The Cambodia Daily
CPP Parliament Approves Two Ministers, 2014 Budget
CPP lawmakers including Prime Minister Hun Sen unanimously voted Friday for their party members, Suy Sem and Cham Prasidh, to become heads of the newly created Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts, respectively. The 67 ruling-party parliamentarians present also approved ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-parliament-approves-two-ministers-2014-budget-49542/
Defense Minister Tells CNRP Boycotters to Get to Work
The CNRP should end its three-month boycott of the National Assembly and have greater respect for rules and regulations, Defense Minister Tea Banh said Thursday in his second biting attack on the opposition party in as many weeks. Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/defense-minister-tells-cnrp-boycotters-to-get-to-work-49498/
City Hall Warns Monks Over Political Activism
Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong warned monks Thursday that if they do not follow orders to keep out of politics, they could create a rift within the monkhood that could threaten the very existence of Buddhism in the country. Mr. Socheatvong also said that if monks ...
Mech Dara and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-warns-monks-over-political-activism-49496/
ACU Charges Hotel Tax Collector in Siem Reap Province
The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on Wednesday arrested a senior official from the Siem Reap provincial taxation branch and sent him to Phnom Penh to be placed in pretrial detention, officials said Thursday. Siem Reap Provincial Court president Duch Sok Sarin said that Liv Bunthan, the chief ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/acu-charges-hotel-tax-collector-in-siem-reap-province-49502/
Svay Rieng Workers Strike Again, Throw Rocks
Police briefly detained 13 garment factory workers on Thursday after about 20,000 workers, some throwing rocks, continued a strike that began Monday in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet City over wages and working conditions, a union official and police said. Union leaders had on Wednesday evening agreed ...
Aun Pheap and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/svay-rieng-workers-strike-again-throw-rocks-49506/
Opposition Warns It May Block All Roads to Phnom Penh
The opposition CNRP on Thursday threatened to block traffic in and out of Phnom Penh along all major roads next month unless the government meets its demands, including new elections and Prime Minister Hun Sen’s resignation. Mao Monivann, deputy director of the CNRP’s executive committee, said ...
Khuon Narim and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-warns-it-may-block-all-roads-to-phnom-penh-49500/
Rainsy Takes to Tuk-Tuk for Latest Opposition Protest Rally
CNRP President Sam Rainsy nearly exhausted all manner of wheeled, motorized transport during his opposition party’s latest protest procession through Phnom Penh on Wednesday, at one point even getting behind the handlebars of a tuk-tuk. It was the fourth straight day of what the CNRP says ...
Khuon Narim and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rainsy-takes-to-tuk-tuk-for-latest-opposition-protest-rally-49474/
USAID Review of Health NGO Finds Litany of Irregularities
A financial review by USAID, the U.S. government’s development arm, into local health NGO Reproductive and Child Health Alliance (RACHA) has found financial mismanagement coupled with a lack of transparency and oversight within the organization that may point to evidence of fraudulent activity. Well-known for its ...
Simon Henderson and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/usaid-review-of-health-ngo-finds-litany-of-irregularities-49464/
Rights Group Reaffirms Stance on Use of ‘Yuon’
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) on Wednesday released a statement seeking to clarify an open letter it issued on December 12, which accused CNRP President Sam Rainsy of making comments that are “both derogatory and discriminatory, againstpeople of Vietnamese origin.” The original letter, signed ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-group-reaffirms-stance-on-use-of-yuon-49477/
Special Economic Zone Strike in Svay Rieng Ends—For Now
An estimated 30,000 garment factory workers will resume work this morning after three days of strike action ended Wednesday when Svay Rieng provincial officials promised to help the strikers achieve their demands from factory owners. The mass strike led the owner of the Tai Seng Special ...
Aun Pheap and Phann Ana
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/special-economic-zone-strike-in-svay-rieng-ends-for-now-49469/
Despite Ban, Operators Offer Bonuses
Two of the country’s largest mobile phone operators are again offering attractive deals on calls, despite the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia’s (TRC) recent order to mobile operators to follow the government’s minimum prices for calls and to scale back customer promotions. On Sunday, Smart, which is ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/despite-ban-operators-offer-bonuses-49483/
CPP to Make Move Over Boycott of Parliament
The CPP-controlled National Assembly will soon send the National Election Committee (NEC) a letter officially informing the body of a boycott of parliament by the CNRP’s 55 members of parliament, in what appears to be the first step in the ruling party’s threat to have ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-to-make-move-over-boycott-of-parliament-49416/
Three New Districts in Phnom Penh Approved
The Ministry of Interior has approved the creation of three new districts in Phnom Penh following a proposal from City Hall to create five new districts before district and city council elections are held in May. Sak Setha, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-new-districts-in-phnom-penh-approved-49424/
Pursat Villagers Get No More Compensation
A representative of the Try Pheap Group said Tuesday that villagers in Pursat province who attempted to march to a public forum on Monday to ask authorities to intervene in a land dispute would not receive any further compensation after losing the right to the ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pursat-villagers-get-no-more-compensation-49418/
Hun Sen’s Niece Opens Tax Consulting Firm
Local law and consulting firm HML, whose chairperson and founding partner is Hun Kimleng, a niece of Prime Minister Hun Sen and wife of National Police chief Neth Savoeun, has teamed up with Tokyo-based XAT Tax Corp. to form a consulting agency focused solely on ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/hun-sens-niece-opens-tax-consulting-firm-49420/
Official Says ‘Strategic Partnership’ With Japan Won’t Irk China
Returning from a state visit to Japan on Tuesday, a member of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government dismissed the possibility that newly upgraded ties with Japan and Cambodia’s decision to join its Asean neighbors in a “freedom of overflight” pact with Tokyo might strain its ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-says-strategic-partnership-with-japan-wont-irk-china-49410/
Court Picks Up Land Dispute Involving Senator
The Kompong Speu Provincial Court has summoned for trial a married couple accused of encroaching on land excised from a plantation belonging to CPP Senator and businessman Ly Yong Phat, and has issued more than two dozen other summonses and arrest warrants in the past ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-picks-up-land-dispute-involving-senator-49414/
Cambodia Upgrades Diplomatic Relations With Japan
Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed to upgrade Cambodia’s diplomatic relations with Japan to a “strategic level” during talks in Tokyo on Sunday, but also thanked his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, for making efforts to mend relations with neighbor China, according to media reports. During a state ...
Phorn Bopha and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-upgrades-diplomatic-relations-with-japan-49386/
Disability Groups Put Focus on Speech Therapy
The government’s Disability Action Council (DAC) on Monday announced that it would be including speech therapy in its strategic plan for the next four years to address the problem of speech and swallowing disorders. DAC Secretary-General Em Chan Makara said the decision comes after research, conducted ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/disability-groups-put-focus-on-speech-therapy-49400/
Mekong Countries Agree to Expedite Dam Study
The Mekong River Commission’s (MRC) study on the potential long-term effects of large-scale dam building on the Mekong River needs to be expedited, members of the MRC agreed at the Fifth Mekong-Japan Summit in Tokyo on Saturday. However, they did not set a date for the ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mekong-countries-agree-to-expedite-dam-study-49360/
Interior minister says opposition divided over negotiations
Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Monday blamed stalled negotiations over the disputed results of July’s national election on divisions within the opposition CNRP, whose leaders he said were of two minds about resuming talks. Top-level talks between Prime Minister Hun Sen and CNRP President Sam Rainsy, ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/archives/interior-minister-says-opposition-divided-over-negotiations-49394/
Government Proposes 100% Hike in Minimum Wage by 2018
The government proposed doubling the minimum wage for garment workers—from $80 to $160—within five years during a meeting with labor unions and garment manufacturers on Monday at the Ministry of Labor. “We have a plan to raise the minimum wage up to $160 for garment workers, ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-proposes-100-hike-in-minimum-wage-by-2018-49396/
CPP to Inform King, NEC of Opposition’s Assembly Boycott
National Assembly President Heng Samrin will in the coming days send the National Election Committee (NEC) an official letter informing it of the opposition party’s boycott of parliament, according to local media, possibly the first step in the ruling party’s plan to have the opposition’s ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-to-inform-king-nec-of-oppositions-assembly-boycott-49348/
Factory Owners Slam Government Over Handling of Strikes
Members of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) said during a conference Sunday that they are “fed up” with the government for not controlling strikes by labor unions. “All of us have the same issue: illegal strikes,” Van Porphin, a member of GMAC’s executive committee, ...
Colin Meyn and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factory-owners-slam-government-over-handling-of-strikes-49352/