Government
National government
New minister cleans up Cambodia’s education system
Cambodia’s Grade 12 students took their final test in August 2014. Only 26% of them passed. The new Minister of Education had ordered extra security around the testing places. Students taking the test in 2015 know they will have to study hard in order to ...
Robert Carmichael
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/cambodia-education-system-cleanup/2599977.html
Unions warn of strikes over gov’t rejection of new branch
A group of eight trade unions Thursday said the government has turned down every one of their applications to form local branches at the country’s garment factories since early last year and threatened mass strikes if the rejections continue. At a press conference in Phnom Penh, ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-warn-of-strikes-over-govt-rejection-of-new-branches-77031/
Illegal wood found near military police base
Environment Ministry officials on Thursday found a cache of more than 400 pieces of illegally logged first-grade wood in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary, which the ministry oversees, and suspect officers from a nearby military police base of being involved. Thin Ngoal, the sanctuary’s deputy director, ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/illegal-wood-found-near-military-police-base-77008/
CNRP calls for government intervention in agriculture
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party has called on the government to intervene in the softening prices of Cambodian agricultural commodities. In a letter passed to Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday, via National Assembly president Heng Samrin, a group of opposition lawmakers has raised concerns ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cnrp-calls-government-intervention-agriculture
Disgruntled nursing students petition Parliament
About 20 nursing students from the privately run International Science Institute petitioned the National Assembly on Wednesday to demand action against their school, which they claim is unlicensed and providing them with a substandard education. The school opened in 2012 and currently has about 160 students, ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/disgruntled-nursing-students-petition-parliament-76907/
New plan for ‘state secrets’
The Ministry of Interior announced a decision to draft a law to protect state secrets after meeting with Vietnamese defence officials yesterday, the National Police has announced. According to a statement on the police website, Vietnam will support the training of government officials in encryption and ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-plan-state-secrets
Promises made to HIV village
Health Minister Mam Bunheng announced yesterday he has proposed that a reserve budget be used to help victims of the mass HIV outbreak in Battambang province’s Roka village, as he vowed to strengthen health services across the country. Speaking at a press conference following questioning by ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/promises-made-hiv-village
Official defends imprisonment of activists to visiting US envoy
A secretary of state at the Foreign Affairs Ministry on Tuesday defended the government’s widely criticized imprisonment of 11 activists and an opposition official during a closed-door meeting with a visiting U.S. diplomat. Daniel Russel, an assistant secretary of state at the U.S. government’s Bureau of ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-defends-imprisonment-of-activists-to-visiting-us-envoy-76819/
Ministry outlines procedures for businesses hiring foreigners
The Labor Ministry released a statement Monday with a list of procedures all businesses in Cambodia that hire foreign workers must follow in order to comply with the country’s long-standing Labor Law. According to Monday’s statement, which was signed by Labor Minister Ith Sam ...
Petrol firms told to open books
Cambodia’s petrol retailers have been ordered by the government to hand over import information and financial records in what looks to be the first steps toward installing fuel-price legislation. The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) announced publicly yesterday via state-owned media Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP) ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/petrol-firms-told-open-books
Crimes alleged: Investigation into hospital ‘corruption’
Officials are investigating Preah Sihanouk Provincial Hospital after anonymous complaints were put forward against its director, accusing him of corruption and a lack of transparency. According to anonymous letters written by doctors and nurses in the hospital and widely disseminated, hospital director Seng Nong has been ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/crimes-alleged-investigation-hospital-corruption
Unauthorised drugs found in Siem Reap raid
Over 470,000 units of unauthorised or expired drugs were confiscated during a crackdown on unlicensed medical facilities in Siem Reap City this week, according to provincial police. The inspections of health facilities started on Friday with city economic police working with the provincial health department to ...
Thik Kaliyann
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unauthorised-drugs-found-siem-reap-raid
Three more deputy commissioners appointed
The Interior Ministry promoted three senior police officials to the rank of deputy National Police commissioner in a ceremony Tuesday afternoon, swelling the ranks of deputy commissioners to 15 in apparent preparation for three other deputies to retire. In the absence of Interior Minister Sar Kheng, ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-more-deputy-commissioners-appointed-76823/
Health Minister vows to rid Cambodia of unlicensed medical clinics
Cambodia’s Minister of Health on Tuesday vowed to eliminate the country’s unlicensed medical clinics and hire more health care providers, after an unauthorized medical worker who admitted to reusing syringes was linked to a mass HIV infection in a remote western village. ...
Prach Chiv
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/clinics-01272015134440.html
Growth in tourist arrivals slows to 5-year low
Growth in tourist arrivals slowed down last year to the lowest rate since the global financial crisis, according to preliminary figures provided by the Ministry of Tourism on Monday. The number of visitors arriving by all modes of transport reached 4.5 million last year, up just ...
George Styllis and Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/growth-in-tourist-arrivals-slows-to-5-year-low-76755/
Kandal villagers burn tyres to fight dredging
Nearly a hundred villagers living along a river located in Sa’ang district’s Koh Anlong Chin commune in Kandal province recently protested against the plans of one company to dredge sand in the area. On Sunday, employees of sand-dredging company Sok Teang Import Export, which has been ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kandal-villagers-burn-tyres-fight-dredging
Vocational skills to merge with curriculum
Seeking to amend Cambodia’s shortage of skilled labourers and equip young secondary school graduates with employable trades, the government will soon roll out a new technical training curriculum at select high schools. ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vocational-skills-merge-curriculum
Out of the woods: Forest crime often goes unpunished
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries saw at least 2,400 cases of forest- and wildlife-related crimes in 2014, of which almost 1,800 were forwarded to the courts, though fewer than 10 people were sentenced in relation to the crimes, ministry figures say. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/out-woods-forest-crime-often-goes-unpunished
Minister to be questioned over HIV outbreak
Health Minister Mam Bunheng has been summoned for questioning next week by the National Assembly’s health commission over the outbreak of HIV among villagers in Battambang province’s Roka commune, the commission’s secretary-general said Friday. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-to-be-questioned-over-hiv-outbreak-76629/
Mining firms still working despite ban
Four mining companies digging stone in Banteay Meanchey province that are purportedly owned by a military commander and other officers have carried on mining despite a government ban. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mining-firms-still-working-despite-ban
Roads around Tonle Sap to be upgraded
The Ministry of Rural Development plans to pave 1,200 kilometres of dirt roads across nine provinces surrounding the Tonle Sap this year, in a $120 million bid to improve the lives of rural farmers and reduce migration. The roads are to connect rural areas to ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/roads-around-tonle-sap-be-upgraded
Largest teachers’ association laments dearth of textbooks
The head of the country’s largest teachers’ association sent an open letter to Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron on Wednesday contending that there is a serious shortage of textbooks and teacher manuals due to corruption and indifference on the part of ministry officials. Rong Chhun, president ...
Ouch Sony and Max Weinstein
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/largest-teachers-association-laments-dearth-of-textbooks-76517/
No licences, much dredging
Five sand-dredging operations in Ratanakkiri province – one owned by the provincial director of Public Works and Transportation – have been in business illegally for some 20 years, the rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Adhoc said that it uncovered the operations in Veun Say, Lumphat and ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-licences-much-dredging
Salary cut off for absenteeism
One month after the government announced a systemic crackdown on ghost workers, the Ministry of Education suspended a Sihanoukville administrator for alleged absenteeism, according to a copy of the disciplinary letter. Minister of Education Hang Chuon Naron said the suspension was decided on following complaints ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/salary-cut-absenteeism