The Phnom Penh Post
Koh Pich: diamond in the rough slowly comes together
Since being designated for development by the municipal government in 2006, Koh Pich has been abuzz with activity. Now covered in the widest, least-congested roads in central Phnom Penh, this island is filling up quickly with residential, retail and hospitality projects aimed at affluent locals ...
Chris Horton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/koh-pich-diamond-rough-slowly-comes-together
Korean deal gives palm sugar farmers pay day
Palm sugar farmers in Kampong Speu province will soon export their goods to South Korea, the senior officer of a grower’s network said on Monday. Sam Saroeun, president of the Kampong Speu Palm Sugar Promotion Association, said an agreement with the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/korean-deal-gives-palm-sugar-farmers-pay-day
Strikers fired in Svay Rieng
Factories in Svay Rieng province’s Manhattan Special Economic Zone have fired or suspended more than 200 workers – and are pursuing legal action against some – for participating in a strike last month that saw some 30,000 walk off the job. An accountant at Kingmaker (Cambodia) ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strikers-fired-svay-rieng
Still much to learn about Times Centre
Construction on Times Centre’s three skyscrapers near Olympic Stadium will commence early this year, but little is known about several key aspects of the project, including the company behind the project. The Times Centre project, which will incorporate retail and office space with 1,000 condominium ...
Siv Meng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/still-much-learn-about-times-centre
Khmer Krom targetted, says NGO
The leader of an organisation of monks from Kampuchea Krom, the part of southern Vietnam that once belonged to the Khmer Empire, accused security officials at the recent crackdowns at Freedom Park and last Thursday’s garment protest of singling out Kampuchea Krom monks for arrest ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/khmer-krom-targetted-says-ngo
SL protester, 15, released after months
A juvenile suspect held on charges of violence and criminal damage for his part in the SL Garment workers strike last November has been released on bail. The 15-year-old suspect was released under court supervision yesterday, after an appeal was launched against his pre-trial detention. ...
Lieng Sarith
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sl-protester-15-released-after-months
Silence broken at last
Notification that her son is being detained at Correctional Centre 3 in Kampong Cham came as a relief to Touch Sart yesterday, after spending nearly a week wondering whether he was even alive. Since her son, Theng Saroeun, was arrested along with 22 others at demonstrations ...
May Titthara and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/silence-broken-last
Police still mum on protesters
The whereabouts of 23 people arrested last week during a crackdown on demonstrations in Por Sen Chey district remained unknown yesterday, with prison officials and police refusing to divulge the information to family members and rights groups. ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-still-mum-protesters
ILO doubts bleak garment outlook
The International Labour Organization (ILO) yesterday cast doubt on the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia’s (GMAC) bleak outlook for the rest of 2014, after the association claimed that deadly violence sparked by wage disputes would result in clothing brands reducing future orders. Speaking from Bangkok, Maurizio ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ilo-doubts-bleak-garment-outlook
Opposition preps plans for demos
The Cambodia National Rescue Party is not done marching. Speaking at party headquarters yesterday afternoon, CNRP leaders said they plan to establish “democracy squares” in provincial towns and cities to regain momentum lost following last week’s deadly attack on striking workers and the violent destruction of ...
Daniel Pye and Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/opposition-preps-plans-demos
Garment manufacturers planning to sue unions
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia is helping its members sue several unions for damages after a walkout over demands to raise the minimum wage to $160. Ken Loo, GMAC’s secretary general, said that more than 150 members are jumping on board to sue: “And the ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/garment-manufacturers-planning-sue-unions
Firm has soldiers in pocket, say villagers
Hundreds of families in Banteay Meanchey province’s Thma Puok district filed a complaint yesterday to rights group Adhoc, claiming their community farmland is being bulldozed by a company under the protection of soldiers. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/firm-has-soldiers-pocket-say-villagers
Global Fund backs off threatened cuts to grants
The Global Fund has backed down on its threat to cut or reduce health grants to Cambodia worth more than $100 million, saying they considered the fraction of misused funds that have been returned thus far a sign of sufficient good will. In a letter sent ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/global-fund-backs-threatened-cuts-grants
‘Stubborn’ furniture firm vexes villagers
Twenty families from Ratanakkiri’s Kon Mom district are seeking intervention after a private company allegedly encroached on 10 hectares of their land. The unnamed company produces furniture from wood acquired from embattled Vietnamese concessionaire Hoang Anh Andong Meas, and over the course of the last two ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98stubborn%E2%80%99-furniture-firm-vexes-villagers
Striking teachers to be taught a lesson
As teachers in several provinces continue to strike over low wages, the Ministry of Education declined to say yesterday whether it would follow through on threats to enact harsh punishment on those who have walked. In a statement issued on Friday and obtained yesterday, Pin Chamnarn, ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/striking-teachers-be-taught-lesson
Chainsaws destroyed by M’kiri minorities
More than 100 villagers from eight ethnic communities in Mondulkiri province on Friday symbolically burned two chainsaws allegedly used to illegally log community forest before delivering four others they had confiscated to the provincial forestry administration, participants and Adhoc said yesterday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/chainsaws-destroyed-m%E2%80%99kiri-minorities
Leadership of CNRP digging in
Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha have been summonsed to appear at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for questioning in the wake of a weekend that saw their occupation of Freedom Park end with the abrupt, violent eviction of scores of demonstrators. In a summons ...
Stuart White and Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/leadership-cnrp-digging
Picking up the pieces
The sight of traffic moving easily and people milling about along Veng Sreng Boulevard in the capital’s Meanchey district yesterday was a far cry from two days earlier, when the street was occupied by makeshift roadblocks, bonfires and military personnel carrying automatic rifles. While visible evidence ...
May Titthara, Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/picking-pieces
Exodus follows violent clash
Garment workers have begun leaving the area surrounding embattled Veng Sreng street en masse, following the outbreak of clashes early on Friday morning. An estimated 80 per cent of the more than 10,000 workers who live and are employed in the Meanchey district suburb have vacated ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/exodus-follows-violent-clash
Protesting villagers in hiding
Two ethnic Kuoy villagers in Preah Vihear province’s Tbeng Meanchey district are in hiding after rumours circulated yesterday that police were seeking to arrest them for participating in a protest against two Chinese plantation firms last week. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/protesting-villagers-hiding
Canadia park, a ghost town
On most Sundays, the wide boulevard separating two rows of some 40 mustard-coloured factories in the Canadia Industrial Park is teeming with people. Garment workers who live on the premises stroll or bicycle along the road, stopping to eat at the same restaurants, patronizing the same ...
Joe Freeman and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/canadia-park-ghost-town
Justice sought two years on
Residents who were forcibly evicted from their homes in Borei Keila on this day two years ago will hold a ceremony today to remind the public of the pain they endured and push for compensation they say is still owed. On January 3, 2012, more than ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/justice-sought-two-years
CNRP cites assaults in nixing talks
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party yesterday withdrew from talks with the government scheduled for today in protest against soldiers cracking down on monks and demonstrators during a garment worker strike in the capital. Special Forces Airborne 911 Unit soldiers with metal pipes, knives, AK-47s, slingshots ...
Shane Worrell and Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-cites-assaults-nixing-talks
Fish exports up 10 per cent from 2012
Cambodia’s fish output rose 10 per cent in 2013 from a year earlier, according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Production reached 730,000 tonnes last year, Nao Thouk, director of the ministry’s fishery department, said yesterday. There were 550,000 tonnes of fresh ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/fish-exports-10-cent-2012