The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Chose the right street” plus 9 more

Most were killed. Except me, because I chose the right street.

Amid growing urbanisation, Lucky Supermarket opened three more branches in Phnom Penh's suburbs over the weekend, targeting a new consumer base living around the city.

Richard Seah, chief executive officer of parent company DFI Lucky Private Limited, said that customers have traditionally had to travel from suburban areas to purchase goods at Lucky in Phnom Penh.

"There are a lot of opportunities [in suburban areas] so that we are expanding outside of Phnom Penh," Seah said. "It is a very good market to develop and grow."

With the additional branches, Lucky now counts 10 outlets in Phnom Penh, including one mini-mart at Koh Pich. The new outlets are located at Young Shopping Mall along National Road 6A near the Cambodian-Japanese Friendship Bridge; at New Stung Meanchey Market; and on National Road 21, about 500 metres from Takhmao circle.

Seah said each branch cost about $700,000, including construction, equipment and imported goods.

Khim Dima is set to become the second Cambodian to step into the ONE Fighting Championship cage after the mixed martial arts promotion handed him a bout in their upcoming event, Total Domination, in Singapore on October 18.

The 22-year-old, who hails from Poung Keab village in Sisaphon district of Banteay Meanchey province, will be facing Filipino wushu champion Rene 'D'Challenger' Catalan in a flyweight contest in front of an expected 12,000 cage fight fans at the Singapore Indoor Arena.

"I can't believe I have the chance to fight at ONE FC," Khim Dima told the Post yesterday. "MMA is such a new sport in Cambodia. I can't say if I will win or lose, but I will try my best for the pride of my country."

Khim Dima, currently a second year law student at Build Bright University, holds a Cambodian kickboxing record of 40 wins (including 12 by knockout), six losses and three draws, having fought out of Reaksmey Poung Keab Club. Nicknamed the Black Dragon, he was a 60kg champion at the CBF tournament on TV3 back in 2011 but has been training at his current club, A Fighter MMA gym in Phnom Penh, for the past seven months.

Like his club-mate Long Sophy, who lost to Indonesia's Max Metino at ONE FC's most recent event in Jakarta on September 13, questions will be asked about Dima's ability to master all the disciplines concerned with cage fighting, especially those for groundwork such as wrestling and Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ). However, his trainer Im Ouk reckons he will be "more than ready" come October 18 to take on Catalan, who won gold in the Chinese martial art of wushu at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.

"[Dima is] very confident about the fight," Im Ouk told the Post. "His strength is his striking and he has no weakness. His ground game is pretty decent.

"With Long Sophy it was also going to be a grappler versus striker. We already know if the fight went to the ground, Sophy was going to be in trouble.

"With every fight there is always a different way to prepare and different game plan. With this fight it will be striker versus striker, so we have a few game plans in mind."

Im Ouk noted that the gym was constantly trying to find new ways to train their Cambodian fighters to develop their own style in the cage.

"We're teaching Dima many things in the cage to learn how to use the cage and understand that you can use the cage to your advantage if you know how to use it," he added.

"In my opinion, he will knockout his opponent and take the win for Cambodia."

Catalan has experience in the ONE FC cage, having made his debut at Kings & Champions in Singapore on April 5. He was submitted by armbar by Brazilian BJJ black belt Alex Silva at the end of the first round.

Cambodian fans can watch the action live from Singapore on local channel MyTV.

In addition to the Total Domination's highly anticipated headlining match between ONE FC bantamweight world champion Soo Chul Kim of South Korea and interim champion Bibiano Fernandes of Brazil, the promotion has announced two other clashes.

The co-main event will see Japanese MMA superstar Shinya Aoki cutting down to make his featherweight debut in a non-title contest against American Cody Stevens.

On the undercard, Mitch Chilson of the US and Thailand's Shannon Wiratchai will square off in the cage once again after their controversial previous bout in August 2012 was ruled a no contest when Shannon knocked out Chilson with an illegal soccer kick.

"ONE FC: Total Dmonation will feature two of the best pound-for-pound mixed martial artists, Bibiano Fernandes and Shinya Aoki, competing on the same night. Their opponents are hungry and will be looking to earn the biggest wins of their lives by defeating these two iconic superstars," ONE FC CEO Victor Cui stated in a press release.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHHORN NORN

It's a strange world. Over the past fortnight, front-page headlines have focused on a brutal terrorist attack at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya's capital city.

Al Shabab guerrillas, fighting to set up an Islamist state in neighbouring Somalia, infiltrated the shopping centre and murdered more than 70 civilians.

Of course, it was shocking and deserved to be covered at length in the world's press.

But a similar episode, which began three weeks ago and still continues in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga, has rated fewer headlines and yet wreaked far greater death and destruction.

Whatever the reason for the skewed coverage, the carnage in Zamboanga has more significance for this region, especially for countries like Myanmar and Thailand, which also have large and disaffected Muslim communities.

The Zamboanga siege began when hundreds of Moro National Liberation Front fighters landed by boat and stormed into the city, taking hostages and occupying several waterfront districts, which they still hold today.

More than 150 people have been killed, buildings torched and destroyed and about 120,000 residents forced to seek refuge elsewhere.

Parts of the city, a major port and trading centre with a population of nearly one million, remain a war zone where bodies are left to rot on the streets. The stench is said to be unbearable.

Last week another Muslim rebel group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, assaulted Midsayap, a town in central Mindanao. Again, hostages were taken and gun battles and deaths followed.

Yet the world's media still paid scant attention. That may change, however, if not only Zamboanga and Midsayap, but other cities go up in flames.

What now looks sure to go up in flames is Philippine President Benigno Aquino's framework agreement to grant the Muslim region greater autonomy and thus bring peace and stability.

Unfortunately, this agreement, signed last October with the most powerful Muslim group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, has had the opposite effect – carnage and discord have ensued.

The problem is that Aquino dealt only with the dominant MILF, thinking the other dissident groups were in decline and could be marginalised.

He was mistaken. And now, with their assaults on Zamboanga and Midsayap and elsewhere, and the mini-invasion of Sabah earlier this year, they are proving him wrong.

Aquino belatedly sought to draw the others into the peace process, but it was too late and anyway the more assertive MILF would have resisted such a move.

Its chief negotiator, vice-chairman Ghazali Jaafar, is an astute operator, as I discovered when spending time with him at his base just outside Cotabato City.

After inking the agreement with Aquino, Ghazali said: "We are very happy. We thank the president for this."

And why not? They got the whole pie and have no intention of giving any of it up.

So what to do? The rebel groups are all heavily armed and their men are seasoned veterans who have been waging secessionist campaigns for decades and who will not easily be brought to one table.

The sad prospect is for more Zamboanga-style bloodshed and mass destruction that will make Kenya's Westgate Mall tragedy seem a rather petty affair.

After all, consider the relatively minor attack on Midsayap.

It was the work of a group that split from the MILF for the same reason as the MILF split from the MNLF – because they would not settle for limited autonomy.

Ghazali's men wanted more, and they got it under the agreement with Aquino, but it was still limited in that national security and foreign policy will remain under Manila's control.

Muslim hardliners cannot stomach that, and wanting nothing less than full independence, they broke away and formed the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters – and began their own violent campaign.

So it's a mess. And Aquino's much lauded peace agreement, which has ended up causing havoc and bloodshed, is now sadly destined to bite the dust.

A 26-year-old man was arrested Friday and charged in Siem Reap yesterday for allegedly beating and detaining a 16-year-old girl after luring her from her Battambang home and family.

Pang Veasna, who allegedly brought the girl to Siem Reap and kept her locked in his house, was charged with the unlawful removal of a minor.

"[Veasna] abducted a 16-year-old girl from her family in Battambang province to live with him as his wife in Siem Reap province. He has often beaten her and locked her in his house," Captain Mok Sam Oun, deputy chief of Siem Reap police force, said.

"He was charged by the court … and was sent to prison yesterday," he added.

Veasna was arrested on Friday after the victim, who is thought to have been missing since September 15, called her mother, who then alerted police.

If found guilty, Veasna could serve between two and five years in prison.

Veteran doubles pair Chea Bun Heng and Tang Phaly of Ministry of Interior Sports Club returned home on Saturday after clinching bronze at the inaugural Donex-Pro badminton tournament in Tay Ninh province, Vientam.

The Cambodian club sent a dozen of its members to participate in the three-day event, which hosted competitors from 40 Vietnamese clubs and associations.

Preparing for a demonstration expected to draw thousands of garment workers this morning, Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), said yesterday that he feared the possibility of a heavy-handed military police response.

"We are afraid the police will crack down on workers," Thorn said.

Since employees at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd – represented by C.CAWDU – first began walking off the job about a month ago, worker demonstrations have remained largely peaceful and free of interference from authorities.

But a massive military police show of force that stopped a march to Prime Minister Hun Sen's home on Friday and a recent violent turn taken at an SL protest have some observers concerned that authorities are taking a new approach towards the approximately 6,000 striking workers.

About 4,000 workers gathered at SL on Friday morning, C.CAWDU vice president Kong Athit said. With a petition detailing the workers' 11 demands in hand, the large assemblage made its way towards the prime minister's house on Sihanouk Boulevard, only to be stopped by about 1,000 military police and seven fire trucks.

Military police eventually allowed 30 SL demonstrators to pass and deliver their petition to members of the prime minister's cabinet, but the stopping of the march stands in stark contrast to one earlier this month, during which a crowd of SL strikers roughly the same size blocked a busy stretch of Monivong Boulevard in front of City Hall for three hours.

"I think … during the post-election [period] the government was taking time to win garment workers over," Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said. "Now they might be thinking they have the upper hand.… They're feeling more comfortable than a month ago."

The military police response on Friday also marked a departure from the government's tone last week, when Hun Sen and the National Assembly pledged reforms to the Kingdom's judiciary and economic land concession policy, Moen Tola, head of the labour program at the Community Legal Education Center, said.

"The response of the military police on Friday is evidence that the [Cambodian People's Party] doesn't have any will to reform its government," Tola said yesterday. "They want to make sure that there is no group of people who can stand up and protest."

Furthermore, Tola said, the SL workers' demands could be easily met if management would engage in good-faith negotiation with C.CAWDU. Key among the demands are the dismissal of Meas Sotha, a shareholder who hired military police to stand guard inside the factory; a $3-per-day food allowance; full salary payment for the time workers spend striking; and the dismissal of all military police stationed inside the factory.

Management at SL maintains that demands from workers, who briefly returned to work before going back on strike after military police guarding the factory severely beat an employee during a smaller demonstration on September 20, are unreasonable.

The majority of SL's workforce is only participating in the ongoing strike because C.CAWDU members have threatened and pressured them, said an SL administrator who asked not to be identified.

"The workers, they had to come [back] to work for us, but then C.CAWDU … pressured them," the administrator said. "They always terrorise and then they don't get [workers] any benefits."

Ken Loo, secretary-general of Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said the deadlock between SL management and workers may signify the end of the line for arbitration.

"I think the time for negotiation has come and passed. It's come to a point where it's beyond negotiation," Loo said yesterday. "I think the authorities need to step in."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SEN DAVID

Sporadic demonstrations and political haggling have failed to prompt an independent review of July's election results, so the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party is turning to the economy.

Along with the threat of a one-day, nationwide strike, CNRP president Sam Rainsy on Wednesday urged the international community, businesses included, to "not engage" with the "illegitimate" government of the Cambodian People's Party, which claims it bested the CNRP in a vote marred by myriad allegations of fraud.

But analysts say Rainsy's ability to apply pressure through economic means is limited at best. They point out that the CNRP doesn't have enough sway to influence the international business community and that a daylong strike would not fracture the economy enough to gain the necessary bargaining chips.

"All of those institutions have their own rules on how to work with the government, how to apply pressure to the government, how to invest in this country or that country," political analyst Kem Ley said, referring to international businesses.

Historically, a few common factors are needed for boycotts to have real impact: emotion and commitment.

"Boycott success usually depends on how strongly people feel about an issue and whether it is easy to participate," Daniel Diermeier, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, said.

He added that boycotts are rarely effective in accomplishing their goals but can damage the economy and eventually lead to change when sustained over a long period of time.

Local boycotts and divestment from South Africa's racist, apartheid government played an important role in the downfall of the system, but that was after a number of years.

Motivated by the December 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, residents and protesters in the American city of Montgomery, Alabama, began a 13-month boycott of the public transportation system.

Finally, the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was unconstitutional.

While the political circumstances in Cambodia are vastly different, experts say the equation for an effective boycott is clear.

"The authorities know that it takes a great amount of resources to go on strike, and obviously that it means lost wages, resources that the CNRP doesn't have or will eventually run out of," Sophal Ear, author of Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy, said.

For now, the CNRP is sticking to the idea of a one-day, nationwide strike – though a date has yet to be set – and party officials are confident that support will be widespread.

It isn't just young people who have been supporting the campaign against years of CPP rule, CNRP whip Son Chhay said.

There were "the shop owners, vendors at the market, motodops, tuk-tuk drivers – all kinds of people," said Chhay, who remained optimistic that local businesses would forgo a day's income for the greater goal.

Analysts say the one soft spot may be the garment sector, Cambodia's largest export industry.

Focusing on a major industry has inflicted damage elsewhere. In the US, legislators in the state of Arizona passed controversial immigration laws in 2010. The unpopular decision triggered a campaign that cost the state's conference and hotel industry $140 million in lost revenue as businesses chose to hold events elsewhere, according to the Center for American Progress.

A US federal court later repealed parts of the law.

Kong Athit at the Cambodian Labour Confederation, whose organisation represents 186 unions across six sectors, estimates that 40 to 50 per cent of the unions' 80,000 workers would join the strike.

There could be some private sector pressure applied "if the garment workers come out en masse", said Srey Chanty, president of the Cambodian Economic Association.

Chanty added that, in general, strikes can undermine the image of a government abroad, but the longer-term impact is less assured.

"In terms of the threat to overall economic development, I don't think it is a real threat," he said.

The IndoChina Starfish charity organisation, which aims to provide education, healthcare and sport to disadvantaged Cambodian children, concluded its 2013 Barclays ISF football event on Saturday at the National Institute of Education and Sport in Russey Keo district.

With approximately 300 children participating, including those with learning, hearing and visual disabilities, a series of 32 play-off matches were held between boys and girls teams.

ISF vice president Chhub Kanga, who was chief organiser of the day-long competition, said: "There is an increase in the number of participants in this fourth edition, yet there are no prizes for the winners.

Instead we offer trophies and medals to the team members because it's just for fun."

Work has commenced on Boeung Ket Rubber Field's new stadium in their home province of Kampong Cham, a report on their official website stated last week.

According to team manager Be Makara, all efforts will be made to have the facility ready by the end of January next year, shortly after the start of the new Metfone C-League season.

The club's main sponsor Long Sreng, an international investment firm that owns rubber plantations, will have exclusive naming rights to the ground.

The manager also noted that the 2012 league champions had already resurfaced the pitch of the Kampong Cham Stadium only for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport to terminate their contract and force a move to the new location 10 kilometres out of town.