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Koh Kong
pagodas
threatened
May Titthara
Koh Kong province
PRAK Thon says he will give up every-
thing to stop a Chinese company from
destroying his pagoda in Koh Kong
provinces Kiri Sakor district.
Ill allow them to demolish my
house, but I will not allow them to
destroy the pagoda. Im satisfied if I
die, because it is my religion, the vill-
ager said over the weekend.
The pagoda, which he said villagers
built in Koh Sdech communes Prek
Smach village in 1993, is threatened
by a US$3.8 billion development by
Union Development Co Ltd on two
concessions that amount to more
than 45,000 hectares in Botum Sakor
and Kiri Sakor districts.
The departure of some 700 volun-
teer students on Friday, sent by Prime
Minister Hun Sen to measure land
across the country for villagers affect-
ed by land disputes, has not alleviated
the fears of Thon and his neighbours
that they will soon be evicted because
of this project.
Thon is worried that despite a June
14 nationwide order by the prime
minister for provincial governors to
measure land for all villagers affected
by economic land concessions, many
will still be left without homes.
I was happy when I heard the prime
minister say that if it affected the site,
the authorities had to cut land for the
villagers, he said.
But so far, Thon said, he had not
seen any land measured for about 25
families of 190 in the area who are
holding out and refusing to relocate
despite threats from local authorities
he says are trying to cheat them.
The premier would be destroying
himself if the order was not imple-
mented, because villagers would lose
confidence in him, he said.
Even the monks abandoned the
pagoda in May, he said, while the vil-
lagers who did agree to leave found
themselves relocated some 40 kilome-
tres away.
Venerable Thath Ny was the chief of
Kiri Kongkear pagoda until authorities
Don Weinland
O
IL PRODUCTION in Cam-
bodia may not begin until
2016, or at least three years
after the original l y
appointed date, Chevron officials
reportedly said at a Ministry of Envi-
ronment meeting on Friday.
Government officials yesterday
confirmed the feasibility of the
time frame.
If Chevron Overseas Petroleum
Cambodia gained approval for a
production permit by the end of
this year, it could embark on a
34-month process that would lead
to drawing oil from Cambodias off-
shore Block A in the Gulf of Thai-
land, according to people who
attended Fridays meeting.
Details of the process were unavail-
able yesterday, but would likely
include internal investment deci-
sions and agreements with the gov-
ernment, Mam Sambath, director of
Development Partnership in Action
(DPA), said yesterday, citing informa-
tion disclosed in the meeting.
The Cambodia National Petroleum
Authority said 2016 was a realistic
year for oil extraction.
If everything can come together
smoothly, then 34 months would be
a reasonable time for production.
Two-thousand sixteen is not an
unreasonable time frame, given the
pace of the current situation, CNPA
spokesman Diep Sareiviseth said yes-
terday in an email.
December 12, 2012 or 12-12-12
was originally designated as the starting
date for production, but a government
spokesman in January shot down hopes
for extraction beginning that soon.
Chevron said in an online statement
in April that it hoped to gain approval
for production by the end of the year.
Steve Glick, president of Chevrons
Cambodia operations, declined yes-
terday to comment on a production
date. He did, however, shed light on
the status of Chevrons environmental
impact assessments, or EIAs.
The Post last week obtained an EIA
for Chevrons production in the off-
shore oil field. Although the document
was the first to be seen by the public,
Chevron aims for 2016
Continues page 7 Continues on page 4
People pray in front of a Buddha statue at the Kiri Kongkear pagoda, in Koh Kong province's Botum Sakor district. The pagoda, as well as the Prek Smach
primary school, were ordered closed by local authorities to make way for a development being carried out by the Union Development group. heng chivoan
MONDAY, JUlY 2, 2012 Successful People Read The Post 4000 RIElS
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Accused secessionists to testify NaTIoNaL NEWS
pAgE - 3
National
2
THE PHNOM PENH POST JUly 2, 2012
National Centre for Malaria Control,
Parasitology and Entomology (CNM)
Ministry of Health
Request for Proposal (RFP)
for the provision of Field implementation and data collection of
the next Cambodia Malaria Survey (CMS2012)
Grant No: CAM-607-G10-M
Proposal No: SR/CNM/GFATM/R6/2012/003
1. The National Center for Malaria Control, Parasitology and Entomology
as the Sub Recipient of GFATM (hereinafter called the SR/CNM) have
received grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
(GFATM) in United States Dollars and allocated nancial resources towards the
cost of implementation for the malaria programs. It is intended that part of the
proceeds of this Grant will be applied to eligible payments under the contract for
the Procurement of the provision of eld implementation and data collection of
the next Cambodia Malaria Survey (CMS 2012) to be conducted as part of the
GFATM Round 6 Grant.
The SR/CNM now asks interested bidders to provide proposals for for the provision 2.
of Field implementation and data collection of the next Cambodia Malaria Survey
(CMS 2012) to be conducted as part of the GFATM Round 6 Grant. More details
of the services are provided in the Terms of Reference (TOR).
Interest bidders are encouraged to attend the Pre-bid meeting that will be held 3.
on July 03, 2012 at 2:30pm in the meeting room of SR/CNM ofce.
The Firms must obtain a copy of the Request for Proposals (that includes the 4.
ToR) by registering in person with SR/CNM and Request for Proposals may
be provided to interest bidders on the submission of a written application to
SR/CNM at the address below during working hour (7:30-12:00 and 14:00-
17:30, Monday to Friday).
Your offer comprising of technical proposal and nancial proposal, in separate 5.
sealed envelopes, should reach the following address no later than 3:00PM
on or before July 17, 2012. The technical proposals will be opened by Bid
Evaluation Committee on July 17, 2012 at 3:30 pm in the presence of the
bidders representative at the SR/CNM meeting room.
Address for submission: 6.
Attention: Dr. Char Meng Chuor, CNM Director
National Centre for Malaria Control, Parasitology and Entomology for
Global to Fight AIDs, TB and Malaria (GFATM),
#372, Monivong Blvd., Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tel/Fax: 023 223 442
Email: mengchuor@cnm.gov.kh; khengsim@cnm.gov.kh
Late proposal submission will be rejected.
Meas Sokchea
FREE Trade Union president
Chea Mony has announced
that his union will leave the
Cambodian Confederation
of Unions and sever all ties
with its long-time ally, the
Cambodian Independent
Teachers Association.
In a letter to Minister of
labour Vong Sauth, dated
June 27 and obtained by the
Post yesterday, Mony said the
split from CITA, with which it
formed the CCU in 2006, was
due to policy differences.
Recently, the activities of
CCU has been contrary to the
aims and targets of [FTU],
which demands our workers
interests are taken care of
and stability is maintained in
the textile industry, the let-
ter states.
Therefore, [FTU] would
like to announce an end to
its alliance with CITA and to
say it is not under the roof
of CCU anymore . . . [whose]
actions from now on do not
refect [FTU].
The government rejected
CCUs application for formal
trade-union accreditation last
month because some of its
members teachers unions
are not covered under the
1997 labour law.
CCU, which has been linked
in the past to the Sam Rainsy
Party, said it had been seek-
ing formal recognition for
only four of its seven unions
that were covered by the law,
which includes FTU.
FTUs split from CITA and
CCU also has a personal ele-
ment to it Mony told the Post
yesterday that part of the deci-
sion came after CITA and CCU
president Rong Chhun accused
him on a number of occasions
of being weak in his position,
a charge Chhun denies.
We have never accused
[Mony of being weak], Chhun
said yesterday. We just asked
him to follow acceptable pro-
cedures in his role.
Chhun said he was extreme-
ly disappointed with the FTUs
decision to sever ties with his
union and to leave CCU.
I dont know why FTU is
saying we are taking a con-
trary stand to them, he said.
CCU has not carried out ac-
tivities for workers that can be
considered contrary to FTUs
objectives, Rong Chhun said.
Mony said FTUs decision pro-
vided an opportunity to reassess
how it was serving its workers.
Whats all the fuss about?
T
HE strange case of
Monsieur Devillers has
caused a lot of head-
scratching and angst
in placid Phnom Penh. One
might wonder why. The man
is franais, of course, and they
are a cut above the rest of us le
monde est nous and all that.
But while the world may
once have been theirs and
Cambodia part of lempire;
times change and they are
not so formidable any more.
So that cannot be the rea-
son for the intense reverbera-
tions about this case.
Patrick Henri Devillers, 52,
had, like many fugitives, been
living peacefully with his par-
amour in Cambodias capital
for several years and no one
had paid any attention to him.
Nor did they pay much at-
tention three months ago when
word leaked out that he had once
worked for Bo Xilai, a member of
Chinas ruling Politburo.
As well, Devillers had been
involved in a close relationship
perhaps just business, perhaps
not with Bos vivacious wife, Gu
Kailai. Hence, some imaginative
souls surmised, perhaps he was
complicit in last Novembers
murder of Gus British business
colleague, Neil Heywood.
Even, heavens forbid, per-
haps Devillers even knew
where to fnd the dollops of
money-laundered dosh that
Bo, Gu and Heywood had al-
legedly stashed away.
In what has been tagged
Chinas biggest political scan-
dal in decades, Bo has now
been deposed, Gu arrested,
Heywood topped and Devil-
lers holed up in Phnom Penh.
It might seem like a juicy
recipe for a luc Besson
thriller starring Jean Reno,
Michelle yeoh and Gary Old-
man, except that in Cambo-
dia such shenanigans seem
almost pass.
Here, we murder NGO lead-
ers with abandon, toss acid in
the faces of innocent young
women, railroad families
off their land and knock off
meddlesome journalists and
trade unionists with a bullet
in the head. Cambodia is that
sort of place. So should we get
perturbed about money laun-
dering in Chongqing, a Brit
getting bumped off in Dalian
and a French dandy being
nabbed here? Give us a break.
look at the people we already
tolerate.
Descendants of the Ro-
manovs who struggle to pay
their kids school fees, Mos-
cow millionaires with a fetish
for pre-teen girls, Belgian
lotharios slicker on tax forms
than Andy Dufresne, and even
fugitive Thai prime ministers.
Cambodias door has al-
ways been open to outcasts
and tempest-tossed wretch-
es, fugitives from a cruel out-
side world where prison and
worse befall those who na-
ively transgress.
That is why Monsieur Dev-
illers, under normal circum-
stances, should be allowed to
remain in this sanctuary and
not suffer extradition.
Indeed, there is lingering
chagrin over his June 13 ar-
rest at Romdeng restaurant on
Street 174, which, as everyone
knows, laudably employs for-
mer street urchins as staff.
We can hardly imagine the
shock these youngsters expe-
rienced when observing nice
Monsieur Devillers being
hauled away by Cambodian
and Chinese cops. The poor
man even had to leave his
electric bicycle behind.
Perhaps the Chinese have
their reasons for this heavy-
handed behaviour; as for the
Cambodians, their reasons are
the same as those that moti-
vated them to return 20 Uigher
refugees three years ago: lucre.
Still, we must hope that
Devillers will not be subject-
ed to enhanced interrogation
as would be the case if hed
been a Muslim and it was the
United States not China seek-
ing his extradition.
For remember, it has now
been revealed that extraordi-
nary rendition was used by the
US to send suspects to a black
site in neighbouring Thailand
for torture. So it is not impos-
sible that it also occurred here.
That being so, perhaps Dev-
illers might consider agreeing
to return temporarily to Chi-
na to answer questions.
If he had nothing to do with
Heywoods murder or the miss-
ing millions, then hed be better
off going back and clearing his
name once and for all.
The Frogs may croak, but let
them mangez des madeleines
while we ponder rather more
serious matters. Remember
Chut Wutty? Chea Vichea?
Piseth Pelika?
rogermitton@gmail.com
Regional Insider
Roger Mitton
Free Trade Union
breaks from ally
Myriad migrants rescued in June
Sen David
NEARly 30 maids and fisher-
men were saved from harsh con-
ditions in Malaysia and South
Africa in the second half of June
and will be repatriated next
month, thanks to interventions
by the Cambodian government
and the International Organisa-
tion for Migration, according to
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Of the 28, 12 were arrested in
Malaysia when the broker that
arranged for their emigration
went out of business, invalidat-
ing their work papers.
They were found working
illegally, and were detained by
Malaysia immigration police, a
Foreign Ministry press release
said Friday.
One maid was saved from mis-
treatment and overwork at the
hands of her employer, and has
already been repatriated.
Another is in a Malaysian hos-
pital after contracting tubercu-
losis. Ten more are at the Cam-
bodian Embassy, where theyve
been stuck since their employer
refused to pay them upon com-
pleting their contracts.
Four fishermen are also await-
ing repatriation in South Africa
after escaping harsh working
conditions on a boat owned by
Giant Ocean International Fish-
ery Co ltd.
The Cambodian government
. . . suggested [through the Thai
government, which has an
embassy there] that South Afri-
ca take care of them and provide
for their safety and shelter
before cooperating with the
IOM to repatriate them as soon
as possible, the release states.
lim Mony, deputy head of the
womens section for the rights
group Adhoc, stressed the diffi-
culty of contacting workers
abroad when their brokers go
out of business, but lauded the
governments efforts.
It is a huge intervention and
amount of help for only the
month of June . . . but there are
still a lot more victims abroad,
she said.
Free Trade Union president Chea Mony (left) speaks to reporters in
Phnom Penh last year. heng chivoan
National
3
THE PHNOM PENH POST JUly 2, 2012
Bridget Di Certo
and Phak Seangly
A NEW system of regional ap-
peal courts is moving closer to
reality as the Ministry of Justice
attempts to resolve the bottle-
neck of appeals in the justice
system, offcials said yesterday.
Currently, appellants can
wait up to fve years or more
to have their cases heard in the
Kingdoms only appeal court, in
Phnom Penh.
Secretary of State Ith Rady
said yesterday that the minis-
try was drafting a law to have
regional appeal courts serving
three provinces each across
Cambodia to try to ease the
backlog of appellate cases.
The draft has already been
sent to the council ministers to
be examined, he said, adding
he could not predict when the
draft law would be fnalised.
Having the nations only ap-
peal court situated in Phnom
Penh also puts appellants from
faraway provinces at a huge
disadvantage, rights groups
said yesterday.
Cambodian Center for Hu-
man Rights trial monitor Mon-
ika Mang said there were mas-
sive problems in the system of
transporting people to appeals
hearings in Phnom Penh.
They spend lots of money
on transportation to come from
the province, and not just the
one time. There will be sum-
monses, the hearing, a verdict,
she said, adding that appellants
often had to foot the bill for this
transport themselves.
This is one of the key factors
to why up to 69 per cent of cases
at the Appeal Court are heard in
absentia, groups have said.
licadho has suggested the
chronic lack of resources in
prisons, including the vehicles,
petrol and manpower neces-
sary to bring detainees to their
appeal hearings, directly con-
tributes to this high rate.
The in-country Offce of the
High Commissioner of Human
Rights pointed out at a recent
criminal procedure workshop
that a number of prisoners
who were acquitted at frst in-
stance are still in prison wait-
ing for prosecutor appeals to
be decided.
Council of Ministers spokes-
man Phay Siphan said he was
away from his offce and could
not confrm how close the draft
law for regional appeal courts
was to being passed.
Regional courts of
appeal on horizon
Accused secessionists to testify
May Titthara
T
WO more of the fve
accused secession-
ists from Kratie prov-
inces Pro Ma village
turned themselves in on Fri-
day, Ministry of Interior off-
cials said, just days after Hun
Sen declared that he would
drop charges against them
if they testifed against the
plots masterminds.
Warrants for the fve were
issued after hundreds of pol-
ice and military police off-
cers evicted some 200 families
from Pro Ma village, shooting
a 14-year-old girl dead in the
process an operation the
government described as an
attempt to put down a seces-
sionist plot allegedly led by
Bun Ratha.
Ratha and others have re-
peatedly denied any such
plot, saying they were just
applying for land titles, and
the government has since
claimed that Ratha and the
others were taking orders
from someone else.
General Khieu Sopheak, a
spokesman for the Ministry
of Interior, said that the two
latest villagers whom he
refused to identify for safety
reasons had admitted that
they had received orders
from others.
We let them go back to
their [homes] after they con-
fessed, he said. They will
testify in court.
One alleged accomplice
turned himself in on June 26,
and the only two to remain on
the run are Bun Ratha and his
father, Bun Chhorn.
Chan Soveth, a senior in-
vestigator for rights group Ad-
hoc, called the governments
decision to grant immunity
in exchange for testimony a
ploy to silence an opposition
radio broadcaster that it ac-
cuses of masterminding the
alleged plot.
Forcing these confessions
by taking the villagers to be
witnesses is how the pres-
sure is applied on Mam Sam-
nangdo, president of FM 105
radio, whom the government
accuses of leading the alleged
secessionist group Democrat-
ic Association, he said.
Am Sam Ath, a senior in-
vestigator for human rights
group licadho, said that he
wondered what the villag-
ers were confessing to if they
were actually innocent, and
that the matter was best left to
the courts.
Twenty-fve-year-old Bun
Sithet, the younger brother
of Bun Ratha, said that ac-
cused secessionist Khat Sa-
roeun told him that he had
implicated Ratha in his con-
fession. Nevertheless, Ratha
and his father would not
confess to a crime they de-
nied committing.
My brother will come back
to the village if the prime
minister says he is not guilty,
he said.
People are evicted from Pro Ma village, in Kratie provinces Chhlong district, in May. heng chivoan
We let them go
back to their
[homes] after
they confessed
Continued from page 1
told him villagers had agreed
to leave and invited him to
temporarily stay at the Koh
Sdach pagoda.
I hope my pagoda will not
be demolished after what Hun
Sen said on June 14, he said.
Lim Song, a representative of
villagers in Botum Sakor districts
Thma Sar commune, said that
while he was aware the volunteer
students had been dispatched,
he would believe the land was
being cut out for villagers when
he saw it with his own eyes.
I live frightened that I will lose
my house and rice field. I will
stop being scared and believe in
Hun Sens speech when I see the
mixed committee come to
measure land and give a land
title to me, he said.
Just 27 of the 47 families in
his commune had resisted
pressure from the company to
move out, and those that
remained do not trust provin-
cial authorities to implement
the prime ministers order.
The classrooms of the local
school, Prek Smach primary,
have been empty since May, and
14-year-old Sann Sok wants his
teachers to come back.
I dont know if I will have the
chance to study again or not. I
want to know how to read and
write like other children, because
I dont want the others to call me
a stupid boy, he said.
One of his teachers was Sorn
Sovannara, who said he had no
choice but to leave because the
district education department
would have removed his name
from the education ministrys list
of teachers if he resisted.
What they did was more cru-
el than the Pol Pot regime. It was
only during Khmer Rouge that
schools and pagodas were
closed. I hope that my school will
be opened again after the Prime
Minister Hun Sen said about the
old policy, new activity for the
land system, he said.
Deputy provincial governor
Say Socheat said last week a
special committee had been
set up to investigate the dis-
pute and that he had travelled
to an affected community on
June 25 to measure land.
We cannot cut land from
the company. We have to do a
provincial report in order to
ask advice from the prime
minister, he said.
The Union Development
Co. Ltd project will lead to the
eviction of 1,143 families in
five communes from 1,500
homes earmarked f or
destruction, according to
rights group Adhoc.
Two schools and three pago-
das will be removed by the
completion of the project,
according to Adhoc.
Koh Kong provincial governor
Bun Leut said the fate of these
families and buildings remained
uncertain and that no volunteer
students had been dispatched
yet to Koh Kong in order to
measure land.
Related to the dispute
between villagers and Union
[Development Co Ltd], we have
to have a meeting with our com-
mittee first. I cannot say in
advance, Bun Leut said.
National
4
THE PHNOM PENH POST JULy 2, 2012
Land volunteers
on way: premier
Vong Sokheng
P
RIME Minister Hun
Sen said yesterday 700
volunteers from the
Cambodian Peoples
Party had fanned out across
eight provinces to measure
properties and provide titles
to villagers who have been
displaced by land disputes.
Speaking to about 10,000 vil-
lagers in the Kroch Chhmar dis-
trict of Kampong Cham prov-
ince, the premier said that 700
out of a total 1,100 volunteer
youth were already deployed
at Kampong Cham, Kratie, Rat-
tanakkiri, Mondulkiri, Kampot,
Banteay Meanchey and Bat-
tambang provinces in coopera-
tion with local authorities.
[Their] obligation this time
is to resolve problems [villag-
ers have been having while liv-
ing] on the state land, including
forestry concession, economic
land concession and the state
land where the villages were
illegally occupied, said Hun
Sen. I will hand over land cer-
tifcates for the villagers after
the process is done in order to
ensure that villagers have legal
rights to own the land.
He also appealed to villagers
to cooperate with each other
in the demarcation process in
order to facilitate a smoother
back and forth with local au-
thorities who will ultimately
provide the legal documents.
Im Chhun Lim, the Minister
of Land Management told the
volunteers at the end of last
week that an estimated 350,000
families were living on about 1.2
million hectares of state land.
The government has a clear
policy, and it will resolve the
problems for villagers so that
they will have appropriate legal
documents for the land, and
furthermore, it will stop new
encroachment on state land,
Chhun Lim said.
Hun Sen was in Kampong
Cham to mark National Fish
Day, which he and senior of-
fcials did by releasing about
500,000 baby fsh and 100,000
baby lobsters into a reservoir in
Kroch Chhmar district.
On March 8 of this year, the
premier announced the closure
of 35 commercial fshing lots
around the Tonle Sap Lake, cit-
ing illegal over-fshing.
This is the fnal fshery re-
form and the number of fsh
has been increasing after the
closure of fsh lots, he said.
Koh Kong
pagodas
threatened
Sann Sok, a student, looks through discarded papers and books at the Prek Smach primary school, which
closed in May. heng chivoan
5
THE PHNOM PENH POST JUly 2, 2012
National
Bridget Di Certo
BROTHER No 2 Nuon
Cheas defence law-
yers had exhibited a
pattern of disregard
for their duties at the
Khmer Rouge tribunal
amounting to professional mis-
conduct, Trial Chamber judges
said in a decision on Friday.
The judges had compiled
enough egregious examples of
misconduct by Dutch lawyer
Michiel Pestman and American
lawyer Andrew Ianuzzi to refer
to the bar associations in Am-
sterdam and New york respec-
tively for appropriate action.
Both lawyers are now work-
ing on the case from abroad.
Particularly egregious acts
include Ianuzzis reference to
Dr Dre lyrics when fling a mo-
tion for New Zealand Judge
Silvia Cartwright to keep all her
responses open and on the re-
cord after she was caught by the
team mouthing the words blah
blah blah while they were mak-
ing submissions.
Ianuzzi yesterday told the
Post that he looked forward to
submitting my own version of
events to my bar association in
due course. I have a ready an-
swer for each and every charge
levelled by the Trial Chamber,
he said by email.
The bench hear-
ing the case against
Nuon Chea and his
two fellow co-ac-
cused also consid-
ered the teams re-
peated protests of
government interference at the
UN-backed tribunal to be part
of the pattern of misconduct.
[The team] seems to be try-
ing to provoke high-profle
members of the Cambodian
government by linking them to
the activities of the Democratic
Kampuchea, judges said.
The core position of Nuon
Cheas defence is that govern-
ment interference at the tri-
bunal has destroyed any likeli-
hood of a free and fair trial.
Documentation Center of
Cambodia legal adviser Anne
Heindel said it was this inher-
ently confrontational de-
fence strategy that had caused
an ongoing struggle between
the lawyers and judges.
Their defence is that the
court is riddled with political
interference, and by bring-
ing it up and being shut down
consistently, they aim to prove
that and they are allowed to
pursue their defence, Hein-
del said, adding it was up to
the court to manage this.
Nuon Cheas lawyers
to face the bar abroad
Teenager allegedly sex slave
Mom Kunthear
P
OlICE have pulled
a 15-year-old girl
and her parents in
for questioning over
allegations the girl is being
kept as a virtual sex slave in
her familys home in Banteay
Meanchey province, where
her parents had chained her
legs to a bench to prevent
her from escaping, police
said yesterday.
The horrifc allegations,
which are also being investi-
gated by rights group Adhoc,
were refuted by the girls par-
ents, who claim their daugh-
ter is simply being locked
inside the house for her own
well-being.
Neighbour Khiev Bory told
the Post yesterday he had vis-
ited the girls family last week
and saw that she had been re-
strained in shackles.
The girl told me that her
parents forced her to work,
to be a beggar and to have
sex with foreign men since
she was 13 years old, he
said, adding that the girl had
allegedly been shackled by
her parents after her eighth
attempt to fee and escape
their abuse.
Her story was reported in a
local newspaper that quoted
her as saying her parents had
forced her to have sex with
French and Thai nationals and
they has also traffcked her to
Thailands Sakeo province,
where she was kept to work as
a prostitute.
Soum Chankea, provincial
Adhoc coordinator, said yes-
terday that Adhoc was investi-
gating after receiving informa-
tion from villagers and seeing
the photos of the girl.
The girls father, Nuth
Meoun, yesterday denied the
acts described by his daugh-
ter, but admitted he was
keeping her locked inside
their house for her own secu-
rity as she had been sneaking
out at night to hang out with
friends.
We do not put the leg cuffs
on her any more, we just lock
her in the house and sleep
with her every night, Meoun
told the Post.
She just accused us, but we
parents are angels to look after
our children, so why would we
force our beloved child to be a
whore? he asked angrily be-
fore hanging up on a reporter.
Um Sophal, Poipet town po-
lice chief, said yesterday that
his men are investigating the
situation, but that he could
confrm she was no longer
chained up.
We will keep investigating
and watching the girls family,
because we are afraid the par-
ents might do something bad
to the girl after [police] have
left, he said.
A 15-year-old girl chained to a concrete bench at her home in Banteay
Meanchey province last week. photo supplied
www.phnompenhpost.com
check the post weBsite
for BreAking news
National
6
THE PHNOM PENH POST JUly 2, 2012
Gun-totting robbers nab
two motos, one broken
THREE men stole two motorcy-
cles at gunpoint in Phnom
Penhs Chamkarmon district
on Friday. Police said the trio
had first robbed a 43-year-old
man of his motorcycle, but the
bike broke down. Then they
pointed the gun at another
passing motorcyclist. Two of
the suspects escaped on the
stolen vehicle, and the third
suspect, a 17-year-old high
school student was arrested
after the victims called for help.
Police said no victims were
injured and they were looking
for the other suspects. nokoRwaT
Cleaver-wielding
bandits dodge justice
THREE men tried to rob anoth-
er trio in Phnom Penhs Por
Sen Chey district on Friday,
chopping one with a cleaver in
the process. The three victims
were riding a motorcycle when
the three alleged robbers
forced them to stop by bran-
dishing the cleaver and asked
for money. Two of the three
victims managed to escape
and seek help in nearby villag-
es. Villagers came to catch one
of the suspects, while the oth-
ers escaped. The victim who
left at the scene suffered head
injuries and was sent to hospi-
tal. The arrested suspect con-
fessed to the crime. nokoRwaT
Vendettas and cleavers
plague the capital again
a 39-YEaR-oLD taxi driver
hacked his 33-year-old col-
league with a cleaver on
Tuesday at a taxi stop in
Phnom Penhs Prampi Maka-
ra district. The two both
worked at the stop, vying for
passengers. The suspect con-
fessed that the two had had
an argument over passengers
a few days before. when the
suspect saw his rival on Tues-
day, he hacked the man with
a cleaver. The victim was seri-
ously injured and hospitalised,
and police sent the suspect to
court. koH SanTEPHEaP
Pride-induced slash
attack yields no injuries
FoUR men chased and
attempted to stab three oth-
ers in Banteay Meancheys
Poipet town. Police arrested
a 27-year-old, who started
the attack as he spotted the
trio kicking his motorcycle.
The four friends grabbed
knives and chased the three,
while police came to inter-
vene. Police apprehended the
chief offender, but everyone
else escaped. no one was
injured. koH SanTEPHEaP
Robbers jungle hideout
not so inconspicuous
Two men stole a motorcycle
and hid it in a forest, but a sol-
dier spotted the bike, and the
two men were arrested on Fri-
day in Preah Sihanouks Prey
nop district. Police said the
two suspects, 23 and 24,
stopped the victim on Tuesday,
battered him with wooden
sticks and forced him to sur-
render his bike. The pair then
escaped on the motorcycle
and hid it in the forest. Both
men confessed to the crime.
koH SanTEPHEaP
Translated by Phak Seangly
Police
bloTTer
Rapid response
A man braves rushing water to go fshing in the Siem Reap river in Siem Reap town. MEnG kIMLonG
Tough decision on Devillers
cheang Sokha
T
HE government had
been torn between the
demands of France
and China when de-
ciding the fate of detained
Frenchman Patrick Devillers,
an offcial said yesterday.
Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman
for the Ministry of Interior,
would not say whether Beijing
had provided the government
with evidence of Devillers all-
eged crimes yet, but said he
was concerned about what to
do with the 52-year-old.
I hope these two countries,
both friends of Cambodia, will
understand our diffculty, he
told the Post.
If we send him to China,
France will not be happy; and
if we give him to France, it will
disappoint China.
Devillers, who was detained
on June 13 at Chinas request,
has links to wanted Chinese
politician Bo Xilai. It is still not
clear exactly why Devillers was
detained, but the government
has the right to hold him for 60
days without charge.
Minister of Information Kh-
ieu Kanharith last week all-
eged Patrick Devillers had held
money for Gu Kailai, the wife
of Bo Xilai.
China has named her as a
suspect in the murder of Brit-
ish businessman Neil Hey-
wood in November last year.
Both Heywood and Devil-
lers were known to be close
to her.
Devillers is alleged to have
entered Bos inner circle
while living in Dalian in the
1990s when Bo, who was
mayor of the Chinese city,
helped him to chase up an
unpaid debt.
A spokeswoman for the
French embassy in Phnom
Penh said yesterday she had no
information about the case.

In brief
One window, one
service for one queue
an oFFICIaL from the Ministry
of Interior said yesterday that
Cambodians will have access
to more than 30 government
service offices by 2013. The
so-called one window one
service sites were created so
citizens can carry out routine
tasks, such as the registration
of motorbike licence plates,
without travelling great dist-
ances or waiting many hours.
The aim is to offer the people
access to public ser vices the
received services are ones
delegated by relevant minis-
tries, said Por Phak, Director
of the Interior Min istrys Inter-
national Relations Depart-
ment. The offices, 17 of which
have opened in 10 pro vinces
since 2009, were made pos-
sible by funding from the Cam-
bodian government and the
world Bank. CHHaY CHannYDa
Son allegedly kills own
father; siblings arrested
Two men were charged in
connection with the killing of
their 47-year-old father on
Sat urday, and police are sear-
ching for a third son accused
of committing the murder.
Sokhom Ra, 26 and Sokhom
Thida, 22, were charged by
kratie Provincial Court on
Sat urday with helping hide
Sok hom Davy, who alleg edly
re peat edly struck his fath er,
Phlong Sokhom, with an axe,
Lieutenant Colonel Huoth
Lim heang, provincial chief of
the serious crimes unit, said
yesterday. The men in Snuol
districts khsoem krao com-
mune fell into an argument
with their alcoholic father,
who was prone to cursing
them and their mother, on
Friday, Limheang said. BUTH
REakSMEY konGkEa
7 THE PHNOM PENH POST JUly 2, 2012
Business
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4,065
Chevron
aims at oil
production
in 2016
Continued from page 1
Glick said the company had
completed three EIAs, includ-
ing reports on exploration.
Weve been in Cambodia for
10 years . . . and Chevron has
put forth two other EIAs dur-
ing that time, he said, adding
that the company had also
completed two environment
management programs con-
cerning its operation.
Civil-society groups such as
DPA have long sought out the
exploration EIAs, which Cam-
bodian law requires.
The EIA labelled impact on
the environment and com-
munities as low or insig-
nificant. Even so, concerns
remained on the report.
DPAs Mam Sambath said
potential impact on tourism
and fishing communities
needed deeper discussion.
We worry fishermen will
not be allowed to go nearby.
They could be economically
impacted, but this has not
been discussed . . . Tourists
visit islands near the produc-
tion site. We dont know what
the impact will be, he said.
The field is 157 kilometres
off Cambodias coast.
Chevron drilled 18 explora-
tory wells before announcing
a commercial discovery in
2010. It has a 30 per cent stake
in Block A, also known as the
Apsara field.
The production EIA, com-
pleted in March, laid out Chev-
rons development plans once
production begins.
It will build as many as 10
platforms in the 4,709-square-
kilometre field over a period of
nine years.
Oil firms from China and
Japan submitted exploratory
EIAs late last year the first to
be obtained by the public.
Cars queue for petrol at a Caltex station in Phnom Penh last week. The 24 retail stations are Chevrons most visible mark on the country to date. pha lina
Prudential to set up shop
May Kunmakara
and Gregory Pellechi

P
RUDENTIAl plc, a
fi nanci al -servi ces
company from the
United Kingdom,
planned to invest US$7 mill-
ion in Cambodias insurance
industry, British ambassador
Mark Gooding told Cambo-
dias Minister of Economy and
Finance Keat Chhon during a
meeting on Friday.
Prudential, not to be con-
fused with the Prudential
Insurance Company of Amer-
ica, will open an offce in the
Kingdom but the ambassador
could not confrm the ser-
vices to be offered, or a time
frame for the launch.
Insiders encouraged Prud-
entials move into the Cam-
bodian marketplace, saying
it would be a very good thing
as more data would become
available, enabling more acc-
urate risk assessments and
risk management.
It will provide investors
with access to the Cambo-
dian market and increase the
amount of market research
available for Cambodia, said
Chairman of the British Busi-
ness Association of Cambodia
(BBAC) Darren Conquest.
Recently, the government ap-
proved two life insurance com-
panies Cambodia life Insur-
ance which is a joint-venture
between the government and
foreign investors, and Manulife
from Canada which opened
last Thursday.
Gooding said the British Em-
bassy in Cambodia is prepar-
ing an exchange visit between
Cambodias insurance regula-
tors and the UKs, in order to
share experiences between
both regulators and to support
and encourage investors to
come to Cambodia.
Cambodia has six general
insurance companies, which
generate premiums of about
$9.4 million, a year-on-year av-
erage increase of 39 per cent in
the frst quarter of the year.
Chhay Ratanak, chairman of
the General Insurance Associa-
tion of Cambodia (GIAC), said
that while neither of the two
life insurance companies cur-
rently operating in Cambodia
are members of the GIAC, the
association would hold a meet-
ing this week with the compa-
nies to discuss their inclusion
in the organisation.
Ratanak said, I think com-
pared to ASEAN countries
there are not many companies
that provide insurance services
or life insurance. He made no
comment as to whether Cam-
bodia would see more growth
in the sector.
He said that there has been a
defnite increase in the number
of insurance companies op-
erating in Cambodia but said
that before any more choose to
enter the Kingdom they need
to proper research the market
to ensure that the market can
handle another.
The UK Trade and Invest-
ment Offce re-opened in
Cambodia on May 18 in a bid
to boost trade and investment
between the two countries.
According to the data from
the Council for the Develop-
ment of Cambodia, approved
investment from the UK stood
as number one in terms of For-
eign Direct Investment in Cam-
bodia, last year reaching more
than $2 billion.
Prudential is an internation-
al fnancial services group with
signifcant operations in Asia,
the US and the UK, and is listed
on the london, Hong Kong,
Singapore and New york stock
exchanges, according to its
website, and serves more than
26 million customers and has
351 billion (US$550 billion) of
assets under management.
Keat Chhon said Cambodias
government supported and
encouraged all foreign inves-
tors, including those from the
UK, to ensure foreign investors
continue to enter Cambodia.
The government is focus-
ing on the establishment of
the anti-corruption law in an
effort to eliminate unneces-
sary expanses, which can ad-
versely affect investment.
Opinion
18
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T
HE ASIAN Development
Bank (ADB) has posted a
short video on its website
about the resettlement
impacts of the Cambodian railway
rehabilitation project it is financing.
Rattling off numerous improve-
ments to peoples living conditions,
the three-minute video portrays the
resettlement process as a resound-
ing success, benefiting poor Cam-
bodian families who are now, or will
be, better off than they were before
the railway project came along.
Although the soothing voice of the
narrator fleetingly mentions that
there have been a few criticisms and
grievances, the Asian Development
Banks country director for Cambo-
dia quickly assures the audience
that the ADB is working with the
Cambodian government to ensure
all the remaining grievances
are addressed.
This is a piece of propaganda that
would make Goebbels blush.
last month, as the ADB was busy
working on this elaborate piece of
public relations, the human-rights
group licadho was making itself infi-
nitely more useful by providing fami-
lies affected by the railway project
with emergency human-itarian aid.
Many of the families now living
at the remote Phnom Penh resettle-
ment site are struggling under the
weight of debilitating debt burdens
and are simply no longer able to
make ends meet.
The bungled resettlement process
has driven many of these families
below Cambodias poverty line
because of lost employment or
drastically reduced income.
Sovanna, a 46-year-old mother
featured in Sahmakum Teang
Tnauts new report, Losing the Plot,
has seen her familys monthly
income drop from $225 prior to
resettlement to just $32 at the
Phnom Penh relocation site in
Trapeang Anch Chanh.
like most of the affected families,
Sovanna (not her real name) borr-
owed money from an informal
money lender to pay for the con-
struction of her new house because
the $750 she received in compensat-
ion was not enough. She is now
overdue on the repayments of
$72 a month and may soon lose
her plot of land to the creditor.
Five families in Trapeang Anch
Chanh have reported they have
already lost their plots of land and
have been left homeless as a result
of the development project.
These families are not alone in
facing the debilitating effects of
poorly executed resettlement in
the name of development.
In February, the international
non-government organisation
Bridges Across Borders released
a report titled Derailed, which
describes in detail the harm suff-
ered by families who have been
resettled because of the Cambodian
railways project.
This report documents repeated
failures to comply with Asian Devel-
opment Banks own safeguard poli-
cies, resulting in a high risk of pro-
longed impoverishment for affected
people across the country.
Although no doubt some families
have enjoyed benefits from resettle-
ment, there is no question that
many others have been harmed.
The Asian Development Bank is
well aware of this. It has been cop-
ied on complaints from hundreds
of affected people, and its staff have
attended numerous meetings dur-
ing which community representat-
ives have described in detail the
extremely difficult conditions peo-
ple are facing at resettlement sites.
Relocated families have sent let-
ters to the ADB asking for loans so
they can feed their families.
A long complaint, setting out a lit-
any of policy violations and harm
suffered as a result of the railway
project, has been submitted to the
ADBs internal accountability mech-
anism by 150 affected families.
Despite this mounting evidence,
rather than acknowledging the re-
settlement disaster and accepting
some degree of responsibility for the
damage done to peoples lives, the
ADBs propaganda machine has
kicked in at high voltage.
This Potemkin village video is an
appalling use of public funds to
whitewash human-rights violations
that have been inflicted on some of
Cambodias poorest families by a
grossly mismanaged development
project financed by an institution
with a professed mandate to fight
poverty in Asia.
Comment
Natalie Bugalski
Propaganda mill at full tilt
A woman carries part of a door at a relocation site in Trapeang Anch Chanh village for evictees from areas that have been affected by
Cambodias railway rehabilitation project. PHA LINA
natalie bugalski is an associate of inclusive
development international and a co-author
of the derailed report.
Roth Meas

B
OOKS detailing what
happened during
the Khmer Rouge era
have fnally reached
young people living in the
regimes fnal stronghold, An-
long Veng.
Last Friday, the Documen-
tation Centre of Cambodia
(DC-Cam), an NGO that fo-
cuses on historical memory
and education, distributed
more than 1,000 copies of the
book A History of Democratic
Kampuchea (1975-1979) to
students of the Anlong Veng
High School. Most of the
students parents are former
Khmer Rouge supporters.
The book distribution also
included the unveiling of an
Anlong Veng genocide me-
morial, the frst of its kind in
the region. The monuments
engraving reads: Learning
about the history of Demo-
cratic Kampuchea is to pre-
vent genocide.
Promotion of awareness
and education of Khmer
Rouge history is considered
critical by DC-CAM for rec-
onciliation between perpet-
rators and victims.
As I talked to people here,
only a few of them disagreed
with us. Most didnt mind
us educating their children
about Khmer Rouge history,
says Dy Kamboly, the team
leader of genocide education
at DC-Cam and the author
of A History of Democratic
Kampuchea.
We have hosted more than
20 similar events in other
provinces, but we invited
only students. Here, we had
to invite older people so we
could avoid confusion.
Theam Song Hor, a history
teacher at Anlong Veng High
School, says that although
the Ministry of Education,
Youth and Sports provides a
textbook for use by his Grade
12 students, it is not as de-
tailed as Dy Kambolys.
The governments book has
only one lesson about the
1975-1979 regime, Theam
Song Hor says, and the min-
istry requires him to teach his
students the material for only
a few hours.
The book from the minis-
try just tells the main points:
how that regime happened,
how many administration
zones were divided, and who
the permanent committees
were between 1975 and 1979.
So my students still dont
know why they called the
Anlong Veng district a Khmer
Rouge stronghold.
But Theam Song Hor has
not been afraid to take the
discussion with his students
beyond the contents of the
offcial government textbook.
Before we started teaching
Khmer Rouge history, we were
told by DC-Cam to encour-
age students to speak openly
about the Khmer Rouge and
to acknowledge the past, but
never to teach them to hate
their parents because of their
background, he says.
During the ceremony, Ton
Sa Im, Under-Secretary of
State of the Ministry of Edu-
cation, Youth and Sports, ap-
pealed to older people to tell
their children about what had
happened in the past, so our
younger generation will learn
from our experience.
Yim Phanna, the governor
of Anlong Veng district and a
former Khmer Rouge soldier,
encouraged residents to par-
ticipate in the process of his-
torical education.
Even though war has fn-
ished, and this place was re-
formed and developed, regret
still stays with us. It insists
that we not let that regime
happen again, he said.
To prevent that regime
happening again, we have to
tell the past story broadly to
the next generation.
Ron Noun, a 19-year-old
Grade 11 student at Anlong
Veng High School, said his
mother had told him that
she had been a Khmer Rouge
solider, but she had never
revealed whether she wit-
nessed killings. Maybe my
mother was still young dur-
ing the Khmer Rouge regime,
so she didnt know much
about what was happening,
Ron Noun said.
Anyway, I will read the
book to fnd out more.
19
THE PHNOM PENH POST jULY 2, 2012
Lifestyle
javas artist-in-residence
displays surreal scenes
Sean Gleeson
IN the thick of a typical lunch
rush upstairs at Tonle Bassacs
java Caf, Anida Yoeu Ali takes
a half-hour respite from a fran-
tic week.
At various points inside are
the emerging signs of the
rooms impending transforma-
tion: bare mannequins, a
smattering of test prints, and
the frenzied air of creative ten-
sion that always accompanies
an impending deadline.
Ali, the Cambodia-born,
Chicago-raised co-founder of
local arts collaborative Studio
Revolt, is capping off her asso-
ciation with the long-standing
Phnom Penh creative hub with
one of her most ambitious
projects to date.
Following a three-month
stint as javaArts inaugural
artist-in-residence, Ali tonight
launches The Space Between
Inside/Outside, a trove of lush
panoramic photography,
sculpture and installations.
Underpinning the exhibition
is a series of images by local
photographer and regular Stu-
dio Revolt collaborator Vinh
Dao. Set against the ruins of
Boeung Kak, dilapidated shop-
fronts in Stung Meanchey and
a pastoral field on the road to
Takeo, each depicts Ali shroud-
ed in a pair of flamboyant fab-
rics that will also be used to
gild the cafs walls for the
duration of the exhibition.
One particularly striking pic-
ture shows the artist sitting on
an incongruously oversized
replica of the ubiquitous plas-
tic stools of Cambodias street
eateries, brandishing a ream
of red fabric against a back-
drop of wet-season greenery.
A strong wind carries the
fabric into the air and looks set
to envelop the horizon.
When she reviewed the shot,
Ali realised she and her team
had unwittingly recreated the
aesthetic of the Naga serpent
from Hindu and Buddhist
mythology.
As Ali had recently conclu-
ded a Fulbright scholarship
researching Cambodian crea-
tion stories, it was a vindica-
tion of her fondness for incor-
porating sudden, spontaneous
reactions to external elements
in her work.
I love performance because
its very much about catching
the moment within the bound-
aries I create for the composi-
tion, she says.
Hearing my photographer
react saying Yeah, yeah,
thats cool, oh my God! that,
to me, is a huge part of the
process.
This is a solo show, its my
idea, my concepts, Im the
instigator, conceiver and
whatever else, but it takes a
whole lot of people to make
my ideas into reality.
Thats part of the artistic joy,
because everybody involved
is invested.
Ali, who plans to continue
her endeavours in Phnom
Penh indefinitely, says the
contemporary art and per-
formance scene emerging in
Cambodia has been a rich font
of inspiration for her work.
Its almost like I was just
sketching things in Chicago.
The work I was doing was just
tiny sketches to what is actu-
ally realised here, Ali says.
I feel like work is varied
here. I enjoy more of the per-
formance work and some of
the installation work thats
been done, and I feel like Im
responding to the energy that
drives the work here.
The Space Between Inside/
Outside opens tonight at 6pm
at java Caf and Gallery, #56
Sihanouk Blvd, Phnom Penh,
and will run until August 5.
JavaArts frst artist-in-residence, Anida Yoeu Ali, will display a striking series of photographs such as this
one taken at Boeung Kak lake as part of her new exhibit opening tonight at Java Caf. PHOTO SUPPLIED
History lesson in KR bastion
Ton Sa Im, Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Education, presents students in Anlong Veng, the
fnal Khmer Rouge stronghold, with copies of A History of Democratic Kampuchea. HOng MInEa