Government
National government
Misbehaving foreigners banned
More than 3,500 foreigners committed immigration offenses last year and more than 800 were banned from returning to Cambodia, the Interior Ministry’s report for 2016 said yesterday. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35766/misbehaving-foreigners-banned/
Interior Ministry report boasts of crackdown on political protests
Besieged by color revolutionaries, agitators and criminal politicians, the Interior Ministry kept the country safe from encroaching instability—at least, that was the ministry’s boast on Wednesday at its annual meeting. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/interior-ministry-report-boasts-of-crackdown-on-political-protests-125669/
Prison numbers jump 20 percent
Cambodia’s already swollen prison population leapt by more than 20 percent last year, according to the Ministry of Interior’s annual report, which acknowledged the influx has caused “serious challenges” with overcrowding, and revealed one-third of inmates are in pre-trial detention. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/prison-numbers-jump-20-percent
Government payroll to grow
The government will recruit more than 12,000 civil servants and teachers and an additional 20,000 service contractors for 2017, according to an announcement by the Ministry of Public Function. ...
Touch Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-payroll-grow
Failures at assembly pile up
National Assembly effectiveness declined last year with prosecutions of opposition lawmakers, partisan passing of laws and many assembly members visiting constituents only to shore up their vote, an election watchdog claimed yesterday. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35719/failures-at-assembly-pile-up/
Party-busting bill passed in ‘final blow’ to democracy
In what some are calling one of the most significant threats to democracy that Cambodia has faced in a generation, the CPP-controlled National Assembly on Monday voted to give the government and courts sweeping new powers over political parties. ...
Ben Sokhean and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/party-busting-bill-passed-in-final-blow-to-democracy-125486/
Parties law rubber-stamped
The National Assembly (NA) has passed amendments to electoral laws which could be used to remove political parties. The controversial amendments were carried with the votes of 66 members from the ruling CPP after opposition CNRP members boycotted the session. The ammendments could affect the way ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35669/parties-law-rubber-stamped/
Cambodian parliament passes law that could destroy the opposition
Cambodia’s parliament today passed a controversial provision that severely curtails the power of the country’s opposition parties and effectively bans former opposition leader Sam Rainsy from returning to power. ...
Logan Connor
http://sea-globe.com/cambodian-parliament-passes-law-destroy-opposition/
VN, Cambodia state banks foster ties
Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Lê Minh Hưng, and Governor of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), Chea Chanto, have agreed to step up co-operation between the two banks. ...
Viet Nam News
http://vietnamnews.vn/economy/351435/vn-cambodia-state-banks-foster-ties.html#VSUuqSzs55vRy9a4.97
Opposition to boycott meeting
Members of the opposition CNRP have decided to boycott the National Assembly’s (NA) plenary session today, saying amendments to the law on political parties which are being debated today will lead to national disunity and run contrary to democratic principles. ...
May Titthara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35625/opposition-to-boycott-meeting/
Phone regulator issues ultimatum
The Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) issued a second directive on Wednesday to all mobile phone operators in the country instructing them to stop placing misleading advertisements in the media that could cause public confusion. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35556/phone-regulator-issues-ultimatum/
Culture groups told of copy limits by ministry
The Culture and Fine Arts Ministry has laid down rules for writers and artistic directors who want to reproduce works of literature, art and music. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35327/culture-groups-told-of-copy-limits-by-ministry/
Telcos called to pay debts
Frustrated with the lack of compliance, the government has given the Kingdom’s mobile operators an ultimatum: declare their company revenue shares and settle all outstanding debts owed to the government by the end of the month or face swift and severe punitive action. ...
Kali Kotoski and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/telcos-called-pay-debts
Regulator gears up for mobile pricing showdown
Cambodia’s telecommunications regulator yesterday stepped up efforts to avert a brewing price war between the country’s six mobile network operators, ordering the companies to submit profitability statements within the next 10 days and summoning all operators to a meeting at the end of the month ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/regulator-gears-mobile-pricing-showdown
Practice for grade-12 test goes online
The Ministry of Education next week will launch a new online system for students to practice for the high-stakes grade-12 national exam, though one observer noted it would do little to help students who lack internet access. ...
Sen David and Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/practice-grade-12-test-goes-online
RCAF gets Korean gear
Cambodia is expecting a shipment of military vehicles donated by South Korea, according to a sub-decree. The Ministry of Finance in December released about $1 million to the Defence Ministry to cover the equipment’s transportation, it says. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rcaf-gets-korean-gear
Land disputes with Phanimex to be resolved
The Land Management Ministry has said it will resolve the land disputes in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district and Kandal’s Ponhea Leu district between Suy Sophan and more than 500 families. ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35083/land-disputes-with-phanimex-to-be-resolved/
More protests at Land Ministry
About 100 people representing nearly 200 families protested at the Ministry of Land Management in Phnom Penh yesterday, demanding the ministry expedite a solution to their land disputes with three sugarcane plantation companies in Koh Kong province. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35079/more-protests-at-land-ministry/
Parliament issues unconstitutional order on questioning
Violating the Constitution while following through on a threat from Prime Minister Hun Sen, the National Assembly’s CPP-staffed secretariat on Thursday issued an order saying that ministers would not appear before lawmakers unless the CNRP stopped boycotting parliamentary sessions. ...
Kuch Naren and Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/parliament-issues-unconstitutional-order-on-questioning-124526/
PM: No questions for the ministers
Prime Minister Hun Sen said he will not allow members of the opposition to question government ministers in the National Assembly (NA), telling a pro-government news outlet that the opposition had to “respect the law first.” ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35026/pm--no-questions-for-the-ministers/
Government limits teacher overtime
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday issued a sub-decree to limit teacher overtime in public schools in an effort to fix teachers’ working hours in accordance with government budgetary constraints. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-limits-teacher-overtime
CNRP may sit out rules change
Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmakers are considering boycotting next week’s extraordinary plenary session vote to strip away their role as the National Assembly’s minority group, saying the ruling party-backed proposal highlight’s the parliament’s weakness. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-may-sit-out-rules-change
FAST payment system transfers top 10B riel
Six months since the central bank launched its FAST payment system, a new scheme to provide instant riel-denominated fund transfers between financial institutions and their clients, the bank recorded a total fund transfer of 10 billion riel ($2.5 million) as of end-2016. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/fast-payment-system-transfers-top-10b-riel
Ministry to meet sugar companies over land dispute
The Land Ministry will meet with the three companies at the center of the decade-long land dispute in Koh Kong province this week in an attempt to finally resolve the villagers’ grievances. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/34488/ministry-to-meet-sugar-companies-over-land-dispute/