News
Vote held in contempt
The National Assembly yesterday appointed a ruling Cambodian People’s Party stalwart to fill the final seat of the judicial body that oversees the Kingdom’s judges and prosecutors and whose political independence is already a target of criticism. A majority of 66 parliamentarians voted Ith Rady, an ...
Meas Sokchea and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vote-held-contempt
After budget released, opposition blasts process
With the release of the government’s 2015 draft national budget Thursday, the opposition CNRP, whose 55 lawmakers joined the National Assembly in August, called Cambodia’s budget-drafting process “disgusting and unbelievable” on Friday. The draft 2015 budget calls for $400 million—or about 10.6 percent—more than 2014. ...
Kuch Naren and Chris Mueller
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-budget-released-opposition-blasts-process-71594/
Parliament set to mull $3.75b budget
Education and health are set to receive large boosts in funding next year, according to the draft budget waiting approval at the National Assembly, which outlines total government spending of $3.75 billion. The draft budget allocates $324 million to the health ministry, up 24.7 per ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/parliament-set-mull-375b-budget
Chhay presses graft case
Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay will send letters to National Assembly President Heng Samrin and First Deputy President Kem Sokha this week urging the leaders to take legal action against the parliament’s secretary-general, Leng Peng Long. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/chhay-presses-graft-case
Cambodian opposition lawmaker wants probe of nepotism claims
A senior Cambodian opposition lawmaker has lodged a complaint against a high-ranking, ruling-party official in parliament, accusing him of corruption and nepotism, but is frustrated by the lack of response. Son Chhay, from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), charged that Mith Karen, parliament’s deputy ...
Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/nepotism-10282014183526.html
CNRP whip cries foul on nepotism in parliament
CNRP lawmaker Son Chhay has sent a letter to National Assembly Secretary-General Leng Peng Long accusing the official’s deputy of stacking the parliament’s bureaucratic ranks with members of his extended family. ...
Kuch Naren and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-whip-cries-foul-on-nepotism-in-parliament-70668/
Chhay aims to purge Nat'l Assembly of ‘ghosts’
Senior opposition lawmaker Son Chhay has formally requested that the entire staff list of the National Assembly’s more than 1,000-strong secretariat be turned over to him for investigation as part of a bid to root out “ghost” workers and nepotistic appointments. As part of his one-man ...
Pech Sotheary and Kevin Ponniah
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/chhay-aims-purge-natl-assembly-%E2%80%98ghosts%E2%80%99
Assembly’s 2nd Deputy President gets 63 advisers
A Royal Decree signed by acting head of state Chea Sim has approved the appointment of 63 advisers and assistants to National Assembly Second Vice President Nguon Nhel, according to a copy of the document obtained Wednesday. ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/assemblys-2nd-deputy-president-gets-63-advisers-70662/
Commerce claims that donations not political
The Ministry of Commerce has defended its solicitation of donations from private organisations as voluntary, legal and a form of corporate social responsibility. The ministry’s response comes after Post Weekend revealed on Saturday, through leaked documents, that the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) made a ...
Eddie Morton
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/commerce-claims-donations-not-political
High-level officials to get raises
Prime Minister Hun Sen is set for a monthly salary hike of more than $900 as part of sweeping changes to senior government and high-ranking civil servant bonuses, according to a new sub-decree. The document, dated October 13 and obtained by the Post yesterday, states that ...
Pech Sotheary and Shane Worrell
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/high-level-officials-get-raises
NGOs call for open budget process
A group of NGOs yesterday called for more detailed information on national budgets to be made public before their approval, maintaining that the public had a right to know about and comment on the expenditures that would ultimately affect their day-to-day lives. Tek Vannara, director of ...
Chhay Channyda
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/ngos-call-open-budget-process
Cambodian Opposition Gets Parliamentary Commission Roles
This week lawmakers from Cambodia’s opposition party are being voted onto 10 parliamentary commissions. This is a key part of a political deal in which the opposition finally agreed to take its 55 seats in parliament, ending its year-long boycott over alleged vote-rigging in the ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voanews.com/content/cambodian-opposition-gets-parliamentary-commission-roles/2428215.html
National Assembly to vote for new leadership next Tuesday
123 lawmakers from ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) will vote on August 26, 2014 to elect new leadership of the National Assembly. According to the general commissariat of the National Assembly, the agenda will include: Vote for Nguon Nhil ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=MmYxYzc5NjRmMTc
Australia wants to resettle refugees on remote island, Cambodian opposition leader says
Australia has considered sending up to 1000 refugees to live on a remote island off the coast of impoverished Cambodia under a controversial resettlement agreement,, according to an opposition leader in Phnom Penh. Australian officials have visited several sites to accommodate the refugees now on Nauru, ...
Government approves new traffic law
The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a new draft traffic law aimed at improving the safety of Cambodia’s notoriously dangerous roads, with only legislative approval standing in the way of the bill being passed into law. The draft law, which includes changes to 64 articles, ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-approves-new-traffic-law-66675/
Opposition to form ‘shadow cabinet’ in parliament
A “shadow cabinet” will be created inside the National Assembly once the CNRP’s lawmakers-elect swear into office, senior opposition party officials said Thursday, in a move that nine years ago saw an opposition lawmaker imprisoned on charges of inciting a rebellion. Prime Minister Hun Sen and ...
Alex Willemyns and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-to-form-shadow-cabinet-in-parliament-64917/
Logging a resource issue, says official
A forestry official with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) who is usually tight-lipped acknowledged last week that his agency has struggled to combat illegal logging, blaming a shortage of manpower and entrenched opportunistic logging by villagers – explanations that were laughed off ...
May Titthara and Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-resource-issue-says-official
Officials to rotate after eight years
The Ministry of Interior on Friday announced that provincial and municipal governors and deputy governors will now be reshuffled between provinces every eight years in a move that the ministry maintained would help “improve services”. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-rotate-after-eight-years
Tough talk on ELCs
Economic land concessionaires not abiding by their contracts could have their licences revoked if they have seriously breached the terms, Prime Minister Hun Sen has said. Illegally seizing forest land would be punished under the Law on Forestry, he said on Friday, speaking at an annual ...
May Titthara and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tough-talk-elcs
Proposed Iran loan under fire
Opposition lawmakers-elect yesterday lambasted reports that Cambodia has asked Iran for a $54.45 million loan. Following an official visit to Tehran last week by a delegation from the National Assembly led by First Vice Chairman Nguon Nhel, Cambodia’s official news agency, Agence Kampuchea Press, reported that ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/proposed-iran-loan-under-fire
CNRP to gauge land dispute
Lawmakers-elect from the Cambodia National Rescue Party are scheduled today to visit families in Koh Kong province affected by a long-running land dispute with Union Development Group, just weeks after the company destroyed dozens of homes there. Rights groups say that Chinese-owned Union Development has burned ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-gauge-land-dispute
Opposition Barred From Meeting Detainees for a Second Day
Riot police and security forces prevented an opposition delegation from meeting with 23 protest detainees in Kampong Cham province on Tuesday, for second day in a row. No violence was reported, as the delegation from the Cambodia National Rescue Party met with more than 100 police ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/opposition-barred-from-meeting-detainees-for-a-second-day/1844162.html
CNRP to try to visit jailed 23
Opposition party members will lead a delegation to the doors of Kampong Cham Correctional Centre 3 on Tuesday in the hope of visiting the 23 people imprisoned there following a violent crackdown on striking garment workers in early January. Despite having previously been denied access to ...
May Titthara and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-try-visit-jailed-23
CPP Takes Steps to ‘Reform’ Human Rights Commission
Prime Minister Hun Sen passed a sub-decree late last year to expand the scope of his government’s Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) by creating new departments and placing rights monitors in villages, according to a copy of the Royal Gazette dated December 31 and distributed ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-takes-steps-to-reform-human-rights-commission-50942/