ព័ត៌មាន
Big opposition gains
The ruling Cambodian People’s Party saw its ironclad grip on the National Assembly weaken dramatically, dropping 22 seats in winning 68 of 123, with the opposition the beneficiary and the CPP’s royalist coalition partners winning none at all in an election rife with alleged irregularities. Though ...
Workers paid out on doorstop of election
A month-long battle to secure back pay waged by 750 garment workers has ended only days before the national election – with the government footing the bill. The $450,000 payout to the Pine Great (Cambodia) factory workers – whose factory owner skipped town in April – ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-paid-out-doorstop-election
IPU Finds Assembly Has Little Loans Oversight
Cambodia’s National Assembly is lacking, compared to other countries’ parliaments, in the oversight it exercises over new loans taken out by the government from international financial institutions, according to a new report. The study, published Tuesday by Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the World Bank, found ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/ipu-finds-assembly-has-little-loans-oversight-36432/
Timing of stats questioned
For the first time in recent memory, the Ministry of Economy and Finance has released growth projections for the first half of the year, and the numbers are good. The ministry’s preliminary data claims that from January through June, economic growth stood at 7.6 per ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/timing-stats-questioned
Voters split in Boeung Kak
The battle for Phnom Penh at Sunday’s national election will be fought out with the years-long Boeung Kak land dispute still unresolved, after the city’s governor announced yesterday a solution would be found only after the ballot, villagers said. Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong, who in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/voters-split-boeung-kak
Cambodia election will not have influence on tourism
Tourism is one of the major sectors supporting the Cambodian economy. Last year, the country attracted 3.58 million foreign tourists, generating 2.2 billion US dollars in revenues. The Cambodian Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said Tuesday that the July 28 national elections in Cambodia would not ...
http://www.eturbonews.com/36396/cambodia-election-will-not-have-influence-tourism
Villagers blame rubber company
Villagers in Preah Vihear’s Kulen district are seeking the assistance of rights group Adhoc, claiming a Malaysian rubber company has stopped them from receiving land titles. Sok Yam, 48, one of the four representatives of the Sro Yong commune residents, said members of 72 families thumbprinted ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-blame-rubber-company
Villagers claim CPP arm-twisting
About 40 families of ex-Khmer Rouge and government soldiers in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district complained to rights group Adhoc yesterday, accusing officials of forcing them to thumbprint a contract saying they would vote CPP so the party could resolve an ongoing land dispute, an ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-claim-cpp-arm-twisting
Workers to get back pay before election
Social Affairs Ministry officials yesterday promised that about 750 workers from the shuttered Pine Great garment factory will receive their overdue salaries before the election. Yesterday Touch Somuth, a member of the Social Affairs Ministry committee formed to resolve the issue, said the committee was ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-get-back-pay-election
Despite Land Loss, Minorities Back Status Quo
Romam Gvin could be described as a counterintuitive voter. Intuition might lead you to believe that Mr. Gvin blames the government for the loss of his land to the Vietnamese rubber company that now owns everything for as far as the eye can see here in ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/despite-land-loss-minorities-back-status-quo-34786/
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/
Cash for Siem Reap Market Repair to Come From National Budget
A $300,000 sum to repair Siem Reap City’s fire-ravaged Doeum Kralanh market, originally billed on Monday as a donation from Prime Minister Hun Sen, will actually be taken from the national budget, according to a senior ruling-party official. Less than three weeks before the July 28 ...
Hundreds demonstrate on activist’s behalf
Two days before a land activist’s scheduled sentencing, about 400 people affected by land grabs demonstrated at Pursat Provincial Court in support of the man who frequently protests against the Pheap Imex Company. About 12,000 families are now involved in land disputes around a Pheap ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013070966735/National/hundreds-demonstrate-on-activist-s-behalf.html
Critics Say Hun Sen’s Land Title Program Is Biased
A controversial land titling program set up by Prime Minister Hun Sen has been suspended ahead of the July 28 elections, but critics say the program should not be restarted. The titling program itself began in December 2012 and is expected to end after elections scheduled ...
A more personal B Kak dispute makes airwaves
In the past few years, the explosive events at Boeung Kak lake – including violent evictions and arrests – have gone largely unreported outside the Kingdom’s independent media outlets. Outspoken community representative Tep Vanny has been under attack from her fellow Boeung Kak residents, who ...
Rubber Company Joins CPP Gift-Giving Ceremony in Ratanakkiri
Representatives of a Vietnamese rubber firm that has been accused of contributing to the illegal deforestation of vast tracts of land in northeast Cambodia joined local CPP-aligned government officials in Ratanakkiri province on Friday to hand out rice, salt and sugar to more than 400 ...
Unlike Past Elections, Property Investors Remain Buoyant
Ahead of elections 10 years ago, people across the country would hoard rice in case the vote sent the country spiraling into a state of turmoil. Businesses across the country would bide their time before making any major investments. And those who could afford to ...
Families in Land Dispute With City Detained for Questioning
Three men locked in a land dispute with Phnom Penh authorities were questioned both by the police and the municipal court Wednesday after they were accused of destroying property on land the government has swapped with a private firm. Ly Bun Heang, said that he, his ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-in-land-dispute-with-city-detained-for-questioning-32193/
Opposition Asks Donors to Stop Work With Government
Lawmakers from the opposition SRP and Human Rights Party who were expelled from Parliament earlier this month have called on the foreign diplomatic corps and international donors to stop signing agreements and conducting other business with the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. In a letter ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/opposition-asks-donors-to-stop-work-with-government-31421/
Hundreds Protest Over Forest Land Seizures
More than 700 villagers from five provinces yesterday protested in front of the provincial government headquarters in Kompong Chhnang after losing their community forests to large agro-industry firms. Organized by the Cambodian Grassroots People’s Assembly- a network of communities that includes forestry and land activists as ...
Call for Oversight of Cambodian Land Campaign
A land titling campaign in Cambodia launched and financed by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s lacks transparency and could leave thousands of people landless, a human rights group said Wednesday, urging the country’s donors to push for reform of the program. The campaign, which employs volunteer youth ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/land-06122013150317.html
Authorities Deny Abuses at Thai Plantation Tied To CPP Senator
Oddar Meanchey province deputy governor Lon An yesterday confirmed CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat’s involvement in a trio of sugar cane plantations that rights groups took to the National Human rights Commission of Thailand last week, but denied their allegations of rights abuses. The deputy ...
Villagers Camp Out to Protest ‘Land Grab’
More than 100 people from two communes in Kratie province’s Sambor district gathered yesterday for a three-day protest in front of the provincial office of Think Biotech, a Korean-owned timber company villagers say is encroaching on their land. As of yesterday evening, 10 armed policemen ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052765854/National/villagers-camp-out-to-protest-land-grab.html
Subedi Protest Linked to CPP-Aligned Youth Group
Despite the apparent spontaneity of a protest against U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi at a university in Phnom Penh on Tuesday night, it emerged Wednesday that one of the apparent leaders of the demonstration is associated with a youth organization aligned with the ruling ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/subedi-protest-linked-to-cpp-aligned-youth-group-26156/