The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “no one has to take reposnsibility” plus 9 more

Even though the victims died while working, it was an accident. No one has to take responsibility. The manager only paid for the funerals.

Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky – a wanted man in Russia over a failed $176 million construction project – left Israel late last week bound for Cambodia, Russian media has reported.

Reports say Polonsky, the subject of a violence-at-sea case in Preah Sihanouk, fled from Israel – where he has applied for citizenship – and was headed for the Kingdom via Bangkok. One report said he had already arrived in Cambodia.

A spokeswoman from Polonsky Press, the tycoon's personal PR office, refused to comment yesterday on his whereabouts.

"When Mr Polonsky decides to make an official statement, I will let you know," she said in an email.

Reports have suggested Russia was poised to ask Israel to extradite Polonsky when his tourist visa expired in late September.

The businessman faces intentional violence charges in Cambodia that could bring him three years in prison, but authorities have said they will deal with his case here before considering any requests to extradite him.

Tel Samuth, Polonsky's court translator during his pre-trial detention in Preah Sihanouk early this year, said he had contacted Polonsky in Israel last month.

"When we contacted the court, we were told his case is still being investigated," Samuth said. He said this meant a trial date had not yet been set.

Samuth added: "I heard Polonsky wants to come back to Cambodia."

Investigating judge Sar Lina said she did not have any information about Polonsky's whereabouts.

An opposition party member has been threatened and physically assaulted by ruling party supporters in Kandal province, the alleged victim and investigators from rights group Adhoc said.

Hang Hay, 53, who worked as a Comfrel observer on election day, claims he was attacked by the son of a village guard on August 8 who tried to "kill" him with a bamboo pole, though he escaped with little injury.

He added that village guards have harassed him since polling day and that local authorities affiliated with the ruling party have refused to listen to his complaints.

"In my village I am the only one that supports the CNRP, and they have harassed me until today," he said.

Provincial Adhoc coordinator Men Makara confirmed Hay's story, saying the group was investigating and called on the authorities for a thorough police inquiry.

Bav Peng, the commune chief of Sa'ang district's Troy Sla commune, denied the allegations.

A local Koh Kong journalist was arrested over the weekend and sent to court yesterday for allegedly raping a teenage acquaintance, a police official said.

But Sophon, 51, a reporter for the Democratic Coalition Newspaper, was arrested on Friday for the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl, provincial police chief Sam Khitvean said.

"He was preliminarily accused by our police with raping an underage girl and was sent to court to be charged," he said.

"If he is found guilty, he will face a punishment of up to 15 years' imprisonment."

Sok Nhar, chief of the serious penal crimes unit, said the victim filed a complaint alleging she was raped twice by Sophon.

According to the complaint, in early August, Sophon took the victim – a daughter of his friends – on a trip to Preah Sihanouk province. During the drive, he pulled into a forest and raped her twice.

Upon arriving home, she told her parents, who filed a police complaint.

Sophon and his defence attorney could not be reached.

Intensity was high and the Cambodian-Filipino rivalry was at its fiercest as Sela Meas outgunned Extra Joss Warriors 66-58 at the Beeline Arena on Saturday to improve their ranking to third in the Cambodian Basketball League sponsored by the Western Union and Coca-Cola.

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It was neck-and-neck all along, but what made the crucial difference was a sloppy second quarter by the Warriors, during which Sela Meas built up a seven-point cushion that stood them in good stead.

The Warriors regrouped well enough in the next two close sessions, 18-17 and 17-17, but the all-Cambodian Sela Meas were in no mood to relent and firmly held on. Kluy led the Sela Meas points hunt with 17, while Sok Samnang chipped in with 13.

As usual, Fred Babida came out best for the Warriors with 20 points. Josuha Schmitz (13) and Ley Denetrosa (11) played the support cast well.

Phnom Penh Dragons got their act together in a runaway 71-37 win over Chinese team Galaxy, who went in without their star player Kelvin Chan. His absence was a clear plus for the Dragons, who came away with a 23-10 first quarter.

Galaxy did well to contain their opponents in the next 20 minutes by slowing down the tempo. But the fourth quarter was a different story altogether.

The Dragons notched up 30 to Galaxy's 10 and the rout was complete. Ben Laird (25) and Leng Seng (16) kept the Dragons going, while Wang Xuefeng managed 10 points for Galaxy.

"The team played great in what was a typical trap game," Dragons coach Michael Dibbern told the Post. "We lost our rhythm a bit when Galaxy slowed the game down, but in the fourth quarter we scored a lot of fast breaks."

Despite Pate 310 beating Post Buffaloes by a 20-point margin at 78-58, it was a victory earned in a hard fight. Both sides were under pressure having lost all but one of their previous five games.

At dead-even 14, the first quarter defined the mood in both camps.

But a sudden shift of gears saw Pate surge into a 10-point half-time lead, thanks to Sok Tour hitting some nice baskets. After the break, Buffaloes tried mighty hard to stay in the game but the gap proved too wide to bridge once Pate took firm control of the fourth quarter.

Overall, it was Taing Teng Kuy's consistency that did the trick for Pate. His 28 points adding lustre to Sok Tour's 23. For the Buffaloes, Adam Noah was outstanding with 23 points.

"What helped us to win today was our performance from the free throw line. I still believe we will make it to the playoffs," Pate team manager Chamnan Toun told the Post.

Authorities arrested seven people, including a purported military official, in a drug raid in Battambang province on Saturday that netted a small amount of methamphetamines and two guns, military police said.

A military police official who asked not to be named said seven suspected drug dealers were arrested in the raid, including Thach Borin, 39, a military official and the group's alleged ringleader, and that a search of the suspect's rental house yielded two scales, other assorted drug paraphernalia, just over 10 grams of crystal methamphetamine and two guns – an M16 assault rifle and a Glock handgun.

"He really is a military official," the military police official said. "In the crackdown, we decided to let the prosecutor reveal this information. Therefore, we will tell reporters more after the questioning."

Provincial prosecutor Long Hokmeng confirmed the arrest of the seven suspects, but could not say whether any had ties to the military.

"The suspects were detained at the military police office and have not been sent to the court yet," he said. "I do not know if [the suspect] is a military official or not; I am waiting for their arrival."

Orn Soachrim Mondol, the deputy provincial military police chief, also confirmed the arrests but maintained that he would not have more details until the suspects' interrogation was complete.

After being sentenced to two and a half years in prison in 2011 – only for a judge to say he didn't have to issue a warrant for her arrest – Dy Proem, Prime Minister Hun Sen's cousin, has now been given the coveted title of "oknha", a royal decree reveals.

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Proem, 51, who has been a free woman while she waits for an appeal hearing over her bribery conviction and prison sentence, was awarded the honorific on June 29, according to the decree, signed by King Norodom Sihamoni and obtained yesterday.

While Proem and her lawyer could not be reached for comment, the bestowing of the title – one reserved for wealthy tycoons – came as a shock to Kao Ty, the defence lawyer of Huoth Sarom, a 70-year-old widow who alleges her land was stolen by Proem.

"I'm very surprised with this appointment of Mrs Dy Proem as an oknha," he said. "She was convicted … and her case is still proceeding to the Court of Appeal. How can she be promoted to be an oknha like this?"

A month after Phnom Penh Municipal Court found Proem guilty and sentenced her to prison in 2011, Seng Neang, a judge at the court, said a warrant for her arrest did not have to be issued.

"Based on Article 353 of Cambodia's Criminal Code, the court can issue a warrant for the arrest of those who have been tried and sentenced to one year's jail or more," he said. "But this article does not state that the court must issue warrants for their arrests."

Lawyer Sok Sam Oeun, president of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said yesterday that there were issues regarding how oknha titles were awarded.

"Appointing a convicted criminal can discredit the title of oknha," he said, adding, however, that Proem had a right to be presumed innocent until her appeal hearing.

A government officer at the Council of Ministers who asked not to be named said that to be an oknha, a businessman must pay at least $100,000 to the government.

Microsoft Cambodia has found that an overwhelming majority of computer retailers surveyed earlier this year failed to offer customers the option to purchase licensed, as opposed to pirated, software.

Out of the 54 Cambodian computer retailers included in the May survey, the results of which were released over the weekend, 96 per cent did not offer the licensed option.

As a result, Microsoft says that 90 to 95 per cent of computer users in Cambodia are using illegal software.

Though Microsoft dominates the market for operating systems in Cambodia, company representative Pily Wong says that "it is the entire system" that is suffering.

"Computer shops, they make very little margins on computers, and now they make zero margins on pirated software," he said.

Wong said that larger profits for both retailers and distributors through the sale of licensed products would lead to greater job creation in Cambodia's economy, which, according to Microsoft, loses $50 million a year through the sale of pirated software.

Citing Cambodia's domestic copyright law, Microsoft warned that violators could face fines of one million to 20 million riel ($250 to $5,000) and one to five years' imprisonment. But it is more likely that they will face none of the above, at least for now.

"We really want to fully protect the law on property rights, but so far a lack of resources is the major challenge to enforce the law," said Var Roth San, director of the intellectual property department at the Ministry of Commerce.
Roth San said his department alone would require 16 more staff members for which no existing budget can pay.

But as long as software counterfeiters continue to infringe copyright, innovation will be limited, Roth San said, and Cambodia's image will suffer.

While Cambodia's copyright laws remain intact, international pressure to enforce them eased in June when the World Trade Organisation agreed to extend a waiver that frees least developed countries (LDCs), Cambodia included, from cracking down for another eight years. Commonly protected products include books, music, film and software.

The WTO move, proponents of the extension say, allows LDCs the continued opportunity to access technology that may otherwise be unaffordable through the protection of intellectual property laws.

Having met with the government, Wong, at Microsoft, said there may be another avenue for protecting pirated software.

Wong says Cambodia's trademark laws, which protect brand logos, could be used to prosecute those buying and selling pirated software, as the trademark is clearly displayed on both the packaging and when the software is being used.

More like Balinese demons than DJs – that's how the secretive duo behind Los Angeles-based electronic music project Indradevi see themselves.

Speaking with their faces masked by colourful Balinese dance costumes inspired by the Indonesian island's pre-Hindu animist traditions and given a neon paint job, the description seems less far-fetched than it sounds.

"We're not even human, bro," said Barong in an American accent two days ahead of the release of the pair's debut album, A Thousand Tomorrows.

His otherworldly mask with catlike fangs and ears gave as much – or little – of a hint of his true identity as the narrower but similarly sinister mask that shielded his music partner, Rangda. He also refuses to reveal his name.

Their signature masks correspond with traditional representations of the two godlike figures from which the duo draw inspiration: the heroic, lion-like Barong and the evil witch Rangda.

"They are two demons, good and evil, like ying and yang, locked in an eternal battle."

The only thing stranger than Indradevi's assumed personas is the music itself, which combines Western drum and bass, Khmer rock and traditional Cambodian and Indonesian instrumentation.

With high-octane techno beats coupled with the soothing chimes of gamelan and the rock tunes of sixties' singer Sinn Sisamouth, their sounds are as polarised as the demons they portray. The surreal compositions that result are almost frighteningly psychedelic.

Interlaced with the Balinese drums and electronic bass are samples of ceremonial chanting, recorded in temples throughout Southeast Asia.

"I call our music jangala," said Rangda, using the Sanskrit root word for jungle. "It speaks through the Asian influence behind the music."

If A Thousand Tomorrows, which is set for a YouTube release tomorrow, follows the pattern of their pre-released singles, it promises to be unique package.

Their recent single "Step Away", released on August 9, features Cambodian-American actress Sophea Pel singing lyrics by sixties' songstress Ros Sereysothea to the intermingled sounds of drum and bass and Indonesian gamelan.

In the music video, Pel is painted green, brandishing long metallic finger nails and dreaded hair, giving her a Medusa-like appearance.

The duo's attraction to female vocals prompted them to name the band after a woman – Angkorian female royalty, to be precise, said Barong.

Indradevi was one of the wives of Jayavarman VII, who oversaw the construction of Angkor Thom in the 12th and 13th centuries. It is also the name of a world-renowned yoga instructor – but that had nothing to do with the choice, according to Barong.

The project itself was born in Cambodia, after listening to classic Cambodian rock music during a visit to Cambodia two years ago.

They decided to give the classics a modern twist, after noticing a passion for dance music among the country's youth.

"One of the things that struck is me is that lot of [the old songs] are covered as it was originally played," Barong said.

After some experimentation, the duo decided to reshape the music with more modern sounds. They enlisted the help of four Khmer rappers to produce additional material: Lisha, Prach, Khmer Kid and RJ Sin.

"Their lyrics cover diverse terrain, but a lot of the subject matter involves building a bright future," said Barong.

The album also features vocals provided by Shikhee, the sole member of the US-based industrial rock project Android Lust.

"It worked out surprising well, and from there it mushroomed into a two year project where we created an 11 track album," said Rangda.

Indradevi tested out their sound on a tour of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam in 2012, including a concert at Equinox in Phnom Penh and Laundry Bar in Siem Reap.

"The reaction was amazing," Barong said. "These 16- and 18-year-old girls who were born after the Khmer Rouge knew the words to all the songs we were playing."

In addition to appealing to Cambodia's youth, Barong said that the sound proved popular among young American partygoers at clubs in the Los Angeles area.

"I can also play to people who can't even find Cambodia on the map."

Judging by their pre-released video on YouTube, which has gained almost 5,000 views in 10 days, the pair predict success.

"Most of our views are from people who are probably high school kids and college kids in Phnom Penh who are pretty mystified to what we are doing," speculated Rangda, adding most of the views have been from Cambodia and the US.

"The machine is up and rolling. The hard part is over."

At the end of a long day's trek, fried chicken with rice and veggies can be a mouth-watering dish, but in truth it demands a cold beer or two to wash it down.

Unfortunately that's impossible in the highland villages of Indonesia's remote Papua province. Even Wamena, the main town of the Baliem Valley, at an altitude of 1,700 metres, is bone dry.

There is a slight caveat: Foreign visitors can take two cans of beer when they head up to the mountain valley from the provincial capital, Jayapura – assuming they can find somewhere that sells it, which ain't easy.

And it's even more difficult during the just-concluded Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

You may say it is a trivial matter, and on one level it is. For, while a beer would be nice after a six-hour trek up steep slippery trails to a remote Dani village, it is better not to add alcohol to the travails of the native people.

On another level, however, it is more disputatious. For remember, distant Papua has more Christians and other denominations than Muslims, so why should Islamic rules be imposed on them?

After all, in Jakarta there is no problem buying booze or cavorting with bar girls or engaging in other decadent vices – even during Ramadan. So if it's fine in the capital, why not faraway Papua?

Well, for a good reason, and one which is worth supporting despite the double standard and the inconvenience to thirsty visitors.

The Dani, Lani and Yali tribal folks in the Baliem Valley, despite undeniable advances, are still unused to "civilised" ways.

Many forego clothes, practice polygamy, eat an unhealthy diet of sweet potatoes and yams, and having been introduced to cigarettes, now smoke furiously from dawn to dusk. They would do the same with booze.

So the beer ban is sensible, as the fate of aboriginal people in North America and Australia confirms.

What is inexcusable is the way meretricious proselytisers have exploited the isolated Papuans and filled their heads with religious cant.

Few places in the world are as remote and sparsely populated as Papua, and yet at the same time have as many churches and mosques.

And the way priests and mullahs have plied the tribal folk with guff about heavenly redemption and everlasting paradise grates far more than having to stay teetotal for a few days.

Even more grating is the way this kind of thing has spread to big cities like Bandung and Makassar, where it is tough to buy pork and liquor.

Worse, neighbouring Brunei's Islamic Religious Council banned daytime eating, for everyone, in Muslim-owned restaurants during Ramadan.

It's shocking. No religious group should be able to impose its doctrinal beliefs on others, whether in Papua, Brunei or elsewhere.

Last week, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono spoke out in parliament against this growing trend.

Said SBY: "I am very concerned about the continuing incidents of intolerance and communal conflict we see, which are often violent."

Likewise, Aqil Siradj, chairman of Indonesia's biggest Muslim body, the Nahdlatul Ulama, urged the government to punish the Islamic Defender's Front for raiding bars and nightclubs.

When the Front, which seeks to repeal the 20th century, mounted an attack last month, it led to a car chase that culminated in a pregnant woman being killed.

This must stop. Not only so non-Muslims can enjoy a beer in peace, but because it is bigoted and brings yet more disrepute to Islam.

Indeed, the intolerance is getting even worse among different Islamic sects, as shown by the brutal clashes between Sunni and Shia Muslims in Sampang, East Java, recently.

SBY's Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, a Sunni, exacerbated matters by saying the Shia should convert "to the true teaching of Islam".

In other words, my way or the machete, you heretics

We don't need any more of that, in Papua or Java or elsewhere across the region.