KI Media: “Kem Sokha's interview on RFA on 31 May 2011” plus 24 more

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OZ MINERALS and the Cambodian government have been forced to deny allegations of impropriety over reports that a transaction by OZ Minerals in 2009 led to hundreds of thousands of dollars being paid to the relatives of government officials.

The news comes as the US Securities and Exchange Commission continues its investigations into Cambodian bribery allegations involving BHP Billiton.

BHP has yet to confirm or deny that the investigations relate to a $US1 million ($936,000) payment to the Cambodian government in 2006 to secure bauxite leases.

The Cambodia Daily reported yesterday that OZ Minerals bought out Shin Ha, its partner in a goldmine, in 2009. More than $US1 million of the proceeds went to three women on the partner's board, who were reportedly closely related to officials in government departments, including the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME).

The newspaper said the trio were appointed in 2006, just before Shin Ha concluded a joint venture agreement with Oxiana, headed by Owen Hegarty. The company was later named OZ Minerals after merging with Zinifex.

An OZ Minerals' spokeswoman said an investigation by the company had not found any evidence of wrongdoing. ''Wherever we operate, we act in accordance with local regulations and with international standards. We deny any allegations of inappropriate business practices,'' she said.

The Cambodian Minister for Industry, Mines and Energy, Suy Sem, said no ministry officials had received any payments and the ministry had strictly observed the law, the newspaper reported.

In Cambodia, government officials are not allowed to have business interests and are required to declare their assets. This disclosure does not extend to relatives.

OZ Minerals has only recently put another controversy behind it. Last month it paid $60 million to settle two class-action lawsuits that claimed shareholders had lost hundreds of millions of dollars when the miner failed to disclose its true debt position during the global financial crisis.

The company had to sell all its operating mines, except Prominent Hill, to China Minmetals in June 2009 for $US1.39 billion after it failed to reach an agreement with it banks to repay this debt.

It only survived as a separate company when the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, blocked the sale of Prominent Hill, a copper and goldmine in South Australia.

OZ Minerals also retained the gold exploration rights in Cambodia, which could provide more disappointment. In April the company said it was reviewing the future of its gold exploration in the country after failing to find a sufficiently large resource base to justify production.

Meanwhile, BHP said yesterday that its internal investigation into Cambodia bribery allegations was continuing and that it had passed on to US authorities ''evidence that it has uncovered regarding possible violations of applicable anti-corruption laws involving interactions with government officials''.

A report by Transparency International, Global Witness , in 2009 said Cambodia's regulation of its extractive industries suffered "a total lack of transparency in the ownership of companies with the responsibility to handle public assets, and the destination of payments made to secure these concessions".

Australia has yet to prosecute a single case of foreign bribery.

LOWELL -- A Cambodian opposition leader and two other members of parliament will be in Lowell Saturday to discuss ongoing human-rights abuses in Cambodia .

Sam Rainsy, leader of the Sam Rainsy Party and generally considered the main rival to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, will appear with fellow SRP legislators Tok Vanchan and Tioulong Sumura, Rainsy's wife, on Saturday, from 5 p.m. to midnight at the Sunny Da Restaurant, 450 Chelmsford St.

Rainsy, formerly a member of the Cambodian National Assembly, has most recently been living in self-imposed exile in Australia . In March, the Cambodian Supreme Court upheld Rainsy's conviction on charges of inciting racial discrimination and uprooting border markings with neighboring Vietnam .

Shortly after the court's ruling, the National Assembly released a statement revoking Rainsy's "rights, privileges and membership as member of parliament."

The conviction upheld by the Supreme Court carries with it a two-year prison sentence and, when combined with an unrelated 10-year sentence for publishing a false map of the border with Vietnam . 

Since 2009, Rainsy has maintained he was leading demonstrations on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border to protest what he believes is Vietnamese encroachment on Cambodian land.

A Rainsy Party spokesman criticized the National Assembly decree as a political move by a parliament dominated by MPs from Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party. In the past, the Rainsy Party and the NGO Cambodian Center for Human Rights have asserted that Rainsy's convictions were an attempt to keep him from participating in Cambodia 's 2013 national election. 

Hun Sen, 59, has held power in Cambodia for a quarter-century and, according to some, has vowed to remain in power until he is 90 years old.

Rainsy plans to discuss those issues, as well as what he calls ongoing human-rights abuses in Cambodia , suppression of the Cambodian media and the future of the country.

The letter, signed by nine parliamentarians, singles out a 6,044-hectare concession to Vietnamese-owned CRCK Rubber Development Co Ltd, but also calls on the premier to cancel the other concessions in the forest. The lawmakers also suggested that the government support listing Prey Lang as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Hun Sen approved a 70-year lease for CRCK in September 2009. In May last year, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries signed a contract with the company, and CRCK began clearing forest in order to make way for a rubber plantation early this year, according to reports from local residents.

In the letter, the SRP lawmakers cited signatures from 29,208 people from four provinces who requested their intervention in the matter.

"Those violations have resulted in losses to a very worthy natural resource to the area, including natural forest, fruit-productive forest, wild animals and all kinds of biodiversity," the MPs wrote, adding that the economic and cultural interests of locals, especially members of the Kuy ethnic minority, have also been adversely affected.

The forest, which stretches for roughly 3,600-square kilometres between the Mekong and Stung Treng rivers across parts of four provinces – Kampong Thom, Kratie, Preah Vihear and Stung Treng– lacks state protection despite its rich biodiversity and value to local people.

The Prey Lang network, a local activist group, says more than 40,000 hectares in the forest have been granted for rubber plantations alone, while 27 exploration licences and related concessions have been handed to mining firms.

Chhun Chhorn, Kampong Thom provincial governor, defended the actions of CRCK yesterday, claiming that the concessions in Prey Lang would bring development to the area and suggesting that the SRP lawmakers were playing politics with the issue.

"It is their right, awarded by the government, to clear that land to plant rubber. They are not acting illegally," he said.

Chhun Chorn said people have used the forest for hundreds of years but are still poor and will find a better living by working for rubber plantations and factories.

Mem Sotharavin, an SRP lawmaker from Kampong Thom province, said CRCK's practice of importing labour from Vietnam undermined any development it may bring to the area.

"I support development, but it should avoid [negatively] affecting people," he said. "People have not had jobs [from the concession] at all. If people have jobs as [Chhun Chhorn] said, it is no problem."

Local supermarkets are pulling a Taiwanese fruit jelly from their shelves amid reports that the product contains a toxic chemical that is a proven health hazard.

Taiwanese health officials issued a warning on Friday stating that DEHP, a plastic polymer that is harmful to humans, has been found in domestic and exported fruit jelly and sports drinks. The jelly, a product of Taiwan's Triko Foods Company, is labelled with a red, three-character logo in Chinese and says "coconut jelly" in English on the package.

Research shows a link between DEHP and damage to the liver, heart and lungs, according to the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. The amount of the chemical present in the products for sale in Cambodia and the associated health risks were unclear yesterday.

A 2009 United States Food and Drug Administration report on DEHP said the substance can reduce the size of reproductive organs in male children. The chemical is commonly used in medical equipment, plastic piping and other plastic products.

Cambodia has imported more than 50,000 kilogrammes of the jelly from Triko Foods during the past year and a half, Taiwan's Taichung City Health Department said in a statement on Friday. The apple-, aloe vera- and taro- flavoured products come in 25 and 35 gramme portions and have been on sale recently in some local supermarkets.

The Bayon Supermarket chain in Phnom Penh has pulled the jelly products from shelves, Chheang Meang, the supermarket's director, said yesterday.

Chheang Meang said he had been contacted by the Taiwanese company yesterday and asked to remove the products, but to retain them in stock pending further examination by Taiwan health officials.

"I ordered my staff to take them out because Taiwan thinks the product has a problem that will affect people's health," Chheang Meang said.

"The Taiwanese company told us to keep it in stock but not sell it. They are examining it now."

Triko Foods representative Lin Dingyi said yesterday from Taiwan that his company had contacted the Cambodian Ministry of Health about the issue on Friday. Health Minister Mam Bunheng said, however, that he was unaware of the problem.

"I didn't know that toxic Taiwanese food was imported to Cambodia, but I will order an official who works with food to examine whether or not these products are in Cambodia," Mam Bunheng said.

The Taiwanese Health Department said Yu Shen Fragrance Company, one of Taiwan's largest food-additive producers, is the origin of the DEHP that has contaminated the food. In addition to Triko Foods, the department has detected DEHP in the products of about 200 other firms that source materials from Yu Shen Fragrance Company.

China, Vietnam and Thailand are also believed to have imported the tainted products.

At an emergency meeting held yesterday in response to the problem, Taiwanese officials proposed an act that would increase penalties for using toxic substances in food products.

PHNOM PENH, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Club of the World's Most Beautiful Bays has officially recognized Cambodia's coastal areas as its member, the minister of tourism, Thong Khon confirmed Tuesday.

The recognition was made after Cambodia's proposal in May last year.

"With the club's recognition, we have optimism that our clean and well-preserved beaches will attract more foreign tourists,"he said, adding"it will also be an impetus to encourage more investors to the areas."

Cambodia's coastline is stretching in the length of 450 km in four provinces of Koh Kong, Sihanoukville, Kampot and Kep.

It is the country's second most popular destination for tourists after Siem Reap's Angkor Wat temple, the world heritage site.

The club was established in March 1997, in Berlin, Germany. Including Cambodia, it has 27 countries as member with 33 bays to be recognized as the most beautiful bays in the world, said the minister.

According to the club's criteria, to be listed as the world's most beautiful bay, a bay must be under protection project with a wildlife and flora area. Also, it must be recognized by both local and regional level, and it must possess at least two features recognized by UNESCO in the cultural or natural assets categories.

Tourism industry is one of the main four pillars supporting Cambodian economy. In 2010, the sector received 2.5 million foreign tourists generating the total revenue of 1.75 billion U.S. dollars.

LONDON — It has become a common sight: an elderly, shrunken, hollow-eyed suspect brought to trial decades after being accused of horrific war crimes. They may be too aged to fully participate in their defense, or too debilitated by disease to endure a lengthy court case.

Now it is former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic arguing he is too weak to stand trial. His lawyer said Monday that Mladic, 69, would die before his trial begins if he is extradited to the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague to face genocide charges. He is said to have suffered several strokes and to have difficulty speaking.

Time and again, the questions have arisen: Are you ever too old or too ill to be judged for your past? Are justice and the public interest served by trying such infirm people? Most experts say it's justified — arguing responsibility doesn't diminish with age, especially set against the enormity of the crimes.

"Old age should not afford protection to people who committed very serious crimes — that's not a defense," said Efraim Zuroff, who pursues elderly Nazi war criminals with the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

"You have to keep in mind the victims who deserve that their tormenters are held accountable; the passage of time does not diminish the guilt."

Mladic follows John Demjanjuk, a 91-year-old retired U.S. autoworker convicted in Munich this month on 28,060 counts of accessory to murder. Demjanjuk's lawyers failed to convince the court that the former Nazi death camp guard was too sick to be tried because of a bone marrow disorder, kidney disease, anemia, and other ailments.

The age and medical condition of Khmer Rouge defendants is also a central issue at Cambodia's upcoming U.N.-backed tribunal, set next month to judge four of the brutal regime's top officials. The accused, ranging in age from 79 to 85, suffer from a variety of illnesses.

"To let them walk away because they are old means they would get away with it," Brad Adams, director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, said about the Khmer Rouge defendants. "They all appear to have some maladies but none of them have such significant illnesses that they are not competent to stand trial"

He said the Cambodian suspects are accused of masterminding the slaughter of up to two million people in their own country and should not be excused simply because they are infirm — or because it took so long for authorities to track them down.

"The reason they are so old is because of the failure of the states to track them down and charge them much earlier," Adams said. "They were living in Thailand and traveling around the world. It was a collective failure to deal with them."

Demjanjuk's case was one of the most extreme. After experts examined him, he was found to be fit to stand trial if hearings were limited to two 90-minute sessions per day.

He was brought to court in a wheelchair and placed in a hospital bed, where he lay listening to a translator throughout the proceedings, usually wearing dark sunglasses with a baseball cap pulled down low over his face. A doctor and paramedics remained in the court room throughout the trial. Roughly a dozen sessions were canceled for health reasons, including the need for blood transfusions.

Zuroff said it's imperative to try even ailing war crimes suspects in order to prevent future atrocities.

"There's also obviously the deterrence issue — it shows that if you commit a crime like that, that even many years later an effort will be made to bring you to trial."

And he said Mladic — and others who use this delaying tactic — are usually not as ill as they claim.

"These defendants become ten times worse than they really are as part of a public show to try and elicit sympathy," he said.

In Cambodia, International Co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley said there is a strong public interest in trying the Khmer Rouge defendants.

"The public here want them tried," he said. "They want this case done as quickly as possible. After all the four accused are alleged to have murdered over a million and a half of their own people. Nobody I know thinks age is a bar to vigorously addressing that fact."

He said the defendants — former head of state Khieu Samphan, chief ideologue Nuon Chea, former Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, and ex-foreign minister Ieng Sary — will receive quality medical care and monitoring during the trial. The top Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998.

Theary Seng, a human rights lawyer whose parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge, said the fact that more than three decades have passed since the atrocities were committed has lessened the quality of the justice she and other victims will receive. She said victims are "bracing" for the possibility that one or two defendants will die before a verdict is reached.

"We are beyond the issues of fairness," she said. "It's an issue what is the highest quality of justice we can achieve in light of all the limitations and obstacles in our way. The advanced age of these four defendants is certainly one of the principal obstacles to quality justice. From the current standpoint, it's pretty shoddy justice we victims are getting from the Court."

If Mladic, accused in the 1995 slaughter of some 8,000 civilians in Srebrenica, is ultimately extradited, he would receive good medical care while detained at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, officials said.

Spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic said the tribunal has a clinic that can provide assistance "around the clock" and can also take suspects to civilian hospitals if needed.

Nonetheless, its most high profile suspect, former Serb president Slobodan Milosevic, died of a heart attack in his cell in 2006, forever escaping judgment.

The tribunal's procedures are notoriously slow. The trial of Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic began in 2009 and is still not finished.

Still, Zumra Sehomeriovic, a Bosnian woman whose husband was killed in Srebrenica, said prosecution of Mladic is necessary.

"This is proof that this type of crime never gets old and that the perpetrators will face justice," she said.

___

BANGKOK, May 31(MCOT online news) - Thailand will speed its attempt to inform the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee (WHC) to understand Thailand's stance on Preah Vihear temple, while planning to hold further talks with Cambodia before the 35th session of WHC annual meeting to start on June 19, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Suwit Khunkitti said on Tuesday.

Mr Suwit who is also Thai government's chief negotiator notified the cabinet about the result of special meeting between Thailand and Cambodia on May 25 to 26 on the ancient temple dispute at Paris-based UNESCO, mediated by its Director-General Irina Bokova.

He said the Thai delegation stood firm that the Cambodian management plan for Preah Vihear temple had caused problems between the two countries and the Thai representatives would go ahead with Thailand's plan to inform the 20 WHC member countries to understand that possible problem may arise in the future if the WHC accepts the Preah Vihear management plan proposed by Cambodia at the 35th WHC meeting being held June 26-29.

However, Mr Suwit admitted that the move was not easy as many WHC member countries had provided assistance to Cambodia in the past but he was confident that those countries would understand the problem.

During the Paris meeting, UNESCO demonstrated a better understanding of the issue and towards Thailand's rationale for proposing that the WHC postpone consideration of Cambodia's management plan in the area of the Preah Vihear temple pending finalisation of the boundary negotiations between the two countries.

This also included the proposal that in the long-term, Preah Vihear temple should be inscribed as a transboundary property.

However, at this stage, Cambodia continued to insist that its management plan be considered at the WHC meeting.

Mr Suwit said further discussion on how to proceed would therefore be needed and he expected Thailand and Cambodia would hold talks again before the start of WHC meeting on June 16.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awarded Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia in 1962 and the temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.

Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border and periodic clashes have happened, resulting in the deaths of troops and civilians on both sides.

Regarding the Cambodian request to the ICJ to interpret judgment on the case of Preah Vihear temple, including its request for indication of provisional measures, Mr Suwit said Thailand had to await the result of the ICJ hearing.

Thai legal team led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Kasit Piromya now in the Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday is scheduled to present the observation on Cambodian request on provision measures to ICJ for the second day at 10pm Thai time.

The result of hearing should be known within 1-3 weeks. In any case, the provisional measure is a separate case from Cambodia's request to interpret the court's 1962 ruling on Preah Vihear. Should the provisional measures be issued or not, it will not affect the interpretation case.

As for the interpretation of the court's 1962 ruling, it was expected that the court would require official statement from both sides about September or October and would take one or two years to consider.

On the first day of the hearing, Thai legal team had told the court that Thailand had accepted and complied with a 1962 ICJ ruling that the temple belonged to Cambodia. However the court has no jurisdiction to judge the Cambodian request.

Meanwhile, Cambodia had also accepted without protest the line drawn by Thailand demarking the area that encompasses the Preah Vihear temple compound following the 1962 Court decision.

After being silence for 40 years, Cambodia started to challenge the perimeter limits of the temple only recently when it wanted to list the temple as a World Heritage site and wanted the area as buffer zone to manage the temple under the management plan of the ancient Hindu temple.

Cambodia has also admitted that it had yet to demarcate the border - including the area where Preah Vihear temple is located - when it signed the memorandum of understanding with Thailand in 2000.

Thailand wished to live in peace, develop good relations and cooperation with Cambodia, so that there is no reason for any conflict, said the Thai legal team.

Tensions between China and Vietnam escalated over the weekend as each nation accused the other of violating its sovereignty in the oil-rich South China Sea.

PetroVietnam, the state-owned oil and gas monopoly, said on Sunday that China had sabotaged Vietnamese oil exploration vessels, the latest accusation between the countries over the disputed waters.

"When we conduct seismic survey and drilling operations, they [China] have aeroplanes flying over to survey our activities, they harass us with their vessels, and in extreme cases they cut our [exploration] cables," said Do Van Hau, a senior PetroVietnam official.

The renewed tensions come as Liang Guanglie, the Chinese defence minister, and Robert Gates, his US counterpart, prepare to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-profile annual Asia defence forum in Singapore next weekend. Mr Liang's appearance will mark the first time a Chinese defence minister has participated in the meeting.

The Vietnamese harassment claims will put the South China Sea issue back in focus ahead of the regional security meeting, which in recent years has increasingly focused on Chinese maritime behaviour in the disputed waters. South-east Asian countries are concerned about what they perceive to be Beijing's increasingly assertive behaviour in regional waters.

The rising tensions have also attracted the attention of Washington. Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, angered Beijing last July by insisting that the South China Sea was of strategic importance to the US and offering to act as a mediator.

In addition to China and Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan all claim part or all of the South China Sea, which is believed to contain vast oil and gas reserves and incorporates key trade routes and abundant fish stocks.

On Sunday, PetroVietnam said the Chinese boats that approached one of its vessels on Thursday had deliberately cut an exploration cable, which had been submerged to 30 metres to protect it from oncoming ships.

PetroVietnam is working with a number of large international oil companies, including ExxonMobil and Chevron, to explore and develop oil and gas assets in South China Sea waters claimed by Vietnam. Mr Hau said that this latest incident "will impact on the attitudes of foreign investors".

Carl Thayer, an expert on the South China Sea at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, said that this latest incident represented an escalation in Chinese aggression toward Vietnam.

"China is brazenly asserting its sovereignty by such actions and it has the preponderance of vessels to enforce this," he said.

Just before 6am on Thursday, three Chinese patrol ships rushed the Binh Minh 2, a seismic survey ship owned by PetroVietnam, damaging a number of cables, according to Vietnam's foreign ministry. The oil exploration vessel had detected the Chinese ships approaching on radar about an hour earlier without warning.

The encounter took place 120 nautical miles off the coast of Phu Yen province in south-central Vietnam, in waters that are claimed by both China and Vietnam.

China routinely detains Vietnamese fisherman who are plying their trade in disputed waters but this is the first time in recent years that Chinese patrol boats have clashed with a Vietnamese oil exploration vessel. A Philippines-licensed oil survey ship suffered a similar confrontation with Chinese patrol vessels in March.

The clash comes just a week after China and the Philippines pledged "responsible behaviour" in the disputed areas and repeated their commitment to a peaceful resolution of conflicting territorial claims. During a visit of Liang Guanglie, China's minister of defence, to Manila last Monday, officials from both governments pledged to avoid unilateral moves which could raise tension.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino said after the visit incidents in disputed areas could trigger a regional arms race, and force the Philippines to strengthen its military capabilities.

Security experts have said that such an arms race is under way already. Several south-east Asian countries are beefing up their air and sea defences – Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand have all acquired or placed orders for frigates, fighter aircraft and submarines.

Neither the foreign ministry nor the defence ministry in China responded to requests for comment.

Pursuant to Internal Rule 56 (2) (a), the Co-Investigating Judges of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) make the following statement:

1. As of 18 May 2011, the Victims Support Section (VSS) had received 318 Civil Party Applications for Case 003.

2. All Civil Party Applications will be processed by the VSS pursuant to the Practice Direction on Victims Participation, before being forwarded to the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges. The Co-Investigating Judges will in accordance with Internal Rule 23 bis (2) and (3) decide on the admissibility of the applications at the latest by the time if the issuance of the Closing Order.

3. The Co-Investigating Judges are seized of a request from the International Co-Prosecutor to extend the deadline for filing Civil Party Applications with six weeks. A decision on this request will be rendered shortly.

4. At the end of the investigation, in accordance with Internal Rule 67 (1), the Co-Investigating Judges will lay out all relevant facts and assessments in a reasoned Closing Order. This order will be public, and it can be accessed by anyone interested in the ECCC Proceedings.

Sarom Eng, 55, has five children. She perches on a wooden slatted bench in her village, Preytotung, in Battambang province, as she speaks about her business ventures. Family members, including her daughter and one of her five grandchildren, neighbours and animals mill around the garden that surrounds her small stilted wooden house as we talk. Lined up opposite the bench are huge plastic bags full of kapok fibres, which have been plucked from pods that hang from nearby ceiba trees, and are ready for sale.

Eng has developed a good seasonal business, buying the pods from farmers who have the trees on their land, and selling the kapok to companies that make mattresses and pillows. It has been funded through loans she's taken out from the Khum Chrey community-based microfinance organisation (CBMIFO). She's on her third or fourth loan now – the most recent for 1.5m Cambodian riel, about $370. She employs neighbours and family to help pluck and bag the kapok, and she expects to get a 50% rate of return when she sells her goods. "I've never had a problem with paying the money back. I usually pay back before I need to."

The income generated, along with money earned from selling fruit up along the Thai border and from growing rice in a field about 4km from her home, means she can support her children and grandchildren, and save money.

After all the recent controversy surrounding microfinance – such as reports of unscrupulous lenders and the suicides of those under pressure to repay loans, particularly in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, and the very public spat between Muhammad Yunus and Grameen, the microfinance bank he founded – Eng offers an example of what can be achieved from the informal banking sector, if it's done right.

La Morm, from Svay Chrum village in another part of Battambang province, offers another. Earlier this year, Morm, 46, borrowed 2m riel ($490) from her local CBMIFO, which she used to buy two sewing machines for the business she runs from her home. Morm started her sewing business years ago to supplement the income generated from the family's fruit farming. People from across the region come to her house to have their clothes made for special occasions, and the space under her stilted house is lined with coloured fabrics and threads twirled around bits of bamboo. She believes the new machines will bring in an extra $75 a month. "It would take a long time to save and buy the sewing machine outright," she says. "I wanted to expand the business because there was more demand. I took the loan out a month ago and I'll pay it back in a year." The new machines will also allow her to train neighbours to sew and employ more people.

Eng and Morm belong to microfinance institutions (MFIs) that are supported by the Cambodian Community Savings Federation (CCSF), an organisation set up and funded by the NGO Care International in 1998, but which now operates as an independent NGO and rural credit operator.

The CCSF helped established microfinance projects for villages around Battambang, in Cambodia's north-west, to develop the area after years of abuse by the Khmer Rouge, which was driven from the region in the late 1990s. Over the past 13 years, small village-based groups have merged to form bigger institutions that now employ their own staff and have their own offices where people can come to discuss loans, make deposits or take out savings at the counter.

The CCSF provides capital to, and oversees the operations of, up to 33 CBMIFOs now set up in 13 districts in Battambang. It also offers support and training to 230 staff employed by the CBMIFOs. The CCSF gets its funding from development institutions, such as the sustainability oriented Rabobank in the Netherlands.

The improved security in the region and better road access from the capital, Phnom Penh, has led to an influx of microfinance institutions to the province. This offers huge opportunities, but also the potential for the problems that we've seen in India.

Pisey Phal, the chief executive of CCSF, emphasises that her organisation is concerned with poverty alleviation, not profits. "The CBMIFOs are like credit banks. They know the community very well, which reduces some of the problems," she says. "Traditional banks are very formal and strict in their repayment schedules. In our case, [CBMIFOs] provide a seven-day allowance for borrowers. If they are busy on the repayment due date, they can pay within seven days without a penalty, which helps our members."

And there's a strict set of criteria that have to be met before a loan can authorised.

Anyone who wants to take out a loan must have a permanent address, an existing legal business, they must be able to demonstrate the ability to repay and have a good credit rating – background checks are made with village elders and, if dealing with large amounts, with commune chiefs (who oversee between 10 and 15 villages) and all loans have to be signed off by the local authorities. Loans for more than $75 require a site visit to the business. Repayment schedules are decided when the loan is taken out, which can be up to two years. In certain cases, borrowers can pay back the money in bulk after crops have been harvested, or pay back within six months. Interest rates on repayments are a maximum of 3% a month.

Crucially, though, a borrower must be saving at least 1,000 riel a month with the CBMIFO.

Savings are often the forgotten part of microfinance, but provide an important safety net for anyone not able to access the formal banking system. CBMIFOs offer a 7% annual interest rate on savings.

Sarom Eng has been depositing money with the CBMIFO for 11 years and would prefer to take out loans than dig into her savings, which she says she wants to keep for emergencies and to help support herself and her husband when she gets older.

Unlike some banks, which require payment to open an account, Eng doesn't have to pay a fee to the CBMIFO to save there.

Ajaz Ahmed Khan, a microfinance adviser with Care International UK, says there is too much emphasis on credit and not enough on savings when people talk about microfinance.

"Nobody is too poor to save, but they can save in inefficient ways. They can save in animals, for example, or store money under the bed. Not all people want a loan, but most people will want savings, especially if you get some interest from it. CBMIFOs provide a safe, secure and accessible way of saving."

Cambodia is the latest country to be added to the list of the states supported by Care International UK's new microfinance initiative, Lendwithcare.org, which was launched last year. It wants to encourage supporters from around the world to offer small loans to people in Cambodia, Benin, Togo, the Philippines and Indonesia through local MFIs.

Profiles of the people who have had their loans approved by MFIs in these countries, such as CBMIFOs in Battambang, are published on the Lendwithcare.org website and the public can make loans to specific businesses. Once the full amount of the loan has been pledged, the money is transferred to the MFI to cover the loan, which will have already been given to the borrower. When the borrower pays back the loan, the money is then transferred back to the supporter. The initiative provides another income stream for MFIs, which means they can support more local people, and it also reduces the risk of the loans as they are effectively taken over by Care.

Khan says this could mean CBMIFOs take more risks – such as supporting poorer people, who often miss out on the benefits of microfinance because they have little or no collatoral – as Care is covering the costs. "There is no downside to the MFI," says Khan, who assesses the MFIs before they can be part of the Lendwithcare.org project.

Khan is clearly a supporter of microfinance, but is very much a realist about its potential. "People oversold microfinance. It was never going to be a panacea. But it is a way to help restore people's dignity. People want to help themselves, people don't want handouts."

Bangkok - The Thai-Cambodia border region around a disputed 11th-century Hindu temple was quiet Tuesday as the two countries prepared for day two in court at The Hague to settle the contentious border issue, officials said.

Thai soldiers remain in the border region guarding Thai territory, Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Thanatip Hwangsaeng said Tuesday, adding that the area was peaceful and relations with the Cambodian military were good.

In April, Cambodia asked the International Court of Justice in The Hague to revisit its 1962 ruling that awarded Preah Vihear temple to Phnom Penh.

The court case started Monday with Thailand saying again that it honours that 1962 ruling, and that the temple itself is in Cambodia.

What is at issue is a 4.6-square-kilometre area near the complex that Thailand maintains was not included in the court's 1962 ruling.

That dispute goes back decades but Bangkok said it resurfaced after UNESCO in 2008 designated Preah Vihear a world heritage site, over Thai objections.

The temple has proved a flashpoint and sparked several clashes between the countries, most recently eight days of artillery and small arms skirmishes in April that killed 16 people, mainly soldiers, on both sides, and wounded around 60.

Both Thailand and Cambodia blamed each other for starting the fighting.

At The Hague on Monday Cambodia accused Thailand of 'deadly intrusions' into Cambodia and requested Thai troops to withdraw.

Thailand argued the border dispute did not fall under the court's jurisdiction because Thailand had complied with the 1962 ruling. It also says the 4.6-square-kilometre area is Thai territory and not part of the 1962 ruling.

Oral arguments were scheduled to continue Tuesday in The Hague.

Despite recent public concern over whether the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal will fulfill its mandate, an official within the court's Victims Support Unit says he is confident that trials of regime leaders will help bring about some national reconciliation.

Im Sophea, who coordinates the unit's public outreach, told "Hello VOA" Thursday the court would record the stories of victims for the historical record and would provide "acceptable justice" to the millions of Cambodians traumatized by the regime.

However, he said, the court also needs participation by other partners across society to help the healing, including psychological counseling, and some kind of compensation for victims.

Khmer Rouge victims and tribunal monitors have expressed concern over the amount of participation allowed to so-called civil parties, which represent a third party in the courtroom aside from the prosecution and defense.

Im Sophea said the victims unit has undertaken nine different educational forums around the country in an effort to help victims speak out and ask questions. The next forum will be held in Takeo province in the near future, he said.

31 May 2011

The recent leak of a secret conversation/deal between Hun Sen and Kem Sokha has the effect of a bomb on Cambodia's political landscape.

The recorded conversation took place on 25 July 2007, meaning just three days after the creation of Kem Sokha's Human Rights Party (HPR). In the conversation, Hun Sen and Kem Sokha precisely discussed the circumstances surrounding the creation of the HPR, which was made possible thanks to the support and assistance of Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP).

Hun Sen and Kem Sokha clearly showed their common goal: the destruction of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), the main opposition party that had unwaveringly been standing against the CPP. Hun Sen gave Kem Sokha advice and recommendations on how to achieve this goal or, at least, how to disturb and weaken the SRP. Kem Sokha profusely thanked Hun Sen for his support and welcomed Hun Sen's advice and recommendations as "instructions" from the CPP Prime Minister.

A few years after concluding his deal with Hun Sen, meaning now, everybody can see Kem Sokha's duplicity when he pretends he wants to form an alliance with the SRP against the CPP. How can he form an alliance with the SRP while the secret goal he shares with the CPP is to destroy the very same SRP?

Kem Sokha is not an honest man. He is not honest with the SRP and cannot be a loyal partner. But he is not honest even with his own supporters, those HRP members who wrongly believed that the HRP was formed to oppose the CPP and who would have never imagined that Kem Sokha would make a secret deal with the CPP against the SRP in order to serve his personal interest.

Kem Sokha's duplicity does not allow the SRP to consider his HRP as a possible partner in any alliance. The HRP may perhaps form a shady alliance with Funcinpec or the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP). These three small parties with no principles have something in common: they all compete to serve in, and under, a treasonous government led by Hun Sen's CPP.

As Cambodia's second largest political party, the SRP remains the only credible alternative to the autocratic Hun Sen regime. It has always abided by its patriotic and democratic principles. It represents the only hope for a democratic change. This is why it has always borne the brunt of the CPP repression.

Just a few days before the leak of the secret deal between Hun Sen and Kem Sokha, Sam Rainsy published a statement reinstating his stance, "A Peaceful Way To Put An End To The Despised Hun Sen Regime."

Therefore, the SRP will continue to grow on Cambodia's political landscape as the main popular force to combat the repressive and regressive CPP. It will continue to relentlessly and determinedly fight for Cambodia's national independence and territorial integrity, and for good governance and social justice.

Thailand has hired three foreign legal advisers to help fight an International Court of Justice case filed by Cambodia.

The three attorneys are from Australia, Canada, and France. Considering the importance of the case, the Bangkok Post is providing an introduction to the lawyers.

Mr Crawford is a professor of international law at the University of Cambridge, the United Kingdom. He is one of England's top international barristers and has worked on cases in several international courts, including the ICJ.

He represented Malaysia in a dispute with Singapore over the sovereignty of Pulau Batu Puteh island and in another dispute with Indonesia over the Ligitan-Sipadan islands.

Mr McRae currently holds the Hyman Soloway Chair in Business and Trade Law and teaches international law at the University of Ottawa.

Mr McRae has been a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration since 1988. He was elected to the United Nations' International Law Commission in 2006.

He was a counsel for Canada during an arbitration with France over the St Pierre and Miquelon maritime boundary dispute in l991 and 1992, was a legal adviser to New Zealand on maritime boundary issues from 2000 to 2005, and counsel to Suriname in a dispute with Guyana in 2006.

He is one of the most distinguished French experts on international law and has made a name for himself as the representative of several countries before the ICJ in the Hague.

He is one of the most active lawyers practising before the ICJ.

In addition, he serves in an advisory capacity to international organisations on issues concerning administration and international legislation. He has been a member of the UN's International Law Commission since 1990. He was the commission's chairman in 1997.

Cambodia yesterday began its legal battle in the International Court of Justice over the Preah Vihear Temple by accusing Thailand of deadly intrusions into its territory and requesting temporary measures for Thai troops to withdraw.

"Thailand does not merely challenge Cambodia's sovereignty in this region, but is imposing its own interpretation by occupying this zone by murderous armed incursions," Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told the court.

Hor Namhong testified that his country was requesting that the ICJ clarify its 1962 judgement on the Preah Vihear ownership case, as the two sides had failed to interpret the ruling jointly and this had led to armed conflict between the two neighbours.

Thailand is basing its recent military action on an interpretation of the 1962 judgement that is "both erroneous and unacceptable", he said.

Thailand is using its reading of the ruling "to provide legal cover for armed incursions into Cambodian territory".

Major military clashes around the ancient Hindu temple in February caused the deaths of eight people including civilians on both sides.

The ICJ yesterday and today is holding oral hearings on Cambodia's request for provisional measures to ban Thai military activities and any act that could be regarded as interference in Cambodian sovereignty.

The request and hearing are the result of Cambodia's application for an interpretation of the 1962 ruling.

The Thai defence team led by Ambassador to The Hague Virachai Plasai argued that the ICJ had no authority to rule on this case since a border dispute did not fall under its jurisdiction, said Chavanond Intarakomalya-sut, secretary to Thailand's foreign minister. Thailand has already complied with the ICJ's 1962 ruling and has nothing more to do with the case, he said.

"Basically, the Cambodian oral testimony has nothing new, and we believe that our argument is solid enough to convince the court," Chavanond said in a phone interview from The Hague.

The Foreign Ministry expects the court to deliver its concurrence on the provisional measures within three weeks after the oral hearing, he said.

BANGKOK, 28 May 2011 – Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti has admitted that no conclusion was made in the recent meeting of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) in France regarding the Preah Vihear management plan.

After his return from a meeting with the WHC and Cambodian delegates in France, Mr Suwit pointed out that the issue between Thailand and Cambodia over the Preah Vihear management plan had not been concluded even though bilateral talks had been ongoing and UNESCO had voiced its support for an immediate end to the dispute. He said no approval was granted for Thailand's request to have the committee's consideration on the plan postponed.

The Minister indicated that, after this, there would be another bilateral discussion on the matter before the arrangement of the 35th WHC Meeting during 19-29 June, when the Preah Vihear management plan was slated for its official review.

In addition, Mr Suwit stated that Thailand had proposed itself as the host of the 36th WHC Meeting in 2012. Other countries bidding for the opportunity include Russia and Cambodia.

Malaysia on Monday lauded Thailand and Cambodia's commitment to solve their border dispute peacefully as Cambodia referred the conflict to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

"Tensions in the Cambodian-Thai border have caused a great deal of concern in the region and this was evident during the recent Asean summit in Jakarta," Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in a speech at the 25th Asia-Pacific Roundtable here.

Cambodia sued Thailand to the International Court of Justice on Monday, asking the court to order Thai troops to withdraw from the disputed area around the ancient temple Preah Vihear.

Both countries have been claiming sovereignty to the more than 900-year-old temple and its surrounding areas for the past few decades.

Cambodia last month asked the International Court of Justice to explain its ruling in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia.

Latest clashes between Cambodian and Thai troops killed at least 20 and injured dozens while tens of thousands fled the area in April.

After 15 years of discreet and patient diplomacy over the overlapping claims in South China Sea, both the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have now showed signs of fatigue at the lack of progress towards a resolution as well as joint development schemes. Incidents of alleged intrusions and confrontations in the resource-rich maritime territories among various claimants have increased in the past two years.

But the most serious one occurred on March 2 when the Philippine oil exploration ship, MV Veritas Voyager, was harassed by the Chinese Navy patrol boats at Reed Bank. It topped the agenda when Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Liang Guanlie visited the Philippines last week. The incident immediately harked back to the event in March 1995 when the Philippines confronted China after the discovery of new structures in the Mischief Reefs, which subsequently led ASEAN to issue a joint statement, the first and only one, expressing "serious concern" over Beijing's action.

Over those years, there were high hopes that the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China in 2002 would not only encourage the claimants to restrain from any activity that would destabilize the whole region but help to resolve issues related to territorial sovereignty. Somehow the long-standing pledge for the promotion of trust-building measures and mutually beneficial cooperative continue to be an elusive aim in the past nine years.

One stumbling block remains the wordings of the implementing guidelines of the 2002 document, which was agreed upon when their bilateral relations were at the zenith.

The ASEAN claimants, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and China still fight over them when their senior officials last met in Medan, Indonesia. Given the current tension and growing mutual suspicion, especially between China and Vietnam/Philippines, it is doubtful if they could finalize the guidelines in time for next year's 10th commemoration in Phnom Penh, when Cambodia chairs the 20th ASEAN summit. Their collective assertiveness showed that the disputes in South China Sea represent their core national interests.

More than conflicting parties like to admit, the relatively benign environment which ASEAN and China used to enjoy tackling the South China Sea problem since the Mischief Reef in 1995 effectively ended last July.

The dispute got an international stamp when the U.S. Secretary Hilary Clinton raised the issue openly on the freedom and safety of navigation in South China Sea and expressed a strong support for the ASEAN document.

Furthermore, the U.S. also offered to facilitate diplomatic efforts to find a resolution. From that moment on, China and the ASEAN claimants knew full well that the conflicts have been thrown open into an international arena — something they kept under wraps for the past 15 years.

China was quite happy to continue negotiations with ASEAN over the guidelines without intervention from other players. Back in 1994, when China was still a consultative partner of ASEAN, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen told ASEAN counterparts in Brunei Darussalam that Asian countries must solve their problems in an Oriental Way.

Somehow this approach rings hollow and does not bode well with the current atmosphere.

The lack of progress coupling with growing claimants' presence and visible physical structures has provided the raison d'etre for the ASEAN claimants, in particular Vietnam and now the Philippines, to harden their pursuits for more tangible outcomes.

To add fuel to the fire, last week, the two ASEAN countries agreed to work on a joint exploration oil and gas project in the disputed areas.

Previously, ASEAN claimants and China held bilateral negotiations trying to craft collaborative frameworks that would be acceptable to both sides — settling sovereignty issue with ASEAN claimants and overall cooperation with all ASEAN members. Unfortunately, some claimants viewed the exercise as a foot-dragging tactic to further strengthen presence in claimed islands or islets. At the moment, Vietnam occupies 23 islets while China and Malaysia occupy seven each. The Philippines has claimed the so-called Kalayaan island Group made up of 54 islands, reefs and shoals.

Last July in Hanoi, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was visibly upset when the South China Sea issue was brought and discussed openly at the ASEAN Regional Forum. It was a radical departure from the modus operandi agreed at the Huangzhou meeting between China and ASEAN in April 1995, both sides successfully kept the dispute within their turf.

At this hill resort meeting, ASEAN for the first time jointly called on China to be more transparent about its claims over the South China Sea including the significance of the nine-dot line. The lack of better answers and practice gradually pushed the ASEAN claimant beyond the bilateral framework. The fact that the dispute last year received a wider international attention was also partly attributed to the ASEAN chair's diplomatic maneuverability.

One immediate consequence of this shift would be the less-polite aspect of China's attitude and policy towards ASEAN. It is currently in a reset mode. Beijing views the ASEAN positions over the guidelines as problematic as undermining its sovereignty claims. With ASEAN members juggling their positions between the claimants and non-claimants as well as China's ambivalence on ASEAN as individual nations and as an organization, the ASEAN-China relations will be under severe tests from now on.

Without the law-binding code of conduct, it is hard to foresee long-term peace and stability in the region's maritime territory.

The whole scheme of things is further complicated by the new strategic landscape coupling with the rise of China and its blue navy fleets as well as the U.S.'s proactive engagement in Asia. As such, it is not hard to envisage additional non-claimant players or facilitators that want to guarantee the safety of sea lanes for their vital mercantile activities.

Finally, if the ongoing disputes are not properly handled, it would have huge spill-over effects on the broader China-U.S. rivalry in this region. The Philippines, not to mention Japan and South Korea in Northeast Asia with their overlapping claims of Islands with China, has a treaty alliance with the U.S. For instance, a small incidental armed attack in the Kalayaan Island chains can easily turn ugly amid growing China-U.S. rivalry. The Philippine government is confident that any attack on a Filipino ship in the areas under its administration is a direct attack on the U.S. as stipulated in the defense treaty with the U.S.