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Mam Nay, former head of the interrogation unit at S-21 – the equivalent in this structure of the political commissioner dear to communist regimes –, returned before the Chamber on Tuesday July 14th, duly assisted by a lawyer this time, as recommended by the defence on the previous day. All throughout the day, the witness in Duch’s trial was assailed with questions by the judges – for good reason, as his answers were quite often terse, alternating between “I don’t know” and “I don’t remember,” when he was not ostensibly lying. His testimony prompted much outcry and out loud comments in the public gallery, as the audience was exasperated by such bad faith. The ten seats reserved for civil parties in the courtroom were all occupied for once.

Where should the witness’ lawyer be placed?

The tribunal managed to find a lawyer for Mam Nay but, at the start of the hearing, the defence expressed “the strongest reservations” regarding the place he was given: on the same bench as Duch’s defence counsels. “This leads to granting, by anticipation, the request of the Prosecutor to consider Mr. Mam Nay as an accused today. […] It seems to me that is not correct,” François Roux, Duch’s international co-lawyer, argued. The international co-Prosecutor, who said the situation did not offend him, added he regretted that the defence worried, on the previous day, about “whether the witness was fully aware of his rights.” William Smith stressed that the remark should not have been made in front of the witness, but before his testimony and in camera.

Tuol Sleng / S-21 (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). A “simple interrogator,” Mam Nay allegedly saw or heard nothing of the crimes committed in S-21 against prisoners he found “neither too thin or too fat”… Words that stirred heated reactions in the audience

Phnom Penh - A US-based human rights group on Wednesday demanded Cambodia's leaders end what it called a campaign of "harassment, threats, and unwarranted legal action" against government critics following a spate of court rulings apparently aimed at limiting free speech. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) had filed nine defamation and disinformation suits this year against journalists, opposition party members and civil society leaders.

"The Cambodian government is imposing its most serious crackdown on freedom of expression in recent years," the group's director, Brad Adams, said in a statement. "Once again, Hun Sen is showing his true stripes by harassing and threatening to imprison peaceful critics of his increasingly authoritarian government."

The group's demand came a day after Moeung Sonn, president of the non-profit Khmer Civilization Foundation, was sentenced in absentia to two years prison for disinformation, after he accused the government of damaging the historic Angkor Wat temple by installing lighting fixtures in the building's walls.

Moeung Sonn was in France at the time of the ruling.

Last week the publishers of Moneaksekar Khmer, an opposition-affiliated newspaper, closed operations after being threatened with legal action and forced to apologize for recent criticism of government officials, the statement said.

Two opposition lawmakers are expected to face trial for defamation in coming weeks after the CPP-dominated legislature voted to strip the pair of their parliamentary immunity.

Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said the Human Rights Watch statement was based on "uninformed observations" about Cambodia's media and legal system and "did not tell the whole story."

"I appreciate their concern about freedom of speech, but they incorrectly mixed defamation with the other cases, which relate to misinformation and national security," he said. "The rule of law requires that the government can take people to court to judge whether they are right or wrong."

The government should revoke the visa for Cambodia's prime minister Hun Sen who is set to visit the UK this week, said campaign group Global Witness today. Failure to do so would signify a failure by the Labour government to live up to its commitments to fight corruption and promote development, said Global Witness.

According to reports, Hun Sen is due to visit Bristol tomorrow (Thursday 16 July) to attend his son's PhD graduation ceremony. The news comes at a time of mounting international criticism over increasing levels of institutionalised corruption, repression and human rights abuse in Cambodia.

"Cambodia today is a country for sale," said Global Witness campaigner, Eleanor Nichol. "Hun Sen's regime has presided over a process of grand corruption which has seriously undermined poverty alleviation in Cambodia, but Europe and the UK continue to welcome him and his entourage. Meanwhile, gaps in Cambodia's state services are covered by the UK taxpayer through overseas aid."

The visit comes just as the UK government pushes ahead with the introduction of an anti-bribery bill geared towards bringing the UK in line with its international obligations on tackling graft in other countries.

"The anticipated anti-bribery bill is welcome, but the government should not neglect other obvious steps which can be taken within its own borders to cut down on overseas corruption and incentivise development," said Nichol.

At last week's G8 meeting and in a recently published DFID White Paper, the UK Government recommitted to increasing its overseas aid to the level of 0.7% of GDP. This is a pledge that the Conservative Party also stands by.

"Keeping aid promises is welcome and important, but with additional aid comes responsibility to ensure effectiveness. Throwing money at countries with poor governance could do more harm than good," said Nichol. "The UK and others must create tough disincentives for developmentally damaging, institutionalised corruption of the sort that we see in Cambodia. They should start by denying safe haven to the leaders of such regimes."

/ Ends

Contact: +44 (0)7872600870

Global Witness exposes the corrupt exploitation of natural resources and international trade systems, to drive campaigns that end impunity, resource-linked conflict, and human rights and environmental abuses. Global Witness was co-nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for its leading work on ‘conflict diamonds' and awarded the 2007 Commitment to Development Ideas in Action Award, sponsored jointly by Washington DC based Center for Global Development and Foreign Policy magazine.

PHNOM PENH, July 15 (Xinhua) -- A signing ceremony for the completion of Phase 1 of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Information Highway Project in Cambodia was held here on Wednesday by China's Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Huawei") in collaboration with Telecom Cambodia.

Both parties provided a brief overview and arrangement of the work of Phase I of the GMS Information Highway Project - a project funded by the government of China - and voiced their support for the promotion and development of Phase 2 of the Project.

The event was graced by the presence of the Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon, Minister of Posts and Telecommunication So Khun, diplomats from Chinese Embassy and representatives of other technical experts.

"The project will help strengthening and foster the relationships between our people and nations in the GMS region, as well as to promote stronger Cambodia's and regional economies," said Keat Chhon, adding that "in particular, this project would play an important role in strengthening the relationship between China and Cambodia in developing tele-communication sector."

The GMS Information Highway Project Phase l - started from Dec.2007 and completed in June 25, 2009 - involved the task of laying an optical fiber cable over a total distance of 649.9 km and equipment upgrades for the 11 stations as well as the construction of 15 new stations along the route within the Kingdom of Cambodia.

The completion of the GMS Information Highway Project Phase l has brought about, within the Kingdom of Cambodia, the coverage of an optical transmission system in the Mekong Basin with a high capacity backbone in addition to interconnection with Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, promoting to a great extent the construction level of basic communication networks of Cambodia, building a solid foundation for further development in the Cambodian communications industry.

In the mean time, interaction between all countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion has been strengthened, making it a crucial contribution to the joint development of all nations in the subregion.

"I strongly believe that the development of telecommunication sector, GMS-IS, in Cambodia will strengthen the long-lasting cooperation between Cambodia and China as well as the cooperation in the Greater Mekong Subregion for sustainable economic growth and prosperity of all countries in the region," Keat Chhon said.

From:

Cambodia and France have pledged to strengthen their both diplomatic relations and commercial cooperation between the two countries, according to a press statement released Wednesday by the Cabinet of the Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The statement said Bernard Kouchner, foreign minister of France during his talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, has vowed to strengthen the two countries' relations by proposing a set up as soon as possible a Cambodia-France Joint Committee so as to consolidate the relations and cooperation.

And in addition to consideration on additional financial assistance to Cambodia, France had also pledged to grant more graduate scholarships to Cambodian students, it added.

Hun Sen was on a five-day official visit to France during which he had held a series of meetings and talks including Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Prime Minister Francois Fillon and President Nicolas Sarkozy.

While meetings with those French leaders, Hun Sen said Cambodia had granted French oil company Total to exploit oil exploration in Block III, one of its potential oil and gas resources in the Gulf of Thailand with which France welcomed it and expressed its satisfaction.

Hun Sen left the country on July 9 for an official visit to France and Britain where he will attend his son's graduation ceremony and he is expected to return home on Sunday.

CPL champions Phnom Penh Crown were forced to cancel their trip to Thailand on Tuesday due to their failure to gather sufficient documen-tation from some of their foreign players for visas in time. "We are sorry we couldn't make the trip," said Crown manager Makara Be by phone Tuesday, adding that he intends to organise a trip to Thailand sometime in the near future. Crown were aiming to use the trip to expose some of their players to Thai Premier League (TPL) teams - who will go on a mid-season break in a week's time - for potential transfer consideration. Meanwhile, Crown's Cameroonian-born striker Jean-Roger Lappe Lappe, who is on a two month loan to TPL strrugglers Samuth Songkhram FC, is expected back August 15.

From:

Horrendous images of the babies being smashed against the trees: "I didn't recognise it at first," says Pol Pot's former chief torturer from the witness dock.

The television camera cuts to a shot of the dual row of Cambodian and foreign judges. Some frown; others remain impassive.

The footage then flips back to the accused, capturing the reptilian pride emanating from 66-year-old Kaing Guek Eav, better known as "Duch", as he continues in a measured tone: "It was done by my subordinates. I do not blame them because this was under my responsibility."

We cut back to a well-lit TV studio, where a pair of handsome, businesslike co-presenters promptly begins quizzing a Cambodian legal expert on intricacies of the case.

Male presenter: "Some of Duch's evidence seems carefully calculated rather than spontaneous. Is that a fair statement?"
"The way he answers each question cautiously may make the judges and observers sceptical about what he says..." begins the guest in response.

Co-presenters Neth Pheaktra and Ung Chan Sophea get down to the serious business of reporting the Khmer Rouge tribunal. PHOTO SUPPLIED

KMF founder Matthew Robinson in directorial mode. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Another day, another hearing: The KMF team, with guest legal expert Sok Sam Oeun on the far right, prepare for the studio cameras to start rolling. Photo Supplied

The developer behind a $50 million mixed-use retail, residential and leisure complex near the Happiness City housing development on Phnom Penh's Chroy Changvar peninsula is seeking foreign capital to complete the project.

Young's Commercial Centre and Resort administration manager Ngin Pok said the global credit crunch and the related bottoming-out of the local real estate market had hit the development hard.

"Recently we are working hard to find foreign partners who are interested to cooperate with us on this huge capital investment project because we are struggling with financial issues," Ngin Pok said. "We aren't choosy about our partners; if someone wants to cooperate with us, we welcome them."

We aren't choosy about our partners; if someone wants to cooperate with us, we welcome them.


The first phase of the two-phase development was originally due to be completed in April 2010 but has only been 40-percent completed, Ngin Pok said. Construction began in January 2008.

"Although we haven't found a partner, I am optimistic that we still try our best to complete the first phase of construction," he said.

"We are gathering other financial resources for this first phase, and we plan to sell other property to support the project as well. If we don't meet the deadline, we will feel the wrath of customers who have signed a rental contract."

He said that around 60 customers had already signed a contract to rent retail space in the development.

Young's Commercial Centre and Resort has a multilevel design featuring 123 four-storey shophouses arranged in a horseshoe shape at its base. A further 26 five-storey shophouses provide a frontage to the complex.

A three-storey shopping mall ànd two two-storey arcade malls will be built immediately on top of the shophouses, containing 45,000 square metres of retail space.

The resort, which will be located on the roof of the shopping mall, features 30 stand-alone motel units scattered throughout a landscaped terrace garden.

It was designed by Vietnam-based firm Real Architecture.

It is the final phase of development in the Happiness City site, which was built on reclaimed swampland 600 metres along National Road 6A from the Cambodia-Japanese Friendship Bridge.

Saturation point
Phnom Penh already has a large number of "one-stop" shopping destinations, including the city's first major mall, Sorya Shopping Centre, which opened for business in 2002, Sydney Mall, Paragon Cambodia, Sovanna and BS Department Store.

BS marketing office assistant Men Phirom said he was concerned about more shopping centres being built in an already highly competitive city. "I think that when there are new city malls, sales will be affected because the customers will have more choices to buy products at other shopping centers," he said. "However, we will improve our services and products and create something new to impress those customers."

Sorya Shopping Centre General Manager Lam Ratana said the economic crisis had hit the shopping habits of Cambodians, but that the retail sector would survive. "Purchasing power has dropped, but that does not means customers have stopped coming to my shopping centre; they cut down their expenses since the crisis occurred, but the number of buyers is still the same."

He said he was upgrading products, services and the building itself to compete with other new shopping centers. He planned to also introduce a flower shop, bar, 24-hour coffee shops and new parking lots to attract customers. "My new services and products will be launched this year to compete with new city malls," he said.

From:

SILVERSMITH Ros Chanthou learned his craft as a youngster from his father. But it was in 1990, once he had married, that he decided to set up his own business: Sothea Khmer Silver Crafts.

In the early days, he had four craftsmen who made almost all the products by hand on the premises in Phnom Penh's Daun Penh district. Now he employs 10 artisans, who earn US$80-$100 a month depending on their skill.

Ros Chanthou would not be drawn on his business's revenue, saying only that custom began well and kept improving through the years. But like many businesses, Sothea Khmer Silver Crafts has recently been affected by the global economic crisis.

"My business ran very well in 2007 and 2008, but when the crisis started to bite, my business dropped about 70 percent," he said.

The decline in business is easily seen in his reduced orders for the raw material. Until a year ago he bought 100 to 120 kilograms of silver a month. Now he needs between 10 and 30 kilograms.

The only bright spot in the current economic gloom is that the price of silver, which he sources from Malaysia, China and Singapore, is lower. Ros Chanthou said that it costs him $450 per kilogram today, down from $600 per kilogram last year.

"Because the raw material is cheap, this ought to be a good opportunity for business," he says. "But how can we if we cannot sell the end product?"

He says conditions mean some of his competitors are facing bankruptcy.

DESCRIPTION HERE

THE Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) has approved 53 investment projects in the first half of the year, worth a total of US$1.2 billion, according to statistics released Monday.

The figures represent a sharp drop from the first half of 2008, when the CDC approved $4.43 billion in investments, including a $3.8 billion tourist development in Koh Kong by Chinese Union Development Group.

A CDC official, who declined to be named, said investment had taken a hit from the global financial downturn, but that in relative terms the Kingdom remained an attractive destination for investors.

"Today's economic crisis has caused direct influxes of capital around the world to decline by 50 percent in the first half of 2008, and cross-border investment to decrease 77 percent," the official said.

Of the investments approved, $354 million went to the tourism sector, $323 million to agriculture, $303 to industry and $241 million to other private-sector developments.

Our FDI is still in a favourable condition despite the world economic crisis.


The CDC official added that Cambodia's pre-existing investment projects had boosted the current economic activity in the country and would continue to propel private-sector development.

He noted, "If no companies came to invest, many other sectors would be sure to grind to a halt. But as long as factories are built, workers are needed.... This will create job opportunities for transportation service providers and other services. What is more, they will pay taxes to the government."

Sok Sina, an independent economic analyst, agreed that most CDC-approved investment projects are now being carried out since the authority had started vetting them more strictly.

"Generally speaking, we are happy to see that many requested investment projects are in operation. It is a good sign for Cambodia's economy, and our FDI is still in a favourable condition despite the world economic crisis."

According to the CDC, ASEAN countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia, were the leading sources of investment money in the first half, with $389 million in investments. Second to ASEAN were other Asian investors - including from China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong, which have invested a total of $367 million.

THE Ministry of Economy and Finance has announced that the annual collection of road taxes begins today and will run for the next three months.

"The finance ministry announces for all vehicle owners that the tax collection on the means of transportation for all kinds of vehicles will begin on July 15 and run to October 15," stated the announcement, which was signed by Minister Keat Chhon.

Cheap Davuth, the deputy director general at the general department of taxation, said the tax applies to any and all means of motorised transport, be they motorcycles, cars or even ships.

"If the owners fail to pay the tax during the set period they will be fined. That fine is double the amount of the applicable road tax fee for their vehicle," he said.

The announcement also lists a number of exclusions from the tax.

These include ambulances and fire trucks; vehicles belonging to the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, the military police and the police; any vehicles used for national defence or security; and diplomatic or consular vehicles.

Vehicles of international organisations and those belonging to the government's technical cooperation agencies are also excluded.

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport estimated in a report last year that there are 197,800 registered cars and 671,000 registered motorcycles in the Kingdom.

THE government announced garment exports dropped 20 percent in the first five months to US$909 million compared with the same period last year.

Hang Chuon Naron, secretary general of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said the decrease should not seriously damage the Kingdom's economy, as the decline will prove temporary and ought to end later this year.

"We expect garment exports will decline only 5 percent for the year overall," he said. "We hope garment exports will climb to $2.8 billion later this year as the United States' economy is showing a higher demand for garments."

Cambodia exported $3.1 billion worth of garments last year. Most went to the US and the European Union.

Hang Chuon Naron was talking at a forum on Tuesday on the effects of the global economic crisis and strategies to overcome the challenges. The forum was attended by 300 people from government, NGOs and the private sector.

Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodia Economic Association (CEA), said it is not clear that local garment manufacturers will benefit from the expected boost to the US economy since other garment-exporting nations have moved ahead.

Chan Sophal blamed the closure of garment factories locally on a lack of competitiveness as well as the economic crisis.
"The US ... can buy from other countries which are more competitive, such as Bangladesh," he said. "The prediction that Cambodia's garment exports will decline only 5 percent ... is too optimistic."

Kaing Monika, external affairs manager for the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, a trade association, said garment exports would likely end the year 10 percent down, citing competition from high-volume producers Vietnam and Bangladesh.

"GMAC would welcome it if exports decreased in line with the government's prediction, but I don't think that will be easily achieved," he said. "Today's export markets are still narrow."

PRIME Minister Hun Sen has given Preah Vihear provincial authorities until the end of the week to construct a new market to replace the one near Preah Vihear temple that was destroyed during a clash between Cambodian and Thai soldiers in early April, despite the fact that Thailand has yet to respond to Cambodian demands for compensation.

Hang Soth, general director of the Preah Vihear National Authority (PVNA), said Hun Sen issued the order from France, where he is on a state visit with Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong.

Though he described the one-week deadline as unrealistic, Hang Soth said work on the market had already begun Tuesday afternoon.
"I have sent my officials to the market site this morning to prepare for the construction," he said.

"The new market will be a market for tourists."

During an exchange of gunfire between Cambodian and Thai soldiers on April 3, Thai rocket fire destroyed all 264 stands, leaving roughly 319 families who lived and worked at the market homeless, according to accounts from Cambodian military officials.

The Cambodian government in May demanded US$2.1 million from the Thai government to pay for the damages.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said during a visit to Phnom Penh in late May that Thai authorities would investigate the cause of the damage to the temple before responding to the request.

Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Tuesday that the government had decided to go ahead with the building of a new market despite having received no response from Thailand regarding compensation.

Officials from the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh and the Thai Foreign Ministry in Bangkok could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

PM's orders
Hang Soth said the PVNA would be responsible for settling on a location for the new market, though he said vendors would need to pay for the construction of individual market stalls themselves.

He said that vendors who were displaced would "be given priority" for stalls.

"We planned to rebuild about 319 shops, but after studying the site now we think we will build about 150 shops," he said, adding that individual stalls would cost between $3,000 and $7,000, depending on size.

Sar Thavy, a deputy governor of Preah Vihear province, said Tuesday that the location of the new market had been selected and that construction materials had already been taken to the site.

"It's been raining for three days, so it's been difficult to transport the materials up the mountain," he said.

"But they have to obey the premier's order."

Also Tuesday, an RCAF official said that a meeting scheduled for Monday between Thai and Cambodian military officials had been cancelled because the Thai officials had been unable to secure approval from government officials in Bangkok.

Chea Morn, commander of RCAF Military Region 4, said that the meeting had been proposed to reduce tension along the border.

AFORMER deputy chief at Tuol Sleng prison downplayed his role at the notorious detention facility Tuesday, telling Cambodia's war crimes court that he never tortured prisoners, prompting judges to accuse him of having "no fear".

Mam Nai, 76, said he had "no knowledge" at the time of the fate that awaited prisoners at Tuol Sleng, a stance he maintained even after being read grisly testimony from his former boss and shown forced confessions that he had apparently signed.

"I was just a plain and simple interrogating cadre," Mam Nai, wearing fingerless gloves and a krama, told judges.

"I only interrogated prisoners without applying torture. It was my belief that applying torture would lead to untrue confessions," he said.

Mam Nai told the court he had worked with his former boss, prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, at the M-13 detention centre in Kampong Speu, where the ex-jailer first taught him how to interrogate.

He said he had "no knowledge" of Tuol Sleng's organisational structure because he worked in an interrogation house separate from the prison.

His repeated denials prompted judges to question, at various points in his testimony, whether he suffered from memory, vision and hearing problems.

Mam Nai said he had fallen from his house once, which he said had affected his memory.

After reading out an extensive list of Mam Nai's academic achievements, Judge Sylvia Cartwright asked why one of the most intelligent people at Tuol Sleng was not aware of how the prison worked.

"In principle ... I was only mindful about my duties," Mam Nai said. He said he had not known that all Tuol Sleng prisoners were presumed guilty, and he told Judge Jean-Marc Lavergne that his only regret was "that [Cambodia] was invaded" by America and Vietnam.

Lavergne then asked if he knew what the words "no fear" meant in English, and Mam Nai responded that he did not.

"In that case, I have no further questions," Lavergne replied.

AROUND 350 garment factory workers gathered at the Xing Tai garment factory in Sen Sok district for the second day running Tuesday, protesting poor working conditions at the factory, which they claim include inadequate toilets and hot, windowless workspaces.

Tuesday's protest followed similar demonstrations Monday, which attracted more than 800 workers.

"We have no place to go to the toilet because the drainage system in this factory does not work," Sok Say Eam, 37, said outside the factory Monday.

She added that due to cramped working conditions in the factory, many workers were fainting during their shifts.

Heng Son, 31, who claims she was injured when a fan fell from the ceiling of the factory, said management had been "unaccountable" for the conditions.

She also said the owners had asked staff to work overtime and had fired any worker who refused to work extra hours.

One aim of the protest, she said, was to call for the reinstatement of Va Sophon, the deputy chief of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union.

Va Sophon, whose organisation represents some Xing Tai workers, said Tuesday that Horm Hav, the factory's chief of administration, had fired him late last year in an attempt to silence worker protests.

"He forced me to replace two administrators who had resigned, but I clearly could not do it. I was dismissed three days later," he said.

He added that the Arbitration Council, an independent mediation body, had ruled in February for the company to reinstate him, but that the company did not accept this agreement and threatened to fire any workers who supported him.

CAMBODIA has awarded French oil giant Total the rights to a contested drilling area in the Gulf of Thailand.

The announcement was contained in a press release dated July 14 - Bastille Day - from Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cabinet during his official visit to France.

The statement was confirmed to the Post by Prak Sokhon, secretary of state for the Council of Ministers, who is in France with Hun Sen.

Both Thailand and Cambodia claim a 27,000 square kilometre swath of the seabed, which is thought to be rich in oil and gas deposits.
The area in the press statement that has been awarded to Total is referred to as Block III.

In the statement, Hun Sen said the decision to award the concession was made after proper overview of bidding documents, adding that he welcomed the presence of any French companies wishing to invest in Cambodia, a former French colony.

The news was a surprise to Total's leading upstream executive in Cambodia, Jean-Pierre Labbe.

Last week he told the Post that Total had been negotiating with Phnom Penh for several years and in 2008 submitted an official request for concessions.

The statement said Bernard Kouchner, foreign minister of France during his talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, has vowed to strengthen the two countries' relations by proposing a set up as soon as possible a Cambodia-France Joint Committee so as to consolidate the relations and cooperation.

And in addition to consideration on additional financial assistance to Cambodia, France had also pledged to grant more graduate scholarships to Cambodian students, it added.

Hun Sen was on a five-day official visit to France during which he had held a series of meetings and talks including Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Prime Minister Francois Fillon and President Nicolas Sarkozy.

While meetings with those French leaders, Hun Sen said Cambodia had granted French oil company Total to exploit oil exploration in Block III, one of its potential oil and gas resources in the Gulf of Thailand with which France welcomed it and expressed its satisfaction.

Hun Sen left the country on July 9 for an official visit to France and Britain where he will attend his son's graduation ceremony and he is expected to return home on Sunday.

ROUGHLY three-quarters of urban women in households making less than US$300 per month reported that their household incomes had declined in the last year, leaving their families unable to afford healthy food, according to a survey released this week by Indochina Research.

The survey questioned 200 women aged 25 and older in Phnom Penh. Respondents were stopped outside of four markets and asked about their employment, incomes and expenditures over the last year.

Seventy-four percent of respondents said they had seen their household incomes decline from June 2008 to June 2009.

The survey also found that small businesses in Phnom Penh had been hit hard by the economic crisis. Nearly 80 percent of respondents who had family members with a small business - including informal enterprises such as motorbike repair shops, hair salons and food stalls - said their incomes had decreased.

Kent Helmers, the social research director at Indochina Research, said via email: "While the plight of poorer urban and rural workers laid off from garment factories has been highlighted in the media ... we also need to highlight the struggle under way for poorer urban families depending on small business."

Poor diet
Because of their reduced earnings, many poor urban families are now unable to afford nutritious meals, the survey said.

Eighty-five percent of respondents said chicken - an important source of protein - had become less affordable over the last year, while 73 percent of women said they could not afford enough chicken for their families.

A woman in Phnom Penh sleeps on her cart. A new survey reports that poor urban women have seen their incomes fall of late.

The assistant for Preah Vihear Provincial Governor Preap Tan said Tuesday that the executive's family had decided to keep the 58-year-old on life support despite a bleak prognosis offered by doctors. Preap Tan was taken to a Ho Chi Minh City hospital after suffering a stroke last Wednesday. "We were told by Vietnamese doctors that there is no hope to save his life," said Bun Tharom, the assistant. "It is sad news for all of us. He has worked very hard for years for the nation." Preah Vihear Deputy Governor Long Sovann said Kuoy Bunthan, another deputy governor, was serving as acting provincial governor. He said officials were thinking about a permanent successor but had yet to name one out of respect for Preap Tan. Bun Tharom said officials from the Ministry of Interior had formed a committee to plan a funeral for the governor, to be held at his Phnom Penh residence.

PHNOM Penh Municipal Court Judge Chhay Kong on Tuesday sentenced the head of the Khmer Civilisation Foundation to two years in prison, fined him 7 million riels (US$1,671) and ordered him to pay an additional 8 million riels in compensation to the Apsara Authority for suggesting in interviews that the heat from lights at Angkor Wat could damage the 11th-century temple.

The judge ordered the Ministry of Interior to arrest and imprison Moeung Sonn, who fled to France in June when he was charged with incitement and spreading false information, if he returns to Cambodian soil.

"We find that the accused damaged the government's reputation and caused anarchy and disorder in society. There are enough elements to convict him," Chhay Kong said.

Moeung Sonn told the Post from France the verdict was unjust, describing it as a blow to free speech in Cambodia.

"I am appealing the conviction and calling on all local NGOs, international communities, observers and the respected King Sihamoni to seek intervention to bring justice to me," he said, adding that his attempts to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is also in France, had been unsuccessful.

Moeung Sonn's defence lawyer, Sam Sokong, said his client had become concerned about the lights only after the public did.

"My client didn't intend to damage or degrade the government's reputation, especially not the Apsara Authority," he said, referring to the body that manages the temple complex.

After the verdict was read, Sam Sokong told the Post that the court had clearly ignored the defence's case.

"The court didn't even consider the evidence and documents that I presented," he said.

Am Sam Ath, a technical supervisor for the rights group Licadho, called the conviction a "grave injustice" and said there were "not enough pieces of evidence or witnesses to convict him".

But prosecutor Ek Chheng Huot and government lawyer Pal Chan Dara said Moeung Sonn had purposefully undermined the credibility of the government.

"Moeung Sonn really knew what he did, and he kept distributing his disinformation to reporters to print the stories and also to broadcast on local radio. This caused confusion to millions of Cambodian people who love Angkor Wat," Pal Chan Dara said.

Ek Chheng Huot said the case against Moeung Sonn was necessary to avoid a violent outburst from a misinformed public.

"If we didn't stop Moeung Sonn's activities ... there would have been a big demonstration similar to the riots that burned the Thai Embassy in 2003," he said.

Ek Chheng Huot said Moeung Sonn continued to stoke fears about the lights even after officials said in a press conference that they would have no effect on the temple.

PRIME Minister Hun Sen has given Preah Vihear provincial authorities until the end of the week to construct a new market to replace the one near Preah Vihear temple that was destroyed during a clash between Cambodian and Thai soldiers in early April, despite the fact that Thailand has yet to respond to Cambodian demands for compensation.

Hang Soth, general director of the Preah Vihear National Authority (PVNA), said Hun Sen issued the order from France, where he is on a state visit with Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong.

Though he described the one-week deadline as unrealistic, Hang Soth said work on the market had already begun Tuesday afternoon.
"I have sent my officials to the market site this morning to prepare for the construction," he said.

"The new market will be a market for tourists."

During an exchange of gunfire between Cambodian and Thai soldiers on April 3, Thai rocket fire destroyed all 264 stands, leaving roughly 319 families who lived and worked at the market homeless, according to accounts from Cambodian military officials.

The Cambodian government in May demanded US$2.1 million from the Thai government to pay for the damages.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said during a visit to Phnom Penh in late May that Thai authorities would investigate the cause of the damage to the temple before responding to the request.

Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Tuesday that the government had decided to go ahead with the building of a new market despite having received no response from Thailand regarding compensation.

Officials from the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh and the Thai Foreign Ministry in Bangkok could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

PM's orders
Hang Soth said the PVNA would be responsible for settling on a location for the new market, though he said vendors would need to pay for the construction of individual market stalls themselves.

He said that vendors who were displaced would "be given priority" for stalls.

"We planned to rebuild about 319 shops, but after studying the site now we think we will build about 150 shops," he said, adding that individual stalls would cost between $3,000 and $7,000, depending on size.

Sar Thavy, a deputy governor of Preah Vihear province, said Tuesday that the location of the new market had been selected and that construction materials had already been taken to the site.

"It's been raining for three days, so it's been difficult to transport the materials up the mountain," he said.

"But they have to obey the premier's order."

Also Tuesday, an RCAF official said that a meeting scheduled for Monday between Thai and Cambodian military officials had been cancelled because the Thai officials had been unable to secure approval from government officials in Bangkok.

Chea Morn, commander of RCAF Military Region 4, said that the meeting had been proposed to reduce tension along the border.

TWENTY-four Borei Keila families, all of which have at least one HIV-positive member, are set to be evicted today, a district official told the Post.

"We have got City Hall approval ... and we will help them with transportation," said Sok Ath, the chief of the district's development programme.

These HIV-affected families said they did not live in the green shelters with the HIV community, but were spread throughout Borei Keila.

And unlike the HIV community that was forcibly removed in June, many of these families say they want to be moved to Tuol Sambo, a relocation site more than 20 kilometres away.

"When people don't want to go, they force them, but when they want to go, they delay. I don't really understand the government policy," said Borei Keila resident Sok Srey Paov.

Another resident, Pheak Kdey Neary, said the families want to leave Borei Keila because people have stopped renting apartments to them.

When people don't want to go they force them, but when they want to go, they delay.


According to Sao Vanna, the chief of the HIV community, the 24 families each will receive 100,000 riels (US$24) and some food in addition to 3.5-by-4.8-metre rooms in Tuol Sambo.

But some observers say these families only want to go to Tuol Sambo because they have been left with no other alternatives.

Five young Borei Keila residents play on a log last month. District officials say 24 HIV-affected families in Borei Keila are to be moved more than 20 kilometres to Tuol Sambo today, joining other families with HIV-positive members who were evicted last month.

The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) has approved 53 investment projects in the first half of 2009, worth a total of 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, local media reported on Wednesday.

The figures represent a sharp drop from the first half of 2008, when the CDC approved 4.43 billion in investments, including a 3.8 billion U.S. dollars tourist development in Koh Kong by Chinese Union Development Group.

A CDC official, who declined to be named, was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying that investment had taken a hit from the global financial downturn, but that in relative terms the Kingdom remained an attractive destination to investors.

"Today's economic crisis has caused direct influxes of capital around the world to decline by 50 percent in the first half of 2009, and cross-border investment to decrease 77 percent," the official said.

Of the investments approved, 354 million U.S. dollars went to the tourism sector, 323 million U.S. dollars to agriculture, 303 million U.S. dollars to industry and 241 million U.S. dollars to the private-sector developments.

The CDC official added that Cambodia's pre-existing investment projects had boosted the current economic activity in the country and would continue to propel private-sector development.

According to the CDC, ASEAN countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia, were the leading sources of investment in the first half, with 389 million U.S. dollars in investments. Second to ASEAN were other Asian investors - including from China, South Korea, China's Taiwan, Japan and China 's Hong Kong, which have invested a total of 367 million U.S. dollars.

According to a source, Hang Chakra, the Editor-in-chief of the Khmer Machas Srok newspaper who is currently jailed in Prey Sar prison, is in normal health, but he is put into a cramped small jail cell with 50 other prisoners.

As the same time, a NGO indicated that Hang Chakra is facing urinary tract health problem, and he also feels tense.

Choung Chou-ngy, Hang Chakra’s defense lawyer, went to visit his client at the Prey Sar jail on 13 July 2009 at 2PM. He told RFA: “He has no health problem. The main issue is my work for his case, the court will send his case to appeal. Just now, I confirmed with him whether he still needs me as his appeal defense lawyer or not? He said that he still needs me as his defense lawyer for the appeal.”

Choung Chou-ngy added that he and his client appealed the case on 26 June. He is currently waiting for the Appeal court to hold the upcoming hearing, however, there is no date set yet.

He said that prior to his meeting with his client, Hang Netra, Hang Chakra’s daughter, and her husband also went to visit their parent on Monday morning.

Am Sam At, director on investigation for the Licadho human rights organization, declared that Licadho’s doctor recently received the authorization from the jail warden to meet and check up Hang Chakra’s on Monday.

Am Sam At said: “The checkup of his health shows that he has health problem because of his urinary tract. The doctor looked after him and gave him medicine. Besides this, he is stuffed and he has anxiety, when he is like this, he could have mental problem.”

Hang Chakra is the editor-in-chief of the Khmer Machas Srok newspaper, he was sentenced in absentia by the Phnom Penh municipal court to 12-month jail sentence and 9 million riels ($2,250) fine for disinformation and defamation because his newspaper published an article in April and May accusing Hun Sen of breaking up the corruption nest led by Sok An.

Son An, the vice-PM and minister of the Council of ministers, rejected this allegation during a National Assembly session in June.

Civil society organizations indicated that this government lawsuit was aimed at shutting down the freedom of expression and criticisms against the government.

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PHNOM PENH (AFP) — An international rights group has demanded Cambodia's rulers end a spate of legal action against critics, which it called the government's "harshest crackdown in years" on free speech.

New York-based Human Rights Watch alleged premier Hun Sen's government aimed to silence political opposition and critics with a recent "campaign of harassment, threats, and unwarranted legal action."

"The Cambodian government is imposing its most serious crackdown on freedom of expression in recent years," said the group's Asia director, Brad Adams, in a statement.

Cambodian authorities have lodged at least nine criminal defamation and disinformation complaints against journalists, members of parliament, lawyers and critics of the government since April.

Criminal defamation cases against two opposition lawmakers are expected to proceed over the next weeks, and opposition newspaper Moneaksekar Khmer closed operations Friday to avoid prosecution for criticising government officials.

"The space of opposition media and peaceful dissent is rapidly shrinking in Cambodia, especially now with the closure of one of Cambodia's last remaining opposition newspapers," Adams said.

Cambodian government officials were not immediately available for comment.

The UN's human rights office in Cambodia also issued a report last month warning the spate of lawsuits against critics could nurture "fear, frustration and anger, with the risk of leading to further conflict and violence".

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Hun Sen and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, discussed with each other on 14 July at 3PM, after the French military parade.

The topic of the discussions dealt with “bilateral relationships between France and Cambodia, as well as the situation in Asia,” Nicolas Sarkozy’s website indicated.

Sarkozy stressed “France’s will to deepen further the links woven by history between the two countries, and to maintain its constant engagement with Cambodia.”

At the same time, in Phnom Penh, the French embassy opened its door to French residents and tourists, as well as local guests for a garden party which gathered a crowd of more than 1,400 people.

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Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
(New York) - The Cambodian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen should end its campaign of harassment, threats, and unwarranted legal action aimed at consolidating its rule by silencing the political opposition and peaceful critics, Human Rights Watch said today.
In recent months, senior Cambodian government leaders and military officials have filed at least nine politically motivated criminal defamation and disinformation cases against journalists, opposition members of parliament, lawyers, and government critics.

"The Cambodian government is imposing its most serious crackdown on freedom of expression in recent years," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Once again, Hun Sen is showing his true stripes by harassing and threatening to imprison peaceful critics of his increasingly authoritarian government."
Government attempts to muzzle free expression have intensified in recent weeks:

* On June 22, 2009, the National Assembly voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of two of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party's (SRP) most active members, Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, paving the way to try them on criminal charges of defamation against Hun Sen and 22 military officials, respectively.
* On June 26, a Phnom Penh court sentenced Hang Chakra, owner of the opposition newspaper Khmer Machas Srok (Khmer Landowner), to one year in prison on charges of disinformation after the newspaper published articles on government corruption.
* On July 7, Kong Sam Onn, one of the few private lawyers who had been brave enough to represent opposition SRP members in court, "defected" to the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and dropped his representation of Mu Sochua and Ho Vann after he was sued for defamation by Hun Sen and threatened with disbarment by the Cambodian Bar Association for representing Mu Sochua against criminal defamation charges.
* On July 10, Dam Sith, the owner of Moneaksekar Khmer (Khmer Conscience), one of Cambodia's oldest and most influential opposition papers, closed the newspaper to avoid criminal prosecution for criticism of government officials.
* On July 14, Moeung Sonn, president of the Khmer Civilization Foundation, a nonprofit organization, was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison on charges of disinformation after he raised concerns about the effect of installation of lights on the Angkor monuments.

With the resignation of their lawyer, opposition lawmakers Ho Vann and Mu Sochua have not been able to find other lawyers willing to represent them in their upcoming trials, scheduled for July 17 and July 24, respectively.
"If Ho Vann and Mu Sochua are convicted, there's a real chance that two of the most active opposition voices will permanently lose their seats in the National Assembly," said Adams. "Key issues are at stake here - multi-party democracy, rule of law, independence of lawyers, and freedom of expression."

Human Rights Watch expressed concern about the coerced closure of Moneaksekar Khmer on July 10, prompted by a battery of defamation, disinformation, and incitement suits filed by the government against the newspaper's editor, Dam Sith, a member of the board of directors of the Sam Rainsy Party. After Sith pledged to close the paper in a letter of apology to Hun Sen on July 8, the charges were reportedly dropped.
Since it began publication in Phnom Penh in 1993, Moneaksekar Khmer has experienced regular threats, intimidation, and even the killing of one of its staff. Khim Sambo, a reporter for the paper, was killed just weeks before national elections in July 2008 and shortly after the one-week detention, in June, of Dam Sith on disinformation charges filed by the foreign minister.
The two other main newspapers formerly affiliated with the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) have also been targeted. In late June 2009, Hang Chakra, owner of Khmer Machas Srok newspaper, was sentenced to a year in prison on disinformation charges, for articles concerning corruption in the office of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An.
In 2008, the popular pro-SRP newspaper Sralang Khmer (Love Khmer) suddenly re-aligned toward the ruling party after its editor, Thach Ket, a board member of the SRP, was pressured to defect, during a period when the ruling party was being accused of using threats and inducements to obtain coerced defections of opposition leaders.
Perhaps the most outrageous misuse of criminal defamation charges has been in the conviction in early June of SRP youth activist Soung Sophorn, after he wrote slogans criticizing the government on the outside walls of his own house, which was slated for forced eviction for a new development on land owned by a ruling-party senator.
The recent lawsuits have all been filed under the broadly worded articles 62 (Disinformation; distribution of false information "likely to disturb the public peace") and 63 (Defamation and Libel) of the temporary penal code promulgated in 1992 by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia. While imprisonment was removed as a penalty for defamation in 2006, it remains a criminal offense, and prison sentences of up to three years still apply for disinformation. Human Rights Watch said that criminal defamation laws violate the internationally protected right to freedom of expression and have a chilling effect on government critics and the media.
The string of lawsuits has effectively muzzled opposition voices, with an SRP member of parliament, Son Chhay, commenting in a Radio Australia interview on July 9: "We have no alternative. I think we will quiet down for a while. We are not going to raise the issue of corruption. We are not going to speak about land-grabbing. We are not going to talk about the corrupt court system."
Human Rights Watch urged Cambodia's international donors, especially those funding programs promoting the rule of law, judicial reform, human rights, and good governance, to insist that the Cambodian government cease its harassment and abusive legal actions against opposition members.
"The space for opposition media and peaceful dissent is rapidly shrinking in Cambodia, especially now with the closure of one of Cambodia's last remaining opposition newspapers," said Adams. "Cambodia's laws criminalizing peaceful speech should be repealed so that Hun Sen and other officials can no longer threaten journalists with jail for practicing their profession."
"Through violence, threats and money politics, Hun Sen already controls almost every aspect of Cambodia's politics," said Adams. "Yet his efforts to silence dissent seem endless. Why does he seem to wake up every day looking for enemies to persecute? Will this ever end?"

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PHNOM PENH - A former interrogator at the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison on Tuesday expressed no remorse for the deaths of thousands of Cambodians who he said had all committed crimes.

Appearing as a prosecution witness in the trial of Duch, Pol Pot's head jailor, Mam Nay, also known as Chan, denied any part in torture or killings of prisoners and blamed the United States and Vietnam for undermining his country.

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An estimated 1.7 million people died during the Khmer Rouge's four-year "killing fields" reign of terror, which ended when Vietnamese forces invaded in 1979.

Asked by the judge if he regretted what happened at the Tuol Sleng prison, where more than 14,000 men, women and children were killed, Chan showed no remorse.

"My only regret was our country was invaded," he told the joint Cambodian-U.N. tribunal. "Frankly speaking, the Americans invaded us then Vietnam invaded us. That is my regret."

During his five hours of questioning, Nay, a former teacher, said he remembered very little about the S-21 interrogation center, a former school and now a museum to the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime.

He was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony but was reluctant to speak against Duch, the first of the five indicted former Khmer Rouge cadres to face trial.

"I was assigned by Duch to interrogate detainees," said Chan, who wore sunglasses and a traditional Cambodian scarf. "I did not use torture in my interrogation. I believed I would not get a true confession."

Asked about the deaths of innocent people, Nay, 76, said: "None of them was innocent -- those people committed offences, either minor or serious.

"This was the reason for their arrest. How serious or how minor, I don't know."

With no death penalty in Cambodia, Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder.

Also indicted are Khmer Rouge second-in-command Nuon Chea, former President Khieu Samphan and ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, all of whom have denied knowledge of the atrocities.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, who was known by the regime as "Brother Number One," died in 1998 near the Thai-Cambodia border.

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Distributors in Phnom Penh have said that the number of Chinese-sourced mobile phones being sold in Cambodia each month is climbing rapidly, local newspaper the PhnomPenh Post reported on Tuesday.

Not only are they cheaper than leading brands, but some have features including the ability to use two SIM cards, built-in radio and TV receivers and MP3 and MP4 players, it said.

The Ky Hout company said that it imports between 6,000 and 8,000 phones monthly for distribution in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Battambang. The sales manager, who asked not to be named, said customers liked the fact that the phones were substantially cheaper than the competition.

She said sales were up ten-fold since the start of the year. "Previously we imported only 300 t0 600 of these phones each month that sell for between 35 U.S. dollars and 100 U.S. dollars each," she said, adding, "Our sales of Nokia phones have dropped by 80 percent."

Srey Touch, the owner of another importer, the 03 Company, agreed that sales of Chinese-made phones were up sharply. "We import new model phones two or three times a month, with up to 500phones each time," he said, adding, "The phones sell especially well during the big national holidays such as Khmer New Year, Pchum Ben and the Water Festival."

But representatives of Nokia and Sony Ericsson said their market share was not being hit by the cheaper competition. "Sales are stable," said Yoeun Makara, a retail sales manager who imports Nokia phones. "Moreover, 80 percent of our customers choose to buy Nokia because it is strong and robust, and they like the new touch screen models."

Chea Mony, the head of marketing at Sony Ericsson in Cambodia, is also bullish. He said sales were up at least 10 percent this year. "The influx of Chinese cell-phones creates opportunities for many users, but it is not an obstacle for Sony Ericsson because competition goes beyond price, and Sony Ericsson offers many different prices including low, medium and high," he said.

So Khun, minister of posts and telecommunications, said in May that 4.23 million of the country's 13.4 million citizens have mobile phones, and that the nation has just 42,000 landlines.

Nine mobile phones companies operate in Cambodia: Beeline, Excell, Hello, MFone, Metfone, Mobitel, qb, Smart and Star-Cell.

From:

[Editor’s note: Leopard Capital is the only company in Cambodia raising funds from foreign investors for multiple sectors. Since its inception in 2007, Leopard’s manager partner, Douglas Clayton, has met with more than 500 wealthy investors from around the globe, though most have proved hesitant to invest in Cambodia. Clayton recently sat with VOA Khmer for an interview in Phnom Penh.]

Q. When you first began here two years ago, you expected to raise $100 million. How far have you come in that plan?

A. Well, two years ago when we started this fund, the world economy was much stronger. So we were more optimistic, but things changed, [and] we’ve raised $27 million. We are going to invest in around 10 businesses here. We have some 80 or 90 investors in our fund. So we have managed to persuade some of them to send their money to Cambodia.

Q. What is the difference in Cambodia’s investment climate from when you first opened your office?

A. Certainly, the economy slowed down a lot. It has become more difficult to raise money for any risky investment than it was two or three years ago. Globally, investors have lost a lot of money because of the stock markets coming down and the property markets coming down. So there’s less money for people to invest, and there is more caution for the money than before. They try to hang on to what they have, and they try not to take long-term risks. They want to be very liquid with their investments.

Q. You mention risky business. What are the risks to business in Cambodia that make it hard to attract investors?

A. Most foreign investors don’t know very much about Cambodia. Most of them have never been here, and they remember the old history of Cambodia thirty years ago, but they don’t know too much about the recent history. So we have to explain what has been going on here and how the country has changed, how it is developing. The hardest part is that most people consider Cambodia as a small country far away that they have never been in, and they generally have heard negative things in the last two decades. They haven’t heard the positive things going on here.

Q. In this economic crisis, what are the most risky Cambodian businesses to invest in?

A. I don’t know if I could answer which sector is the most risky. But certainly it’s all about finding businesses that can still prosper during the time of global recession. We could invest in agriculture; there’s always demand for food. Whether the economy is strong or weak, there is still some demand for rice.

Q. In the middle of 2008, when the economic crisis was hitting, how many investors were you talking with?

A. I’ve been around the world four or five times marketing this fund, and I have probably met over 500 investors individually. These are large institutional investors that manage billions of dollars. I spoke at 10 or 12 conferences that I was invited to, to explain Cambodia with other speakers who explained other countries.

Q. Who were these investors? Where were they from? What were their views on Cambodia’s investment climate?

A. We have investors from all over the world, but the largest group and largest percentage is from Europe, European investors who are familiar with Southeast Asia, as many of them have come for holiday in this part of the world. But most of them would say something like, “I’ll have to come out to visit Cambodia on my next trip to Asia before I invest.” And then, after they don’t have to come to Cambodia, most of them don’t actually start investing. But at least they learn a little bit about Cambodia, and they know there is an opportunity to invest here.

Q. It seems that these investors are reluctant to invest in Cambodia. Can you identify reasons that have made them so hesitant to enter the Cambodian market?

A. Firstly, they’ll consider the very small economy of Cambodia. The total GDP here is around $8 billion or $9 billion. That’s about the size of one company in the West. So they think they should spend a lot of time to understand a tiny economy such as Cambodia. Secondly, they are worried about the rule of law. They read in the paper a lot of reports that the rule of law is weak in Cambodia, and they worry to invest here they might not be able to get their money back.

Q. What kind of law?

A. They are worried if there is a dispute with a fund or other local partners who they invest with, they are not sure that the court will be able to give a fair ruling. That not only happens in Cambodia, but in all emerging countries, where investors worry about contracts, resolution and disputed elements.

Q. What about corruption? A recent report by the World Bank and International Financial Corporation says corruption is still the most challenging aspect of investment in Cambodia.

A. Yes, it is a challenge in all markets, especially when we have underpaid government officials who have to find a way to support their family. So this is something that we have to manage and have to be careful of.

Q. What currently are the most favorable investment destinations?

A. Well, I think most people still focus on China and India. They like the large populations of these countries, the huge economies. These countries should be major players in the world economy.

Q. Can you sum up the positive and negative aspects of Cambodia’s investment market?

A. The bad things are what we have talked about: the rule of law, under-development, corruption and the small economy; the fact that most of the people are not very well off and can’t afford products and services; people widely dispersed around the country. The infrastructure is still not perfect. The cost of power, telephone, Internet, and transportation are all higher than other countries. Human-resources skill is another problem. Any business we do, we have to train a lot more than we would do in another place. We may have to import managers initially.

The positive side is that it is a country that has many business opportunities. In most countries, there will be rental car agencies, there is a bus pickup to town, but there are not in Cambodia. Many other Asian cities have this, but Phnom Penh doesn’t.

Secondly, we have a very young population here. The average age in Cambodia is 21, unlike many western countries, where the average age is 40, the time that you get ready for retirement. Cambodians are just ready to go to work.

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