The Phnom Penh Post
New deadlock but old tactics, analysts say
Ahead of today’s hearing on Cambodia’s record at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, opposition figures and analysts said the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has reverted to familiar tactics of post-election suppression. Analysts yesterday said that the breaking up of Cambodia National Rescue Party-led protests ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-deadlock-old-tactics-analysts-say
Developer, soldiers ‘destroyed 29 homes’
Representatives of Chinese company Tianjin Union Development Group, backed by soldiers, annihilated crops and burned the homes of 29 families in Koh Kong’s Botum Sakor district last week, rights groups say. According to a report given to the Post yesterday, a two-day fact-finding mission spearheaded by ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/developer-soldiers-%E2%80%98destroyed-29-homes%E2%80%99
No talks amid violence: Sokha
Avoiding a reprisal of the roadblocks and counter-protests that forced the cancellation of planned opposition events in recent days, Cambodia National Rescue Party vice president Kem Sokha gave a speech calling for peace and stability to hundreds of supporters at the party’s Kampong Thom province ...
May Titthara and Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-talks-amid-violence-sokha
Gamble on casino in Pailin looks like a loser
Crippling revenue and poor gamer numbers have prompted Entertainment Gaming Asia (EGA) to consider walking away from its Dreamworld Casino in Pailin province, according to a filing on the NASDAQ exchange on January 21. EGA, owned by Melco International Development, runs Dreamworld Casinos in Pailin and ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gamble-casino-pailin-looks-loser
Processing violent crackdowns
In the past four weeks, authorities in Phnom Penh have shot dead at least four people, injured and arrested dozens more and banned public gatherings. As Twitter feeds have gone into overdrive with eyewitness accounts of crackdowns – as happened yesterday with events at Freedom Park ...
Chhay Channyda and Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/processing-violent-crackdowns
New protection for giant ibis
A newly demarcated wildlife and forest protection zone designed to safeguard Cambodia’s national bird, the giant ibis, along with a number of other endangered species, has been approved after more than 10 years in the making. A government sub-decree approving a protection zone spanning 66,932 hectares ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-protection-giant-ibis
Sonando next to test capital ban
Beehive Radio president Mam Sonando has said he and his supporters will defy the capital’s ban on demonstrations at the Ministry of Interior this morning after the government refused to issue his station a licence for increased bandwidth. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sonando-next-test-capital-ban
UN asked to ‘address crisis’
Amnesty International and rights group Licadho in a joint statement yesterday called on UN member states to “address the country’s human rights crisis” at a UN Human Rights Council hearing in Geneva on Tuesday. The statement, which was sent to foreign embassies, the Cambodian government and ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/un-asked-%E2%80%98address-crisis%E2%80%99
Officers queried on shootings
Military police officers involved in the clash on Veng Sreng Boulevard that led to the deaths of at least four protesters earlier this month have been questioned in connection with the shootings, though none will face charges, a military police spokesman said yesterday. The five officers, ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officers-queried-shootings
Hun Sen to take lead in reform program review
Prime Minister Hun Sen has announced he will preside over a review of the government’s reform program. “[Hun Sen] announced that on January 29 he will preside over a wide-ranging meeting at the Peace Palace in order to evaluate and boost reform programs, especially economic reform ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hun-sen-take-lead-reform-program-review
NGOs push for boost in female candidates
More than 50 per cent of candidates nominated by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party in the upcoming provincial and district council elections should be women, a coalition of 12 civil society groups said in a letter on Thursday. ...
Vong Sokheng and Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngos-push-boost-female-candidates
France fronts $359 million
The French Agency for Development (AFD) has pledged $359 million in grants and loans to Cambodia over the next three years, state news agency AKP reported Friday. ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/france-fronts-359-million
A rock and a hard place
Some three hours’ drive from the scenes of violence unfolding in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park yesterday, the Cambodia National Rescue Party found distance no remedy for what it termed a calculated attempt at intimidation. As authorities blocked roads leading to a planned public meeting at the ...
Koam Chanrasmey and Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rock-and-hard-place
Rainsy eyes seat at UN rights review meeting
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy left for Europe yesterday evening to attend a UN Human Rights Council review on Cambodia in Geneva and to lobby European Union officials to take a stronger stance against the government, he said before departure. Rainsy plans on attending the Universal Periodic ...
Meas Sokchea and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rainsy-eyes-seat-un-rights-review-meeting
Chainsaws confiscated by villagers
Ethnic Phnong villagers in Mondulkiri province’s Sen Monorom district will file a complaint with rights group Adhoc today against three men who allegedly illegally logged 10 cubic metres of timber from their forest. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/chainsaws-confiscated-villagers
Garment IPO to pay for factory
Taiwanese garment factory Grand Twins International (GTI) has carefully laid out a schedule so it can go public on Cambodia’s stock exchange after the dust settles from unrest tied to minimum wage disputes, according to the company’s chief financial controller, Henry Chen. GTI received approval from ...
Eddie Morton and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/garment-ipo-pay-factory
Workers strike again to demand strike pay
About 2,000 workers at Takeo province’s I-Cheng (Cambodia) Cooperation remain on strike today, after management held steady in its refusal to pay employees for days they joined in a national garment worker strike in December and this month. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-strike-again-demand-strike-pay
Unions take big picture view
Union leaders yesterday said that despite having held strikes calling for a doubling of the minimum wage that were supported and encouraged by the country’s opposition party, they did not feel betrayed that the wage hike was taking a backseat in political negotiations. Following a government ...
Mom Kunthear and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-take-big-picture-view
ANZ sugar fallout broadens
Shareholders will want answers from ANZ bank after it was revealed this week that the banking giant’s joint venture in Cambodia financed ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s controversial sugar plantation, the Responsible Investment Association Australia (RIAA) said yesterday. Environmental audit documents obtained by the Post on Tuesday ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/anz-sugar-fallout-broadens
Key demand lingers: Rainsy
While the opposition and ruling parties have been shuffling negotiating proposals back and forth to break the political deadlock over recent weeks, one main contentious point remains unresolved: an early election, Cambodia National Rescue Party leader Sam Rainsy said yesterday. The CNRP responded affirmatively to a ...
Vong Sokheng and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/key-demand-lingers-rainsy
Smart rolls out 4G network
Mobile internet speeds in Cambodia are ratcheting up a notch. Smart Mobile, the country’s second largest operator by subscribers, is making 4G LTE internet available to customers this week, the company announced yesterday during the launch of the service at NagaWorld Casino. Thomas Hundt, CEO of Smart, ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/smart-rolls-out-4g-network
Petitioners set for Round 2 of showdown with City Hall
Protesters were due to march on four foreign embassies this morning to deliver petitions calling for the release of the 23 detainees held at the remote Correctional Centre 3 after being arrested during the crackdown earlier this month. The march – to the embassies of Germany, ...
Mom Kunthear and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/petitioners-set-round-2-showdown-city-hall
Slum improvements planned
Civil society groups and Phnom Penh municipal officials next month will hold a workshop to decide which designated slum areas will be the focus of a planned pilot project to improve living standards. On Tuesday night, Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatavong and members of civil society ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/slum-improvements-planned
Digital Divide staff back on job
A week-long strike involving more than 100 work-study participants at Phnom Penh-based NGO Digital Divide Data ended on Sunday following talks conducted by the social enterprise’s CEO, who flew in from New York to attend to the matter, participants and management said yesterday. Program participants, who ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/digital-divide-staff-back-job