The Phnom Penh Post
Workers vow to keep striking
More than 400 workers at the Hwa Sin Print factory, in the capital’s Choam Chao commune, had resumed their strike yesterday after management failed to meet their demands, a union official said. Khat Lot, vice-director of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, said workers had ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012031655060/National-news/workers-vow-to-keep-striking.html
Villager defies loggers, claims life is in danger
A man fled his home in Kratie province’s Snuol district after three men threatened to kill him for confiscating their chainsaws during a patrol against illegal logging, he told the Post yesterday. Village representative Chea Horn said he was scared to return home after the men ...
River widening divides opinions
More than 30 families living near the Siem Reap River in Siem Reap’s Aranh Sakor village have sent a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen and member of parliament Seang Nam, asking not to be evicted from their land because of the planned widening of ...
Tech businesses among Cambodia’s fastest-growing sectors
More than one-sixth of Cambodian businesses in 2011 were part of the Kingdom’s information and communications sector, a government census showed. Of the 182,439 new enterprises that sprang up in the country between June 2009 and March 2011, some 95,590 serviced the sector, according to the ...
Mixed results for protesters
Two protests by garment factory workers in Phnom Penh yesterday achieved very different outcomes. One strike will continue today, but the other ended when company management agreed to workers’ demands. Din Sam Ath, president of the Cambodian Federation of Labour Unions, said the company would comply ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012031555047/National-news/mixed-results-for-protesters.html
Maid ‘forced to take drugs’
A mother from Kampong Chhnang’s Rolea Ba’ier district filed a complaint with the rights group Adhoc yesterday, claiming her daughter, a maid in Malaysia, was being forced to take drugs and work without enough food. Im Meoun, 52, said her daughter Phon Sophea, 20, had been ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012031555049/National-news/maid-forced-to-take-drugs.html
Beeline books $500m charge after overestimating market
VimpelCom, the Netherlands-based parent company of Cambodian mobile operator Beeline, booked an impairment charge of US$527 million on its operations in Cambodia and Vietnam, according to a 2011 company report. The impairment, or revaluation of VimpelCom’s assets in the two Southeast Asian countries, highlighted the company’s ...
Alleged hotel ‘ransacking’ probed
Four former workers at the Angkor Villa Hotel and Resort appeared in the Appeal Court yesterday for questioning in relation to allegations that they ransacked the hotel during a strike last year. Korng Kimlean, union president of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers’ Federation and the ...
Top officials accused by election watchdog
More than 100 high-ranking Cambodian People’s Party and Royal Cambodian Armed Forces officials were named and shamed by a Cambodian election monitoring organisation yesterday at a workshop on misuse of state property. The Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) distributed a detailed list ...
Toll Group alleged to be leaving rail project
Australian logistics company Toll Group is allegedly pulling out of its 30-year concession to operate the Kingdom’s national railway, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Citing “reliable sources”, an SMH report said Toll would leave its US$145 million Toll Royal Railway joint venture with Cambodia’s Royal ...
Rubber drives agro investment
The value of approved agricultural projects in 2011 increased by more than 30 per cent compared to the year before, according to data from the Council for the Development of Cambodia. The CDC approved 24 projects worth US$724.9 million last year, $674 million of which was ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012031455013/Business/rubber-drives-agro-investment.html
PPWSA stock offering slated to outperform
The Kingdom’s first initial public offering is fast approaching, and demand is expected to be robust. Book-building, the process during which bids for the IPO are taken and a price is set for shares, ended yesterday. The final offering price is expected before the subscription for ...
A hard lesson in arithmetic
When Reaksmey (not his real name) was in high school two years ago, he and his classmates were urged to attend the supplementary classes taught by their teachers before and after regular school hours. For an hour before school and two to three hours after each ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012031455021/National-news/a-hard-lesson-in-arithmetic.html
Rare win for villagers in battle with tycoon
In a rare siding with villagers, government officials earlier this week rejected a proposal by tycoon Kith Meng to develop the area surrounding Boeung Prek Tub lake in Preah Sihanouk town and instead vowed to issue proper land titles to residents. ...
Thai border bust almost snared 70
A Thai military official said yesterday 38 Cambodians arrested in Thailand on Monday were among a group of about 70 allegedly attempting to smuggle luxury rosewood out of Sisaket province. A source close to Thai defence spokesman Col Thanatip Sawangsaeng, who spoke on condition of anonymity, ...
Kingdom’s consumers told to save gas
Economy and Finance Minister Keat Chhon yesterday urged consumers to limit their gasoline consumption in the face of rising prices, saying the Cambodian government would not boost the hundreds of millions of dollars he claimed it already offered in fuel subsidies. Speaking at the Ministry of ...
Villagers Begin Second Patrol of Sanctuary
Villagers from all five communes of Kratie province’s Snuol district began patrolling the Snuol Wildlife Sanctuary yesterday in a bid to protect the area from illegal loggers, in the second multiday crackdown undertaken by residents this year. ...
Thais arrest 38 Cambodians on charges of illegal logging
A combined task force of Thai soldiers and national park officials yesterday arrested 38 Cambodian villagers who encroached on the Panom Dong Rak Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand’s Si Sa Ket province, which borders Oddar Meanchey province. Thai National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department chief Damrong ...
Evictees seek criminal charges
About 50 Borei Keila evictees gathered outside Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday to again pressure officials to lay criminal charges against Suy Sophan, the owner of development firm Phan Imex, for destroying their homes and breaching an agreement to build them new ones. The former Borei ...
Zoo fighting back from brink
A leopard appears healthy and strong as it paces the walls of its cage with a confident swagger and muffled growl that hints at its ferocity. It’s a welcome sight at Kampot province’s much-maligned Teuk Chhou zoo, which less than one year ago was struggling to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012031355003/National-news/zoo-fighting-back-from-brink.html
Auction closes on high note
This past Sunday afternoon, while the rest of Phnom Penh’s residents hid from the sweltering heat, a steady stream of cars and motos made their way down a long accces road, flanked by green lawn and tennis courts. Alighting at the Sofitel Phokeetra on the Tonle ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012031354992/Lifestyle/auction-closes-on-high-note.html
Lucky sells big stake to Asian retail giant
Big Asian retailer Dairy Farm Group has formed a joint venture with Cambodia’s Lucky Market Group, the operator of Lucky Supermarket and Lucky Burger, according to an announcement yesterday. LMG, which opened its first supermarket in 1993, will join a stable of brands already controlled by ...
Financing Cambodia's Muslims
Islamic finance could help to boost trade between Cambodia and the Middle East, as well as attract investment from Muslim-majority countries, experts said on Saturday. Knowledge of Islamic finance and banking, which bars interest lending and discourages unfair trade advantages, is almost nonexistent among Cambodia’s Muslims, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012031254976/Business/financing-cambodias-muslims.html
Angkor corruption alleged
An anonymous group on Saturday filed a corruption complaint with the Anti-Corruption Unit against senator Sok Kong’s Sokimex company’s management of the Angkor Wat temple complex. The complaint, dated March 10, alleges Sokimex has siphoned the majority of funds recouped from tourist entrance fees to the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012031254983/National-news/angkor-corruption-alleged.html