TheCambodiadaily

The Cambodia daily
All the News Without Fear or Favor
Monday, February 29, 2016
Volume 63 Issue 83
2,000 riel/50 cents
US Museum
Returns Stolen
Rama Statue
By Peter
and o uch
Ford
Sony
ThE cambodIa daIly
a 10th century stone carving of
the hindu deity rama, the last remaining statue from the Koh Ker
temple complex that had been on
public display outside Cambodia,
was returned to Phnom Penh last
week, officials confirmed yesterday.
the torso of rama, which is
missing its head, feet and hands,
was flown back to Cambodia on
Wednesday from the Denver art
Museum, with a formal ceremony
at the Council of Ministers planned
for next month, said Kong Virak,
director of the national Museum
in Phnom Penh.
“receiving a statue with such
special value is a joyous occasion,
but we still have to work to find the
others,” he said, noting that based
on photographs and archaeological evidence, there could be as
many as ten more statues from the
temple complex in Preah Vihear
province still unaccounted for.
“We never expected that any of
the stolen statues would be returned, so we are grateful that another one has come back to
Cambodia,” he said.
Continued on page 2
Reuters
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei casts his vote during elections for the parliament and Assembly of
Experts, which has the power to appoint and dismiss the supreme leader, in Tehran on Friday.
Progressives Win Big in Iran’s Nat’l Elections
REUTERS
tehran - Iranian President hassan
rouhani won an emphatic vote of
confidence and reformist partners
secured gains in Parliament in early
results from elections that could accelerate the Islamic republic’s emergence from years of isolation.
While gains by moderates and reformists in Friday’s polls were most
evident in the capital, tehran, the
sheer scale of the advances there
suggests a legislature more friendly
to the pragmatist rouhani has
emerged as a distinct possibility.
a loosening of control by the
anti-Western hard-liners who currently dominate the 290-seat Parliament could strengthen his hand
to open Iran further to foreign
trade and investment following last
year’s breakthrough nuclear deal.
a reformist-backed list of candidates aligned with rouhani was on
course to win all 30 parliamentary
seats in tehran, initial results released yesterday showed. Conservative candidate Gholamali haddad
adel was set to lose his seat.
Continued on page 2
Book Tells Story of Cambodia’s First Photographs
By Michelle Vachon
ThE cambodIa daIly
Kem Sokha Doubles Down
on Gov’t Policy Claims
Page 5
cambodiadaily.com
the first photographer to ever
visit angkor arrived in Siem reap
province in February 1866—150
years ago this month—with a simple purpose: John thomson had
seen French explorer henri Mouhot’s description and sketches of
មានដំណឹងបែែសមែួលជាភាសាខ្មែរនៅខាងក្នុង
the monuments published three
years earlier and was eager to photograph them.
But his visit took place during a
complicated time for Cambodia.
While France was seeking to expand what would become its Indochina empire, Great Britain was
courting King Mongkut in Siam,
The Daily Newspaper of Record Since 1993
as thailand was then known, to
strengthen its influence in the region, already counting Burma and
Singapore among its colonies.
So when French navy officer
Doudart de Lagree—assigned to
oversee France’s interests in
Cambodia—heard of the Scottish
Continued on page 12
The Cambodia daily
2
ANd AlSo
Goat Trash Collectors Too Pricey
REUTERS
a crew of goats brought in to devour invasive plants at a popular
park in Oregon’s state capital, Salem, have been fired because they
ate indiscriminately, cost nearly five
times as much as human landscapers and smelled far worse, a city official said on Friday.
the 75 billy and nanny goats were
supposed to eat invasive plants choking native vegetation across the 3.
Elections...
continued FroM Page
1
“the people showed their power
once again and gave more credibility and strength to their elected government,” rouhani said, adding he
would work with anyone who won
election to build a future for the industrialized, oil-exporting country.
the polls were seen by analysts
as a potential turning point for Iran,
where nearly 60 percent of its 80
million population is under 30 and
eager to engage with the world following the lifting of most sanctions.
“Based on the votes that we have
so far it looks like the principlists will
lose the majority in the next Majlis
[Parliament] shy of 50 percent. the
reformists gained 30 percent and in-
Statue of Hindu deity Rama
Statue...
1
Mr. Virak said representatives of
the Denver art Museum, where
the 1.6-meter-tall torso had been on
display until December, first contacted Cambodian officials in mid2015 and sealed its return in an
agreement with the Council of
Ministers signed on February 16.
continued FroM Page
Minto-Brown Island Park in a pilot
program last fall.
But the program ended in november after six weeks, and Salem
has no plans to renew it, Keith Keever, the city’s parks superintendent,
said Friday.
the goats “had a barnyard aroma” and cost $20,719—nearly five
times that for a normal maintenance crew, city staff said in a report to the city council last week.
monday, fEbRUaRy 29, 2016
NEWSMAKERS
n ManILa - american singer Madonna may face a ban in the Philippines
for disrespecting its flag in her concerts this week in the capital Manila,
a domestic broadcaster said on Friday, citing a historical commission official. the 57-year-old entertainer is on a world tour to promote her “rebel
heart” album, and performed sold-out shows on Wednesday and thursday. “She ridiculed our flag,” the official, teodoro atienza, told radio station dzBB, adding that Madonna violated a law that prohibits the wearing
of the Philippine flag “in whole, or in part, as a costume or uniform.” the
singer and concert producers could be held liable for the violation even
if they were unaware of the law, atienza said. there was no immediate
response from the organizers of the concerts, held in the same hall where
PoPe FranciS met Filipino families last year. Madonna’s next stop was
scheduled for Singapore yesterday. (Reuters)
dependent candidates did better
than before, gaining 20 percent,”
said Foad Izadi, an assistant professor at the Faculty of World Studies
at tehran University.
Principlists, or hard-liners, hold
65 percent of the outgoing Parliament and the rest is divided between reformists and independents
who traditionally support rouhani.
Izadi said the reformists’ strong
lead was prompted by rouhani’s success in reaching a nuclear agreement
between Iran and international powers, the removal of most of the sanctions that had strangled the country’s
economy over the past decade and
restoration of relations with the West.
“It is a sweeping victory for tehran but for other cities it is not yet
clear cut. It is beyond expectations,”
he added.
etemad, a reformist newspaper
whose managing-editor elias hazrati won a seat in tehran, has chosen the first headline of “clean up
in the Parliament.”
“the next Parliament will be like
no other Parliament in the history
of Iran as no political faction will
have the absolute say,” the newspaper said on its front-page.
Millions crowded polling stations on Friday to vote for parliament and the assembly of experts,
which selects the country’s highest
authority, the supreme leader. Both
bodies have been in the hands of
hardliners for years.
Supporters of rouhani, who promoted the nuclear deal, were pitted
against hardliners close to Supreme
Leader ayatollah ali Khamenei,
who are wary of detente with West-
ern countries.
rouhani and key ally and former
President akbar hashemi rafsanjani were leading the race for the
assembly of experts with most
votes counted, and appeared to be
sure of winning seats, early results
released on Saturday showed.
Until now, the contest for this
seat of clerical power was an unremarkable event, but not this time.
Because of Khamenei’s health and
age, 76, the new assembly members who serve eight-year terms
are likely to choose his successor.
the next leader could well be
among those elected this week.
the results were initially announced as final in an official statement. a later statement said the
results were partial and a final tally
would be announced in due course.
In a statement on Friday, the
Denver art Museum said the
statue—believed to have been
looted from Koh Ker in the 1970s
—was returned to Cambodia following new research into the
piece’s provenance.
“We were recently provided
with verifiable evidence that was
not available to us at the time of acquisition, and immediately began
taking all appropriate steps to deaccession the object and prepare it
for its return home,” Christoph
heinrich, the museum’s director,
is quoted as saying.
Following the discovery in 2012
of empty pedestals at Koh Ker’s
Prasat Chen temple, officials began
to search for the stolen statues. Six
have since been located and returned, including two from the
new York Metropolitan Museum
of art in 2013, and four others held
in collections at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, the norton Simon Museum
and the Cleveland Museum.
anne Lemaistre, Unesco’s representative to Cambodia, said that
while the statue’s return was
greatly appreciated, four more
statues from Prasat Chen are still
believed to be held in private collections.
“to have all of the statues returned to Cambodia is something
Unesco has been working hard to
achieve, and we appeal to anyone
who may currently have one of the
remaining statues in their private
collection to follow the nice gesture
of the Denver museum and return
it,” she said.
although the rama statue is
back home, it may be a while before it goes on public display, said
Mr. Virak.
“repairing the torso will take
time before it can be displayed with
the other statues that have been returned,” he said, without saying exactly what improvements were
being made to the sculpture. “It will
take at least a year.”
International Brief -----Syrian Rebels Vow to Keep Truce Despite Violations
------
GeneVa - Syria’s opposition will stick to the cessation of hostilities despite
what they said were 15 violations by Syrian government forces on Saturday
and more breaches yesterday, a spokesman for the high negotiating
Committee said. “the decision is to remain quiet, not to do anything, and
I believe they will stick to the truce.... Yesterday was the first day people
can really go out and walk in the streets.” Salim al-Muslat said yesterday.
Muslat said the hnC would complain to the U.n. and countries backing
the peace process about alleged russian airstrikes around the city of
aleppo, in an area with no fighters from the Islamic State group or nusra
Front, which were excluded from the truce. he also said there had been
an attack by hezbollah in the town of Zabadani, without giving details. Syrian forces had used barrel bombs and rockets on Saturday, he said. On
Saturday a Syrian military source denied the army was violating the truce
after insurgents reported operations against them in several areas. the
opposition is waiting for answers about how the cessation of hostilities in
Syria, which came into effect at midnight on Friday, is being monitored,
he said, and it was unclear how truce violations were to be punished. there
was also no map with a common understanding of where the various fighting groups are, he said. (Reuters)
monday, february 29, 2016
The Cambodia daily
3
NatioNal
Vietnamese Loggers Charged; Officers Under Investigation
B y A un P heAP
the cambodia daily
The Mondolkiri Provincial Court
has charged nine Vietnamese nationals with illicit use of chainsaws
and illegally entering Cambodia after authorities arrested the group of
would-be loggers on Wednesday,
while authorities are investigating
the soldiers and police who allegedly let them in.
The group was arrested with two
chainsaws between the nine of
them while traveling across Pech
Chreada district after passing
through the Dak Churng border
checkpoint.
Deputy provincial court prosecutor So Sovichea said yesterday that
the nine were charged on Friday
with both illegal entry and illegal use
of chainsaws, even though they had
yet to use the power tools.
“The court charged the Vietnamese nationals and they are now
in pretrial detention at the provincial
prison,” he said.
Keo Sopheak, deputy chief of biodiversity conservation for the province, said the suspects confessed
that they were searching for lucrative Thnong tree stumps and said
they had been given permission to
cross the border by three Cambodian border guards who were
aware of their intentions.
“The Vietnamese nationals confessed that they entered the forest
on Khmer land in an attempt to cut
the stumps of Thnong trees,” he
said. “We asked the Vietnamese nationals, and they told us that two soldiers named Phat and Phou and a
border police officer named Chan
let them enter to cut the stumps.”
Royal Cambodian Armed Forces
(RCAF) provincial commander
Chhit Meng Sreng said he had ordered an investigation of the two soldiers, who were stationed with
Platoon 103.
“I have asked the platoon commander to investigate, and if my soldiers really committed a crime, the
court prosecutor can follow the law
and I will remove their names from
the RCAF list,” he said.
But the commander said he was
annoyed by forestry officials constantly accusing his soldiers of allowing illegal loggers into Cambodia
with scant evidence to back up their
claims.
“These are accusations without
clear evidence,” he said. “If we
throw water at each other we will all
get wet, that’s why we have to find
out who committed the crime.”
Platoon 103 commander Yin
Chanthy said he did not know the
full names of the two soldiers but
had ordered them to come in for
questioning today.
“I have called the two officers
back to the military base on Monday and I will ask them if they
opened the border for the nine Vietnamese nationals. But I asked the
pair by telephone, and they told me
they were not involved,” he said.
Provincial police chief Toch Yon
said he did not know the full name
of his accused officer, either, but had
ordered Chan’s commander to investigate his alleged involvement in
letting the loggers into Cambodia.
Vietnamese nationals are often
caught illegally logging in eastern
Cambodia, and local soldiers and
military police are often accused by
Forestry Administration officials and
NGOs of helping them.
An investigation by the U.S. NGO
Forestry Trends last year found that
most of Vietnam’s timber imports
from Cambodia were illegal.
The Cambodian government put
a freeze on all timber exports to Vietnam at the start of a sweep of illegal
logging in the eastern province in
mid-January amid concerns the illicit exports had gotten out of hand.
National Brief -----Groom Confesses to Strangling Fiancee to Death
------
A man was arrested on Saturday for strangling his fiancee to death the previous night in Kratie province, a day before their wedding was set to be held,
police said yesterday. Mon Sreynheb, 18, and Loeut Choeut, 20, were walking home together in Snuol district’s Sre Char commune at around 9 p.m. on
Friday when Mr. Chouet attacked his fiancee, said deputy provincial police
chief Oum Phy. “The groom hit her on the back of the neck using a wooden
stick, and then strangled her to death with his hands,” he said. “They just had
their blessing ceremony earlier that day and were to get married the next
day.” Villagers found Mr. Choeut unconscious at the scene of the crime a few
hours later and took him to the hospital, Mr. Phy said, adding that police
arrested him on Saturday. “He told us that he was being forced to marry her
by his parents and had been planning to kill her,” he said. Mr. Chouet was
questioned yesterday at the Kratie Provincial Court, according to Mr. Phy,
who said he expected him to be charged with premeditated murder today.
(Saing Soenthrith)
The Cambodia daily
4
monday, february 29, 2016
national
Building for Thai Princess Not Luxury Toilet, Officials Say
B y K ang S othear
The Cambodia daily
Following media reports that
$40,000 was spent to build a luxury
outhouse for Thai Princess Maha
Chakri Sirindhorn to use during
her recent visit to Ratanakkiri province, authorities released a statement on Friday rejecting the notion
that the building was a toilet.
The building, which the Thai
princess inspected but did not use
after eating a catered lunch along
the Yeak Lom Lake, “is not a toilet,”
according to the statement from
Ratanakkiri provincial hall, which
said a working group visited the
structure and found only a sink,
chair, air-conditioner, table, window
and door.
“This news has a big impact on
the honor and dignity of the province, especially as criticism of the
provincial authorities came from
the public, who did not receive
comprehensive information,” it
said. “There is no toilet.”
The statement failed to note that
a toilet, which had been imported
from Thailand, was removed and
taken back to Thailand after the
Chhay Thy
The outhouse constructed for Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's visit
last week to Yeak Laom Lake in Ratanakiri province.
princess left the province.
Nhem Sam Oeun, a deputy
provincial governor who previously confirmed that the building
was an outhouse, said yesterday
he had only gathered information
through informal sources, and
had not actually seen inside.
“I just thought that [it was a toilet] through chatting with other
people,” he said of the building,
now meant to become a community office. “It has affected not
only the province and provincial
authorities, but also the country
as a whole, because it does not
sound good saying we are using
a toilet as an office.”
Ven Che, president of Yeak
Laom Lake community, which
has been given the building,
blamed the confusion on the fact
that the toilet had been removed.
“I initially thought it was a
toilet...and other people also said it
was a toilet. We spoke wrongly, because it is not a toilet; it is a bathroom,” Mr. Che said.
“I have the intention to use it as
an office that will be equipped
with computers, desks and sofas
to communicate with national and
international guests about complaints of security and safety, and
to provide them with the information they need,” he added.
The statement from provincial
hall blames Chhay Thy, provincial
coordinator for rights group
Adhoc, for souring public opinion
about the building. Mr. Thy noted
yesterday that media outlets had
already reported on the building
before him, but confirmed that the
structure had once been a toilet.
“I met with the president of the
community, and he unlocked the
door of the room for me—and
my wife and child—to go inside,
and he told me the toilet had
been removed,” he said.
Company Provisionally Charged Over Record Ivory Seizure
B y K hy S ovuthy
The Cambodia daily
The Preah Sihanouk Provincial
Court has laid provisional charges
against the director of an importexport and freight-forwarding firm
over his alleged role in smuggling
more than 3,000 kg of elephant
tusks into Cambodia in 2014—the
largest haul of ivory ever seized in
the country.
Y Kheang, an investigating judge
at the provincial court, said that
Khan Sinith, director of the Reho
Both company, had been charged
with violating Cambodia’s customs
and forestry laws following an investigation by authorities that had
stretched on for more than 18
months
“The deputy prosecutor provisionally charged the director of
Reho Both [Cambodia] Co. with
illegally importing goods—ivory—
and being involved with contraband, according to Article 98 of the
Forestry Law and Article 75 of the
Customs Law,” Judge Kheang said.
The judge added that his own
investigation into the case was
almost finished—after which he
would decide whether to formally
charge Mr. Sinith.
Deputy prosecutor Huot Vichet
confirmed the provisional charges,
but declined to discuss the case.
“I charged the person who is
involved in this case already and I
sent it to the investigating judge
two or three months ago,” he said.
Customs officials at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port found
the 3,008 kg of ivory—potentially
worth tens of millions of dollars—
hidden inside two shipping containers full of beans, which originated
in Kenya and arrived in Cambodia
via Malaysia.
Mr. Sinith said last week that he
had been informed of the charges
against him, but maintained that
his company was not involved in
importing the ivory.
Instead, he said, his company
had fallen victim to the machinations of another local business,
Road Express Logistics, which he
claimed had used the Reho Both
name to import the tusks from East
Africa.
“If I had committed the crime, I
would have closed my company
and run away,” Mr. Sinith said.
Road Logistics Express could
not be reached.
As for the ivory, Kin Ly, head of
the Sihanoukville port’s customs
and excise department, said it was
still at the port.
“We are guarding the ivory carefully because we are scared of losing it,” he said.
Locals Protest Pagoda Plan to Sell Pond to Developer for $4.8M
B y B en S oKhean
The Cambodia daily
Hundreds of residents living
around Phnom Penh’s Wat Kok
Banhchoan protested outside the
Pur Senchey district pagoda over
the weekend against the chief
monk’s plans to sell a local pond
for $4.8 million to an unknown
developer.
Pum Phally, one of the roughly
500 protesters who showed up
Saturday and yesterday, said they
got wind of the planned sale after a
meeting was held between
Choam Chao commune officials
and monks at the pagoda on
Wednesday. He said many residents rely on the pond to water
their vegetable gardens and that
they pray to the spirit of the pond,
which is believed to reside in a
shrine a few hundred meters away
from the pagoda.
“We are not happy because the
monk chief is conspiring with local
officials to sell the pond. We do not
want it to be sold because it is public property. No one can make it
private,” he said.
Mr. Phally said the residents
would continue to protest today
and planned to submit a petition to
Prime Minister Hun Sen asking
him to stop the deal once they collected 1,000 thumbprints.
Chief monk Seng Thorn could
not be reached for comment.
Commune chief Suth Sath, who
attended Wednesday’s meeting,
defended the planned sale but
declined to name the pending
buyer and insisted inexplicably on
calling the deal a “swap.” He said
the pagoda’s plan was to sell the 3-
hectare pond for $160 per square
meter, which would add up to
about $4.8 million.
“The chief monk plans to swap it,
but he has not received even 1 riel
from anyone yet,” he said. “The
monks dug the pond to use the
water, but now they have a clean
water supply. Also, the monks lack
money to develop the pagoda.”
Mr. Sath said the monks dug
the pond in 1995. Mr. Phally, however, said the pond existed before
that and that the monks only
expanded it.
monday, february 29, 2016
The Cambodia daily
5
NatioNal
Kem Sokha Doubles Down on Government Policy Claims
B y O uch S Ony
the cambodia daily
Deputy opposition leader Kem
Sokha told supporters in Takeo and
Kampot provinces over the weekend that they were too smart to be
cheated by politicians, going on to
reiterate claims that recent government reforms have only taken place
due to pressure from the CNRP.
Prime Minister Hun Sen lashed
out at the opposition in a Facebook
post last week after Mr. Sokha told
supporters that the CNRP was
responsible for a spate of populist
policy moves by the prime minister
this year, including eliminating tolls
on some major roads.
“I just send this short message to
the opposition to stop cheating the
people, because over the past weeks
the opposition has taken advantage
of what the CPP and the prime minister have achieved by lying to the
people,” Mr. Hun Sen wrote on
February 22.
In two speeches over the weekend, videos of which were posted to
his Facebook page, Mr. Sokha said
the prime minister was underestimating voters.
“No one can cheat people,” he
told an audience in Takeo on Saturday. “Don’t worry about the ability
of me, everybody—current leaders
Kem Sokha speaks to supporters in Takeo province on Saturday in a
photograph posted to his Facebook page.
in both the ruling party and opposition party—to cheat people. They
cannot.”
In Kampot on Sunday, Mr. Sokha
doubled down on his claim that the
CPP was making changes because
it is facing a strong opposition.
“In any competition, if the person
running in front sees that those running behind are still far away, those
in front will not try hard,” he said.
“The true things we have to dare
to say...it is our achievement,” he
said of ramped up government
reform efforts, which come more
than a year ahead of commune elections and more than two years
ahead of the next national election.
Mr. Sokha also bemoaned the
failure of authorities to take action
against people who make violent
threats against opposition officials, in
contrast to prompt legal measures
unleashed on those who threaten
ruling party officials.
A number of Facebook users
have been arrested in recent
months, including two young men
accused of making violent threats
against Mr. Hun Sen and Interior
Minister Sar Kheng.
Mr. Sokha, the head of the “minority group” in Parliament, has
been the target of at least one death
threat and other threats of violence,
but no one has been arrested in
those cases.
“When another side with power
makes accusations against the
minority group, no one bothers
with it...even if there is a death
threat, no one files a complaint, no
one takes action,” Mr. Sokha said.
“But if it is a weak person...they will
go to jail.”
CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said
yesterday that Mr. Sokha was misguided if he believed that the CNRP
deserved credit for the government’s work.
“The CPP did something with its
plan before Kem Sokha or [opposition leader] Sam Rainsy started
shouting,” Mr. Eysan said.
“So, [Mr. Sokha] robbed and
took the opportunity to take the
virtue and achievements of the CPP
and the government.”
Mr. Eysan also said he had never
heard of any threats against opposition officials.
“Who threatened who? Nobody
threatened them,” he said. “If there
is a threat, ask how he can freely go
to a meeting [with supporters]?”
The Cambodia daily
6
monday, february 29, 2016
NatioNal
Tuol Sleng Exhibition to Tell Stories of Forced Marriage
B y G eorGe W riGht
the cambodia daily
Every day, hundreds of tourists flock to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum to hear macabre
stories of killings and torture carried out inside the prison once at
the heart of the Khmer Rouge’s
security apparatus.
On Tuesday, however, two
rooms inside the former jail will
be transformed into an exhibition
titled “Sorrows and Struggles:
Women’s experience of Forced
Marriage during the Khmer
Rouge Regime,” which is dedicated to victims of forced marriage
during Democratic Kampuchea.
In one room, large gray strips
of linen will be draped from the
ceiling, inscribed with quotes
from women forced into marriage. The fabric will form two
lines to replicate the setup of
Khmer Rouge wedding ceremonies in which couples—often
complete strangers—were forced
to pledge their allegiance to each
other and, more importantly, the
revolution.
In the adjacent room, portraits
of seven victims—six women
and one man—will be exhibited
along with recordings of their
stories, most of which tell of fear,
abuse and a steadfast will to
survive.
Some of the interviewees have
remained married, including a
57-year-old woman whose testimony is displayed under the alias
Heng Sopha. The woman has remained with an abusive partner
that she was forced to wed in
1977. Her photo shows only her
hands clasped together.
“He never dared to beat me
openly during the Khmer Rouge
time. He was afraid others might
hear us arguing and that we’d be
killed for not getting along,” she
says in the testimony, which is
presented in English and Khmer.
Today, however, Ms. Sopha said
the abuse has become extreme.
“No villager dares to talk to him
about his behavior because it only
makes matters worse, and he
beats me more cruelly. When I
tried to sue for divorce, he
stabbed me. He told me if I ever
dared to try that again, he would
kill me, and then himself. What
can I do?”
Theresa de Langis, a researcher on sexual violence who con-
ducted some of the interviews,
said she hoped the exhibition—
which will be on display for about
six months—would raise awareness of a topic that is often overlooked amid the many horrors
committed by the Khmer Rouge.
“These stories are very intimate; these aren’t stories about ‘I
went to a meeting and Pol Pot
was there.’ They’re stories about
what it was like to live every day
in an intimate relationship during
that time,” Ms. de Langis said.
“For me, it’s very exciting, because for a long time Khmer people weren’t talking about these
stories so they weren’t able to
process or mourn this very fundamental loss; the loss of making
such an important life decision,
the loss of having your family involved, which is such an important thing here,” she said.
The exhibition opens on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
National Brief -----Sailors Arrested for Rape, Attack of French Tourists
------
Five Cambodian fishermen were arrested yesterday in Thailand for
beating four French tourists and raping the two female members in
the group on Saturday evening, the Associated Press (AP) reported
yesterday. The fishermen anchored their boat near the resort island of
Koh Kut in Trat province in eastern Thailand, then headed ashore and
attacked the four tourists with knives and sticks, proceeding to rape
the women, the AP reported, citing Thai police. One man was seriously injured in the attack but the other was able to escape and seek help
at a nearby hotel, the AP article said, adding that the tourists were
eventually sent to a hospital in the city of Trat. Chum Sounry, spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said yesterday evening that he
was unaware of the arrests. According to an article in the Bangkok
Post newspaper, Thai police said three of the suspects were arrested at
about 5 a.m. while hiding in a forest on Koh Kut, while the other two
were arrested at 3 p.m. at the Cham Yeam border checkpoint while
attempting to cross into Koh Kong province. (Peter Ford)
monday, february 29, 2016
The Cambodia daily
7
regional
Malaysian Leader Lashes Out Against Critics in Party, Media
B y T om W righT
the washington post
Malaysia’s ruling party suspended a deputy party president who
called to step up investigations into
alleged graft at a multibillion-dollar
state investment fund, as the government heightened efforts to contain media reports on the issue.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
Razak, as head of the ruling party,
has sidelined members who have
raised questions over the scandal at
1Malaysia Development Bhd.,
which he set up in 2009 to propel
economic growth.
His government is also scrutinizing media outlets that have reported on the fund and is proposing
changes to Malaysian laws that
would allow caning and life imprisonment for journalists and others
found guilty of receiving leaked
documents.
On Friday, the editor of an online news organization that has reported extensively on the fund
said he was ordered to appear before police after the government
communications regulator said it
blocked access to the website this
week. “It’s a form of intimidation,”
said Jahabar Sadiq, chief editor of
the website, the Malaysian Insider. “They just want to shut this
down.”
Police tweeted that the website’s
coverage of the fund was confusing
and wanted to take a statement
from Jahabar. He hasn’t been
charged with a crime. The police
couldn’t be reached to comment.
Najib, in a blog post, blamed online media for “constructing their
own version of ‘reality’ with clickbait headlines that serve their own
agendas.” He added: “This is an unhealthy practice of journalism.”
Meanwhile, the ruling United
Malays National Organization suspended UMNO official Muhyiddin
Yassin, citing what it described as
his failure to support Najib in his
role as party president. The prime
minister had previously fired
Muhyiddin from his role as deputy
prime minister, as well as four
other ministers. Some had criticized the fund.
Another party member was fired
from his leadership role in the party
last year after filing a police report
alleging financial mismanagement
at 1MDB. The police didn’t file any
charges.
“If we want to see Malaysia return to a respected country in
which the people can live a more
prosperous life, we need to be prepared to demand change,” Muhyiddin said in a statement on
Saturday.
The scandal revolves around
payments of almost $700 million
into Najib’s personal bank accounts
via banks, companies and entities
linked to 1MDB, most of them
ahead of a 2013 election that Najib’s
ruling party narrowly won.
The events have transfixed Malaysia since the deposits were first
reported last summer citing a
Malaysian government investigation. The probe didn’t name the
source of the funds or say what
happened to the money.
Efforts to reach Najib on Saturday were unsuccessful. He has
denied wrongdoing or taking money for personal gain. The 1MDB
fund also denied wrongdoing and
said it was cooperating with probes.
In a speech on Saturday, Najib
vowed to fight his political opponents, who have called for his ouster over the scandal. “Every five
years we return to the people to
pick the government they want.
But between each general election,
we must look after political stability,” he said.
A series of local probes were
launched last year into the 1MDB
affair, including by the police, auditor general, antigraft agency and
the central bank.
The antigraft agency last year
recommended to the attorney general that Najib should face criminal
charges over $14 million of the
transfers that entered his accounts
from a former unit of 1MDB, a
person familiar with the matter
said last week. A spokesman for
the antigraft agency declined to
comment.
Muhyiddin said in his statement Saturday he had seen what
he said was evidence showing
Najib should have faced criminal
charges over the $14 million transfer. He added the alleged evidence
had been confirmed by Malaysia’s
former attorney general, Abdul
Gani Patail.
Attempts to reach Abdul Gani
weren’t successful. Najib hasn’t
publicly commented on the allegation on the alleged recommendations of criminal charges.
After the 1MDB scandal broke,
the government said Abdul Gani was stepping down for health
reasons.
Malaysia’s new attorney general,
Mohamed Apandi Ali, last month
cleared Najib of wrongdoing, saying the biggest chunk of the deposits into his accounts were a legal
donation from Saudi Arabia’s royal
family. Apandi didn’t name the donor or provide documents and said
most of the money was returned
later. A Saudi official said the coun-
try’s finance and foreign ministers
had no knowledge of a donation.
Najib will travel to Saudi Arabia
on a three-day official visit next
week to attend an economic forum,
the Foreign Ministry said.
Apandi also said Najib had neither been aware of, nor approved,
the $14 million transfer into his
account. He ordered domestic
probes of the matter to cease, and
Najib urged the country to put the
scandal behind it.
Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency has contested Apandi’s decision
to close the case with an oversight
panel. The panel last week advised
the agency to continue its probe into the matter.
Other jurisdictions where
1MDB money also allegedly
flowed are probing the matter, including the U.S., Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong and, according
to people familiar with the matter,
Abu Dhabi.
Najib’s government has aggressively pushed back against accusations of wrongdoing. The government’s continuing crackdown
on the media is adding to a sense in
Malaysia that the government is
ramping up efforts to contain the
scandal, some Malaysians say.
“When you act against the me-
dia, it seems like you have something to hide,” said Sheila Krishna,
a taxi driver in Kuala Lumpur.
Many of Malaysia’s leading
newspapers are state-owned and
largely have ignored the 1MDB issue. But the more-vibrant online
news portals such as the Malaysian
Insider have run stories on the fund
almost daily. Last summer, faced
with mass street protests over
1MDB, the government temporarily suspended the print publishing
license of the Edge Media Group,
which owns the Malaysian Insider.
It has since restarted publication.
Yet some question why the
prime minister isn’t taking legal action over stories if he claims they
are wrong.
“Najib is not going to sue...because reports in the publication[s
are] correct, and he is in the
wrong,” Mahathir Mohamad, who
was Malaysia’s longest-serving
prime minister before stepping
down in 2003, said this week.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch
added: “Apparently, Najib is willing
to sacrifice Malaysia’s prior respect
for freedom of online expression if
it means he can successfully stifle
critical reporting about his government’s policies.”
The Cambodia daily
8
monday, february 29, 2016
regional
Asean
Concerned
Over South
China Sea
reuters
vIeNtIaNe,
Laos - Southeast asian
nations expressed serious concern on Saturday about growing
international tension over disputed waters in the South China Sea.
China claims most of the sea,
but Southeast asian countries
Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei
and vietnam have rival claims.
Friction has increased over China’s recent deployment of missiles and fighter jets to the disputed Paracel island chain.
“Ministers remained seriously
concerned over recent and ongoing developments,” asean said in
a statement after a regular meeting of the group’s foreign ministers in Laos.
Land reclamation and escalating activity has increased tensions
and could undermine peace, security and stability in the region,
aSeaN said in the statement.
the U.S. has criticized China’s
building of artificial islands and facilities in the sea and has sailed
warships close to disputed territory to assert the right to freedom
of navigation.
On Friday, the U.S. urged Chinese President Xi jinping to prevent the militarization of the region.
vietnam, which accused China
of violating its sovereignty with
the missile deployment, echoed
Reuters
Spectators watch a fireworks display of the defending champions, the Netherlands, as they light up the sky
during the 7th Philippine International Pyromusical Competition in Pasay city, metro Manila on Saturday.
the U.S. call on Saturday.
“We call for non-militarization
in the South China Sea,” Deputy
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh told reporters after meeting his asean
colleagues.
“We have serious concerns
about that,” he said, when asked
about China’s increasing military
activity in the region.
the group agreed to seek a
meeting between China and
asean’s foreign ministers to discuss the South China Sea and
other issues, Cambodian Minister Hor Namhong said.
China’s maritime claims are
asean’s most contentious issue,
as its members struggle to balance mutual support with their
growing economic relations with
Beijing.
China is the biggest trade partner for many asean nations.
Neighbors vietnam and China
compete for influence over landlocked Laos, which has no maritime claims but finds itself in the
difficult position of dealing with
neighbors at odds over the South
China Sea. Laos is tasked with
finding common ground on the issue as the asean chair in 2016.
“the South China Sea issue is a
headache that Laos would really
rather not have to deal with,” said
one Western diplomat in vientiane.
thongloun Sisoulith, Laos Deputy Prime Minister and Minister
of Foreign affairs, played down
the challenge.
“We are a close friend of vietnam and China—we try to solve
the problems in a friendly way,” he
told reporters on Saturday. “We
are in the middle, but it’s not a
problem.”
U.S. President Barack Obama
is set to become the first U.S.
president to visit the country in
September to attend an annual
summit hosted by the asean
chair.
Canadian Teacher Re-Arrested on Sex Abuse Charge in Jakarta
reuters
- a Canadian teacher was
expected to return to a jakarta prison on Friday, a family member
said, a day after Indonesia’s Supreme Court overturned his acquittal on charges of sexually abusing kindergarten children at an
international school in the capital.
On Friday, the teacher’s brother
said there is a plan to appeal the ruling through a judicial review.
the case, which critics say was
fraught with irregularities, has
jakarta
brought Indonesia’s justice system
under scrutiny with Western nations raising concerns about legal
certainty.
“along with others, we have
made repeated calls to ensure this
case is handled in a fair and transparent manner,” British ambassador to Indonesia Moazzam Malik
in a statement on Friday.
“Yesterday’s development adds
to serious questions about transparency and consistency in the rule
of law in Indonesia.”
the U.S. and Canada have expressed similar concerns. U.S. ambassador robert Blake said “it is
not clear what evidence the Supreme Court used to overturn the
[previous] decision.”
Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman and Indonesian teaching assistant Ferdinand tjiong were convicted on charges of abusing kindergarteners at the jakarta Intercultural School, where the children
of many expatriates, diplomats and
wealthy Indonesians are enrolled.
the two were originally sentenced to 10 years in jail but were
acquitted by the jakarta High
Court in august—after nearly a
year behind bars—and released.
the Supreme Court thursday ordered their re-arrest and increased
their sentences to 11 years.
“Neil returned to jakarta late
thursday evening.... He will likely
return to prison on Friday,” his
brother said.
tjiong was re-arrested early
thursday.
monday, february 29, 2016
The Cambodia daily
9
regional
‘Radical’ Candidate Exposes Macau Investigates Former
Underlying Tensions in HK Prosecutor Over Corruption
reuters
hong kong - hong kong residents
voted in a legislative council by-election yesterday, with a “radical” prodemocracy candidate who was
arrested in a recent riot running in
what is being seen as a barometer
of political tensions in the financial
hub.
The poll, to fill a single legislative
seat vacated by a former pro-democracy politician, is being watched
for signs of growing support for a
burgeoning “indigenous” movement that has advocated more extreme protests, including violence,
to push for greater democracy.
While candidates from across
the political spectrum are competing, most attention has focused on
Edward Leung, a leader of “hong
kong Indigenous” and one of the
first street activists to make a foray
into mainstream politics.
“We, the young generation are
determined to sacrifice ourselves
for hong kong’s future,” he told reporters on the campaign trail,
flanked by supporters holding banners with the words: “Vote for a
revolution.”
hong kong, a former British col-
ony that returned to Chinese rule in
1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula that gives it a high
degree of autonomy, was rocked
by massive protests in 2014 demanding Beijing’s Communist
Party leaders grant the city full
democracy.
Beijing’s refusal to give any concessions to the protesters has embittered a younger generation of
activists, including Leung, who
have pledged to fight on.
Some of these underlying tensions surfaced earlier this month,
when hundreds of protesters
clashed with police in a night-long
riot. It was the worst violence seen
on hong kong’s streets for years
and dozens were arrested, including Leung.
“We need to put enough pressure on the government. Therefore
a kind of forceful protest is inevitable,” Leung said.
While Leung is not expected to
win, the scale of support amongst
the 940,000 or so eligible voters in
his constituency will be a gauge of
recent anti-China sentiment,
though many in the city remain
strongly opposed to any radicalism.
reuters
- The anti-corruption
agency of Macau has begun an
investigation into a former senior
figure in the public prosecutions
office, an official and lawmakers
said yesterday, the most highprofile graft case in the world’s
largest gambling hub in a decade.
The Commission Against Corruption said in a statement on its
website on Saturday that it had initiated a criminal investigation into a
case involving “former leadership
staff of the Public Prosecutions
office” who received illicit gains of
$5.5 million from public work contracts worth more than $21 million.
Two lawmakers and several casino executives confirmed that ho
Chio Meng, chief prosecutor until
2014, was the key official being
investigated.
ho, who was once tipped as a
candidate for the chief executive
post in the former Portuguese colony that reverted to Chinese rule in
1999, was photographed by Macau
media entering the enclave’s court
of final appeal on Saturday.
“It is ho,” said one lawmaker,
who asked not to be identified be-
hong kong
cause of the sensitivity of the issue.
“I am not surprised as in 2015 he
was not seen in Macau for many
months and it was said that he was
in the mainland.”
The South China Morning Post
reported that ho had been arrested. It was not possible to reach
ho or any of his representatives for
comment.
Macau’s corruption body said
some of the people involved in the
corruption case had been detained,
while travel restrictions had been
put on others, as well as “suspension from public duties.”
The investigation into ho comes
after nine people, including government officials, were investigated for
graft in 2015. That was in stark contrast to 2014, when no high-profile
officials were questioned about
bribery.
Macau, the only place in China
where nationals can legally gamble
in casinos, has been trying to clean
up its act after President Xi Jinping
initiated a broad crackdown against
corruption in 2014. The push to
wipe out graft comes as gambling
revenues have slumped to a fiveyear low.
The Cambodia daily
10
monday, february 29, 2016
regional
Two Schools Forge Bond In The Wake Of Japanese Tsunami
anna FiField
The WashingTon PosT
rikuzentakata, Japan - it would
have been hard to come up with
two places that were better
matched: both small, Pacific Ocean
coastal towns, both proud of their
majestic trees, both far from a metropolis and little known even in
their own countries.
But Crescent City, California,
and rikuzentakata, Japan, were
brought together not by design but
by nature.
the tsunami that devastated this
part of Japan’s northeastern coast
almost five years ago ricocheted
back to wash ashore a day later on
the northwestern coast of the u.S.,
inundating the harbor and destroying several dozen boats in Crescent
City, a 20-minute drive from the Oregon line.
two years later, another souvenir from the Japanese tsunami
arrived: kamome, a small blue-andwhite boat whose name means
“sea gull.” the boat had been used
for marine science classes at rikuzentakata’s takata High School
but was swept away in the tsunami,
which claimed the lives of 22 students and a teacher and leveled the
town.
as it was washed out to sea, the
little boat flipped upside down; during its long journey, it grew footlong barnacles before coming to
rest on the beach near Crescent
City.
after the Japanese characters
reading “takata High School” on
kamome’s side had been deciphered, students from Del norte
High School in Crescent City set
about cleaning the boat and getting
it back to its owners across the
Pacific.
Students from both coasts have
now begun to follow in kamome’s
wake.
eight Del norte students, along
with their principal and some local
rotarians, spent last week in the
shiny new takata High School
complex on a hill overlooking the
ocean—the original buildings were
destroyed in the March 11, 2011,
disaster.
the eight are members of a “junior rotary” club at Del norte High
and had to apply to be selected for
the exchange, which is funded by
the u.S.-Japan Foundation. this is
the third year of the initiative, and
several of the students on this
year’s trip are reuniting with Japanese students they welcomed to
California last year.
“these are very special ties,” said
Hiroki Suzuki, takata High’s vice
principal. “the boat was covered
with dirt and shells, and most people who found it would have
chucked it away. But these people
kindly cleaned it, realized it must
have been something important
and then returned it to us.”
the american students have
been learning about Japan,
how to prepare for such disasters
and how much they have in common with their Japanese peers.
they have been playing basketball
and practicing the martial art of
kendo, taking english class, doing
Japanese calligraphy and eating
bento-box lunches with chopsticks
together.
“Young people are much
more future-oriented.We
adults lost everything that
belonged to the past, but
the children can make
history from now on.”
—Kingo MuraKaMi,
TaKaTa HigH ScHool
TeacHer
“the sister-school idea is not
new, but this is a really unique situation,” said randy Fugate, Del norte High’s principal. “everyone we
have met has suffered a loss of
home or family or friendship. But
there is a strength here, a focus on
rebuilding, and on rebuilding better
and stronger. it chokes you up.”
On the surface, the students
could hardly have looked more different. the american high school
students seemed straight out of
central casting, including several
tall, athletic young men in jeans and
t-shirts and pretty young women
with long hair and track pants
emblazoned with the words “i love
cheerleading.”
the Japanese students were all
in uniforms of blue blazers and ties
during class but changed into regulation tracksuits for gym class and
regulation coveralls for cooking
class.
But the difference between the
two groups went beyond appearances.
the americans learned to sleep
on futons on the floor and eat rice
with miso soup for breakfast.
in english class, the Japanese
students were shocked when Garrett Galea, a 17-year-old junior at
Del norte, said that most of his
classmates drove themselves to
school. Japanese teens cannot drive
until they are 18, and even then
they continue taking public transportation to school.
the americans, meanwhile,
grappled with the strict rules on
wearing only “indoor shoes” inside
the school buildings and laughed
as they lined up with their Japanese
counterparts to bow and say thank
you to their teachers at the end of
class. “We expect you to do this
when you get back, too,” Fugate
quipped.
Plus there was the language barrier, but it wasn’t anything that the
language of teenagers everywhere—selfies and giggling about
their love lives—couldn’t overcome. When in doubt, Galea would
boom out an “ikimashou!”—“Let’s
go!”—and everyone would fall
about laughing.
“it’s good to listen to their english. i don’t really understand
much, but it’s fun to try,” Yuka
kamagai, 16, said during a cooking
class held inside a huge factory-like
building.
the Japanese students taught
the americans how to make melon
bread, a kind of double-layered bun
with sugar on top. the locals were
alternately amused and shocked at
the americans’ poor rolling-pin
skills.
then the Japanese students
handed out chopsticks and opened
tins of sardines and mackerel that
they had canned themselves. the
americans looked skeptical but declared the fish delicious.
One thing that rarely came up
was the reason the exchange was
happening in the first place: the disaster. “We’re focusing on the positive, unless they bring it up first,”
said Carolyn Cochran, who at 15
was the youngest of the group.
teachers say that the students at
the school, which has two counselors on site, have proved amazingly
resilient in the face of a disaster that
cost many of them homes, family
members and friends. the u.S.
connection helps.
“these kinds of cultural exchanges are really important,” said
kingo Murakami, who teaches Japanese literature at the school.
“Young people are much more
future-oriented. We adults lost
everything that belonged to the
past, but the children can make history from now on.”
the exchange program was also
making a huge impression on the
american students, most of whom
had never been abroad before.
“they’re just so outgoing. We
haven’t met a pessimistic person
yet,” said Chai thao, a 17-year-old
senior who had been learning Japanese on his own and was helping
translate.
Ben Slayton, a sophomore, said,
“i love how they can see the good
in everything.”
even by their second day at takata High, the Del norte students
were talking about how they could
be more respectful and helpful to
others at home, habits they had encountered in Japan. they were also
discussing forming a “takata High
School club” to ensure that the
exchange continues and the students keep in touch.
But first, they had a home stay
and a temple visit and some local
shopping to do, as well as food to
prepare for their farewell party.
they had a Californian specialty
planned for their new Japanese
friends: chicken taco salad.
Reuters
Runners fill the street in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan
Government Building at the start of the Tokyo Marathon 2016 in
Tokyo, Japan, yesterday. Some 30,000 runners participated in the
10th edition of the marathon, one of the six World Marathon
Majors. monday, febRuaRy 29, 2016
The Cambodia daily
11
regional
Australia To Increase Taxes
On Backpacker Labor Force
ReuteRs
- Australia is set to
increase taxes on foreign travelers who work in the country, raising concerns from farmers that
their supply of “backpacker
labor” during harvest could dry
up and undermine Australia’s
ambitions of being Asia’s premium produce exporter.
Australian fruit exports are expected to hit a record $1.63 billion
next season, up 10 percent from
the previous 2014-2015 season, and
backpackers on working holiday
visas make up the bulk of fruit pickers at harvest.
“We could have a situation
where we don’t have enough labor
to harvest our produce,” said Tim
Reid, one of Australia’s largest cherry producers and exporters in
Tasmania.
“during the harvest, backpackers make up about 70 percent of
our labor and without them we
wouldn’t have a business,” Reid
said.
The tax legislation is scheduled
to be passed by the Australian government this week.
Australia faces a ballooning budget deficit of about $28.5 billion this
year, and the planned increase in
tax for working travelers is estimated to net $384 million between 2016
and 2020.
Under the new tax policy, which
would take effect on July 1, foreign
travelers on working holiday visas
will pay tax of 32.5 percent on every
dollar earned, when previously
they paid no tax on income up to
sydney
------
$12,800 dollars, the same as locals.
The government has encouraged backpackers to work on
farms with special visas allowing
them to stay for a second year if
they do three months’ work in rural
Australia.
However, backpackers like Matt
Bradley from Britain say that faced
with the higher tax, they will simply
decide not to work.
“An increase to 32.5 percent tax
will mean I can’t survive, so I’ll have
to leave,” Bradley said.
Australia aims to supply premium agricultural products to Asia’s
growing affluent middle class to
become the region’s delicatessen.
Horticulture producers are already struggling to find labor, according to a recent study by the
national Farmers Federation, and
farmers say that without enough
labor, fruit will simply drop off trees
and rot, making it unusable.
“The real challenge for Australia’s delicatessen strategy is its input
cost. Without backpackers, labor—
which is the biggest driver of
costs—will grow,” said one agribusiness analyst.
Australia’s $24.8 billion international tourism industry could also
be hit by the higher tax, with young
travelers deciding not to stay as
long.
About 591,000 people travel to
Australia on working holidays annually. While the daily spend by
these often young travelers is small,
the total spend during their year of
visiting is substantial, amounting to
more than $3 billion annually.
International Briefs ------
Japan Issues Warning Over Possible Volcano Erruption
MIyAzAkI, Japan - The Japan Meteorological Agency yesterday warned
of a possible small eruption at Mount Io, which straddles the southwestern prefectures of Miyazaki and kagoshima, after observing an
increase in volcanic earthquakes. The local government in ebino city
declared a 1km no-entry zone around the crater of Mount Io, part of the
kirishima mountains. Volcanic activity has intensified at the 1,317meter volcano since last year. The agency said visible signs of eruption
or crustal movement were yet to be observed, but there were 37 volcanic temblors yesterday. (Kyodo)
China To Put Second Space Lab In Orbit, State Media
BeIJIng - China will put a second space laboratory in orbit in the third quar-
ter of this year, state news agency Xinhua said yesterday, as part of its
plan to have a permanent manned space station in service by 2022.
Advancing China’s space program is a priority for Beijing, with President
Xi Jinping calling for the country to establish itself as a space power.
Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 2 is expected to be docked with a cargo ship
and Tianzhou 1 (Heavenly Vessel) is scheduled to be launched in the first
half of next year. China also plans to launch shenzhou 11 spacecraft,
which will carry two astronauts on board, in the fourth quarter of this year
to dock with Tiangong 2, the Xinhua report said. The first space lab,
Tiangong 1, was launched in 2011, and has been working well. (Reuters)
The Cambodia daily
12
monday, fEbruary 29, 2016
NatioNal
Book...
continued from pAge
1
photographer’s arrival, he was
certain he was a British spy. Not
to be outdone, de Lagree would
bring French photographer
Emile Gsell to Angkor three
months later.
Thomson and Gsell would produce the first photographs ever
taken in Cambodia.
The stories of these photographers—and the global power
struggle happening around
them—is vividly described in
“Cambodia Captured,” by Jim
Mizerski, a large-format book illustrated with full-page photographs
that is being launched on March 3.
When the photographers arrived, Siem Reap and Battambang
provinces were under the control of
Siam. After his first visit to Angkor
in March 1866, de Lagree begged
French officials to negotiate its return to Cambodia, but it would be
another 40 years before that happened.
Mr. Mizerski tells the story
of diplomatic scheming mainly
through de Lagree, who watched
over Cambodia while the French
were busy strengthening their position in Cochinchina, that is, southern Vietnam.
“Cambodia is currently the focal
point of murky politics,” de Lagree
wrote to his sister-in-law in October
1863. “We are seeking to get the
Protectorate to the great detriment
of Siam, who was in charge. The
English...have become blue with
anger and I am here alone. The
weight of all this mess is heavier
than one might think.”
King Norodom, whom de Lagree affectionately called “my little
king” in his private letters (the king
was less than 1.5-meters tall)
signed the Protectorate Treaty with
France in August 1863, hoping to
curb Siamese influence over the
country.
But unbeknownst to the French,
King Norodom would also sign a
treaty with Siam’s King Mongkut
in December 1863, stating that “Cambodia is a tributary state of Siam”
and that its “ruler” had to be
approved by Bangkok. This went
against the terms of the protectorate treaty, which made Cambodia an independent nation under
the protection of France, at least on
paper.
“One cannot blame Norodom,”
Mr. Mizerski said in an interview.
France was taking months to ratify
the Protectorate Treaty—this
would only be completed in April
1864—and the French were preoccupied with difficulties in Vietnam.
“Nobody was sure if the Protectorate Treaty was actually going
to come into effect,” said Mr. Mizerski, who read everything he
could find on the period before put-
“Norodom was sort of
stuck in the middle. He
didn’t know if the French
were really going to stick
around Southeast Asia
forever or if they’d be gone
next year. He knew that
King Mongkut was going
to be here.”
—Jim mizerski,
Author
ting together his book.
“Norodom was sort of stuck in
the middle. He didn’t know if the
French were really going to stick
around Southeast Asia forever or if
they’d be gone next year. He knew
that King Mongkut was going to
be here,” he said.
King Norodom was also eager to
have a proper coronation ceremony, fearing that his more popular
Emile Gsell
A section of Angkor Wat, with the hill of Phnom Bakheng in the
distance, in 1866.
Emile Gsell
Phnom Penh in the early 1870s.
brothers would steal his crown,
and the royal paraphilia was kept in
Bangkok, he noted.
The French were furious when
they learned of the treaty’s existence. When the French-Siamese
treaty was concluded in 1867 after
more than two years of negotiations, Article 3 stated that Siam
no longer had any control over
Cambodia.
In his secret treaty with Siam,
King Norodom had agreed to leave
Angkor with Cambodia’s powerful
neighbor. Having spent most of his
life in Bangkok, the king had never
seen Angkor. But after de Lagree
had made several trips to Angkor
and most likely described it to him,
King Norodom visited the temples,
and changed his position on which
country they belonged in, pressing
France to have the area returned to
Cambodia.
The fact that even the king of
Cambocould not picture the magnitude of Angkor until he saw the
temples himself illustrates the differences that photography was
about to make.
Mouhot’s description and sketches of Angkor, published in 1863
and 1864, fascinated Europe.
“But words alone, or even engravings or sketches, did not carry
the force, clarity or authenticity of
photographs, and in the case of
Angkor Wat it is certainly true that
a picture is worth a thousand
words,” Mr. Mizerski writes in the
book’s introduction.
In June 1866, after meeting Thomson at Angkor, de Lagree
brought a French photographer
from Saigon with him when he returned with his Mekong Exploration Commission team. His
name was Emile Gsell, a man who
probably came to the region with
the French army during his mandatory military service.
As Mr. Mizerski found out, little
is known about Gsell. How he became a photographer and where
he got the cumbersome equipment—Thomson had needed five
porters to carry his material to
Angkor—remains a mystery.
Gsell made several trips to Cambodia before he died in Saigon in
1879.
In addition to an iconic photo of
the members of the Mekong
Exploration Commission taken at
Angkor Wat in 1866, and a famous
photo of King Norodom, Gsell’s
photos have provided some of the
rare images of Phnom Penh at that
time.
Following his visit to Angkor in
June 1866, de Lagree and his exploration team left Phnom Penh on
July 7, 1866, charged to chart the
Mekong river to its source. Their
scientific research had a commercial aim: finding out whether one
could navigate the Mekong from
its delta in Cochinchina to China.
De Lagree would not return.
“After leading the Expedition almost 10,000 kilometers, 4,000 of
which were on foot, he died of an
abscessed liver and severe amoebic dysentery on March 12, 1868, in
Tong-Tchouen, China, days before
the expedition completed its assignment,” Mr. Mizerski writes.
The French navy would name
three ships after him.
Gsell’s photographs of Angkor in
1866 were in the photo album given to France’s Empress Eugenie in
1867 that is now at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
Photographs that Thomson took
that same year at Angkor were
published in his 1867 book “The
Antiquities of Cambodia;” the original glass plates are now at the
Wellcome Library in London.
Mr. Mizerski is a former U.S. naval officer and engineer who worked in the petro-chemical industry
in the Middle East prior to retirement, and has done photography for several books since settling
in Cambodia in 2003. Most recently, he co-authored a book on
Thomson with Joel Montague, an
American collector of early postcards of Cambodia and Indochina.
The launch of “Cambodia Captured” is at Romdeng restaurant in
Phnom Penh on Thursday at 6 p.m.
េខមបូឌា​ េដលី
រាល់ដំណឹងទាំងអស់គ្មែនការភ័យខ្លែច ឬ លម្អៀង
ថ្ងែ​ច័ន្ទ​ទី២៩​ខែ​កុម្ភៈ​ឆ្នែំ២០១៦
The Cambodia daily
១៣
កោម
ុ ​កាប់​ឈើ​វៀត​ណាម​​​តវ
ោូ ​
តុលាការ​​ចោទ​បកា
ោ ន់​ខណៈ​​កង​​
កម្លង
ោំ ​សត
្ថិ ​កម
ោ ​ការ​សប
ុើ ​អង្កត
ោ
អូន ភាព
ខោមបូឌា​ដោលី
​សាល​ដំបូង​ខេត្ត​មណ្ឌលគិរី​បាន​ចោទ​​
បេកាន់​ជនជតិ​វៀតណាម​​បប
េំ ន
ួ ​នក់​ពប
ី ទ​
បេើ ​បេ ស់ ​រ ណារ​យ ន្ត ​ដោយ​ខុ ស ​ចេ បាប់ ​និ ង​
ចូល​មក​កង
្នុ ​បទ
េ េ ស​កម្ពជ
ុ ​​ដោយ​ខស
ុ ​ចបា
េ ប់​​
បន្ទប
េ ព
់ ​ស
ី មត្ថ​កច
ិ ​ចា
្ច ប់​ខន
្លួ ​បាន​​កម
េុ ​កាប់​ឈើ​
នេ ះ​កាលពី​ថ​ព
្ងេ ធ
ុ ​ខណៈ​​សមត្ថកច
ិ ​ក
្ច ព
ំ ង
ុ ​សប
ុើ ​
អង្កេត​លើ ​ទាហាន​​និង​នគរ​បាល​​ដេ ល​​បាន​​
អនុញត
្ញេ ​ឲយេ ​ពក
ួ គេ ​ចល
ូ ​។
ឆាយធី
កេុ ម ​នេះ ​តេូ វ ​បាន​ចាប់ ​ខ្លួ ន ​ជមួ យ ​នឹ ង​
រណារ​​យន្ត​ពរី គេឿង​​ពេ ល​​កព
ំ ង
ុ ​ឆ្លង​​កាត់​សក
េុ ​
ពេ ជដា
េ ​បន្ទប
េ ព
់ ​ឆ
ី ង
្ល ​ចក
េ ​ពដ
េំ េ ន​ដាក់ជង។
លោក​សូ​ សុវិជ្ជេ​ ពេះរាជអាជ្ញេ​រង​​អម​​
សាល​​ដប
ំ ង
ូ ​ខេត​បា
្ត ន​មន​បសា
េ
សន៍​កាលពី​
មេសល
ិ មិញ​ថា​មនុសសេ ​ទាង
ំ ​បប
េំ ន
ួ ​នក់​នេះ​តវ
េូ ​
បង្គនអ
់ នាម័យ​ដែលតែវូ ​បនសាង​​សង់​សមែប
ែ ​ព
់ ែះរាជ​​ទសែសនកិច​រ្ច បស់​ពែះ​អង្គមស
្ចែ ​ក
់ សែ តែយ
ិ ​ថ
៍ ែ ​មហាចកែ​ី សិរន
ិ ​្ទ ថន
កាល​​ព​ស
ី ប្តហ
ែ ​ម
៍ ន
ុ ​ទៅ​កាន់​បង
ឹ ​យក្ខឡោម​​កង
្នុ ​ខែត​រ្ត តនគិរ។
ី
មន្តល
ោី ក
ើ ឡើងថា​​អគារសមោប
ោ ​ព
់ ោះ​អង្គ​មស
្ចោ ​ក
់ សោ តោ​ថ
ី ​ោ មិនមោនជាបង្គន​អ
់ នាម័យ​ទ​ោ
កង សុធា
ខោមបូឌា​ដោលី
កេយ​
េ ​ពេ ល​​បេព័ន្ធ​​ផេសព្វ​​ផេសាយ​​រាយការណ៍​​
បាន​ចោទ​បេកាន់​កាលពី​ថ្ងេ​សុកេ​ពីបទ​ចូល​
ថា​គេ ​បាន​​ចំណាយ​​បក់​
េ ​ចំនួន​​៤0.០០០​ដុល្លរេ ​
រណារយន្ត​ដោយ​ខស
ុ ​ចបា
េ ប់​ទោះបី​ជ​ពក
ួ គេ ​
សមេប
េ ​ព
់ េះ​អង្គ​មស
្ចេ ​ក
់ សេ តេ​យ
ី ថ
៍ េ ​មហាចកេី
បេទេស​កម្ពជ
ុ ​ដោយ​ខស
ុ ​ចបា
េ ប់​និង​ប​ប
េើ
ស
េ ​់
មិនទាន់​ប​គ
េើ
េឿង​​យន្ត​ទាង
ំ ​នោះ​​ក​ដោ
៏
យ​​។​​
លោក​ថ្លេ ង ​ថា​"​តុ លការ​​បាន​ចោទ​បេ កាន់ ​
ជន​​ជតិ ​វៀ តណាមទាំង ​នោះ​ហើ យ​ពេ ល​
នេ ះ ​ពក
ួ គេ ​កព
ំ ង
ុ ​ជប់​ឃ​ប
ុំ ណ្ដេះ​អាសន្ន​នៅ​
ពន្ធនគារ​ខេត​"្ត ។
ដើ មេប​សា
ី
ង​​សង់​បង្គន​អ
់ នម័យ​ដ​ទ
៏ ន
ំ ើ ប​​មយ
ួ ​
សិរិន្ទ​​ថន​​​ដើមេបី​​ប​ប
េើ
ស់​
េ ​អំឡុង​​ពេះរាជ​ទសេសន
ឃី សុវឌ
ុ ឍ្ ី
សាល​ដំ បូ ង ​ខេ ត្ត ​ពេះ សី ហ នុ ​បាន​ចោទ​
ជីវចមេុះ​ខេត​ន
្ត េ ះ​បាន​មន​បសា
េ
សន៍​ថា​ជន​
បេកាន់​បធ
េ ន​​កម
េុ ហ៊ន
ុ ​ដក
ឹ ជញ្ជន
ូ ​អាហរ័ណ​
កម្ពុ ជ​ដើ មេ បី ​កាប់ ​ឈើ ​ធ្ន ង់ ដេ ល​​ជ​បេ ភេ ទ​
មន​ជប់ ​ពាក់ ​ព័ ន្ធ ​នៅ​ក្នុ ង ​ការ​រ ត់ ​ព ន្ធ ​ភ្លុ ក ​ដំ រី ​
សងេសយ
័ ​ទាង
ំ ​នេះ​បាន​សារភាព​ថា​ខ្លន
ួ ​ចល
ូ ​មក​​
ឈើ ​បណ
េ
ត
ី ​ហើ យ​នយា
ិ
យ​​ថា​ខ្លន
ួ ​តវ
េូ ​បាន​​
ខេ ត្ត​​រតនគិរី​​អាជ្ញធរ​
េ ​បាន​​ចេញ​​សេចក្ត​ប
ី េកាស
ព័ ត៌ មន​​មួ យ ​កាល​​ពី ​ថ្ងេ ​សុ កេ ​ដោយ​​ចេ ន​
ចោល​​ការ​​លើ ក​​ឡើ ង​​ដេ ល​ថា​អគារ​​នេះ ​
គឺជ​បង្គន​អ
់ នម័យ​។
អគារ​​នេះ​​ដេ ល​​ពេះអង្គមស
្ចេ ​ក
់ សេ តេយ
ិ ​ថ
៍ េ​
តទៅទំព័រ១៥
បោធាន​កម
ោុ ហ៊ន
ុ ​តវ
ោូ ​បាន​ចោទ​បកា
ោ ន់​បណ្ដោះ​អាសន្នពាក់ពន
័ ​ភ
្ធ ក
្លុ ​ដរំ ​ក
ី ង
្នុ ​ចន
ំ ន
ួ ​យង
៉ោ ​ចន
ោើ ​
ខោមបូឌា​ដោលី
​លោក​ កេ វ​ សុភក
័ ​្តេ អនុបធ
េ ន​អភិរកេស​
កិច្ច​ន​ពេ ល​​ថ្មី​ៗ​របស់​ពេះ​អង្គ​ម្ចេស់​ទៅ​កាន់​
កម្ពជ
ុ ​កាលពី​ឆ​២
្នេំ ០១៤​ជ​ចន
ំ ន
ួ ​ភក
្លុ ​ដរំ ​ច
ី
ន
េើ ​
បំ ផុ ត ​ដេ លពុំ ធ្លេ ប់ ​តេូ វ ​បាន​រឹ ប អូ ស ​នៅ​ក្នុ ង​
បេទេស​កម្ពជ
ុ ​។
លោក ​អុី ​ឃាង ​ចៅកេ ម ​សុើ ប សួ រ ​នៅ​
នីហរ័ណ​មក
្នេ ​ជ
់ ​បណ្ដេះ​អាសន្ន​ ដោយ​សារ​
សាល​ដំបូង​ខេត្ត​នេះ​​បាន​លើក​ឡើង​ថា​លោក​
ជង​៣.០០០​គឡ
ី ក
ូ
ម
េ ​ចល
ូ ​មក​កង
្នុ បេទេ ស​
(Cambodia) Co. តេវ
ូ ​បាន​ចោទ​បកា
េ ន់​ពប
ី ទ​
ខាន់ ​សុី និ ត ​បេ ធន​កេុ ម ហ៊ុ ន ​R e h o B o t h
តទៅទំព័របន្ទាប់​
តទៅទំព័រ១៥
កាសែតបែចាំថ្ងែដ៏លែបីលែបាញតាំងពីឆ្នែំ១៩៩៣
ខេមបូឌា ដេលី
១៤
ថ្ងៃ​ច័ន្ទ​ទី២៩​ខៃ​កុម្ភៈ​ឆ្នៃំ២០១៦
ព័ត៌មានជាតិ
អ្នកសេក
ុ ផ្ទុះកំហង
ឹ នឹងផេ នការលក់សេះទឹកវត្តតម្ល៤,៨លន
េ
ដុលរ្លេ ឲេយទៅកេម
ុ ហ៊ន
ុ អភិវឌេឍន៍
បែន សុខហ៊ន
ែ ខេមបូឌា ដេលី
អ្នកសែក
ុ ​រាប់​រយ​​អក
្ន ​ដែ ល​​រស់​នៅ​ជ​វ
ុំ ញ
ិ ​
វត្ត​គោក​​បញ្ជន
ែ ​ក
់ ង
្នុ ​កង
ែុ ​ភព
្នំ ែ ញ​បន​​តវ៉​នៅ
ែ
​
ខង​​កែ ​វ ត្ត ​នែះ ​ក្នុ ង ​ខ ណ្ឌ ​ពោធិ៍ ​សែ នជ័ យ​
ជ​​មយ
ួ ​កម
ែុ ​មន្ត​ម
ែី ល
ូ ​ដន
្ឋែ ​លក់​សែះទឹក​នែះ​​។
មន​​ផែ នករ​​ដោះ​​ដូ រ ​វ​ប៉ុ ន្តែ ​ពែះ ​អ ង្គ ​មិ ន​
វ​​ជ​ទព
ែ យែ ​សមែបត្ត​ស
ិ
ធារណៈ។​ គ្មន
ែ ​នរណា​​
ឡើ យ​​ទែ ។​ពែះ​សងែឃ​បន​​ជីក​សែះ​ទឹក​នែះ ​
យើ ង​មន
ិ ​ចង់​ឲយែ ​លក់​សែះ​ទក
ឹ ​នែះ​ទែ​ពីពែះ​
អាច​​យក​​វ​ធ​ជ
្វើ ​របស់​ឯកជន​​បន​​ឡើយ"។
លោក​​ ផល្ល​ី បន​​នយ
ិ
យ​​ថា​ អ្នក​ភម
ូ ​ន
ិ ង
ឹ ​
បន​​ទទួល​សម
ូ បែ ​ម
ី យ
ួ ​រៀល​​ព​ន
ី រណា​​មក
្នែ ​នៅ
់
​
ដើ មបែ ​យ
ី ក​​ទក
ឹ ​ប​ែើ ប៉ន
ុ ​្តែ ឥឡូវ​នែះ​ពែះ​សងែឃ​
មន​​ទក
ឹ ​សត
្អែ ​ប​ហ
ែើ
ើ យ។​ទន្ទម
ឹ ​នង
ឹ ​នែះ​ពែះ​
កលពី​ចង
ុ ​សប្តហ
ែ ​ជ
៍ ទា
ំ ស់​នង
ឹ ​ផែ ន​ករ​​របស់​
បន្ត​តវ៉​នៅ
ែ
​ថ​ន
្ងែ ែ ះ​និង​មន​​គមែង
ែ ​ដក់​ញត្ត​ិ
ហ៊ន
ុ ​អភិវឌែឍន៍​មយ
ួ ក្នង
ុ ​តម្ល​៤
ែ ,៨​​លន​​ដល
ុ
រ្លែ ។
លោក​​ជយ
ួ ​បញែឈប់​ករ​​លក់​ដរ
ូ ​នែះ ​នៅ​ពែ ល​​
បន​​ជីក​​សែះទឹក​​នោះ ​នៅ​ឆ​១
្នែំ ៩៩៥​​។​ក៏​​បន្ត
៉ុ ​​ែ
១.០០០។
មុន​នោះ​​ទៅ​ទៀត​​ហើ យ​ថា​ពែះ​សងែឃ​គន
ែ ​់
ពែះចៅ​​អធិករ​​វត្ត​លក់​សែះទឹក​ឲយែ ​ទៅ​កម
ែុ ​
លោក​​ ពុ​ំ ផល្ល​ី អ្នក​តវ៉​ម
ែ ក
្នែ ​ក
់ ង
្នុ ​ចណ
ំ
ម​​
អ្ន ក ​ត វ៉ែ ​បែ ហែ ល​​៥ ០០​​នក់ ​ដែ ល​​បន​​ម ក​​
ចូល​រម
ួ ​កល​​ព​ថ
ី ​សៅ
្ងែ
រ៍​នង
ិ ​ថ​ម
្ងែ សែ ល
ិ មិញ​បន​​
ទៅ​​លោក​​នយក​​រដ្ឋមន្ត​ែី ហ៊ន
ុ ​ សែ ន​ សុ​ឲ
ំ យែ ​
ណា​​អក
្ន ​ភម
ូ ​ប
ិ ម
ែ ល
ូ ​បន​​សម
្នែ ​ផត
្តិ ​មែដែ​ចន
ំ ន
ួ ​
មិន​អាច​​ទាក់​ទង​​ស​ក
ុំ រអត្ថធ
ែ ប
ិ បា
ែ យ​​បន​​ទែ។
សង្កែត់​ចោម​​ចៅ​និង​ពែះ​សងែឃ​ក្នុង​វត្ត​នោះ​​
ចូ ល ​រួ ម ​ករ​​បែ ជុំ ​កលពី ​ថ្ងែ ​ពុ ធ ​បន​​ករ​​ពារ​​
ជ​​ចន
ែើ ​ពង
ឹ ​លើ ​សែះទឹក​នោះ​​ដើ មបែ ​ស
ី
ច
ែ ​
អ្នក​ទញ
ិ ​ទែ ​ហើ យ​​បញ្ជក
ែ ​ថា
់ ​​​ផែ ន​​ករ​​គន
ែ ​់
កល​​ព​ថ
ី ​ព
្ងែ ធ
ុ ។​ លោក​​នយ
ិ
យ​​ថា​ អ្នក​សក
ែុ ​
ចែបារ​​ដំណា​រ
ំ បស់​ពួកគត់​ហើ យ​​ថា​ពួក​គត់​
បន់​សន
ែ ​ដ
់ ល់​អក
្ន ​ថែរកែសា​សែះ​ ដែ ល​គែ​ជឿ​​
ថា​ ​គង់​នៅ​កង
្នុ ​ទ​ស
ី ក្ករ
ែ ​មយ
ួ ​នៅ​ចម្ងយ
ែ ​៣០០​​
ម៉ត
ែ ​ព
ែ ​វ
ី ត្ត​នោះ។
លោក​​បន​​នយ
ិ
យ​​ថា​"យើ ង​មន
ិ ​សបែបាយ​​
ចិត្ត​ទែ ​ពីពែះ​ពែះ​ចៅអធិករវត្ត​រួម​គំនិត​
បេធានកេម
ុ ហ៊ន
ុ តេវ
ូ បាន...
តមកពីទំព័រ ១៣
រំលោភ​ចបា
ែ ប់​គយ​និង​ពឈ
ែ
ើ ​របស់​បទ
ែ ែ ស​
កម្ពជ
ុ ​កែយ
ែ ​ករ​សប
ុើ អង្កត
ែ ​មយ
ួ ​ធ​ឡ
្វើ
ើ ង​
ដោយ​អាជ្ញែ ធ រ​​ដែ ល​បន​​ធ្វើ ​ករ​លើ ​ប ញ្ហែ ​
នែ ះ​អស់​រយៈ​ពែល​ជង​១ឆ្ន​ក
ែំ ន្លះ​។
ផែ ន​​ករ​​លក់​​ដូរ​​នែះ​​ប៉ន្ត
ុ ​មិន​
ែ
​បន​​បប់​
ែ ​ឈ្មែះ​
ទឹ ក ​នោះ​​នឹ ង ​មន ​បែ យោជ ន៍ ​កន់ ​តែ ​ខ្លែំ ង​​
តែ ​ជ​ករដោះ ដូរ​ទែ ។​​លោក​​បន​​នយ
ិ យ​​ថា​​​
ផែ ន​​ករ​​រ បស់ ​វ ត្ត​គឺ ​នឹ ង ​លក់​ដី​សែះ​ទឹក​ទំហំ​
៣ហិកត​​កង
្នុ ​តម្ល​១
ែ ៦០​​ដល
ុ
រ
្លែ ​កង
្នុ ​មយ
ួ ​មែ៉ត​ែ
កែ ឡា​ដែ ល​​ស រុ ប ​ទៅ​បែ ហែ ល​​៤ ,៨​​លន​​
ដុលរ
្លែ ។
លោក​​បន​​ឲយែ ​ដង
ឹ ​ថា​"ពែះចៅ​​អធិករ​​វត្ត​
សមែប
ែ ​ស
់ ធារណជន​​ប​ប
ែើ
ស
ែ ​់ ​បើ ​សែះ​ទក
ឹ ​
មួយ​ផក
្នែ ​តវ
ែូ ​បន​​ចាក់​ដ​ប
ី ព
ំ ែ ញ​ទុក​សមែប
ែ ​់
សង​​សង់​សល​រៀន​​ឬ​​មន្ទរ
ី ​ពែទយែ ​នៅ​ពែល​
អនគត។
លោក​​បន​​នយ
ិ
យ​​ថា​ បែជជន​​៩៩​​ភាគ​​
រយ​​មន
ិ ​គទ
ំ ​ក
ែ រ​​លក់​សែះទឹក​នែះ​ទែ​ ដូច្នែះ​
ខ្ញ​គ
ុំ ទ
ំ ​ប
ែ ជ
ែ ជន"៕និត
ទៀត​​ គឺ​កម
ែុ ហ៊ន
ុ ​ដក
ឹ ជញ្ជន
ូ ​ Road​ Logistics
នែ ះ ​រួច​ហើ យ​ហើ យ​ខ្ញុំ​បន​បញ្ជូន​ករចោទ​​
ឈ្មែះ​កម
ែុ ហ៊ន
ុ ​របស់​លោក​​ដើមបែ ​ន
ី ច
ំ ល
ូ ​ភក
្លុ ​
បុគល
្គ ​រប
ូ ​នែះ​ដែ ល​ជប់​ពាក់​ពន
័ ​នៅ
្ធ
​កង
្នុ ​ករណី​
បែ កន់ ​នែះ ទៅ​ចៅកែ ម ​សុើ ប សួ រ ​កលពី ​
២ឬ៣ខែ ​មន
ុ ​"។
E x p r e s s ​ដែ ល​លោក​អះ អាង​ថា​បន​បែើ ​
ដំរ​ទា
ី ង
ំ ​នែះ​ព​ត
ី ប
ំ ន់​អាហ្វក
ែិ ​ខង​កើត​។
លោក​បន​​មនបែសសន៍​ថា​"​បស
ែ ន
ិ ​បើ​
មន្តែី ​គ យ​នៅ​កំ ព ង់ ផែ ​ស្វ យ័ ត ​កែុ ង ​ពែះ ​
ខ្ញុំ ​បែ ពែឹ ត្ត ​ប ទ ល្មើ ស ​មែ ន នោះ​ម្លែ៉ះ ​ខ្ញុំ ​បិ ទ​
គីឡក
ូ
ម
ែ ​ដែ ល​គត
ិ ​ជ​ទក
ឹ ​បក
ែ ​អា
់ ច​មន​តម្ល​ែ
ហើ យ​។ ​ប៉ុ ន្តែ ​ខ្ញុំ​មិ ន ​បន​​ធ្វើ ​ដូ ច្នែះ ​ទែ ​ហែ តុ ​
រហូត​ដល់​រាប់​សប
ិ ​លន​ដល
ុ
រ
្លែ នោះ លក់នៅ​
យោង​តម​មតែ​៩
ែ ៨​នែ​ចបា
ែ ប់​ពឈ
ែ
ើ ​ និង​
បែជ​ក
ុំ ល​​ព​ថ
ី ​ព
្ងែ ធ
ុ ​ដែរ​បន​​នយ
ិ
យ​​ថា​សែះ​
លោក​បន​ថ្លែ ង ​ថា​"​ខ្ញុំ ​បន​​ចោទ​បែ កន់ ​
កែុ ម ហ៊ុ ន ​Reho Both (Cambodia) Co. ​ជ​
ដោយ​ខស
ុ ​ចបា
ែ ប់​និង​ជប់​ពាក់​ពន
័ ​រ
្ធ បស់​រត់​ពន្ធ​​
លោក​​វ៉​ែ សវឿន​ចៅសង្កត
ែ ​រ់ ង​​ជ​​សម​​
ជិក​គណបកែស​បឆ
ែ ង
ំ ​ដែ ល​ក​ប
៏ ន​​ចល
ូ ​រម
ួ ​ករ​​
សីហនុ​បន​រក​ឃើ ញ​ភ្លុក​ដំរី​ទម្ងន់​៣.០០៨​
បណ្ដែះ​អាសន្ន​ពីបទ​នច
ំ ូល​ទំនិញ​[ ភ្លក
ុ ​ដំរី​]
លោក​​ផល្ល​ី បន​​នយ
ិ
យ​​ថា​សែះទឹក​នែះ​មន​​
លោក​​ សុត
៊ ​ សត់​ ចៅ​​សង្កត
ែ ​ដ
់ ែ ល​បន​​
ចៅកែម​អុ​ី ឃាង​បន​មន​បស
ែ
សន៍​ថា​"​
ពែះ រាជអាជ្ញែ រ ង​បន​ចោទ​បែ កន់ ​បែ ធាន​
លោក ​សត់ ​បន ​និ យយ ​ថា​ពែះ ស ងែ ឃ​​
ពែះចៅ​​អធិករ​​វត្ត​ ពែះ​នម​ សែ ង​ ​ថន​ ​ តែ ​ជក
ី ​ពងែក
ី ​សែះ​នោះ​​បណ
៉ុ
្ណែះ។
និយយ​​ថា​ពួក​គត់​ទទួល​បន​​ដណ
ំ
ង
ឹ ​លក់​នែះ​​
បន្ទប
ែ ​ព
់ ​ក
ី រ​​បជ
ែ ​ម
ុំ យ
ួ ​ធ​ឡ
្វើ
ើ ង​រវង​​កម
ែុ ​មន្ត​ែី
សងែឃ​ក​ខ
៏ ្វះ​បច្ចយ
័ ​ដើមបែ ​ក
ី សង​​វត្ត​ដែរ”។
ក្នង
ុ ​កង
ុ តឺនរ័ ​ផក
្ទុ ​សណ្ដក
ែ ​សៀ ង​ចន
ំ ន
ួ ​ពរី ​គែឿង​​​
ដែ ល​​មន​បែ ភ ព​ចែ ញពី ​បែ ទែ ស​កែ នយ៉ែ
ហើ យ​​មក​ដល់​បែទែ ស​កម្ពុជ​តម​បែទែ ស​
កែម
ុ ហ៊ន
ុ ​របស់​ខ​្ញុំ ហើ យ​​រត់គែ ច​ខន
្លួ ​បត់​ទៅ​
ដូ ច្នែះ ​ហើ យ​ខ្ញុំ ​នឹ ង ​ត តំង ​ចំ ពោះ​មុ ខ ចែ បាប់ ​
ទោះបី ​ជ​គែ ​ចាប់ ​ខ្លួ ន ​ខ្ញុំ ​ដក់ ​ព ន្ធ នគរ ​ក៏ ​
ដោយ"។
​កម
ែុ ហ៊ន
ុ ​Road​Logistics​Express​មិន​អាច​
ម៉ឡ
ែ
ែ ស។
ុី
ទាក់​ទង​បន​ទែ​។
អង្កែត​ផ្ទែល់​របស់​លោក​លើ ​ករណី​នែះ ​ជិត​
សប្ដែហ៍​មុន​ថា​គែ ​បន​ជូន​ដំណឹង​មក​លោក​
វិញ​ លោក​ គិន​ លី​ បែធាន​សខ​គយ​បចា
ែ ​ំ
សមែែច​ថាតើ ​តែូវ​ចោទ​បែកន់​លោក​ខន់
លោក​​នៅ​តែ​បក
ែ ន់​ជហ
ំ រ​ថា​កែម
ុ ហ៊ន
ុ ​របស់​
ឡើ ង​ថា​​វ​កំ ពុ ង ​ស្ថិ ត ​នៅ​ក្នុ ង ​កំ ព ង់ ផែ ​នៅ​
មតែ​៧
ែ ៥​នែ​ចបា
ែ ប់​គយ"។
ចៅកែម​រប
ូ ​នែះ ​បន​បន្ថម
ែ ​ថា​ករ​សប
ុើ
ចប់​ហើ យ​​ហើ យ​បន្ទប
ែ ម
់ ក​ទៀ ត​លោក​នង
ឹ ​
សុន
ី ត
ិ ​ជ​ផវ
្លូ ​ករ​ឬយ៉ង
ែ ​ណា​។
លោក​ហួត​វិចិតែ​ពែះរាជ​​អាជ្ញែរង​​អម​​
សលដំបង
ូ ខែ តន
្ត ែ ះ​​បន​បញ្ជក
ែ ​ព
់ ​ក
ី រ​ចោទ​
បែកន់​ជ​បណ្ដែះ​អាសន្ន​នែះ​ប៉ន
ុ ​ប
្តែ ន​បដិ​
សែ ធ​មិន​ពិភាកែសា​​បន្ថម​
ែ លើ​ករណី​នែះ​ឡើយ​​។
លោក​ខន់​សុន
ី ត
ិ ​បន​លើក​ឡើង​កលពី​
រួច​ហើ យ​អំពី​ករណី​ចោទ​បែកន់​នែះ ​ប៉ុន្តែ​
លោក​គន
្មែ ​ពាក់​ពន
័ ​នៅ
្ធ
​កង
្នុ ​ករ​នច
ំ ល
ូ ​ភក
្លុ ​ដរ
ំ ​ី
ទាំង​នែះទែ ។
ដោយ​ឡែក​បើ​នយ
ិ
យ​ទាក់​ទន
ិ ​នង
ឹ ​ភក
្លុ ​ដរ
ំ ​ី
កំពង់ផែ ​ស្វយ័ត​កែុង​ពែះសីហនុ​បនលើ ក​
ឡើ យ​ទែ។
លោក​បន​មន​បស
ែ សន៍​ថា​"​យើ ង​កព
ំ ង
ុ ​
ផ្ទយទៅវិញ​លោក​
ុ
បន​លើក​ឡើង​ថា​កែម​
ុ ​
តែ ​យម​ករ​ពារ​ភ្លុ ក ​ដំ រី ​ទាង
ំ ​នែះ ​យ៉ែ ង ​បែុ ង​
សរ​​កលលែបិច​របស់​កែុមហ៊ុន​ក្នុង​សែុក​មួយ​
ស៊យ
ុ ឈាង​​
ហ៊ុ ន ​រ បស់ ​លោក​​គឺ ​ជ​អ្ន ក ​រ ងគែែះ ​ដោយ​
បែយត
័ ​្ន ពែែះយើ ង​ខច
្លែ ​បត់​បង់​"៕​
ខេមបូឌា​ ដេលី
ថ្ងៃ​ច័ន្ទ​ទី២៩​ខៃ​កុម្ភៈ​ឆ្នៃំ២០១៦
១៥
ព័ត៌មានជាតិ
កេម
ុ ​កាប់​ឈើ​វៀតណាម​​...
តមកពីទំព័រ ១៣
អនុញត
្ញា ​ឲយា ​ឆង
្ល ​ដាន​ដោយ​ឆព
្មាំ ដ
ាំ ា ន​ប​ន
ី ក់​
ដា ល​បាន​​ដង
ឹ ​ព​ប
ី ណ
ំ
ង​របស់​ខន
្លួ ។​
លោក​បាន​មន​បា សសន៍ ​ប ន្ថា ម ​ទៀ ត​
ថា​​"​ជន​ជតិ​វៀតណមទំង​នះ​​បាន​​សរ​
ថា​​លោកខឹង​នង
ឹ ​មន្ត​ព
ាី
ឈ
ា
ើ ​ដាល​តាង​តា​
ទា ​ប៉ន
ុ ​លោ
្តា
ក​​បាន​បញ្ជ​ឲ
ា យា ​មាបញ្ជក
ា រ​របស់​
ឲាយ​ជន​កប់​ឈើ​ខស
ុ ​ចបា
ា ប់​ចល
ូ ​មក​កង
្នុ ​បទ
ា ា ស​
ហើ យថា​តើ ​គត់​ជប់​ពាក់​ព័ន្ធ​ករ​អនុញ្ញាត​
ចោទ​បក
ា ន់​ទហាន​របស់​លោក​​ថា​អនុញត
្ញា ​
កម្ពជ
ុ ​ ដោយ​គន
្មា ​ភស
័ តា
្តុ ង​គប
ា គ
់
ន
ា ​ដ
់ ើ មបា ​ី
គំទ​ក
ា រ​​អះអាង​របស់​ពក
ួ គា ​។​
​លោក​បាន​​ថង
្លា ​ថា​"​​ទង
ំ ​នាះ​ជ​ករ​​ចោទ​
ម ន្តាី ​ន គ រ ​បាល ​ឈ្មាះ ​ចាន់ ​សុើ ប អ ង្កា ត​​
ឲាយ​ជន​កប់​ឈើ ​ចូល​មក​ក្នុង​បាទា ស​​កម្ពុជ​
ឬក៏​អត់​។
ជញឹកញាប់​ជនជតិ​វៀតណម​​តវ
ាូ ​ចាប់​
្មា ​ភស
័ តា
្តុ ង​ចបា
ា ស់លាស់។​បើ ​
ភាព​​ថា​​ពួ ក គា ​ចូ ល ​ពា ​ក្នុ ង ​ទឹ ក ​ដី ​រ បស់ ​ខ្មា រ​​ បាកន់​ដាល​គន
បាន​ពាល​កព
ំ ង
ុ ​កប់​ឈើ​ដោយ​ខស
ុ ​ចបា
ា ប់​នៅ​
គ្ន​ា នះ​​ជមូលហា ត​ដ
ុ ា ល​យើង​តវ
ាូ ​សង
្វា ​
ញឹក​ញាប់​ទហាន​​និង​កង​រាជអាវុធហត្ថ​ក្នុង​
ដើ មបា ​ប
ី ន
៉ុ ​បង
៉ ​កប់​ឈើ​ធង
្ន ​។
់ ​យើ ង​បាន​សក​​
យើ ង​ជះទឹក​ដក់​គ​្នា យើ ង​នង
ឹ ​ទទឹក​ទង
ំ ​អស់​
ពួក​គា ​បាន​បា ប់ ​ថា​ទហាន​ពី រ ​នក់ ​ឈ្មាះ ​
រក​អក
្ន ​បព
ា ត
ាឹ ​ប
្ត ទ​លស
្មើ ​ឲយា ​ឃើញ​"។
សួរ​ជន​ជតិ​វៀ ត​ណម​ទំង​នះ ​ហើយ​ហើ យ​​
ផត​និង​ឈ្មាះ​ភូ​និង​មន្ត​ន
ាី គរ​បាល​ពដ
ាំ ា ន​
លោក​យិន​ចន្ធ​មា
ី
បញ្ជករ​
ា
កង​អនុ​សាន​​
ម្នក
ា ​ឈ
់
្មាះ​ចាន់​ ​បាន​អនុញត
្ញា ​ឲយា ​ពក
ួ គា ​ចល
ូ ​
តូច​លាខ​១០៣​​បាន​​មន​​បស
ា
សន៍​ថា​លោក​​
លោក​ឈិត​ម៉ង
ា សាង
ា ​​មាបញ្ជក
ា រ​​សក
ឹ ​
នក់​នះ​ទា​ ប៉ន
ុ ​លោ
្តា
ក​​បាន​បញ្ជ​ឲ
ា យា ពួកគា ​
កប់​ឈើ​"។
រង​​ខាត​ន
្ត ា ​កង​យោធពល​ខាមរភូមន
ិ ​បា
្ទ ន​​មន​​
បាសសន៍​ថា​ លោក​បាន​បញ្ជ​ឲ
ា យា ​សប
ុើ ​អង្កត​
ា ​
លើ ​ទហាន​ពី រ ​នក់ ​ដា ល​ឈ រ​ជើ ង​នៅ​ក ង​
អនុ​សានតូច​លាខ​១០៣ហើ យ។​លោក​បាន​​
បន្ត​ថា​"​ខ​បា
្ញុំ ន​បញ្ជ​ឲ
ា ាយ​មាបញ្ជករ​
ា កង​អនុសា ន​​
តូច​​សបអង្ក
ុើ
ត​
ា ហើយ​ហើ យ​បើ​ទហាន​របស់​​
ខ្ញ​ព
ុំ ត
ិ ​ជ​បព
ា ត
ាឹ ​ប
្ត ទល្មស
ើ ​មាន​ ពាះរាជ​អាជ្ញ​ា
អាច​អនុវត្ត​តាម​ចាបាប់​បាន​​ហើ យ​​ខ្ញុំ​នឹង​លុប​
ឈ្មាះ​ពក
ួ គា ​ចាញពី​បញ្ជ​ក
ី ង​យោធពល​ខាមរ​
មិ ន ​ដឹ ង ​ឈ្មាះ ​ពា ញ​រ បស់ ​ទហានទំង ​ពី រ​
ចូល​ខ្លួន​ដើ មាបី​សកសួរ​នៅ​ថ្ងា​នាះ ​។​លោក​
គូ ស ​ប ញ្ជា ក់ ​ថា​"​​ខ្ញុំ ​បាន​ហៅ​ទហាន​ទង
ំ ​ពី រ​
នក់​នះ ​ឲាយ​តាឡប់​មក​មូលដ្ឋន​
ា យោធា​វិញ​នៅ​
ថ្ងាច័ន្ទ​ ហើយ​ខ្ញុំ​នឹង​សួរ​ពួកគា​ថា​ ​តើ​ពក
ួ គា ​
បាន​បើ ក​​ពដ
ាំ ា ន​ឲយា ​ជនជតិ​វៀ ត​ណម​​ទំង​
តំបន់​ភាគ​ឦសន​​នា​បាទា ស​​កម្ពជ​
ុ ​ហើ យ​​ជ​
មូ ល ដ្ឋា ន ​បាន​​រង​​ករ​​ចោទ​​បក
ា ន់​ព​ស
ី ណ
ំ
ក់​
មន្តាី​រដ្ឋបាល​​ពាឈើ​និង​អង្គករ​មិន​មាន​
រដ្ឋភ
ា បា
ិ ល​ដា ល​​ចោទ​បក
ា ន់​ថា​ជយ
ួ ​ពក
ួ គា ​
កប់​ឈើ ​និង​រត់​ពន្ធ​ឈើ ​ទំង​នះ ​ចូល​ទៅ​
បាទាស​វៀតណម​។​ ​ករ​សប
ុើ ​អង្កត
ា ​មយ
ួ ​
ធ្វើ ​ឡើ ង​ដោយ​អង្គករ​មិន​មា ន​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​
ឈ្មាះ​ថា​Forestry Trends របស់​សហរដ្ឋ​អាមា រិក​​
កលពី​ឆ​ម
្នាំ ន
ុ ​​​រក​ឃើញ​ថា​​ភាគចាន​
ើ នា​ឈើ​
ដា ល​​វៀ តណម​​ន​ច
ំ​ ូល​​ពក
ី​ ម្ពជ​
ុ ​គឺ​ខុស​ចាបាប់។
សូម​បញ្ជក
ា ​ថា
់ ​រដ្ឋភ
ា បា
ិ ល​កម្ពជ
ុ ​បាន​ផក
្អា ​
បាាំបួន​នក់​នាះ​ ឬក៏អត់។​ ប៉ុន្តា​ខ្ញុំ​បាន​សរ
ួ ​
ករ​នច
ំ ា ញ​ឈើ​ទង
ំ ​អស់​ទៅ​វៀតណម​​នៅ​​
គា ​បប
ា ​ខ
់ ​ថា
្ញុំ ​ពួកគា ​មន
ិ ​ជប់​ពាក់​ពន
័ ​ទ
្ធ ា "។
កប់​ឈើ​ខស
ុ ​ចបា
ា ប់​នៅ​ខាត​ភា
្ត គឦសន​កល​​
ពួកគា ​ទង
ំ ​ពរ
ី ​តាម​ទរ
ូ ស័ព​ហ
្ទ
ើ យ​ហើ យ​​ពក
ួ ​
លោក​ ទូច​ យន់​ ស្នងករ​​នគរ​​បាល​​ខាត​្ត
ពា ល​ចាប់​ផម
្ដើ ​បត
ា ប
ិ ត្តក
ិ រ​បោស​សម្អត
ា ​ករ​​
ពី​ពាក់​កណ្ដល
ា ​ខាមករា​ សាប​ពាល​មន​ករ​
ភូមន
ិ "្ទ ។
លើក​ឡើង​ថា​លោក​​ក៏​មិន​ដឹង​ឈ្មាះ​ពាញ​
មន្តល
េី
ើកឡើងថា​​អគារ...
ដូច្នាះ​ថា​"គ្មន
ា ​បង្គន​អ
់ នម័យ​ទា"។
ជមួយ​មនុសសា ​ផសា ា ង​ៗ​ទៀត​បណ
៉ុ
្ណាះ​"​។
បាន​​យង​​ទៅ​ទត​​តា ​មន
ិ ​បាន​​ប​ប
ាើ
ស
ា ​់ បន្ទប
ា ​់
បញ្ជក
ា ​ថា
់ ​បង្គន​អ
់ នម័យ​នាះ​ដាល​តវ
ាូ ​បាន​​
អាជ្ញធ
ា រ​​ខាត​ទ
្ត ា ​ប៉ន
ុ ​្តា ថា ម​ទង
ំ ​ប៉ះពាល់​ដល់​
ឡោម​​​"គឺមន
ិ ​មាន​​បង្គន់​អនម័យ​"​ទា ​ ​នា ះ​​បើ​
យក​​តឡ
ា ប់​ទៅ​បទ
ា ា ស​ថា​វញ
ិ ​ឡើយ​បន្ទប
ា ​់
ល្អ​ទា​ដាល​នយ
ិ
យ​​ថា​យើ ង​ប​ប
ាើ
ស
ា ​់ បង្គន​់
ប៉ន
ុ ​ម
្តា ា បញ្ជក
ា រ​រប
ូ ​នាះ​បាន​គស
ូ ​បញ្ជក
ា ​់
តមកពីទំព័រ ១៣
ពី​សោយ​​ពាះ​កយ
ា
​ថ​ត
្ងា ង
ា ​នៅ
់
​មត់​បង
ឹ ​យក្ខ​
យោង ​តាម ​សា ច ក្តី ​បា កស ព័ ត៌ មន ​រ ប ស់ ​
សលា​​ខាត​រ្ត តនគិរ​ី ដា ល​លើក​ឡើង​ថា​កាម
ុ ​
ករ​​ងារ​​បាន​​ចុះ ​ទៅ​ពិ និ តា យ ​អ គរ​​នាះ ​ហើ យ​​
របស់​មន្ត​ន
ាី គរ​បាល​ដា ល​រង​ករចោទ​បក
ា ន់​
សា ចក្ត​ប
ី ក
ា សព័តម
៌ ន​នាះមិន​បាន​​គស
ូ ​
នំ​ចល
ូ ​ព​ប
ី ទ
ា ា ស​ថា​មក​​ តាវ
ូ ​បាន​​រុះ​ចាញ​ ឬ​​
ពី ​ពាះ អង្គ ​ម្ចា ស់ កា ស តាី យ៍ ​បាន​​យង​ចា ញ​​ពី ​
ខា ត​ន
្ត ា ះ​វញ
ិ ​កល​​ពថ
ី ទ
្ងា ​២
ី ២​​ខា ​កម
ុ ្ភៈ។
យ៉ា ង ​ខ្លាំ ង ​ដ ល់ ​កិ ត្តិ យ ស​​និ ង ​សា ចក្តី ​ថ្លា ​ថ្នូ រ​
អនម័យ​ជ​ករិយល័យ​នះ​​"។
លោក​វា ន​ឆិ​បាធាន​​សហគម​​ន​ប
៍ ង
ឹ ​យក្ខ​
នា ះ ​គឺ ជ​ប ន្ទ ប់ ​ទឹ ក ​ហើ យ​​បាន​​ប ន្ទា ស ​លើ ​
កល​​ពី ​មា សិល មិ ញ ​ថា​លោក​​បា មូ ល ​បាន​​ព័ ត៌
ពាល់​
បាទាស​ជតិ​ទង
ំ ​មល
ូ ​ ពាាះ​សប
្តា ​ទៅ
់
​វា​មន
ិ ​
គឺ ជ​​ប ង្គ ន់ ​អ នម័ យ ​នះ​​បាន ​លើ ក ​ឡើ ង​​
ចូលប៉ណ
ុ
្ណាះ​។
ដូច្នាះ​ថា​"ព័តម
៌ ន​​នាះបានធ្វ​ឲ
ើ យា ​ប៉ះ​
“វា​​មិ ន ​គា ន់ ​តា ​ប៉ះ ពាល់ ​ដ ល់ ​ខា ត្ត ​និ ង​
ឡោម​​ដា ល​​តាូ វ ​បាន​​គា ​ផ្ត ល់ ​អ គរ​​នាះ ​ឲា យ​
នា ះ​ដាល​ព​ម
ី ន
ុ ​បញ្ជក
ា ​ថា
់ ​សំណង់​អគរ​​នាះ​
សា ចក្ត​ប
ី ក
ា ស​ពត
័ ​ម
៌ ន​នាះ​មន​​ខម
្លឹ ​សរ​​
គាបគ
់ ង
ា ​លាង​បាន៕​សុខម
ុ ​
លោក​​ ញ៉ម
ា ​ សំអឿន​ អភិបាល​​រង​ខាត​្ត
បាន​​ឃើ ញ​​មន​តា ​ឡាបូ​លាង​ដា ​​​​កៅអី​​​​ម៉ស
ា ន
ុី
តាជក់​ តុ​ បង្អច
ួ ​ និង​ទរ
្វា ​សមាប
ា ​ខ
់ សា ល់​ចាញ​
ពាួ យ ​បារម្ភ ​ខ្លា ច ​ករ​ន​ច
ំ ា ញ​​ឈើ ​ខុ ស ​ចា បាប់ ​
មន​​តាម​​តា​ព​រ
ី យៈ​​បភ
ា ព​​មន
ិ ​ផវ
្លូ ​ករ​​បណ
៉ុ
្ណាះ​
ហើ យ ​មិ ន ​បាន ​ឃើ ញ ​ផ្នា ក ​ខង​​ក្នុ ង ​ដោយ​​
បាន​​លើ ក​​ឡើ ​ង​ថា​លោក​​ដង
ឹ ​ថា​សំណង់​អគរ​
ករ​​យល់​ចឡ
ា ​ដ
ំ ា ល​​ថា​បង្គន​ត
់ វ
ាូ ​បាន​​គា ​រុះ​
យក​​ចាញ​។
លោក​​បាន​​មនបាសសន៍​ថា​"ដំបង
ូ ​ឡើ យ​​​
ផ្ទល
ា ​ឡ
់
ើ យ​។
ខ្ញ​គ
ុំ ត
ិ ​ថា​វា​​ជ​បង្គន​អ
់ នម័យ​ហើ យ​​អក
្ន ​ផសា ា ង​​ៗ​
អាជ្ញា ធ រ​​ខា ត្ត ​គឺ ​កើ ត​​ចា ញ​​ពី ​សធារណជន​​
ដា ល​​ឥឡូវ​តវ
ាូ ​បាន​​បក
ា យ
្លា ​ទៅជ​​ករិយ
សុ ទ្ធ ​តា ​និ យយ ​ខុ ស ​ពាាះ ​វា​មិ ន ​មា ន ​ជ​
សា ចក្ត​ប
ី ក
ា ស​ពត
័ ​ម
៌ ន​នាះ​មន​​ខម
្លឹ ​សរ​​បន្ត​
[វាជ​​បង្គន​អ
់ នម័យ] តាម​​តា​រយៈ​​ករ​​ជជា ក​
រ ប ស់ ​ខា ត្ត ​ជ​​ពិ សា ស ​ករ ​រិះ ​គ ន់ ​ម ក ​លើ ​
ដា ល​​មិន​ទទួល​បាន​​ព័ត៌មន​​ចាបាស់​លាស់​"។
លោក​​បាន​​នយ
ិ
យ​​ទក់​ទន
ិ ​នង
ឹ ​អគរ​​នាះ​
ល័យ​រដ្ឋបាល​​កង
្នុ ​មល
ូ ​ដន
្ឋា ​នះថា​"ខ្ញ​គ
ុំ ត
ិ ​ថា
ទៀ ត​​ក​ន
៏ យ
ិ យ​​ថា​បង្គន​អ
់ នម័យដា រ​។យើ ង​​
បង្គន​អ
់ នម័យ​ទា​វា​​គជ
ឺ ​បន្ទប​ទ
់ ក
ឹ ​"។
តទៅទំព័រ១៦
ខេមបូឌា ដេលី
១៦
ថ្ងៃ​ច័ន្ទ​ទី២៩​ខៃ​កុម្ភៈ​ឆ្នៃំ២០១៦
ព័ត៌មានជាតិ
លោក កឹម សុខា អនុបេធានគណបកេសសង្គេះជាតិបង្កន
ើ ការអះអាងលើ គោលនយោបាយរបស់បកេស
អ៊ច
ូ ​សូនី
ខេមបូឌា ដេលី
លោក កឹម សុខ អនុប្ធនគណបក្ស
ប្ឆង
ំ បនថ្ល្ងទៅកន់ក្ុមអ្នកគំទ្នៅ
ខ្ តតាក្
្ត
វ និងខ្ តកំ
្ត ពតកលពីចុងសប្ដហ
្ ៍
ថា ប្ ជាពលរដ្ឋ ឆ្ល្ ត ណាស់ មិ ន ចាញ់ បោក
អ្នកនយោបយទ្ ហើ យបនអះ អាងជាថ្មី
ម្ដងទៀ តថា កំណ្ ទម្ង់របស់រដ្ឋ្ភិបល
កលពីព្ លថ្មៗ
ី ន្ ះធ្វឡើ
ើ
ងដោយសារត្
មនសម្ពធ
្ ពីគណបក្សសង្គ្ះជាតិ។
លោកនយករដ្ឋមន្ត្ី ហ៊ន
ុ
ស្ ន បន
រិះគន់គណបក្សប្ឆង
ំ ខ្លង
្ំ ៗតាមរយៈ សារ
មួយបង្ហ្ះតាមហ្វស
្ ប៊ក
ុ កលពីសប្ដហ
្ មុ
៍ ន
បន្ទប
្ ព
់ លោក
ី
កឹម សុខ បនប្ប
្ ក្
់ ម
ុ អ្នក
គំទ្ថា ចំណាត់ករជាបន្តបន្ទ្ប់ក្នុងគោល
នយោបយប្ជានិយមដ្ លនយករដ្ឋមន្ត្ី
បនអនុវត្តនៅឆ្នន្
្ំ ះ គឺធ្វឡើ
ើ
ងដោយសារ
ត្ គណបក្សសង្គ្ះជាតិ ដោយក្នុងនះ
រួមមនទំងករលុបចោលករយកប្ក
្ លើ
់
ផ្លវ
ូ សំខន់ៗមួយចំនន
ួ ផងដ្ រ។
លោក ហ៊ន
ុ ស្ ន បនសរស្ រក្នង
ុ សារ
កលពីថ្ងទ
្ ២២
ី
ខ្ កុម្ភៈនះ ថា "ខ្ញសូ
ុំ មផ្ញើ
ទៅកន់អ្នកចូលរួមនៅខ្ ត្តតាក្ វកលពីថ្ង្
លោក កឹម សុខ ប្ធន "ក្ម
ុ ភគតិច"
សៅរ៍ថា "គ្មន
្ នរណាអាចបោកប្ស
្ ប្
់ ជា
ក្នុងរដ្ឋសភ បនរងករគំរាមធ្វើឃាតយ៉្ង
របស់ខ្ញុំអីអ្នកទំងអស់គ្ន្ ម្ ដឹកនំបច្ចុប្បន្ន
ផ្ស្ងៗទៀត ក្នុងនះរួមទំងករព្មន
ពលរដ្ឋបនទ្ ។ កុំបរម្ភចំពោះ សមត្ថភព
ទំងនៅក្នង
ុ គណបក្សកន់អំណាច និងគណបក្ស
ប្ ឆង
ំ ដ្ ល ចង់ បោក ប្្ ស់ ប្ ជាពលរដ្ឋ
ពួកគ្ មិនអាចធ្វបន
ើ
ទ្ "។
នៅខ្ ត្តកំពតកលពីថ្ងអាទិត្យ
្
អនុប្ធន
គណបក្សប្ឆំងរូបន្ ះ បនបង្កន
ើ ករអះ
ហោចណាស់ម្ដង និងករគំរាមប្អំ
ើ ពើហិងសា
្
មួយកលពីដើ មខ្ ន្ ះពីសណា
ំ
ក់អ្នកល្ ង
ហ្វស
្ ប៊ក
ុ ដ៏លប្ ល
ី បា
្ ញដ្ លគំទគណបក្
្
ស
ប្ជាជនកម្ពជា
ុ ផងដ្ រ ប៉ន
ុ គ្ម
្ត្ ន
្ នរណាម្នក
្ ់
ត្វ
ូ បនចាប់ខ្លន
ួ ឡើ យក្នង
ុ ករណីទំងន្ ះទ្ ។
លោកមនប្សាសន៍ថា "ព្ លភគីម្ខង
្
អាងរបស់លោកថា គណបក្សប្ជាជនកម្ពជា
ុ
ទៀតមនអំណាចចោទប្កន់មកលើ ក្ម
ុ
ករ ប្ ឆង
ំ ខ្ល្ំ ង ក្ល្ ។ សំ ដៅដល់ ករ បង្កើ ន
ករគំរាមសម្លប
្ ក៏
់ ដោយ គ្មន
្ អ្នកដក់ពាក្យ
ធ្វករ
ើ
ផ្លស
្ ប្ដ
់ រ
ូ ក៏ដោយសារត្ ខ្លន
ួ ប្ឈម
កិច្ចប្ឹងប្្ងធ្វើកំណ្ ទម្ង់របស់រដ្ឋ្ភិ
បល ដ្ ល កើ ត មន ឡើ ង រយៈ ព្ ល ជាង
មួយឆ្នមុ
្ំ នករបោះ ឆ្នត
្ ឃុ-ំ សង្កត
្ ់ និងជាង
ភគតិច គ្មន
្ អ្នកណាអើ ពើទ្ ទោះ ជាមន
បណ្តង
ឹ គ្មន
្ អ្នកចាត់វធ
ិ នករ។ ប៉ន
ុ បើ
្ត្ ជា
បុគល
្គ ទន់ខសា
្ យវិញ ពួកគ្ នឹងជាប់គុក"។
លោក សុខ ឥសាន អ្នកនំពាក្យគណបក្ស
២ឆ្ន្ំ មុ ន ករ បោះ ឆ្ន្ ត ជ្ើ ស តាំង តំ ណាង
ប្ជាជនកម្ពុជា បនមនប្សាសន៍កលពី
ក្នង
ុ ករប្កត
ួ ប្ជ្ ង បើ អ្នករត់នៅខងមុខ
ហើ យប្ សិ ន បើ លោក យល់ ថា គណបក្ ស
រាស្តអាណត្ត
្
ក្
ិ
យ
្ លោកបនថ្លង
្ ថា "នៅ
ឃើ ញអ្នករត់នៅពីកយ
្ ដច់គ្នឆ្ង
្ យ
្ អ្នក
នៅខងមុខនឹងមិនខំទ្។ ន្ះជារឿងពិត
ដ្ លយើ ងត្ូវហ៊្ននិយយ។ វាជាសមិទ្ធ
ម្សិលមិញថា លោក កឹម សុខ យល់ច្ឡំ
សង្គ្ះជាតិមនចំណ្ កនៅក្នុងគំនិតផ្ដួច
ផ្ដម
ើ របស់រដ្ឋភ
្ ប
ិ ល។
លោកគូសបញ្ជក
្ ថា
់
"គណបក្សប្ជាជន
ផលរបស់យើ ង"។
ធ្វអ្វ
ើ ៗ
ី តាមផ្ នកររបស់ខ្លន
ួ មុន កឹម សុខ ឬ
ត្វ
ូ ឈប់បោកប្ស
្ ប្
់ ជាពលរដ្ឋតទៅទៀ ត
ចិត្តដ្ រចំពោះ សមត្ថកិច្ចដ្ លមិនបនចាត់
គត់និយយវាងយស្ួល ប៉ុន្ត្រដ្ឋ្ភិបល
បនយកលទ្ធផលដ្ លគណបក្សប្ជាជន
លើ មន្តគណបក្
្ី
សប្ឆង
ំ ដ្ លផ្ទយ
ុ ទៅនឹង
សារខ្លន្
ី ះទៅកន់ក្ម
ុ បក្សប្ឆង
ំ ទំងអស់
ព្្ះកន្លងទៅប៉ន្ម
ុ ន
្ អាទិត្យន្ ះ បក្សប្ឆំង
និងលទ្ធផលដ្ លនយករដ្ឋមន្តបន
្ី
សម្ច
្
ខង លើ យក ទៅធ្វើ នយោបយ ប្ ជាភិ ថុ តិ
ឃោសនបោកប្ស
្ ប្
់ ជាពលរដ្ឋ"។
លោក កឹម សុខ ក៏សម្ដង
្ ករមិនសប្បាយ
វិធនករទៅលើ អ្នកដ្ លគំរាមប្ើហិង្សា
ករច្ ញវិធនករផ្លវ
ូ ច្បាប់ភ្លម
្ ៗទៅលើ អ្នក
ដ្ លគំរាមមន្តគណបក្
្ី
សកន់អំណាច។
អ្នកប្ើប្្ស់ហ្វ្សប៊ុកមួយចំនួនត្ូវ
សម រង្សុី ចាប់ផ្ដម
ើ ស្ក
្ ទៅទៀត។ អ្វដ្
ី ល
កំពុងអនុវត្តផ្នកររបស់ខ្លួនមួយជំហន
ម្ដងៗ។ ដូច្ន្ះគត់បនប្លន់ និងឆក់ឱកស
ដើ មប្ ទទួ
ី
លគុណសម្បត្តិ និងសមិទផ
្ធ លរបស់
គណបក្សប្ជាជន និងរដ្ឋភ
្ ប
ិ ល"។
លោកក៏បនលើ កឡើ ងដ្ រថា លោកមិន
ក្នុងវីដ្ អូន្ សុន្ទរកថាចំនួនពីរកលពី
បនចាប់ខ្លន
ួ ក្នង
ុ រយៈ ព្ លប៉ន
ុ ន
្ម្ ខ្ ថៗ
្មី ន្ ះ
ដ្ លឮករគំរាមកំហ្ ងណាមួយលើ គណ
តាមទំព័រហ្វស
្ ប៊ុករបស់លោក លោក កឹម
ប្កន់ពីបទគំរាមប្អំ
ើ ពើហិងសា
្ លើ លោក
គ្ម្នអ្នកណាគំរាមពួកគ្ទ្។ បើមនករ
ចុងសប្ដ្ហ៍កន្លងទៅដ្ លត្ូវបនបង្ហ្ះ
សុខ លើកឡើងថា លោកនយករដ្ឋមន្ត្ី
មើ លស្ល
្ អ្នកបោះ ឆ្នត។
្
លោកបនថ្លង
្
មន្តល
េី
ើកឡើងថា អគារ...
តមកពីទំព័រ ១៥
លោកបនបន្ថ្មថា "ខ្ញុំមនបំណងប្ើ
ប្ស
្ វា
់ ជាករិយល័យដ្ លនឹងបំពាក់ដោយ
កុំព្យូទ័រ តុ និងសាឡុង ដើ ម្បីទំនក់ទំនងជា
មួយភ្ញៀវទ្ សចរជាតិ និងអន្តរជាតិអំពករ
ី
ត្អញ
ូ ត្អរ
្ ទក់ទិនសន្តស
ិ ខ
ុ និងសុវត្ថភ
ិ ព និង
ដើ ម្បផ្ត
ី លឲ្
់ យពួកគ្ នូវព័តម
៌ នដ្ លពួកគ្
ត្វ
ូ ករ"។
ស្ ចក្តប្
ី កសពត៌មនរបស់សាលាខ្ ត្ត
រួ ម ទំង យុ វ ជន បី នក់ ដ្ ល ត្ូ វ បន ចោទ
ហ៊ន
ុ ស្ ន និងលោក ស ខ្ ង រដ្ឋមន្តក្
្ី សង
ួ
មហផ្ទផង
្
ដ្ រ។
បក្សប្ឆង
ំ ទ្ ។ "តើ អ្នកណាគំរាមអ្នកណា?
គំរាមកំហ្ង សុស
ំ រួ ថាម៉ច
្ ក៏គត់អាចទៅជួប
ជាមួយអ្នកគំទបន
្
ដោយស្ រ?
ី ”៕ សុខម
ុ
ន្ ះបនបន្ទស
្ លោក ឆយ ធី អ្នកសម្ប
បង្គនអនម័
់
យ។
ប្ចាខ្
ំ តន្
្ត ះ ចំពោះ ករទទួលបននិងផ្សព្វ
តាងគ្បគ្
់
ន
្ បន្ទ
់
ប
្ ព
់ ខ្ញ
ី បន
ុំ
ទៅទីនះ ។ ខ្ញុំ
លោក ឆយ ធី បនគូសបញ្ជក
្ ់កលពីម្សល
ិ
គត់ បន បើ ក សោទ្វ្ រ ឲ្ យ ខ្ញុំ ប្ ព ន្ធ និ ង កូ ន
សម្ួ ល នៅអង្គ ករ សិ ទ្ធិ មនុ ស្ ស អាដហុ ក
ផ្សាយមតិសាធរណៈ អំពស
ី ណ
ំ ង់អគរន្ ះ។
មិញថា ប្ព័ន្ធផ្សព្វផ្សាយបនចុះផ្សាយអំពី
អគរ ន្ ះ មុ ន លោក ចាប់ ផ្តើ ម ច្ ក រំ ល្ ក
ព័ ត៌ មន ទក់ ទិ ន នឹ ង សំ ណ ង់ អគរ េនះ តាម
អីុ ន ធឺ ណិ ត ទៅទៀ ត ហើ យ បន បញ្ជ្ ក់ ថា
សំណង់អគរន្ ះធ្លប
្ ត្
់ វ
ូ បនប្ប្
ើ
ស
្ ជា
់
លោកបនមនប្សាសន៍ថា "ខ្ញមន
ុំ
ភ័ស្តុ
បនជួបជាមួយប្ធនសហគមន៍ន្ ះ ហើ យ
របស់ ខ្ញុំ ចូ ល ក្នុ ង បន្ទ ប់ នះ ហើ យ គត់ បន
ប្្ ប់ ខ្ញុំថា បង្គន់ ត្ូវ បន គ្ យក ច្ ញ បត់
ហើ យ"។ “ ហ្ តដូ
ុ ច្ន្ះករដ្ លសាលាខ្ ត្ត
លើ កឡើ ងពីឈ្ម្ះរបស់ខ្ញុំ គឺមិនត្ឹមត្ូវ
ុ ឈាង
ទ្ "៕ស៊យ
Volume 15, Issue 312
Monday, February 29, 2016
The Cambodia daily
English Weekly
çöìönEÚºCÁk‰WÑö‹kXö”lˆ ö
Idioms
Fill in the Blank
Choose the word that best
completes each sentence.
1) Human trafficking out of Cambodia is on the
rise, according to an Interior Ministry report
released on Thursday, and is being _________ by
relaxed border controls and economic disparity in
the region, according to a separate U.N. report.
a. dissipated
c. repressed
b. fueled
d. lessened
2) Lieutenant General Sokha said fishermen,
domestic workers and prospective brides had
emerged in recent years as the groups most
_________ to becoming trafficking victims.
a. worthy
c. vulnerable
b. needed
d. able
3) Hundreds of Cambodians forced to work
on Thai fishing vessels have been repatriated
over the past year as the industry has come
under increasing international _________.
a. scrutiny
c. news
b. praise
d. agendas
4) And while women entering domestic service
abroad have been highly _________ to abuse and
debt bondage, the government is currently in
talks with Malaysia and Saudi Arabia—countries
with poor records of protecting migrant workers—to open the channel for domestic workers.
a. encouraged
c. available
b. likely
d. susceptible
5) Increasingly _________ border controls
between countries in the region, intended to
ease trade, make the role of law enforcement
more difficult, the report adds.
a. strict
c. relaxed
b. tightened
d. wary
STRIKE A DEAL - To reach an agreement on a price or during a
negotiation.
Aung San Suu Kyi struck a deal with Burma’s army commander
after months of negotiations on the country’s political transition.
WHEN PIGS FLY - Something that seems impossible or will never
happen
Just a few short years ago, many believed pigs would fly before Suu
Kyi would be in negotiations with Burma’s military.
SHORT END OF THE STICK - The smaller or less desirable part
Some critics claim Suu Kyi and her National League for
Democracy got the short end of the stick in the transition negotiations.
Antonyms
Pick the antonym — the opposite — of the word in parentheses.
1) The Interior Ministry has struck a deal with China to buy 200 firetrucks this year, nearly
(doubling) Cambodia’s current fleet in a bid to better serve the country’s rural reaches, officials
said on Monday.
a. tripling
b. increasing
c. halving
d. finishing
2) Neth Vantha, head of the National Police force’s fire department, said the deal was (struck)
last year but that he did not know how much the trucks would cost. He said the trucks were
made by Isuzu, a Japanese company, and would arrive in three installments over the course of
the year.
a. made
b. finished
c. agreed
d. undone
3) Mr. Hurford said it was also important that the trucks be fit for their purpose, noting that
some of the vehicles in the current fleet were either short on water capacity or too large to
(maneuver) narrow urban streets.
a. navigate
b. stuck
c. drive
d. fly
Answers
Answers
Fill in the Blank:
1) b, 2) c, 3) a, 4) d, 5) c
Antonyms:
1) c. halving, 2) d. undone, 3) b. stuck
page 2
Monday, February 29, 2016
WORD SCRAMBLE
Unscramble each set of mixed-up letters, one
letter in each space, to form ordinar y words.
Target
S E N
MA S
S E D
NORBI
1.__
_
vODE
2. ___
How many words of two letters or more can
you make from the above letters? In each word,
each letter can be used only once. There must
be at least one nine-letter word in your list. The
answers will be in next week’s edition.
RAPTRO
3.__ ___
SLOWAWL
4. ______
Now arrange the letters in the circles to find
the answer, as suggested in the following clue:
Hint: The words listed above are
names of what?
Answer:
_____
RIDDLE
Are you clever enough to figure out this mental
puzzle?
• What is as big as an elephant, but weighs
nothing at all?
Targets:
8: good
12: very good
20 or more: excellent
Last week’s answers:
incrusted, curtsied, reinduct, cinders, cistern,
credits, directs, discern, dustier, encrust,
intrude, untired, untried, ciders, citrus, credit,
cretin, cruise, direct, incest, induce, rustic
Wise Words
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
“When angry count four; when very angry, swear.”
“Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of
Congress. But I repeat myself.”
“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody
else up.”
“History has tried hard to teach us that we can’t have good government under politicians. Now, to go and stick one at the very
head of the government couldn’t be wise.”
“Frankness is a jewel; only the young can afford it.”
“I haven’t a particle of confidence in a man who has no redeeming petty vices.”
Answers
“There are many scapegoats for our sins, but the most popular
one is Providence.”
Word Scramble
1) Robin, 2) Dove, 3) Parrot,
4) Swallow; Answer: Birds
Riddle: The shadow of an elephant
“Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a
human soul in this world—and never will.”
Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
American author
1835 - 1910
Monday, February 29, 2016
Select the part (a, b or c) that is not the
acceptable form in standard written English.
1) Following Prime Minister Hun Sen’s announcement that a countrywide review of economic land
concessions (ELCs) had (a. resulting) in the reappropriation of nearly 1 million hectares, land rights
advocates on Friday (b. cast) doubt on the claim,
(c. citing) a lack of transparency in how the review
was carried out.
2) In 2012, Mr. Hun Sen (a. placed) a freeze on
the issuance of new ELCs—which (b. is) routinely linked to rights abuses and deforestation—and
(c. promised) that his government would review
all 2 million hectares of concession land to determine whether it was being properly used.
3) However, civil society leaders (a. says) on Friday
that the government had not (b. released) enough
information to allow them to (c. assess) the impact
of Mr. Hun Sen’s announcement.
4) Mr. Virak said the government should also
(a. focus) on (b. rejuvenate) the country’s forests,
large swaths of which have been (c. plundered)
inside the boundaries of private concessions.
5) Both he and Ms. Pilorge cited a case in Oddar
Meanchey province (a. involving) the Thai-owned
sugar giant Mitr Phol, which has been (b. accusing)
of forcing some 2,000 families off their farms after
(c. obtaining) concessions covering a combined
20,000 hectares in 2008.
6) In late 2014, the company (a. gives) up the concessions, having (b. cleared) much of the land but
(c. planted) little sugarcane.
Answers
Select the Part
1) a. resulted, 2) b. are, 3) b. released
4) b. rejuvenating, 5) b. accused, 6) a. gave
Synonyms
1) b, 2) c, 3) d, 4) a, 5) c
page 3
Pick the word or phrase that most closely
matches the meaning of the word or phrase
in parentheses.
1) Following the discovery of an apparent outbreak
of HIV in this rural village, the head of the Ponhea
Leu district referral hospital (refuted) accusations
from infected residents that he was the source of
the virus.
a. accepted
c. explained
b. denied
d. laughed at
2) Five newly infected villagers who were interviewed
yesterday said they believed they (contracted) the
virus while being treated by Sok Thornn, director of
the Ponhea Leu district referral hospital, at his private
practice in neighboring Mok Kampoul district.
a. bought
c. were infected with
b. changed
d. wanted
3) Following the discovery of an outbreak of HIV in
Battambang province’s Roka commune in December
2014—about 270 (locals) ultimately tested positive for
the virus—investigators concluded that the common
source was Yem Chrin, an unlicensed local medic
who admitted to reusing syringes on patients.
a. foreigners
c. people
b. students
d. residents
4) Mr. Bunthoeun, the provincial health director, also
defended Dr. Thornn, (citing) the doctor’s experience and his work training other doctors in treating
HIV-positive patients.
a. listing
c. blaming
b. forgetting
d. whispering
5) Dr. Thornn insisted yesterday that he was not
responsible for the latest outbreak in Kandal, even
threatening legal action against villagers who made
such (accusations).
a. documents
c. allegations
b. newspapers
d. terms
•tRaNSlatED NEwS FRom The Cambodia daily (pREvioUS iSSUES)
US Envoy Says Rights Discussed at
Summit
B y K uch N areN
a NthoNy J eNseN
aNd
the cambodia daily
The top U.S. envoy to
Asean said yesterday that
despite trade and security
issues being at the center of
last week’s U.S.-Asean Summit, U.S. President Barack
Obama also used the setting to address the region’s
human rights problems.
Speaking from Jakarta
during a teleconference
with reporters, Nina
Hachigian said that the summit held in Rancho Mirage,
California, from February
15 to 16—-as well as U.S.Asean relations in general—
focused on “growth, stability,
[and] rules.”
“I can tell you this, that at
ever y opportunity in the
summit, the president raised
the importance of human
rights and rule of law,” Ms.
Hachigian said, responding
to a question about whether
Cambodia’s invite to the
summit indicated an optimistic view of its human
rights situation.
“Our key priority is to see
Cambodia develop into a
strong democracy that
respects human rights and
supports a thriving civil society,” she said.
Ms. Hachigan added that
“significant challenges”
remained.
“We urge the Cambodian
government to continue to
create a more just society
and improve its c o m mitment to democracy
and human rights,” she said.
In his opening remarks
at the sum mit on February 15, Mr. Obama made
passing reference to human
rights and its place in U.S.Asean relations.
CPP spokesman Sok
Eysan—who last week
described Prime Minister
Hun Sen’s invitation to the
summit as “a big, heavy
wooden stick hitting the
heads of the opposition people”—said that Mr. Obama’s
human-rights lecturing had
been minimal.
“Before the arrival of the
Cambodian high delegation,
[civil society groups and
anti-government protesters]
sharpened a knife and
passed it to President
Obama to chop the Cambodian high delegation,” Mr.
Eysan said.
“However, we’ve noticed
that nobody at the summit
raised negative issues over
the government’s leadership, led by Samdech
Decho Hun Sen,” he said.
“Therefore, we consider the
Cambodian high delegation’s attendance at the U.S.Asean Summit as a great
victory.”
envoy (n.) ​បេសិត
setting (n.) ជំនួប,​កិច្ចបេជុំ,​វេទិកា
teleconference (n.) ទូរសន្និសីទ
optimistic (adj.) សុទិដ្ឋិនិយម
thriving (adj.) ចមេើនលូតលាស់
significant (adj.) ចេើន
challenge (n.) ការបេឈម
commitment (n.) ការប្ដេជ្ញេ
remark (n.) សន្ទរកថា
summit (n.) ជំនួបកំពូល
minimal (adj.) តិចតួចបំផុត
បេេសិត​អាមេរិក​និយាយ​ថា​​មាន​ការ​ពិភាកេសា​សិទ្ធិ​មនុសេស​
នៅ​ជំនួប​កំពូល
ដោយ គុច ណារ៉ន
េ និង ANTHONY JENSEN
ខេមបូឌា​ដេលី
បេេ សិ ត ជន់ ខ្ព ស់ អាមេ រិ ក បេ ចាំអាស៊េ ន បន និ យយ កាលពី ថ្ងេ ពុ ធ ថ ថ្វី បើ
បញ្ហេពាណិជ្ជកម្មនិងសន្តិសុខតេូវគេយកចិត្តដក់នៅជំនួបកំពូលអាមេរិក-អាស៊េន
កាលពីសប្តេហ៍មុនក៏ដោយ ក៏លោក បរ៉េក់ អូបម៉េ បេធានាធិបតីអាមេរិក បន
បេើជំនួបនោះដើមេបីលើកឡើងអំពីបញ្ហេសិទ្ធិមនុសេសរបស់តំបន់នេះដេរ។
ថ្លេ ង ពី ទី កេុ ង ហេ សាការតាក្នុ ង ពេ ល ធ្វើ ទូ រ សន្និ សី ទ ជមួ យ អ្ន ក យក ព័ ត៌ មន
លោកសេី នីណា ហាឈីជន (Nina Hachigian) បននិយយថ ជំនួបកំពូល
ដេលធ្វើឡើងនៅ រ៉េនឆូ មីរេជ រដ្ឋកាលីហ្វ័រញ៉េ ពីថ្ងេទី ១៥ ដល់ ១៦ ខេកុម្ភៈ ក៏
ដូ ច ជទំ នាក់ ទំ ន ង អាមេ រិ ក -អាស៊េ ន ជទូ ទៅដេ រ បន ផ្តេ ត លើ “ ការ លូ ត លាស់
ស្ថិរភាព [និង]ចេបាប់ជចេើន”។
ឆ្លើ យ តប ទៅនឹ ង សំ ណួ រ អំ ពី ថ តើ ការ អញ្ជើ ញ បេ ទេ ស កម្ពុ ជចូ ល រួ ម ជំ នួ ប
កំ ពូ ល នេះ បន បង្ហេ ញ ការ មើ ល ឃើ ញ សុ ទិ ដ្ឋិ និ យ ម ទាក់ ទិ ន នឹ ង ស្ថេ ន ភាព សិ ទ្ធិ
មនុសេសរបស់បេទេសនេះដេរឬទេ លោកសេី ហាឈីជន បននិយយថ “ខ្ញុំអាច
បេេប់លោកបនថ នៅគេប់ឱកាសទាំងអស់ក្នុងជំនួបកំពូល លោកបេធានាធិបតី
បនលើកឡើងនូវសរៈសំខាន់នេសិទ្ធិមនុសេសនិងនីតិរដ្ឋ”។
លោក សេី បន និ យយ ថ “អាទិ ភាព សំ ខាន់ របស់ យើ ង គឺ ចង់ មើ ល ឃើ ញ
បេទេសកម្ពុជអភិវឌេឍទៅជលទ្ធិបេជធិបតេយេយរឹងមំ ដេលគោរពសិទ្ធិមនុសេស និង
គំទេ សង្គ ម សុី វិ ល ចមេើ ន លូ ត លាស់ ” ។ លោក សេី ហាឈី ជន បន បន្ថេ ម ថ
“ការបេឈមដ៏ចេើន”នៅតេមន។
លោក សេី បន និ យយ ថ “យើ ង ជំ រុ ញ ឲេ យ រដ្ឋេ ភិ បល កម្ពុ ជបន្ត បង្កើ ត សង្គ ម
បេកបដោយយុត្តិធម៌តេឹមតេូវថេមទៀត និងធ្វើឲេយការប្ដេជ្ញេរបស់ខ្លួនបេសើរឡើង
ចំពោះលទ្ធិបេជធិបតេយេយនិងសិទ្ធិមនុសេស”។
ក្នុងសន្ទរកថបើ កនៅជំនួបកំពូលកាលពីថ្ងេទី១៥ខេ កុម្ភៈ លោក អូបម៉េ បន
រំលងការនិយយអំពសិ
ី ទមនុ
្ធិ សសេ និងឋានៈ របស់ខ្លន
ួ ក្នង
ុ ទំនាក់ទំនងអាមេ រក
ិ -អាស៊ន
េ ។
លោក សុ ខ ឥសន អ្ន ក នាំពាកេ យ គណបកេ ស បេ ជជន កម្ពុ ជ ដេ ល កាលពី
សប្តេហ៍មុនបនចាត់ទុកការអញ្ជើញលោកនាយករដ្ឋមន្តេី ហ៊ុន សេន ទៅចូលរួម
ជំនួបកំពូលនេះជ“ដំបងឈើធ្ងន់ដ៏ធំវយចំកេបាលអ្នកបេឆាំង”នោះ បននិយយ
ថ ការនិយយអំពីសិទ្ធិមនុសេសរបស់លោក អូបម៉េ គឺតិចតួចបំផុត។
លោក ឥសន បន និ យយ ថ “មុ ន ដំ ណើ រ អញ្ជើ ញ មក ដល់ របស់ គណៈ
បេតិភូជន់ខ្ពស់កម្ពុជ [កេុមសង្គមសុីវិលនិងកេុមអ្នកតវ៉េបេឆាំងរដ្ឋេភិបល] បន
សំ លៀង កាំបិ ត ហើ យ ហុ ច ទៅឲេ យ បេ ធានាធិ ប តី អូ បម៉េ ដើ មេ បី កាប់ ចិ ញ្ចេំ គណៈ
បេតិភូជន់ខ្ពស់កម្ពុជ”។
លោក បន និ យយ ថ “ទោះជយ៉េ ង នេះ ក្តី យើ ង បន កត់ សម្គេ ល់ ឃើ ញ ថ
គ្មេននរណានៅឯជំនួបកំពូលនោះបនលើកឡើងពីបញ្ហេអវិជ្ជមនទាំងនេះដក់លើ
ថ្នេក់ដឹកនាំរបស់រដ្ឋេភិបលដេលដឹកនាំដោយសម្តេច តេជោ ហ៊ុន សេន នោះទេ។
ហេ តុ ដូ ច្នេះ យើ ង ចាត់ ទុ ក ការ ទៅចូ ល រួ ម របស់ គណៈ បេ តិ ភូ ជន់ ខ្ព ស់ កម្ពុ ជនៅ
ជំនួបកំពូលអាមេរិក-អាស៊េន ថជោគជ័យសមេបើមមួយ”៕ និត
• NotES
the English weekly is prepared by:
Justin Higginbottom
associate:
Kim Chan
The Cambodia daily • No. 7, Street 228
PhNom PeNh, Cambodia • tel: 855-23-426-602
monday, february 29, 2016
The Cambodia daily
InternatIonal
17
Russia’s Opposition Is Still Looking for Who Killed Its Leader
B y A ndrew r oth
the washington post
- Thousands of protesters marched through moscow on
saturday to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Boris
Nemtsov, the liberal opposition
leader who was gunned down in a
still-unsolved contract killing last
February.
Nemtsov’s assassination sent
shock waves through Russia’s political elite as well as grassroots
opponents of President Vladimir
Putin.
“I came out here for Borya,” an
affectionate form of Nemtsov’s first
name, said Vladimir schemelev, a
52-year-old writer and Uber driver
who is from Nemtsov’s home
town, Nizhny Novgorod. “I know
who ordered his death. Everyone
knows. That man is named Vladimir Putin.”
It was an increasingly rare public reminder that there remain vocal opponents to Putin in Russia
despite his popularity in opinion
polls and vaunted status on national television. Alternatively harassed and ignored, Russia’s prodemocracy opposition has faded
into the background as national attention has instead focused on the
moscow
simmering conflict in Ukraine and
Russia’s military intervention in
syria, as well as an economic recession that has forced Russians
to cut back in their daily lives.
“It’s a chance for them to look
around and say, ‘we are alive and
not afraid,’” said Ekaterina schulmann, a political scientist and a senior lecturer at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. she
said that saturday’s rally would
serve as a kind of head count for the
liberal and pro-democratic opposition, which will seek new support
from those angry about the economy in parliamentary elections in
september.
Rally organizers estimated
25,000 people attended, while police put the count at 7,500. At the
height of the protest movement
in late 2011, after vote manipulation provoked public outrage,
more than 100,000 anti-Putin protesters surged onto moscow’s
streets.
Nemtsov, a former physicist
who rose quickly in post-soviet
politics to the post of deputy prime
minister, was known as a champion of democratic reforms and later
as a devoted foe of Putin. once
considered a possible heir to Boris
Yeltsin, post-soviet Russia’s first
president, Nemtsov joined the
opposition and demonstrated for
liberal reform as Putin consolidated power.
Analysts expect that the economy rather than the political situation will drive protest sentiment in
2016. There have been small, scattered demonstrations already, including workers protesting cuts at
a train factory in Nizhny Tagil,
truckers opposed to new road
tolls outside moscow, and workers demanding their back pay at a
sbarro restaurant in moscow.
Vladimir milov, an opposition activist and president of the Institute
of Energy Policy in moscow, said
the opposition was seeking to
build its base among social protesters but added “not to expect
changes overnight.”
“I don’t see one big turning
point or tipping point,” milov
said. “But I see an expansion of
people who realize what’s really
going on in this country. The
numbers will grow, and this will
bring forces who demand a
change of course in Russia into
the mainstream.”
most of the demonstrators sat-
urday were veterans of the protest
movement, bearing posters with
portraits of Nemtsov or placards
urging demonstrators to “struggle.” some assailed Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of
Russia’s volatile chechnya region,
whom Nemtsov’s closest allies
have accused of ordering the
assassination.
some former members of a
chechen special forces unit believed to be under Kadyrov’s control have been arrested in the
slaying of the 55-year-old Kremlin
critic, while investigators have
complained that others have disappeared or are being shielded
from answering questions.
on Tuesday, Ilya Yashin, an
opposition leader and a close
friend of Nemtsov’s, released a report called “Threat to National
security,” in which he accused
Kadyrov of corruption, ties to
organized crime, complicity in the
murders of journalists and building a 30,000-member “personal
army” of fighters.
Kadyrov, who published a
leaked version of the report on his
Instagram, called the report “gossip” and added: “what can Yashin
write? Yashin is nobody.”
The Cambodia daily
18
monday, february 29, 2016
InternatIonal
Arrest of Brazil’s ‘Maker of Presidents’ Could Unmake Rousseff
reuters
- brazilian political strategist Joao Santana earned his nickname “the maker of presidents”
by guiding leftist leaders to power
in Latin america and africa, but
his arrest this week could unmake his most important client,
President Dilma Rousseff.
a member of Rousseff’s inner
circle who masterminded her two
successful election campaigns,
Santana is accused by prosecutors
of receiving payment for his services in money illegally siphoned
from state oil company Petrobras.
a prize-winning journalist before he became Latin america’s
most successful campaign strategist, the 63-year-old Santana says
the allegations are unfounded and
politically motivated.
Rousseff’s opponents welcomed
the sight of Santana and his wife
being taken into police custody on
tuesday. the opposition hopes his
arrest will reignite flagging support
for their bid to unseat Rousseff by
impeachment in Congress, on
charges that she deliberately broke
budget rules in 2014 to get re-elected.
but a bigger threat to Rousseff
could come from the Supreme
Electoral Court (tSE), which is investigating charges that her 2014
campaign was funded with dirty
money.
If proof emerges that Santana re-
bRaSILIa
reuters
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in Santiago on Friday
ceived payments with funds
skimmed from Petrobras, the court
could invalidate her narrow victory
over opposition leader aecio Neves.
“the risk of the tSE invalidating
her elections is more serious now
because the case against Santana
could become the link between the
corruption at Petrobras and the financing of her campaign,” said Rafael Cortez, a political analyst at
tendencias, a consulting firm in
Sao Paulo.
He gave Rousseff a 55 percent
chance of serving out her term
through 2018.
the mood in Rousseff’s camp
had brightened last week after she
succeeded in placing an ally to
lead the largest party in Congress’
lower house, allowing her to have
sympathetic lawmakers named to
the committee that will hear her
impeachment proceedings.
but Santana’s arrest—and fears
that he could plea bargain with
prosecutors—has again plunged
the presidential palace into anxiety.
“Nobody expected this. this is
not good for us. It involves someone so close to the president,” said
a presidential aide.
Santana is not just Rousseff’s
campaign strategist, he is also one
of her closest consultants. He advised her on her speech to open the
2016 session of Congress on February 2 and her national address the
next day on the threat of the Zika
virus, presidential aides said.
“a rich country is a country
without poverty,” was the slogan
Santana devised for Rousseff in
2011 to build her reputation as a
champion of the poor and heir to
her popular predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, brazil’s first
working-class president.
Santana has been a key adviser
to the ruling Workers’ Party since
he steered Lula to re-election in
2006 despite a corruption scandal.
the probe into secret monthly
payments to lawmakers almost
toppled the leftist leader and led to
the jailing of his top aides for buying support in Congress for his
minority government. but Lula
survived and won a second term.
a millionaire today, Santana’s
friends call him “Patinhas,” after
Donald Duck’s uncle Scrooge, a
nickname he earned for being
tight-fisted as a schoolboy.
the Workers’ Party said
Santana was paid $17.7 million for
Rousseff’s 2014 campaign, all of it
aboveboard and officially registered with electoral authorities.
Rousseff’s chief of staff Jaques
Wagner said on Wednesday the
allegations against Santana had no
bearing on the president.
“that has no relation at all to the
presidential campaign. It was all
legal,” Wagner told reporters.
Costa Rica to Give IDs to Indigenous People, Prevent Statelessness
reuters
bogota - When Reynaldo Miranda
was born in Costa Rica in the
1980s, no birth certificate was issued. He grew up without an identity card but did not consider his
lack of official identity a problem
until he applied for a school scholarship and got sick.
Like many among the Ngobe
bugle indigenous group, Miranda’s
parents were born in neighboring
Panama, and had crossed into Costa
Rica looking for seasonal work in
coffee plantations.
over the decades, many ended
up settling in Costa Rica, and their
children, known locally as Chiriticos,
have been born and raised in the
Central american nation.
“My parents never registered
our births. they didn’t really know
about this. It’s not something done
in our culture. they didn’t have
any identity documents either,”
Miranda, now 28, told reporters in
a phone interview.
“this became a problem when I
tried to apply for a scholarship to
continue studying at school, but
without a birth certificate I couldn’t
get one and I had to drop out of
school.”
Without the certificate proving
he was born in Costa Rica, Miranda found it difficult to get an
identity card and in turn could not
register the birth of his own two
children.
“Without an identity card, you
don’t have any rights,” said Miranda, a coffee picker.
“You need an identity card for
everything. Without it, I couldn’t
get the medicine and medical care
I needed and any social welfare
benefits.”
the lack of an official document
proving their country of birth puts
people at risk of statelessness, the
U.N. refugee agency said.
Stateless people, sometimes
referred to as legal ghosts, are not
recognized as citizens by any
country, which means they are denied basic rights.
Indigenous groups are particularly at risk of being stateless because traditionally they do not register the births of their children
and women often give birth in remote areas instead of in state hospitals, the UNHCR says.
Local authorities estimate up to
8,000 members of the Ngobe
bugle tribe, along with children
born in Costa Rica to migrant workers from neighoring Nicaragua,
lack any type of documents.
as part of a drive to eradicate
the risk of statelessness in Costa
Rica, mobile teams are traveling
around the countryside, particularly during coffee harvest time, to
identify indigenous families and
their children who do not have
birth certificates.
often this involves officials
going from door-to-door, from coffee farm to coffee farm.
“Ensuring people have birth
certificates is a key prevention
against statelessness. an undetermined nationality creates a risk of
statelessness,” said Marcela
Rodriguez-Farrelly, UNHCR’s protection officer in Costa Rica.
“this is an invisible situation. If
you don’t have a birth certificate,
you can’t access your rights,” she
said.
Since the program spearheaded
by the UNHCR and state authorities in Costa Rica and Panama
started in late 2014, around 5,000
people, mostly from the Ngobe
bugle tribe, have received birth
certificates.
Many have gone on to get identity cards, including Miranda and
his family.
“We now exist. We now have
rights,” he said.
Elsewhere in Latin america, the
biggest stateless population is
found in the Dominican Republic.
around 200,000 Dominicanborn people of Haitian descent
are stateless in the Dominican
Republic, following a 2013 ruling
by the country’s constitutional
court that threw into question
their citizenship, the UNHCR
says.
Worldwide, there are around 10
million stateless people, the
UNHCR estimates, with many
found in Nepal, burma and
thailand. More than a third of the
world’s stateless are children.
monday, febRuaRy 29, 2016
The Cambodia daily
InternatIonal
19
Turkey Starts Repairs on Iraqi Oil Pipeline Amid Violence
ReuteRs
- turkey has begun
work to repair a pipeline taking
crude oil from northern iraq to the
Mediterranean through its southeast and aims to restore flows
soon, the turkish Energy Ministry said on saturday.
the pipeline, which has been
repeatedly sabotaged in recent
months, normally carries some
600,000 barrels per day of crude
from iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region and the disputed Kirkuk oil fields to the port of Ceyhan for export.
rising security threats in turkey’s southeast mean iraqi Kurdish exports to world markets
through the pipeline could remain halted for another two
weeks, turkish shipping and in-
istanbul
------
dustry sources said on Friday.
the energy ministry said the
pipeline was most recently suspended on February 17 due to
temporary security measures.
it said militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK),
who have waged a three-decade
insurgency in turkey’s southeast,
carried out a bomb attack on the
pipeline in the idil district of sirnak province on February 25.
the ministry said there was no
fire as a result of the bomb, as the
crude flow had already been
stopped, but pipes were damaged.
“the Ministry of Energy has
launched work to repair the damage to the oil pipeline, and the security forces have taken necessary
steps to ensure the pipeline’s safety.
We expect to restart the oil delivery
International Brief ------
PKK Attacks Armored Police Vehicle in Turkey, Kills 1
istanbul - a turkish police officer was killed and two wounded when sus-
pected Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants fired a rocket at their
armored vehicle in the town of nusaybin near the southeastern border
with syria, security sources said yesterday. turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast has been engulfed in its worst violence since the 1990s after
a two-year cease-fire between the state and PKK, which has waged a
three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy, collapsed last July. the
conflict has complicated international efforts to end the war in neighboring
syria. ankara says the syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which has won u.s.
support in the fight against the islamic state group, has deep ties to the
PKK and fears that its territorial gains in northern syria will stoke Kurdish
separatism inside turkey. (Reuters)
soon,” it said in a statement.
the outage, one of the longest in
the past two years, is a major blow
to iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, which depends on revenue
from oil exports via the pipeline as it
fights with the islamic state group
and is struggling to avert economic
collapse amid slumping energy.
it also highlights how intertwined iraqi Kurdistan’s economic woes are with the deteriorating
security in turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast, engulfed in
the worst violence since the
1990s after a two year-long ceasefire between the state and Kurdish militants collapsed last July.
the Kurdistan region’s Prime
Minister nechirvan barzani told
reporters on saturday he could
not confirm that the PKK was to
blame for the outage.
“there are military operations
in the area, and we cannot confirm that it is blown up, but it is
certainly broken,” barzani was
quoted by the local media as saying when asked who was behind
the sabotage.
turkey’s Energy Ministry said
security forces had detonated ex-
plosives set at several points
along the pipeline. security
sources told reporters the devices
were set in the Yeni Mahalle district of idil on the border with iraq
and syria, one of the flashpoints
in the latest violence.
the security sources said
around 4,000 gendarmes and special force police officers had been
involved in operations to clear barricades and ditches set up by militants in Yeni Mahalle. Drones were
being used to locate the militants,
who were then being targeted by
military shelling and snipers, they
said.
the PKK, considered a terrorist group by turkey, the u.s. and
the E.u., launched a separatist
armed rebellion against the turkish state in 1984 in a conflict that
has killed more than 40,000 people, mostly Kurds.
the PKK says it is fighting for
autonomy for turkey’s large ethnic Kurdish minority. it has sealed
off entire districts of some towns
and cities in the southeast and
declared autonomy, prompting the
security forces to step up their
operations.
Libya Airstrike Targets Suspected Islamic State Convoy
triPoli, libya - aircraft attacked a convoy carrying suspected islamic state
group militants near the northwestern libyan town of bani Walid early yesterday, an official said. no group claimed responsibility for the attack
though both the u.s. and libyan government forces have launched airstrikes on jihadis in recent months. three huge explosions rocked the area
around dawn, the member of bani Walid’s municipal council told reporters.
People living in ras al-tbel, about 80 km southeast of bani Walid, had seen
the same convoy of up to 15 vehicles carrying the black flags of i.s. over the
past two days, the official added. it was not immediately clear if the convoy
was hit. Jihadi groups have taken advantage of political chaos to expand
their presence in libya, and fighters loyal to i.s. have taken control of the
coastal city of sirte, about 260 km east of bani Walid. (Reuters)
Erdogan Rejects Constitutional Ruling on Journalists
istanbul - turkish President recep tayyip Erdogan said yesterday he did
not respect or accept a constitutional court ruling that the detention of two
journalists from a leading opposition newspaper had violated their rights.
Can Dundar, editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet, and ankara bureau chief
Erdem Gul were released pending trial on Friday after the constitutional
court ruling. their arrest last november, after Cumhuriyet published video
footage purporting to show the state intelligence agency helping send
weapons to syria, drew international condemnation and concern about
media freedom in turkey. “i will remain silent to the decision the court has
given. but i don’t need to accept it, i want to make that clear. i don’t obey or
respect the decision,” Erdogan told reporters in istanbul before leaving on
an official visit to West africa. “this has nothing to do with press freedom.
this is a case of spying,” he said. the two were charged with intentionally
aiding an armed terrorist organization and publishing material in violation
of state security. Despite their release, the two journalists are facing possible life sentences at a trial due to start on March 25 and are banned from
leaving the country. (Reuters)
Reuters
Smoke rises over the northern Syrian town of Tel Abyad yesterday.
Islamic State group militants launched an assault on the YPG-held
town on Saturday, prompting airstrikes by the US-led coalition.
The Cambodia daily
20
monday, february 29, 2016
InternatIonal
Afghan Police Suspected of Aiding Taliban Raided by Army
reuters
laSHkaR GaH,
afghanistan - a police officer was killed and another
30 were detained during a joint
operation between afghan troops
and U.S. forces last week against
police suspected of supporting
taliban insurgents in embattled
Helmand province, afghan officials said yesterday.
Reports of fighting between police and soldiers add to the upheaval
in the southern province, long a
stronghold of the insurgency,
where the military has abandoned
several outposts. the NatO-led
coalition and the afghan government are trying to overhaul security
forces and reverse insurgent gains
there.
the incident on Friday was in
Sangin district, the scene of some
of the heaviest fighting in afghanistan’s long war, Helmand police
chief abdul Rahman Sarjang told
reporters.
“army forces detained the police and took them to the military
corps in Helmand,” Sarjang said.
“an investigation is ongoing at the
Pair of Suicide Bombings Kill
25 People Across Afghanistan
B y A li l AtiFi
los angeles times
JalalabaD,
afghanistan - two suicide bombings Saturday left at least
25 people dead and dozens more
injured in eastern afghanistan.
the first blast took place in asadabad, the capital of kunar province,
bordering Pakistan.
according to the provincial governor, Wahidullah kalimzai, an assailant on a motorcycle detonated
his explosives at the entrance of a
government office.
at least 13 people were killed
and 37 injured in the attack, the
U.N. said.
among the dead was khan Jan,
a tribal elder and militia leader
who had been involved in antitaliban operations in the past year.
but most of the dead and
wounded were bystanders, including children playing in a nearby
park, according to the governor.
abdullah abdullah, President
ashraf Ghani’s chief executive, condemned the bombing in a tweet.
“this attack presented another
example of the enmity of terrorists
with the afghan nation, especially
women and children,” abdullah
said.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but provincial officials said they suspected the
taliban.
the explosion in kunar was followed by a late afternoon blast in
the capital, kabul, that killed at
least 12 people, including one
member of the afghan military,
and injured eight others, including
at least two women.
the taliban claimed responsibility for that attack, saying a suicide
bomber had targeted the entrance
gate of the Ministry of Defense.
the ministry issued a statement
saying the attack showed that the
militants couldn’t face the afghan
defense and security forces face-toface on the battlefield.
the two bombings came just
days after the afghan government
said it hoped the taliban would take
part in talks with representatives
from kabul in early March.
reuters
Relatives and residents pray near the coffins of victims after a suicide
attack during a burial ceremony in Asadabad, capital of Kunar province,
Afghanistan, yesterday.
moment.”
the acting Sangin district police
chief was among the detainees,
Sarjang said.
Sarjang refused to confirm the
reason for the operation, but a senior afghan army official in Helmand told reporters the army and
U.S. advisers suspected the police
of providing weapons and ammunition to the taliban and that they
had planned to eventually surrender to the insurgents.
“During our investigation we
found some evidence they were
helping the taliban and we were
afraid they may submit the district
to the taliban,” said the officer, who
asked not to be identified because
he was not authorized to discuss
the operation. “We launched a joint
operation with americans and detained all of them.”
the full extent of U.S. involvement was not clear and a spokesman for the U.S. military in kabul
did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
the coalition recently deployed
several hundred more troops to
Helmand in a bid to increase security for the advisers helping afghan forces. U.S. airstrikes have
also played an important role in
trying to blunt taliban offensives.
almost 100 afghan army officers were removed or reassigned
in Helmand in recent months, and
the army abandoned its outposts
in several contested districts.
UN Urges Pakistan to Resolve
Afghan War Refugees’ Status
reuters
kalabat,
Pakistan - a senior U.N.
official has urged Pakistan to resolve the status of more than 2.5
million afghan refugees living in
Pakistan whose registration cards
have expired or who remain
unregistered.
While Europe has grappled with
the exodus of people from Syria,
Iraq and afghanistan, Pakistan
hosts the world’s largest long-term
refugee population, according to
the U.N. refugee agency, most of
whom are afghans who have fled
more than three decades of war.
In December, registration
cards providing temporary legal
stay to more than 1.5 million afghan refugees expired and were
granted a six-month extension by
the government.
but afghans say they are hassled by police for carrying the expired cards, and members of the
estimated 1 million afghans who
are still unregistered also face difficulties with the authorities, aid
workers say.
the issue is now before Pakistan’s Cabinet.
UNHCR assistant high commissioner George Okoth-Obbo said
his agency was engaged in “continuing discussions” with the
Pakistani government to resolve
the population’s uncertain situation.
“We await with a lot of interest
the decision of the government on
those questions,” Okoth-Obbo told
reporters during a Friday visit to
khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,
home to a large afghan population.
Many afghans living in Pakistan have been living in the coun-
try for decades and contribute significantly to the country’s labor
force.
‘Host Fatigue’
Since 2009, international donors
have poured more than $30 million into improving basic services
in khyber Pakhtunkhwa communities that have hosted their neighbors for decades.
“People have hosted [the afghan refugees] for over 35 years,”
Imran Zeb, Pakistan’s chief commissioner for afghan refugees,
told reporters after a ceremony inaugurating one of three schools in
the area to have been refurbished
with aid money.
Pakistan is committed to helping refugees voluntarily get back
to afghanistan, Zeb said, but:
“there is definitely some host
fatigue.”
the government is trying to improve education and opportunities
for the 70 percent of the refugees
who are under 25 so they “can do
something positive” and not fall
into crime or recruitment by “elements that are not desirable,” he
said.
With security in afghanistan deteriorating over the past year,
many of the afghans living in the
kalabat area have no interest in
going home anytime soon.
“We have no option.... We don’t
have land. Where should we go?”
asked Jawlai, a mother of five children who fled to Pakistan in the
1980s and, like many afghans,
uses only one name.
“When the war is finished, then
we’ll go,” she said.
monday, febRuaRy 29, 2016
The Cambodia daily
21
InternatIonal
African Union to Send Rights Monitors to Burundi, Zuma Says
ReuteRs
- The african Union will
send 100 human rights monitors
and 100 military monitors to
burundi, South africa’s president
said on Saturday after a trip to the
tiny nation that is facing its worst
crisis since a civil war ended a
decade ago.
Jacob Zuma, delivering a statement by a delegation of african
leaders that he led, did not say
when the monitors would arrive in
burundi, where more than 400
people have been killed since april.
Zuma left burundi after his
remarks.
The violence has rattled a region
with a history of ethnic conflict.
burundi’s civil war, which ended in
2005, largely pitted two ethnic
groups against each other. neighboring rwanda was torn apart by
genocide in 1994.
Western powers have urged
africans to act. The U.S. and European nations have withheld
some aid to poor burundi and
taken other steps to try to put pressure on the government to resolve
the crisis, but they say it has had little impact.
“We believe strongly that the
solution to burundi’s political
nairobi
Reuters
South African President Jacob Zuma, right, addresses a news conference
next to Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza in Burundi's capital
Bujumbura on Friday after an African Union-sponsored dialogue in an
attempt to end months of violence.
problems can be attained only
through inclusive and peaceful
dialogue,” Zuma said in the statement, which also expressed “concerns” about the level of violence
and killings.
The decision to send monitors
suggests a compromise had been
reached with burundian President Pierre nkurunziza, who triggered the crisis in april when he
announced a bid for a third term.
He went on to win a disputed election in July, in the face of street
protests and violent clashes.
The new initiative falls far short
of the a.U.’s plan announced in
December to send a 5,000-strong
peacekeeping force, which nkurunziza’s government rejected.
Details about the new mission
were not immediately clear. Diplomats said other african monitors
sent to bujumbura last year had
been stuck in their hotel unable to
work because burundi refused to
sign a memorandum allowing
them to operate.
burundi’s opposition said 200
monitors were not enough.
“They have to increase the number so they can cover the large part
of the [country’s] territory,” said
Thacien Sibomana, spokesman for
the opposition UProna party.
“They unfortunately remained silent on the peacekeepers deployment while people are continuously
dying.”
burundi’s government has previously said it was ready for dialogue, but opponents say it has set
preconditions on who would
attend and what could be discussed that made such discussions pointless.
Talks sponsored by nearby
Uganda in December had been
planned to continue in Tanzania in
January. but the initiative stumbled
at the start of the year when the
government said it would not attend as some participants had been
behind violence.
For their part, opponents accuse government forces of targeting and killing members of the
opposition.
22
The Cambodia daily
monday, february 29, 2016
business
The Cambodia daily
monday, febRuaRy 29, 2016
Briefing
Markets Too Pessimistic:
Japanese Minister
shanghai - Japanese Finance Min-
ister Taro aso said on saturday
that financial markets have been
“too pessimistic” about the global
economy, presenting the view that
economic fundamentals are “extremely favorable.” his remarks
came after group of 20 finance
ministers and central bank governors released a statement asserting that the scale of recent market
volatility has not reflected the underlying fundamentals of the global economy. even if the global
economy turns down, “we confirmed that the g-20 members will
steadily respond” to problems, aso
told a press conference after a twoday meeting in shanghai. Bank of
Japan governor haruhiko Kuroda, at the same press conference,
said he won “full understanding”
of g-20 financial chiefs for the
Japanese central bank’s recently
launched negative interest rate policy. “There were no divergent
views or opinions” about the policy
introduced earlier this month, Kuroda said. The measure has led to
declines in mortgage rates and deposit rates, while fears of an erosion of bank profits caused sell-offs
in Japanese bank shares. (Kyodo)
US Urges China to Move
to a Freer Exchange Rate
BeiJing - U.s. Treasury secretary
Jack lew said yesterday that it
was critical for China to continue
moving toward a more marketoriented exchange rate and
clearly communicate its actions
to the market. lew made the
remarks during a meeting with
Chinese Vice Premier Wang
Yang in Beijing, following a g20
finance ministers’ summit in
shanghai. earlier this month,
lew reiterated to Wang the
importance of transitioning to a
market-determined exchange
rate in an orderly and transparent way. lew also urged Beijing
to clearly communicate its exchange rate policies and actions
to financial markets. The world’s
top economies declared on saturday after the meeting that they
need to look beyond ultra-low
interest rates and printing money
to shake the global economy out
of its torpor, while renewing their
focus on structural reform to
spark activity. (Reuters)
23
Little Activity in China’s Late-Night Forex Trade
ReuteRs
- in the fast-paced,
high-risk world of foreign exchange trading, where trillions of
dollars change hands every day,
there’s a quiet corner of the yuan
market where traders can get
some shut-eye, despite China’s
efforts to elevate its currency to
the top table.
The People’s Bank of China
extended the yuan’s trading
hours to 11:30 p.m. in January to
overlap with european hours
after the international Monetary
Fund decided it would admit the
yuan into its special Drawing
Rights basket by next october,
a key step on the way to becoming an international reserve
currency.
But there is a yawning disconnect between the currency’s new
status and the level of interest in
the after-hours market.
“it can be really boring and
lonely sometimes,” said one
night trader at a bank.
he said he kept an eye out for
rare incoming orders but spent
most of his time watching online
videos to alleviate the boredom
of being stuck on his own until
bedtime.
other night traders who spoke
to reporters said they typically
processed around five orders in
the last three hours of the night,
which has led some banks not to
bother staffing the shift.
“one key problem is there is
no corporate demand,” said a
trader at a major european bank
in shanghai. “Few companies
feel the urgency to follow global
market movements closely.”
Because of China’s capital controls and central bank efforts to
curb exchange rate volatility,
there is little speculation in the
domestic market, traders say.
some state-owned banks are
trading in the evening sessions
on behalf of the central bank to
keep the yuan steady, according
to a trader at a Chinese commercial bank in shanghai.
“every time when the evening
rate appeared to go out of hand,
you could sense the signs that
state-owned banks are intervening in the market on behalf of
the PBoC,” he said.
Yuan/dollar quotes in the late
session rarely stray more than 50
pips from the rate at 4:30 pm,
regardless of what happens to
the yuan traded in offshore marshanghai
Reuters
Chinese 100 yuan banknotes and a Japanese 1,000 yen banknote are
shown in January. China still owns the world's largest currency reserves,
but it has been burning through them at such a fast pace that analysts
think Beijing might soon have to allow a sharp fall in the yuan.
kets, traders said.
and trading between the yuan
and other currencies such as the
yen and euro, is nearly non-existent in the night session, they
added.
The relatively steady exchange rate means many corporates don’t bother to hedge their
foreign exchange positions during the late session because the
rate tends to stay put.
“The market still behaves like
it closes at 4:30 p.m.,” said a dealer at another european bank,
adding that his bank recently
decided its night trader would
end his shift at 9:30 p.m.
There is also a dearth of overseas investors in the Chinese
market, despite Beijing’s efforts to
widen access for foreigners, partly to satisfy the iMF that the yuan
was eligible for its sDR basket.
------
in november, China allowed
the first batch of foreign central
banks, sovereign wealth funds
and international financial institutions to register to enter the
market.
Trial Period
“Right now it’s only a trial to
meet the iMF standards,” said a
trader at another Chinese commercial bank in shanghai.
“We have to wait for more policies from the government to encourage market participation,
such as introducing brokers
and individuals to encourage
competition.”
a trader from a third european
bank said: “i believe when the
new sDR basket takes effect late
this year, the evening trading
may pick up, along with more
reforms on the way.”
Business Brief ------
Disney Resets Park Ticket Prices for Slow, Busy Times
los angeles - Walt Disney Co. unveiled new single-day ticket prices on
saturday for the company’s U.s. theme parks, switching to a three-tiered
system that charges visitors more on the year’s busiest days and less during typically slower periods. The shift to demand-based pricing is
designed to help spread out crowds at Walt Disney World in Florida and
at Disneyland Resort in California, Disney said in a blog post. starting yesterday, a one-day ticket to Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom will cost
$105 on “value” days during slower periods, such as september. The cost
for “regular” days will be $110. For “peak” days over major holiday periods, spring break and parts of the summer, the price will be $124. at
Disneyland, the cost of admission to one park will be $95, $105 and $119
for value, regular and peak days, respectively. Value days will be most
weekdays during the school year, while peak times are around holidays
and weekends in July and December.The previous one-day ticket prices
were $105 at the Magic Kingdom and $99 at Disneyland. The number of
visitors to Disney’s U.s. parks set records in the october through
December quarter, rising 10 percent from a year earlier, the company
said in its quarterly earnings report. (Reuters)
The CamBodia daily
24
monday, february 29, 2016
Business
Deepening Default Fears Cast Shadow Over Venezuela’s Oil Flows
reuters
- As Venezuela grows
closer to exhausting nearly every
means of paying its debt, some oil
market participants are seriously
pondering the possible implications
of an unprecedented event: the default of a major crude producing
company.
state-run firm PDVsA faces
around $5.2 billion in payments to
bondholders in 2016, much of it in
october and november, a sum
that some experts say it will be
hard-pressed to meet after the government used nearly all of its available cash reserves to pay $1.5 billion in maturities last week.
A default could curtail some of
the oPEC member’s exports by
crippling its ability to import crude
and fuels used to blend its extraheavy oil, experts and sources say.
It could also degrade the quality of
domestic gasoline by limiting purchases of necessary components.
With the risk growing and payment delays to suppliers already
emerging, some firms that sell to
PDVsA have begun hedging their
bets by using intermediaries or
seeking higher prices, fearful they
might never get paid, according to
sources who deal with the firm.
“A possible PDVsA default is
houston
worrying for everybody,” a source
from a u.s. oil company that buys
from PDVsA told reporters. And if
they scrape together enough funds
to pay off bondholders, “they will
not be able to pay suppliers.”
the implications of a default for
global oil supplies swamped by the
biggest glut in decades are difficult
to divine, but experts are closely
watching the deteriorating finances
of exporters for anything that could
jolt markets.
“of course, Venezuela is at the
top of the list,” Daniel Yergin, vice
chairman of analysis firm Ihs, told
reporters last week.
Without imports of light crudes
and diluents like naphtha that have
risen to some 110,000 barrels per
day in 2015, PDVsA may be unable
to export an estimated 235,000 bpd
of its own heavy blends, according
to calculations based on thomson
Reuters trade flows data—a disruption that could help curb an oversupplied global market.
Most of the country’s estimated
2 million bpd of exports, a portion
of them secured against long-term
loans, would likely still flow as
PDVsA’s entire output is not dependent on imports and it has
been increasing shipments to political allies.
Crude blend supplies to the u.s.
and Asia could also be sustained if
PDVsA’s partners, including the
u.s.’ Chevron, Russia’s Rosneft,
spain’s Repsol and China’s CnPC,
step in to secure more diluents, as
PDVsA has already asked them to
do.
Yet a default would also likely
reduce fuel components imports,
which have risen to some 85,000
bpd due to growing use of cheap
high-octane gasoline and falling
domestic production.
Venezuela was the u.s.’ third
crude supplier last year and Latin
America’s sixth-largest buyer of
u.s. fuels.
While PDVsA’s pending fourthquarter debt payments of some
$3.3 billion appear beyond its
means, a default is far from a certainty, and its president Eulogio Del
Pino said this week it is taking all
measures to avoid it.
Even so, short of a sudden, unexpected recovery in crude prices,
asset sales, new loans or refinancing agreements, the odds look
long, said Benjamin Ramsey from
JP Morgan.
While not yet calling for a credit
event in Venezuela, a JP Morgan
report said PDVsA’s best intentions “cannot nonetheless trump
the cold, hard realities of diminished cash flow.”
Refinancing efforts, including a
bond swap through its pension
fund, are making little visible progress. Expected dividends from its
u.s. unit Citgo Petroleum along
with money coming from Russian
Rosneft’s stake increase in a joint
venture would not be enough to
reach october with full pockets, a
government source said.
some PDVsA suppliers are already edging away.
A prominent trading firm has
recently been using local intermediaries in Venezuela to secure payments when supplying PDVsA, as
selling directly or providing it with
even minimal credit are no longer
options, a source said.
PDVsA this month failed to
award two spot tenders to buy gasoline components because of high
price premiums, a reflection of growing payment risks, one source said.
to ensure its supply lines remain
open, PDVsA has signed deals
with India’s Reliance Industries and
Rosneft to exchange crude by fuels.
PDVsA’s close ties with CnPC
and PetroChina Co. could also
guarantee some imports, but those
could still be not enough said
traders.
monday, febRuaRy 29, 2016
The CamBodia daily
25
Business
World Needs to Look Beyond Easy Growth Policy Says G20
Finance Minister Lou Jiwei.
Chinese policymakers reiterated pledges not to devalue the
yuan again, and Premier Li
Keqiang told the g20 opening
session on Friday there was no
basis for continued depreciation
of the yuan.
ReuteRs
- The world’s top economies declared on saturday that
they need to look beyond ultralow interest rates and printing
money to shake the global economy out of its torpor, while renewing their focus on structural
reform to spark activity.
a communique from the
group of 20 finance ministers
and central bankers flagged a
series of risks to world growth,
including volatile capital flows, a
sharp fall in commodity prices
and the potential “shock” of a
British exit from the E.U.
“The global recovery continues, but it remains uneven and
falls short of our ambition for
strong, sustainable and balanced
growth,” said the communique,
issued at the end of a two-day
meeting in shanghai.
“Monetary policies will continue to support economic activity
and ensure price stability...but
monetary policy alone cannot
lead to balanced growth.”
Faltering growth and market
turbulence have exacerbated policy frictions between major economies in recent months, and the
statement also noted concerns
over escalating geopolitical tensions and Europe’s refugee crisis.
The reference to “Brexit” had
not been included in earlier versions of the text, according to a
senior official who had seen various drafts, but was added after
British officials pressed for it.
Britons will vote in a June 23 referendum on whether to remain
in the E.U.
“Our view is that it’s in the
national security and economic
security of the United Kingdom,
of Europe and of the United
states for the United Kingdom to
stay in the European Union,”
U.s. Treasury secretary Jack
Lew said after the meeting.
shanghai
All Policy Tools
The g20 ministers agreed to
use “all policy tools—monetary,
fiscal and structural—individually
and collectively” to reach the
group’s economic goals.
Christine Lagarde, managing
director of the international
Monetary Fund, said she sensed
renewed urgency among the
group’s members for collective
action, warning that without it
there was a risk that the recovery could derail.
But there was no plan for spe-
Quick Fixes
Reuters
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney attends a conference during the
2016 Institute of International Finance G20 in Shanghai on Friday.
cific coordinated stimulus spending to spark activity, as some investors had been hoping after
markets nosedived at the start of
the year. Over the course of the
two-day meeting in shanghai,
comments by policymakers
made clear the divergence of
views on the way forward.
Finance chiefs had agreed that
“the magnitude of recent market
volatility has not reflected the
underlying fundamentals of the
global economy,” the communique draft said.
To pep up the global economy,
faster progress on structural reforms “should bolster potential
growth in the medium term and
make our economies more innovative, flexible and resilient,” it
said.
“We are committed to further
enhancing the structural reform
agenda,” it added.
Divisions have emerged
among major economies over
the reliance on debt to drive
growth and the use of negative
interest rates by some central
banks, such as in Japan.
germany had made it clear it
was not keen on new stimulus,
with Finance Minister Wolfgang
schaeuble saying on Friday the
debt-financed growth model had
reached its limits.
“it is even causing new problems, raising debt, causing bubbles and excessive risk taking,
zombifying the economy,” he
said.
The g20, which spans major
industrialized economies such as
the U.s. and Japan to the emerging giants of China and Brazil
and smaller economies such as
indonesia and Turkey, reiterated
in the communique a commit-
ment to refrain from targeting
exchange rates for competitive
purposes, including through
devaluations.
They pledged to “consult closely” on foreign exchange markets.
Currency Concerns
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, chairman of eurozone finance ministers, said g20 members had
agreed to inform each other in
advance about policy decisions
that could lead to devaluations of
their currencies.
“Monetary policy will probably
have to be kept appropriately
loose, even though people have
realized that its role cannot
replace fiscal policy,” said China’s
But there appeared to be concerns that some members may
seek a quick fix to domestic woes
through a weaker currency.
Japan implemented negative
interest rates this month to spur
growth, and Bank of Japan governor haruhiko Kuroda said he
had “fully gained [their] understanding” from g20 ministers
about the BOJ’s thinking with regard to negative rates as a tool
for escaping the deflation that
has dogged its economy for
years.
Japanese Finance Minister Taro aso said he had urged China
to carry out currency reform and
map out a mid-term structural
reform plan with a time frame.
“Chinese authorities need to
present a mid-term structural reform plan with a concrete schedule and a package of measures
to stabilize yuan, based on recognition that communication between Chinese authorities and
markets has caused market
volatility and capital outflows,” he
told reporters.
New Development Bank Hopes to Approve Loans Soon
shanghai - The new Development Bank will hopefully approve its first
batch of loans in the next quarter, bank president K.V. Kamath said
on saturday, speaking at a briefing prior to a signing ceremony for the
“BRiCs bank” established by Brazil, Russia, india, China and south
africa. (Reuters)
cambodia securities exchange
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Index
CSX
Value
389.7
Change
-
Open
-
High
-
Low
-
Volume
-
Stock
PPWSA
Grand Twins
PPAP
Value
4,900
4,000
5,480
Change
-
Open
-
High
-
Low
-
Volume
-
-
foreign exchange
¥/US$ ..........................113.975
£/US$ ............................0.7212
AU$/US$........................1.4033
HK$/US$ .......................7.7745
SwissF/US$ ...................0.9969
Source: L y H our E xcHangE
Sing$/US$ .....................1.4082
Euro/US$ ......................0.9148
SKoreaW/US$ .............1,243.60
ThaiB
//US$ .......................35.70
Riel/US$ ..........................4,015
local gold
LOCaL gOLd type (O’ruSSeI market)
Source: L y H our E xcHangE
buyIng
SeLLIng
Canadia ($/damlung)..................1,460................1,470
Kilo ($/damlung) ........................1,460................1,470
99% ($/damlung) .......................1,440................1,450
97% ($/damlung) .......................1,400................1,410
26.67 damlung are
equal to 1 kg
The Cambodia daily
26
MONDAY, fEbRuARY 29, 2016
opinion
Moderation After Iran’s Election? Don’t Get Your Hopes Up
B y a aron M iller
LOS ANGELES TIMES
I
ranians went to the polls Friday to elect a new Parliament
and Assembly of Experts, the
body that—at least on paper—
chooses the next supreme leader.
The world is watching to see if the
reformist camp will achieve
change, but expectations aren’t
high.
That’s just as well. Reality, not
idealized hopes or fantasies, needs
to guide our view of what’s possible when it comes to liberalizing
and democratizing authoritarian
societies. And that goes double
when it comes to thinking that external factors, such as the nuclear
agreement Iran and world powers
completed last year, will produce
significant internal change in the
Islamic Republic. Indeed, for the
foreseeable future, that accord
may have the opposite effect.
Here’s why: The U.S. may have
gotten what it needed with the nuclear accord, but Iran got what it
wanted—an accord that would
consolidate the government’s power, not undermine it.
The U.S. obtained a slower,
smaller, more easily monitored,
time-limited Iran nuclear program
that preempted an Israeli military
strike and made a U.S. strike unnecessary. Iran got access to billions of dollars in frozen assets,
the prospect of billions more in
trade deals with Europe and Asia,
and the capacity to develop nukes
down the road if it wants to. An improved economy co-opts pressure
for change in Iran, even though it
is the elites, not the broader public, that will be the primary beneficiaries. In all, the nuclear deal has
created the perception and reality
that Iran has come in from the
cold.
None of this favors Iran’s pragmatists and centrists, let alone its
reformers. In fact, as Ali Vaez of
the International Crisis Group
notes, in Iran historically “external
loosening” is balanced with “internal stiffening.” That is what happened after the 1988 cease-fire in
the war with Iraq, and after the
2003 nuclear agreement with Britain, France and Germany, when
the powerful Guardian Council
disqualified reformist candidates
in the next elections and conservatives regained their parliamentary majority. A step forward in a
highly authoritarian and ideological system can easily produce a
few steps back, or at least to the
side.
The U.S. may no longer be the
Great Satan to millions of younger
Iranians, but the bogeyman trope
still plays well in Iranian revolutionary and elite politics. It remains a convenient tool to constrain would-be reformers, and
even those, such as President
Hassan Rouhani, who are less focused on political liberalization
and more on opening up the economy. At the top of the power structure sits supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who will ensure that there
is no serious normalization with
Washington. After an Iranian
naval commander detained the
crews of two wayward U.S. Navy
boats, Khamenei personally
praised the action and awarded
him Iran’s most prestigious medal. Last week, Khamenei denounced the U.S. and expressed
confidence that Iranians would
vote to maintain the nation’s antiWestern stance.
Iran and the U.S. remain deeply
at odds on a variety of regional issues that also undercut attempts
at normalization and reinforce the
hard-liners’ resistance to reform.
Iran’s support for the Bashar alAssad government in Syria, the
terrorist group Hezbollah and the
Houthi takeover in Yemen will
keep matters tense with Washington and America’s traditional allies
Israel and Saudi Arabia. And U.S.
election-year rhetoric is likely to
feed a vicious rather than virtuous
cycle, providing Khamenei with
all the material needed to keep the
anti-American pot boiling.
Perhaps over time—a great
deal of time—the extremist, ideological forces that rule Iran will
bend or be forced to make way for
meaningful change. But highly
authoritarian governments in recent times—Russia, China, Vietnam, even Cuba—have proved
adept at maintaining control even
while they open up a crack to
achieve specific goals. Henry Kissinger once said Iran needs to decide whether it is “a nation or a
cause.” This election is unlikely to
answer that question.
AaronMiller,avicepresidentat
theWoodrowWilsonInternational
CenterforScholars,wasaMiddle
EastnegotiatorfortheU.S.
A Battle of the Behemoths as Seeking Improved Methods to
US Launches Currency War End Violence Against Women
B y y i J ung - Jae
KOREA JOONGANG DAILY
A
currency war has started.
The U.S. sparked the war,
and its target is China.
The war was predicted by Chinese economic commentator Lei
Sihai two years ago. In Lei’s scenario, the U.S. would wage a currency attack from late 2015 by
suddenly pushing up the overnight base rate. Shares in Japan,
Korea and Southeast Asia would
tumble by more than 6 percent.
By the time the U.S. stock market
opened, over $5 trillion would
have been knocked out of the
global capital market. A bigger
storm would brew in the currency
markets. The Japanese yen and
the euro would lose more than 3
percent. The yuan could tumble
to the daily limit.
Lei based his forecast on two
previous U.S.-led currency battles. The European economy suffered a recession for five years,
Russia for six years, Southeast
Asia for eight years and Japan for
15 years as a result. The attack on
China could push the world’s second-largest economy into a de-
pression for five to 10 years if the
U.S. wins the battle. He hit the nail
with his forecast of a third avenging of the dollar—between late
2015 and 2016. Billionaire currency investor George Soros would
lead the campaign. Lei’s ominous
warning turned out to be true in
some areas.
Another American hedge fund
investor, Kyle Bass, has been
even more forward. He publicly
declared that his fund Hayman
Capital Management will bet on
a weakening yuan, a trend he
predicted to go on for the next
three years and end up devaluing
the currency by 40 percent. He
claimed his company concluded
that about $34 trillion worth of
bubbles have built up around the
Chinese banking system over the
last decade, and about $3.5 trillion
in losses would be inevitable in
cleaning up the nonperforming
assets. The estimated losses
would be five times bigger than
the U.S. banking sector incurred
during the 2008 global financial
meltdown. The yuan would inevitably skid as China’s banking
sector sinks.
The article “Expensive NGO
Phone Apps Gather Digital Dust”
(February 25), about our efforts
to end violence
against women,
makes a good
to the Editor point: It’s important to design for the beneficiaries.
The Asia Foundation opened
our office in Cambodia in 1955
and broke ground in the early
1990s with a landmark study on
the underlying causes of domestic violence in Cambodia. Up to
that point, no one was talking
about this rampant, nationwide
problem.
The VXWAward.org project—
enabling mobile app design by
local activists themselves, from
the Cambodia Young Women
Empowerment Network and
from among other leading organizations working to end violence
against women—is part of a broad
continuum of efforts to encourage
a productive national dialogue
about widespread domestic violence, and to stop it. Other interventions are crucial, including:
peer-to-peer education, counseling, and alcohol abuse reduction
Letter
programs, for example.
Creating mobile-phone applications for solving complex social
problems rarely offers silver bullets. That’s why we focus on expanding women’s economic, educational and legal rights and promoting women’s effective participation in political and public life.
When women are fundamentality
being denied their rights, and
where even the ability to reach
out to seek help is suppressed, it’s
essential to find ways to break
down walls of silence.
With smartphone growth in
Cambodia at over 30 percent per
year, mobile technology is surely
a piece of the puzzle yet no quick
fix.
Silas Everett
Country Representative
The Asia Foundation
EmaiL your
LEttEr!
[email protected]
Alllettersmustbesignedandincludeatelephonenumberforverificationpurposes.
MONDAy, FEBRu ARy 29, 2016
The Ca mbo d i a d a i l y
27
OpiniOn
Hollywood Isn’t in the Morality Business, Despite Deep Flaws
B y S t a n l e y F i Sh
T
LOS ANGELES TIMES
he controversy surrounding the absence of African
American Oscar nominees has now been given a statistical baseline in the form of a report
issued by the Diversity and Social
Change Initiative at the University
of Southern California.
The figures in the report back
up the complaints of those who
say, as USC Professor Stacey L.
Smith does, that “we have an inclusion crisis.” Only a third of the
speaking characters in 414 films
and TV series were women. Minorities had about a quarter of
those roles, even though they
make up almost 40 percent of the
population. Things were even
worse when it came to directors;
women accounted for only 3.4
percent of the films surveyed, and
of those a mere two were black
women.
Statistics like these (and there
were many more in the same direction) led the researchers to
devise an “inclusivity index,” a report card indicating the degree
to which diversity has been
achieved by the major film and
TV studios. Everyone flunked.
The question I would ask is,
what does the inclusivity index
measure? The answer implied by
the tone of the report is that it measures social irresponsibility and
moral failure. But that answer provokes other questions: What is it
that the studios are responsible
for, and to the standards of whose
morality are they being held? And
then there is a third, overriding
question: Are the studios properly
in the morality business at all? I
don’t think so.
Like the manufacturers of any
product, studios must determine
what their target consumers
want—what features are likely to
get people to part with their
money. And if they believe that
moviegoers will be either turned
off or unexcited by minority
themed and populated films, it
would be irrational to offer that
product, just as it would be irrational for automobile makers to
offer small, gas-efficient cars when
the market demand is for SUVs.
The result might look like blatant discrimination or willful disregard of the cultural environment,
but the statistics, rather than reflecting a malign intention, would
reflect a reasonable, even obligatory, choice.
(Granted, this analysis fails to
account for the small number of
women and minority directors
given that directors are off-screen
and therefore not visible. It also ignores the possibility that the studio executives’ assumptions about
moviegoer preferences may be
factually incorrect.)
There is an obvious counterar-
gument: The studios should set
out to do more; rather than responding to professional imperatives, narrowly conceived, they
should respond to the national
commitment to eradicate discrimination and provide a level playing
field for all; they should not only
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have an absence of bad motives,
they should have affirmatively
good motives; they should, in
short, set out to do good.
But—and this is the counterargument to the counterargument—
doing good is not the business
they are in, and no one is paying
them to do it. Their considerations
are not moral, although neither are
they immoral; they are, to use the
key word again, professional.
Back in the late 1980s, I became
the chairman of an English department that had few women members and none in senior positions.
For years I recruited and hired
women and only women. Why?
Not because I wanted to rectify a
societal wrong, but because I wanted to improve the department’s position in the profession. I knew that
a) the graduate student population
was becoming increasingly female, b) that much of the avantgarde work in the field was being
done by a few high-profile women
who were teaching high-level students at prestigious universities,
and c) that it would be hard to recruit accomplished female scholars, junior or senior, to a mostly
male department. (This was not
speculation; my wife, an eminent
scholar, resisted coming to a place
“like that” until I persuaded her
that it could be changed.) Maybe I
did some good—I’m not against
it—but doing good was not what I
had in mind.
One big problem with the analysis I have just offered is that it
seems to be an argument for the
maintenance of the status quo. If
social good can only be generated incidentally and accidentally
by professional agendas whose
priorities are elsewhere, how can
we ever bring it about that prevailing marketplace conditions
will be receptive to our deepest
moral hopes? What can we do?
I don’t know of anything better
to suggest. The trouble with the
piety, beloved by conservatives
and some aging movie stars, that
we should consider merit and
only merit, is that no one has any
idea of what merit is. “Merit” is
just a slogan whose content is always political despite the usual
claims to neutrality and objectivity. Reading the literature produced by this brouhaha (a dispiriting experience) leads me to conclude that at this juncture, slogans
are all we have. Maybe Oscars
host Chris Rock will give us more.
Stanley Fish teaches law at Florida International University and the
Cardozo School of Law.
28
The Cambodia daily
monday, february 29, 2016