The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Misbehaving ministers” plus 9 more

There will be no tolerance for any misbehaving ministers in this term.

Nathan Horton's business model is straightforward. A professional photographer, Horton helps amateur photographers take pictures abroad.

Photo tourism is an increasingly lucrative trade in Cambodia. Horton, who runs half-day jaunts in Phnom Penh and longer journeys into the provinces, is one of the practitioners capitalising on the trend.

"There is a massive growth of people who want to have a holiday and learn something at the same time, photography in particular," said Horton, who has done well in the seven years he's offered tours in Cambodia.

What started as $50 half-day trips around Phnom Penh now cost $80. To the more ambitious, Horton sells inclusive 10-day tours for $1,800.

"What I offer in Cambodia is a lot better than what I used to offer because I know the country so well now," he said. "I'm always afraid that [the prices] will frighten people off, and invariably it doesn't. Actually it attracts just as many people."

Taking pictures and travelling have always gone together, so creating a business out of it is a natural progression.

Mohan Gunti, a consultant to the Cambodia National Tourism Working Group, called tourism and photography "modern twins".

"Photo tourism is not yet considered an independent type of tourism, but it is becoming an en vogue product due to growing demands."

As president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, Ang Kim Eang said local travel agencies should recognise the trend as a new revenue source.

Ang, who runs his own agency, Great Angkor Tours, is already profiting. Since May 2012, a Cambodian freelance photographer has led the excursions for Great Angkor.

"The more photography tours are offered, the more tourists will come," he said. "It will bring revenue and money into the economy and the tourism industry."

The trend, however, is not without potential downsides.

Cambodia has one of the worst records of tourism money trickling down to locals, Elizabeth Becker, author of Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism, said in an email.

"When [photography tours are] done well, the tours can benefit the local economy by using local guides and patronising local establishments," said Becker, who covered Cambodia as a reporter for the Washington Post in the 1970s. She added that local elites and foreigners take an unusually high percentage of profits from tourism.

But photography outings can also serve as a window into a country, enriching the visitor's understanding of a different culture, she said.

"These tours are a good example of education morphing into tourism."

The rage for photography is taking place in tandem with a pivot towards "authentic" tourism, in which daily life, not just ancient temples, is the object of fascination.

Phnom Penh and Siem Reap are no longer the only hot spots. In Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Pailin and Pursat provinces, tourism grew 67 per cent from 2011 to 2012, according government data.

Over the same time period, tourism in the better-known coastal provinces of Preah Sihanouk, Kampot, Kep, and Koh Kong grew only 45 per cent.

Images of everyday Cambodia that foreigners find novel are part of what fuels photography tours and tourism in general. In Cambodia, hardly anything escapes the hungry eye of the camera. During mass demonstrations against the ruling Cambodian People's Party earlier this month, tourists snapped photos of protests and barricades.

In a video that later popped up on social media, a group that appeared to be sightseeing crawled on hands and knees through a tangle of razor-wire, while friends on the other side recorded video of the manoeuvre. Memories!

Street vendors selling fried insects and other Western-unfamiliar treats on the riverside attract snap-happy tourists daily. But the attention can inadvertently annoy.

Triv Sreymao, 32, worries that a heavy camera presence scares off customers. Crowds of tourists sometimes block the stall.

"I don't mind when people take my photo," Triv said one recent evening, "But sometimes they interrupt my business."

As she talked, camera flashes lighted up baskets holding mounds of frogs, grasshoppers, crickets and worms.

Photography tourism works because few participants are in a rush. Less-avid photographers on a group tour may not want to linger long at a particular site. Bus drivers paid to drive from point A to point B aren't inclined to stop on the side of the road because the late-day light is just perfect.

But does it justify dropping almost two grand for a 10-day, organised tour?

Retired company director David Marsh seems to think so. At 68, he had traversed Cambodia's coastal provinces on his own. But as a keen photographer, he was looking for the tour that matched his hobby with his holiday. He found Horton's company online and booked the $1,800 package. By the end of June, he was seeing Cambodia through the lens of a Nikon D7000.

"The scope of the tour, with stopovers at several destinations and all accommodations pre-booked, seemed an excellent value," said Marsh in an email.

Horton has had difficulty keeping up with the demand. Until six months ago, he was a one-man business, reserving and confirming bookings, on top of guiding the tours. Now he's adding staff.

He isn't the only one.
"I'm getting more competition after seven years, but I think there's room for people to teach photography," he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY HOR KIMSAY

Comment
After only his 13th match in charge of Sunderland (unlucky for some), Paulo Di Canio is the first Premier League manager to be sacked this season or, as they say in the trade, the first to be given the Spanish archer – the "el-bow".

It does seem rather incredible to sack a man just after he has brought in 14 new players to the club, but I suppose by today's fickle standards, five league matches into a new season is a lifetime in football.

However, Di Canio's volatile style of management did not help his cause, nor did his political past, and it is rumoured that he was considering playing a relative of Joseph Goebbels out on the right wing.

So who will be next for the chop in the circus that is the managerial merry-go-round? Let's take a look at the likely candidates. First up and the jolly favourite is naturally Martin Jol himself. The Dutchman's Fulham side needed a penalty shoot-out to beat lowly Burton Albion in the Capital One Cup, and The Cottagers have had only one league win so far against . . . wait for it . . . Sunderland.

Not a particularly auspicious start, and furthermore Martin Jol's choice of track suit attire has been rather poor lately. If any decision was based on dress sense alone, he would surely be next.

How about Chris Hughton? Not a good start for Norwich either, no goals in two league games away from home and an average of less than a goal a game in total. Hughton's most notable signing is Ricky van Wolfswinkel from Sporting Clube de Portugal.

However, with only one successful strike so far to his credit, Van Wolfswinkel is in danger of becoming known as Rip van Winkle, as he appears to fall asleep in front of goal.
Hughton, however, might be given more time as he always wears a nice suit.

Then there is "Mister Ridiculous", the Magpies' boss Alan Pardew. Pardew astonishingly was given a contract until 2020.

That would take him past two soccer World Cups, three Ryder Cups and seven Eurovision Song Contests. Can he really last that long when his Newcastle team cannot even beat newly promoted Hull at home?

What about Steve Clarke of West Brom? On the plus side there is the signing of the superb Stephane Sessegnon from Sunderland (Di Canio should never of let him go).

On the minus side, five points from five league games is a disappointing start from a side that promised so much last season. Even more on the minus side is the fact that Clarke seems to be wearing Martin Jol's tracksuit from the previous week.

Worth checking out this weekend's wear from the respective managers, if they are still in a job by then!

In a shift from their initial suspicions, police now believe that a 30-year-old Kampot town mother was stabbed to death by a co-worker on Monday.

Police arrested Krech Theuorn, 31, yesterday in connection with the murder of Sieng Channak, whose blood-soaked body was discovered by her 10-year-old son after she was stabbed 17 times with a vegetable knife, deputy Kampot police chief Moa Chan Makthurith said.

"The suspect said she killed the victim because of an ongoing dispute in the workplace," he said, adding that Theuorn worked at the same karaoke bar as Channak.

Police initially suspected that one of Channak's husband's two previous wives had killed her.

On Monday, neighbours reported to police that they saw a masked woman get off a motorbike taxi and enter Channak's home before they heard screams.

While police were looking for her yesterday, Theuorn attempted suicide using pills, Chan Makthurith said. Police found the suspect and took her to hospital.

Four days before July's national election, Cheam Chin received a letter from Sar Mor primary school in Takeo province, where he worked as a secretary, that said school officials had transferred him and two teachers to other schools more than 30 kilometres away.

"The acting school director moved us to other schools far away from our homes," Chin said. "They said I was absent more than 20 times in two months.… How could I have been absent that much? I am the one who records absences every day."

Chin, who says he never missed a day during that period, suspects the transfers from Sar Mor in Traing district's Khvav commune to schools in the district's Thloak commune had more to do with the trio's off-hours participation in the Cambodia National Rescue Party campaign than any performance issues.

In complaints filed with Adhoc, Licadho and the provincial and national education ministries, Chin, Chem Vannak and Klaing Chandara allege that then-acting school director Kem Tha's decision to transfer them came after he caught wind of their support of the opposition party.

Current Sar Mor director Chhung Sathya denies the former employees' allegations, and insists that his predecessor's move came in response to their track records of poor attendance and improper conduct.

"The school did not move them to another school because they support the CNRP, but because they did not respect the school principal and were often absent," Sathya said.

But notification of their transfers was the first indication Sar Mor gave any of the three that their performance was sub-par, Chin said.

In addition to individual complaints to various agencies, which all three filed about two weeks ago, the Cambodian Independent Teachers' Association plans to register a complaint with Takeo's provincial court on their behalf, CITA president Ny Chandaravuth said.

"We want all relevant officials to re-check and investigate this case," Chandaravuth said. "I think the transfers were politically motivated, due to [Chin, Vannak and Chandara's] support of the CNRP."

A Thai woman who claims she was only trying to meet her Facebook boyfriend now faces life imprisonment in Cambodia for drug smuggling.

Preedaporn Bucha, 36, was tried by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday for "keeping, transporting and trafficking" 13 kilograms of cocaine through the Phnom Penh International Airport in August 2012.

"She smuggled the drugs from Brazil to Cambodia, and her destination was to bring it into Thailand via a transfer in Cambodia," said Judge Heng Sok Na.

According to the police investigation, after meeting a Brazilian man named Nick on Facebook, Preedaporn searched for a way to meet her long-distance lover. A Thai woman named Kung offered an easy solution: She would buy Preedaporn's round-trip airfare and give her $1,000 if only she would fetch a suitcase belonging to Kung from a man named Kevin in Brazil.

Colonel Yeng Bunna, chief of the Anti-Drug Police Office, said on a stopover during the return flight from Brazil, police detained Preedaporn and searched her bags, finding 10 packages of cocaine.

While awaiting charges in a Cambodian prison, she discovered she was pregnant, and gave birth in jail.

During her trial yesterday, Preedaporn denied her involvement in drug trafficking.

"I confess that I was the owner of this luggage. It was sent with me by a … person named Kevin from Brazil to a Thai woman named Kung living in Bangkok. But I did not know that there were drugs hiding inside it," she told the court.

Preedaporn was one of several drug runners caught last August trying to smuggle substances from Brazil to Thailand. However, Yung Phanith, Preedaporn's defence lawyer, said his client was the only unsuspecting person used by the traffickers.

"My client did not know in advance and had no willingness to smuggle these drugs," he said. "Therefore, I would like to ask the court to reduce or suspend her sentence and allow her to return to her country."
Preedaporn's verdict will be delivered in court October 16.

A traditional healer accused of raping a 13-year-old girl was yesterday convicted of the lesser charge of having sex with a minor. Chin Ramo, 24, was sentenced in Phnom Penh Municipal Court to five years in prison and ordered to pay the victim 10 million riel ($2,500) after Judge Kim Rath Narin reduced the charge.

Lim Chan Lida, who represented the victim in court, argued that the court should have convicted Ramo of rape, for which he would have served up to 10 years. Chan Lida had also demanded $10,000 on behalf of her client.

She was unsure if her client would appeal the decision.

In response to the ongoing flooding that has taken 25 Cambodians' lives, Prime Minister Hun Sen asked for an increased emergency response during his first cabinet meeting.

After calling on officials to assure each area of evacuation has food, medical and health supplies, the premier suggested that damaged rice crop be replaced and that residents willingly evacuate if necessary.

"I appeal to the residents to be careful and stay safe during the flooding, and residents who live along the river bank in danger of collapsing need to temporarily evacuate for safety reasons," he said.

He also suggested that a group of doctors be sent to assist victims. The Ministry of Health has already sent 12 doctors to Kratie, one of the three hardest-hit provinces.

Three officials from Ratanakkiri's O'Yadav district were charged on September 10 for threatening and intimidating a villager after he filed a lawsuit related to the corrupt sale of community land in 2011, according to a letter obtained by the Post yesterday.

Romas Svang, 47, of Yatung commune, received a letter from provincial courts last Friday, detailing the court's decision to charge three officials for threatening to imprison and kill him if he spoke to the media after illegally selling community-owned land.

"I filed the lawsuit because they colluded with each other in selling 400 hectares of community land. One hectare is $800, so the money should have been $320,000," Svang said.

After he filed a complaint with district authorities in 2011, the court-issued letter states that local authorities began monitoring the three men.

Rochom Cheung, the first clerk of Yatung commune; Young Chou, the former commune chief; and Sen Voeun, a former commune police chief now working as deputy chief, are the three officials accused.

Upon receiving the money for the land deal, the officials allegedly distributed about 80,000 riel [$200] to each family and used the rest to purchase motorbikes and land.

Sen Voeun said yesterday that he had no knowledge of the recent charges, but had appeared before the courts for questioning in 2011 and this year.

"I do not know about land selling or intimidation. I invited him [Romas] to meet with the commune chief, but I do not know why he accused me of threatening him," he said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday outlined the role of the newly christened Ministry of Public Function, explaining that the body would oversee the reform of the Kingdom's civil service, including the salaries of its employees – a major plank in the opposition's campaign platform.

As a part of a more than six-hour address, the premier promised that the new ministry would increase the Cambodian bureaucracy's efficiency by making it prompter, easier to deal with and more receptive to criticism from both citizens and the media, though the opposition maintained yesterday that anything less than a cultural shift in government was unlikely to yield results.

At times consulting with new Minister of Public Function Pich Bunthin, Hun Sen mandated that civil servants be promoted every three years, describing as untenable the current system in which bureaucrats sometimes languish in low-level positions indefinitely.

"Some are at the A1 level for 13 years and have not been promoted," he said. "Some have retired but were not promoted."

Raising bureaucrats' pay – an issue that the Cambodia National Rescue Party pushed hard in the build-up to the July elections – also took a place of prominence in the remarks on the new ministry. Without offering details, Hun Sen said that salary reform would take place from 2015 to 2018, and that the government was experimenting with direct-deposit payment schemes intended to improve transparency and prevent kickbacks demanded by supervisors.

Despite the opposition's vocal support of civil servant reforms and salary increases, CNRP chief whip Son Chhay said yesterday that the new ministry was "a waste of time and state money, because it is not going to work".

"All the institutions [here] are so weak, and only a few people have centralised power in themselves," he said. "Any new institution that is created doesn't have the power or ability to perform."