News
Analysis: If the CNRP is dissolved, CPP’s efforts to rid itself of a challenger will be realised
In 2012, a little over a month after the Human Rights Party and Sam Rainsy Party won a combined 40 commune chief positions in local elections, the two groups met in Manila, finally agreeing on what had been bandied about for years: a united opposition ...
Ananth Baliga and Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/analysis-if-cnrp-dissolved-cpps-efforts-rid-itself-challenger-will-be-realised
Sam Rainsy Party meets soon to pick new chief
Sam Rainsy Party deputy president Teav Vannol yesterday declined to say whether he would take leadership of the party in the wake of president Kong Korm’s retirement, though a fellow senator said it was all but a foregone conclusion. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sam-rainsy-party-meets-soon-pick-new-chief
Opposition councilors bemoan ministry directive
A number of provincial and district councilors aligned with the opposition have not been paid in the past two months following a Ministry of Interior directive in March calling for their salaries to be halted and positions revoked, according to the secretary-general of the Sam ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-councilors-bemoan-ministry-directive-58131/
Politics not quite all in the family
Kem Sokhon, the brother of Cambodia National Rescue Party deputy president Kem Sokha, is continuing to progress through government ranks. Sokhon – who has been openly critical of his brother’s policies since defecting from the opposition – told the Post yesterday he is now an adviser to senior ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/politics-not-quite-all-family
Opposition CNRP Leaders to Face Court Today
Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha are due to appear before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court as scheduled this morning after retaining the services of a new lawyer, a CNRP spokesman said Monday. Mr. Rainsy and Mr. Sokha, as well as union leaders Rong Chhun ...
Eang Mengleng and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-cnrp-leaders-to-face-court-today-50487/
Hope for freedom of information?
Representatives from civil society and the opposition gathered yesterday to push for the adoption of an access to information law – a move that comes less than a month after Prime Minister Hun Sen urged the Ministry of Information to hasten its development. Two laws dealing ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hope-freedom-information
Speed up FOI law, PM says
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on the Ministry of Information to accelerate the drafting of a long-awaited freedom of information law that could see more transparency in the Kingdom’s government. According to a press release issued by the Council of Ministers after a cabinet meeting ...
Meas Sokchea and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/speed-foi-law-pm-says
Hun Sen Offers ‘Back Pay’ to Ousted Opposition Lawmakers
Prime Minister Hun Sen has offered to pay back the lost salaries of opposition lawmakers who were stripped of their parliamentary posts in June by the then CPP-led National Assembly, a CNRP official said. The offer to back-pay the 27 lawmakers from the Sam Rainsy Party ...
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/hun-sen-offers-back-pay-to-ousted-opposition-lawmakers-42679/
Hun Sen Mocks Opposition Request for Donors to Freeze Aid
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday rebuked the opposition for urging foreign donors to refrain from signing any new agreements with the government until after the election and boasted of a new $26 million handed over last week by the European Union (E.U.) E.U. Ambassador ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-mocks-opposition-request-for-donors-to-freeze-aid-31547/
Opposition Asks Donors to Stop Work With Government
Lawmakers from the opposition SRP and Human Rights Party who were expelled from Parliament earlier this month have called on the foreign diplomatic corps and international donors to stop signing agreements and conducting other business with the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. In a letter ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/opposition-asks-donors-to-stop-work-with-government-31421/
NGOs Assessing Development Goals for Coming Years
As Cambodia assesses its development goals, a study has found that many Cambodians want to see an improved judicial system, better education, improved agriculture and more human rights. A broad consortium of local and international development agencies spent the early part of the year conducting conferences ...
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/ngo-assessing-development-goals-for-coming-years/1667239.html
Opposition Lawmakers Want ‘Social’ Land to Go to Farmers
Cambodian lawmakers have passed a new law on agriculture, but critics say the law does not go far enough to protect the country’s farmers. The law passed on Thursday evening, but not before debate at the National Assembly. During the debate opposition representatives called on the ...
Tax revenues increase by 22.9 per cent
The Kingdom’s tax revenues increased by more than 20 per cent in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the same period last year. Officials said the rise reflects an influx of new buinesses and investments. Opposition lawmakers, however, claim that the numbers are still far ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013041265054/Business/tax-revenues-increase-by-22-9-per-cent.html
Lies, threats at dam site
Stung Treng province Commune chief Seak Mekong changes into uniform in his family’s small wooden home in Sesan district’s Srekor I village before leading reporters to a speedboat on the Sesan River and motioning them to climb aboard. Mekong, a 42-year-old Sam Rainsy Party official, says ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013040864946/National/lies-threats-at-dam-site.html
Tax revenue sees a 27 per cent jump
The Kingdom’s tax revenue increased 27.85 per cent in the first two months compared to a year earlier, a figure the opposition party said is low due to corruption and tax cheats. According to the data from the General Department of Taxation (GDT), total tax revenue ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032864735/Business/tax-revenue-sees-a-27-per-cent-jump.html
Largesse and threats ahead of election
Prime Minister Hun Sen warned thousands of villagers yesterday that his most popular initiatives, including his far-reaching land-titling scheme, will simply disappear if he is not re-elected in July’s national election – amid suggestions his campaigning has unofficially begun. In a marked shift from his apparent ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032664688/National/largesse-and-threats-ahead-of-election.html
At Fuel Pumps, Price and Quality Are Anybody’s Guess
PHNOM PENH – Cambodia imports all of its fuel from abroad, but little regulation in the sector means everyday Cambodians see all kinds of prices at the pumps. Prices are high in Phnom Penh, while sometimes cheaper on the outskirts of the capital and even ...
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/at-fuel-pumps-price-and-quality-are-anybody-guess/1619374.html
Rosewood gambit fails
A disguised shipment of nearly eight cubic metres of illegal rosewood worth an estimated $50,000 was snagged yesterday in a Forestry Administration dragnet in Siem Reap province after agents in Banteay Meanchey alerted authorities the shipment was headed their way, Forestry officials said. Siem Reap Provincial ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030761814/National/rosewood-gambit-fails.html
CNRP Proposes Minimum Wage Law for Garment, State Workers
The Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) has submitted a new law to the National Assembly for consideration that would institute a minimum monthly wage of $150 for garment workers and $250 for civil servants, the newly formed opposition party announced at a press conference yesterday. The ...
Infrastructure spending rises
Between 2008 and 2012, Cambodia’s spending on public infrastructure amounted to about US$2.5 billion — a sum an opposition politician says is too low and is ineffectively put to use. In his opening remarks at the seventh Cambodia Outlook Conference, Prime Minister Hun Sen said public ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022261558/Business/infrastructure-spending-rises.html
Local brokers still manipulate prices: farmers
Farmers have expressed concern over local brokers’ manipulation of the market during harvest season, reducing buying prices for farmers who have no access to actual market rates. While some farmers have already completed their harvests, others have left their fields barren, fearing brokers will reduce ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/Business/local-brokers-still-manipulate-prices-farmers.html
Sesan Dam Law Approved
Cambodia’s parliament on Friday approved a law providing financial guarantees for the developers of a planned hydropower dam on a Mekong River tributary, despite opposition from civil society groups seeking to delay the project. Villagers campaigning against the Lower Sesan 2 dam in northeastern Cambodia’s Stung ...
Concern Over Chinese Investment
Cambodia’s largest opposition party has expressed concern that China’s investment in the country is heavily skewed towards exploiting natural resources, wreaking havoc on the environment. China is Cambodia’s largest investor by a wide margin, having poured U.S. $9.7 billion into the country over the past 18 ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/china-02072013175545.html
MPs Urge Child Labor Action
A group of opposition lawmakers have written to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen urging action against a sugar factory owned by a ruling party official accused of exploiting child labor and grabbing land from villagers. Six Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) parliamentarians sent a letter dated Jan. ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/children-01292013174957.html