber Casinos Fall Into a Legal Gray Area
In 2010, the Ha Tien Vegas Entertainment Resort, a casino investment on Kampot province’s border with Vietnam that included luxury karaoke rooms and suites, launched with high hopes of attracting Vietnamese gamblers. At the end of December, Ha Tien Vegas closed down. To the north, in ...
Congressional Hearing in US Pushes Cut to Cambodian Aid
At a congressional hearing in Washington on Tuesday that scathingly rebuked Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling CPP, a U.S. lawmaker called for legislation to cut American aid to Cambodia following the national election on July 28. Representative Steve Chabot, who chaired the House Subcommittee ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/congressional-hearing-in-us-pushes-cut-to-cambodian-aid-34389/