The Phnom Penh Post
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
CNRP denied access to suspects
Phnom Penh Municipality has rejected a request from the Cambodia National Rescue Party to visit the 23 detainees held in Kampong Cham province’s Tropaing Phlong prison, also known as Correctional Centre 3. In a letter sent to the CNRP dated January 21, Phnom Penh Municipal Court ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-denied-access-suspects
Minimum wage up for ministerial discussion
An interministerial committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon will meet next month to discuss the recent minimum wage increase and subsequent fallout. Ministry of Labour spokesman Heng Sour yesterday told the Post that Prime Minister Hun Sen assigned Chhon to lead the meeting ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/minimum-wage-ministerial-discussion
Exports consistent for Cambodia’s ag sector
Cambodia exported 2.9 million tons of agricultural products last year, roughly the same as 2012, but experts say the figure does not reflect the huge potential for the market. According to official data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, exports included more than 1 ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/exports-consistent-cambodia%E2%80%99s-ag-sector
Untrained guards rule at protests
Security guards that have forcibly detained protesters in the capital in recent weeks include large numbers of men who have received no government security training, Phnom Penh municipal spokesman Long Dimanche said yesterday. In an effort to recruit civilian “public order” officers, Dimanche told the Post, the ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/untrained-guards-rule-protests
Risk-averse Japanese investing more in Phnom Penh condos
In the course of a city’s development, especially a capital city, certain events serve as mile markers, raising their profile both regionally and globally. Few understand the changing views of Japanese investors toward Cambodia better than the upper management of boutique real estate consultancy AnnaCam ...
Chris Horton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/risk-averse-japanese-investing-more-phnom-penh-condos
Cambodia bourse to get second IPO in April
Taiwanese garment factory Grand Twins International will be the second company to go public on Cambodia’s fledgling stock exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) confirmed yesterday. ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-bourse-get-second-ipo-april
LGBT advocates seek equality
The government must amend legislation to stamp out hate crimes and discrimination against Cambodia’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens, rights activists said during a forum in the capital yesterday. During the second day of the first community dialogue dedicated to the advancement and discussion ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lgbt-advocates-seek-equality
Koh Kong families claim homes torn down
Representatives of Chinese company Tianjin Union Development Group, backed by soldiers, began tearing down villagers’ houses in Koh Kong province yesterday, community representatives and a district governor said. Botum Sakor district governor On Phearak said yesterday that company representatives had come to clear the residents’ ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/koh-kong-families-claim-homes-torn-down
Large protest planned for Sunday
Amid the continued arrest of activists who have defied a ban on public gatherings, a group of unions and associations yesterday revealed plans for a large demonstration in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Sunday. About 10,000 people are expected to attend the rally, according to a ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/large-protest-planned-sunday
Union boss’s murder gets day in court
One of the men suspected in the seven-year-old murder of a Phnom Penh garment factory union representative was tried at Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday, nearly two years after his conviction in absentia. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-boss%E2%80%99s-murder-gets-day-court
Regulator wants licences
In the latest move to assert control over Cambodia’s saturated telecommunications industry and maintain tighter oversight, the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) last week called for all industry providers to give proof of operations in a bid to snuff out inactive firms and reclaim wasted ...
Eddie Morton and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/regulator-wants-licences
Poll results predictable: observers
Upcoming elections for district, city and provincial councillors will follow a period of “education”, the National Election Committee has announced, despite observers’ view that the results are all but preordained. And though the May 18 vote is only open to sitting commune councillors, NEC secretary-general Tep ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/poll-results-predictable-observers
King’s role in talks up for debate
King Norodom Sihamoni would welcome a role as mediator in talks between the Cambodia National Rescue Party and Cambodian People’s Party, an adviser to the Royal family has said. Om Daravuth, an adviser to the office of Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, said that the ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/king%E2%80%99s-role-talks-debate
For factory, solar power runs show
Resembling a giant Rubik’s cube under construction, the solar-powered factory in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district will be completely off the grid. Some 1,350 solar panels, each one capable of generating 100 watts per hour of sunlight, cover the three-story building. In a few months, ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/factory-solar-power-runs-show