The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Children of cadre” plus 9 more

Some teachers [want to discipline] students who are children of former Khmer Rouge cadre more harshly than children of the general population.

After splendid wins over Japan, Laos and hosts Thailand, the Cambodian Eagles went down to Vietnam Swans on Sunday to narrowly miss out on a spot in the finals of the annual AFL Asian Championships involving 13 regional Australian Rules Football teams.

A hectic full day of footy saw sides from Cambodia, Thailand, Laos. Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Bali, Japan, China, Macau, Jakarta, Philippines and Malaysia compete for honours in the 14th edition of the premier event hosted by the newly formed AFL Asia at the Royal Polo and Equestrian Grounds near Pattaya.

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Even before the start of the competition, which the Eagles missed last year, the side was hit by a number of late withdrawals, considerably reducing the squad strength – David Murphy, Gavin Murphy and David Bryce being notable absentees.

When it came to the crunch, traditional rivals Swans clipped the Eagles wings 2.0.12 to 0.0.0.

Despite the best efforts of backline stalwart Allan 'Peg-Leg' Sorteroteris, the Phnom Penh side's lack of bench strength took a heavy toll and the Swans managed to exploit the situation.

But before this needle game, the Eagles were flying high.

First up was relatively unknown Japan. Though the Eagles were off to their conventional slow start, they put together some solid moves, allowing Callum 'The Flash' McCulloch to kick the only goal of the game. Cambodia held on to win a low scoring match 1.2.8 to Japan 0.4.4.

Realising that they had to step up their effort against Thailand in order to overcome a team they hadn't beaten in many years, the Eagles got going after a decent spray from team general Trevor 'Bagga' Parris.

In a tight first half, the game was broken open by a fantastic spoil and running goal from Stephen 'Socheat' Higgins. This seemed to spur the Eagles, as they dominated the rest of the game with excellent run and tackling lead by captain Simon 'Beardface' Whitney. American debutant 'Marine Corps' Don Buer also scored a great goal in his first hit out for the Eagles, who won 3.1.19 to Thailand's 0.1.1

The Eagles run and support strategy worked to a nicety against a tenacious Laos outfit as well. Joel 'Two Flights' Thompson and Matt 'The Sailor' Blomberg did a lot of damage, pumping the ball into the forward line time after time, while Ritchie 'Spud on Legs' Flanagan and Phil 'Hammer-time' Hammer worked tirelessly in the middle.

Player-coach Grant Fitzgerald played his best game of the day, kicking two goals for the match which Eagles won 4.3.27 to Laos's 2.2.12. But that spirited run came to an end against the Swans.

With three wins and one loss the Eagles finished the day fifth on the ladder, just missing out on a place in the finals.

"This was an excellent result for a relatively small club in the region and proved just how far the club has developed over since it was founded in 2008," coach Fitzgerald told the Post yesterday.

"I couldn't be more proud of the team. We played some great football and to come away with three wins against quality opposition is a huge effort."

The day was topped off with the inclusion of midfielder Phil Hammer in the All Asian team.

Sunday's grand final saw the Hong Kong Dragons retain the title they clinched last year by beating the Philippines Eagles 4.5.29 to 2.3.15.

The Cambodian Eagles will now begin their preparations for the Indochine Cup, which they will host in Phnom Penh on November 9, taking on Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.

Outspoken land activist Kuch Veng will regain his freedom in 15 days after the Pursat provincial court yesterday handed down a guilty verdict with a one-year sentence, then suspended nearly three quarters of that term.

Veng has been in prison since May 19 on charges of fraud that rights groups and supporters believe to be politically motivated and tied to his activism against developer Pheapimex.

Long Lun, Veng's lawyer, said the court had insufficient evidence against his client and he was considering launching an appeal.

Veng stands accused of having defrauded a villager of $4,500 in 2010.

His arrest came following a series of protests against Pheapimex, which is owned by Choeung Sopheap, wife of CPP senator Lao Meng Khin.

Thousands in Pursat and Kampong Chhnang have been affected by the company's vast economic land concessions, and many have accused it of further land grabbing. Veng's verdict was originally set to be handed down last month, but the judge postponed it after hundreds of villagers camped outside the court in support of the activist.

Only 30 appeared yesterday in the hopes of forestalling further delay, a community representative said.

Lon Serey, a community representative from Krakor district who attended the hearing and verdict decision, said the judge appeared to disregard substantial evidence in Veng's favour.

"This decision is very unfair," Serey said.

Rights group Adhoc offered a similar conclusion, saying there had been insufficient proof of Veng's guilt.

"If we listen to the hearing, the judge did not have evidence to incriminate," Pursat provincial coordinator Phuong Sothea said.

Presiding judge Mao Sina could not be reached for comment.

As Cambodia's busy tourism season approaches, domestic and regional airlines are scrambling to offer Siem Reap routes in a bid to capitalise on the growing number of visitors to the Angkor Wat gateway.

The expansion means travellers in the region will have a wider variety of choices, and as competition tightens when the influx occurs around November, potentially lower prices.

In the past several months, players have entered the fray at a consistent rate. The latest, Korean carrier Air Busan, a subsidiary of Asiana Airlines, plans for scheduled daily flights between Busan, South Korea's second-largest city, and Siem Reap, according to Vann Chanty, director of the Air Transport Department of Cambodia's State Secretariat of Civil Aviation.

"Now they are in the process to apply for what we call the landing permit," he said, adding that it takes around two months to be issued.

Chanty said Chinese carrier Juneyao Airlines has also sent its application for a landing permit, targeting non-stop scheduled flights between Shanghai and Siem Reap. The private airline will be joined by Chinese flag carrier Air China, which envisions adding direct flights from Beijing as early as November.

The list continues with Dragonair, a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of Cathay Pacific, which announced last month it will start direct routes between Hong Kong and Siem Reap on October 29, offering the seasonal service three times a week.

Airlines that aren't adding the routes are in expansion mode. Singapore-based Silk Air, already operating a daunting 10 Singapore-Siem Reap legs weekly, wants to introduce an 11th into the mix, according to its website.

Ang Kim Eang, president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, said the number of carriers planning to launch flights to Siem Reap is particular high this year.

He said the session for the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, hosted this year in Phnom Penh, and the fact that Cambodia held the chairmanship for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations last year, played a role in attracting "the world to fly to Siem Reap".

The increase follows a rising number of tourists visiting the city, home to the 12th-century Angkor Wat ruin. According to Norinda Khek, a spokesman for Cambodia Airports, the company managing airports in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, 1.5 million passengers landed in Siem Reap between January and July this year, a 22.5 per cent year-on-year increase.

In July alone, 169,400 passengers touched ground in Siem Reap, an 18 per cent increase compared with the same month last year.

According to Lav Heng, general manager of VLK Royal Tourism Co Ltd, more airlines flying to Siem Reap means more competition, and that could lower fares. The downside is that, as tourism industry officials have argued, the concentration on Siem Reap detracts from Cambodia's lesser-known holiday sites in the northeastern provinces, coastal areas and the vicinity around Siem Reap.

"They just come to see the temple, that's all," Heng said.

"We cannot keep guests.… They just come to stay one night or two nights, then go back. That is not so good for us."

Heng also said the increase in flights to Siem Reap does not come alongside a growth in accommodation options in the popular town, and during peak season there are not enough rooms.

"Even if we have more flights and the flights are very cheap, the occupancy is a problem," he said.

One future entry has attracted particular notice.

On October 1, budget carrier Thai AirAsia will fly between Bangkok and Siem Reap at round-trip fares of about $110. Bangkok Airways charges roughly $315 for the flight, which lasts about an hour each way. The looming competition has sparked talk of a price war.

The regional airlines are joined by local chartered carrier Wat Phnom Airlines, which had its maiden flight from Siem Reap to Taipei last month. National carrier Cambodia Angkor Air announced earlier this year that it would take off between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap five times a day starting in July.

Revenue from insurance premiums rose sharply in the first half of 2013 compared with the same period a year ago, the most recent statistics from the Insurance Association of Cambodia (IAC) show.

As of July 1, premiums in the fledgling industry had climbed about 25 per cent to $22 million, compared with $17.6 million in the first six months of 2012.

An IAC report explains that the largest contributor came from insurance premiums for construction, which went up more than 100 per cent.

Premiums for fire insurance rose about 35 per cent, while vehicle coverage inched upwards by 5 per cent.

Personal accident insurance increased by nearly 15 per cent, and rises in health, marine cargo and miscellaneous insurance premiums came to 8.5 per cent, 8.2 per cent and 22.5 per cent, respectively.

IAC's President Chhay Rattanak said that growth in the sector was connected to a robust economy and, crucially, broadening public trust.

"The growth rate meets our forecast – this means that economic activity is on the right path," he said. "Sector growth always runs parallel with economic performance. Another important thing is that the people are starting to understand the industry."

Residents of Phnom Penh and a handful of provincial cities bought most of the coverage packages, Rattanak said.

He added that the industry maintains its steady growth spurt because of timely payouts for filed claims.

Youk Chamroeunrith, general manager of Forte Insurance, the country's biggest provider by coverage number, said that premiums rose about 35 per cent in the period.

"You know our people understand about having insurance when they have a car or motorbike, so this is a good sign of the industry's improvement," Chamroeunrith said.

Infinity Insurance CEO David W Carter wrote in an email last week that the premium results are somewhat misleading in that they reflect an upswing in mainly garment factory coverage.

"There have been many new factories started in the past year and so far no major fire losses," he said.

"This industry segment has traditionally had a big effect both positively and negatively on the insurance market. Apart from this segment, the market has grown, and fortunately there have been no major events recorded in the past six months."

IAC's data also shows that, in the same six-month period, the total amount of claims paid out by local insurers was $3.4 million, down 63.5 per cent compared with the same period last year.

Carter said that the drop was connected to a decrease in recorded incidents covered by insurance packages.

"Having said this, there have been many uninsured fires and other events, such as building collapses, so the recorded insurance losses are not necessarily demonstrative of the level of risk management in the market," he said.

In the whole year of 2012, the sector earned total premium revenue of $36 million, up 21 per cent compare to a year earlier.

When Him Anna started to plant pepper crops seven years ago, she would have never thought that one day it would turn into a profitable business.

Starting with half a hectare, the 34-year-old and her family initially planted the famous Kampot product solely for their own use.

"My husband asked me, 'Are there any special and deeply well-known products in Cambodia related to our culture?'" she said.

"At that time, I thought for a while and I thought Kampot pepper is well-known," she said.

"I thought even though we don't plant for business, we should preserve the Khmer agricultural product. I never had the idea to do it for profit."

Today, Anna is the chief executive officer of Bright Starling Holdings Co, which owns Starling Farm Kampot Pepper. Established in 2010, the company exports pepper to international markets.

When she started, she hardly saw any companies exporting abroad except for the Farm Link Company in Kampot, which shipped to France. Anna was born in Kampong Cham province's Prek Por commune in Srey Santhor district, and is married to Dutch national Mark Hanna.

"We never had experience in planting pepper, but we are lucky that we have an uncle who loves his career in agriculture, so I asked him to help us," she said.

So far, the pepper farm consists of five hectares of land, but only three hectares are bearing crops, while the rests will take at least two years to yield.

Anna employs 25 people to work on the farm, while another 15 work in processing the pepper, such as packaging.

"I can say, for the past three years, our company has been very successful because we can grow more pepper and the price of pepper crops has also increased," he said.

According to Anna, her farm produced about six tonnes of pepper this year. But demand is higher than the output on her farm, and so she bought about 1.5 additional tonnes from the Kampot Pepper Farmers Association (KPFA) and an extra 2 tonnes from other farmers in the area.

"Now the KPFA is happy to have contracts with many companies, but they are also upset because they don't have enough pepper for selling," she said, adding, that "next year, I plan to buy 10 tonnes from them".

Buying one kilogram of black pepper from the KPFA cost her $11 this year, while her company sold a kilo at $35, because it required much more work after buying it from the farmers, such as sorting out the best quality crops for export.

"I believe in Kampot pepper crops; [they] will be successful because I can see that after less than a semester, I have no pepper crops left for sale for foreign orders," she said.

Anna said that with about seven to eight tonnes, the majority of her company's pepper is exported to Germany, Canada, the US, France, UK, Russia and Australia.

Also expanding locally, Anna now runs three shops in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Kampot.

"We have full confidence in and pride in our pepper," she said.

Cambodia is one of the most attractive countries for expatriates working for US companies in ASEAN, according to a survey of 475 US business executives from throughout the region.

Of those surveyed in Cambodia, 65 per cent reported that employees in other locations requested to relocate to the country, a rate second only to Singapore, where 71 per cent reported receiving transfer requests.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore, which conducted the survey together with the US Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday that poll respondents are senior level executives at US companies, but not necessarily US citizens.

At 90 per cent, Cambodia held the highest rate of expatriates looking to extend their time in their host country, while Myanmar, where the rate stood at 50 per cent, had the lowest interest in prolonged employment.

In Cambodia, 65 per cent of respondents were from the services industry, including education, legal and marketing services, and some 20 per cent came from manufacturing. The response rate was just 15 per cent of the 130 AmCham members contacted in Cambodia for the survey.

The profit outlook is bright for US businesses here, with 75 per cent anticipating profit increases in 2013, and 95 per cent expecting gains in 2014.

US companies operating in Cambodia say the major strengths were a positive sentiment towards the US and the availability of low-cost labour. Of concern was corruption, the lack of "trained" labour, and laws and regulations.

Across the region, there was doubt over whether ASEAN economic integration could be achieved by 2015.

"The majority (52%) do not think that the AEC's goals will be realized by 2015, and only 23% believe that they will," the report stated.

Some 77 per cent across the region did, however, say that ASEAN integration "is important in helping their companies do business in the region."

Cambodia ranked eighth out of the 10 ASEAN countries that businesses across the region would be looking to expand to.

Sherilyn Lim is set to raise the profile of female mixed martial artists on October 18 when she makes her debut in the famed ONE FC cage in front of her home fans at the 12,000-seater Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The former college table tennis player turned muay Thai master will feature in the second women's match of ONE FC's two-year history following the ground-breaking bout between Singapore's Nicole Chua and Jeet Toshi of India on March 31 last year.

Lim's opponent has yet to be named for October's 'Total Domination'event, but she is relishing the challenge regardless of who she faces.

"It's definitely an honour for the opportunity – we're talking about the biggest MMA organisation in Asia," Lim told the Post.

Lim's interest in combat sports began as a student at Singapore Polytechnic, where she started the SP Muay Thai Club in the hope of losing some excess weight. Serving as secretary, she oversaw the club's rapid growth to more than 100 students.

Recruiting instructors from Singapore's oldest MMA gym Fight G to train club members put Lim in contact with owner Darren de Silva, who recognised her potential in cage fighting.

Under the guidance of her compatriot mentor, Lim quickly improved and was known to hold her own in sparring sessions against those of greater experience and a significant weight advantage.

Lim left the gym to pursue a career in advertising and hospitality, but was convinced to return to training by De Silva. Having shed weight to stand at a svelte 54kg, Lim was unleashed on the MMA scene earlier this year, dismantling her opponent in an amateur domestic competition.

She now enters the ONE FC cage as member of a select group who get to represent Singapore on the global platform.

"I'm excited and looking forward to fight night. I think nerves would be the last thing on my mind," said Lim.

"When I step in, the switch flips. Of course I am human too, but I learn how to channel the energy that I don't need to become fuel for my mind."

The Singaporean cites Demetrious Johnson of the US as a source of inspiration. Johnson is a protégé of Matt Hume, ONE FC's vice-president of Operations and Competition, and fight's out of Hume's AMC Pankration gym in Seattle.

The 27-year-old, nicknamed Mighty Mouse, is widely regarded as the world's best flyweight MMA fighter and is the current UFC champion of the division.

"[Johnson is] fast and never stops working. He's like a machine gun," added Lim.

The development of the sport for Asian women is something Lim is keen to foster.

"I'd love to see it grow and for more women to have the recognition they earn and deserve for the work that they do," she said.

"There are definitely women in the region doing MMA. It would be great if doors were to be opened up for them too."

Cambodia were crushed 4-0 by Australia last night in their opening tie of the 2013 AFF U16 Championships in Myanmar.

The Joeys were three up after 33 minutes at Naypyidaw's Zabuthiri Stadium through a Jackson Bandiera double sandwiched around a Jamie Dimitroff strike.

The Cambodians tightened up in the second half, but allowed Australia's Daniel Maskins to sneak in late on to make it four off keeper Sim Mesa's fumble.

Some points to take heart in and some points to learn from for the Kingdom's boys, who take on Brunei at 4pm tomorrow.

A man accused of being a sorcerer has fled his home in Ratanakkiri province with his wife after receiving death threats from fellow villagers, a rights worker said.

Chhay Thy, provincial coordinator for Adhoc, said ethnic Jarai villagers Romas Vem, 66, and his wife Sev Soy, 41, from O'Yadav district's Som Thom commune, feared for their safety after about 100 families accused Vem of sorcery.

"They expelled them from the village, threatening to kill them if they didn't go," he said, adding three of their relatives had also fled the village in fear.

Soy told the Post villagers had forced her husband – whom they believed had the power to make them fatally ill – to thumbprint a document agreeing to leave.

"My husband knows nothing about sorcery," she said.

District police confirmed yesterday they had visited the village to educate families about the law.

It's the fourth case of its kind in the district since 2010, while in 2004, a family of three was shot dead under similar circumstances in the province.