The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “One dead after violent crackdown” plus 9 more

Police use brutality against protesters under nightfall

If they are good protesters, they wouldn't be protesting [at night]. If someone is protesting at this time, they're not a clean protester, so authorities have the right to crack down.

Officials at the Ministry of Labour are encouraging thousands of alleged victims of an overseas employment scam to file complaints against the two men charged with defrauding them.

"Please, brothers and sisters who were cheated by You Can Win Co Ltd, hurry and file your complaints in order to demand compensation and punish the suspects," reads a statement released Friday by Pich Sophoan, Labour Ministry secretary of state.

Police last week arrested Oun Sarath, 30, and Kim Sophat, 29, the respective director and marketing manager of You Can Win. The recruiting firm allegedly charged its clients $100 for forms the company advertised would permit them to legally work in South Korea.

But the bogus forms the company sold were not authorised by the ministry, and provided clients no legal permission to work abroad.

Although You Can Win is in the process of applying for a licence with the Ministry of Labour to provide vocational training, it lacks any authority to approve Cambodians to work abroad.

A Ministry of Labour investigation into You Can Win began in June, after the firm advertised the permits on Facebook, Than Thavorak, an attorney representing the Labour Ministry, told the Post last week.

Sarath and Sophat are in custody awaiting trial.

Four subcommittees formed by the Ministry of Social Affairs met on Friday to begin establishing a new minimum wage for garment workers that will go into effect next year.

Following the meeting, Social Affairs Minister Ith Sam Heng told reporters that factory production rates, garment worker income and employee living expenses would be used to determine a proposed wage rate.

"They have one month to research and submit [a proposal] for the new minimum wage," Sam Heng said, adding it would be agreed upon by November and that the subcommittees include union representatives as well as members of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia.

The social affairs and labour ministries will jointly determine the salary for the country's 400,000 garment workers. The discussion of base pay will also encompass the tourism, industrial and transportation sectors and is slated to begin today.

Bolstering the minimum wage will directly impact social unrest, alleviating issues that lead to protests, Som Aun, president of the National Union Alliance Chamber of Cambodia, said yesterday.

The head of the Australian Football League said he will raise concerns about the sport's infiltration by Asian match-fixing gangs with the incoming Tony Abbott-led government.

AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou contacted the Victorian state sports minister in December with a warning about the "huge and emerging threat" of Asian match-fixing syndicates and wants new laws allowing police to share intelligence with the AFL, reports said.

In his letter, obtained by the Melbourne Herald Sun, Demetriou described the threat as "dire".

"Asian match-fixing syndicates operate literally on our doorstep and are a huge and emerging threat," he said.

"We understand that recently Victoria police and the ACC [Australian Crime Commission] have become aware of serious and imminent threats to the integrity of Australian sport."

An AFL spokesman said the league had written to every state government asking them to support legislative changes to allow police to share information.

"We've been proactive on this because we were and continue to be very worried about the vulnerability and the infiltration of organised crime into sport," Demetriou told ABC radio.

He said the state governments had been supportive of the AFL's concerns, but he wanted to take up the issue with the new federal government.

"Hopefully we can take this up with the new government once there's an attorney-general in place," he said

In February, Australia's peak crime-fighting body alleged there was widespread use of drugs and organised crime involvement in professional sport. The Australian Crime Commission's investigation found links with crime groups may have led to match-fixing and manipulation of betting markets.

Meanwhile in AFL semi-finals action over the weekend, a phlegmatic Sydney side marched into a preliminary final showdown with Fremantle after downing Carlton by 24 points on Saturday night.

The Swans beat the Blues 13.8 (86) to 8.14 (62) at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney to book a clash against the Dockers next Saturday in Perth.

On Friday, a courageous Port Adelaide side gave it their all but Geelong's finals experience proved the difference as the Cats claimed a 16-point victory at the MCG.

Geelong's 13.18 (96) to 12.8 (80) win sets up a mouth-watering preliminary final next Friday night against arch rivals Hawthorn, who have lost their past 11 clashes with the Cats since the 2008 grand final.

A memorandum of understanding that focuses on free blood tests for Cambodian athletes as well as their health was signed by National Olympic Committee of Cambodia secretary-general Vath Chamroeun and Lee Han, president of the NOCC's new Sport Medicine and Science Centre, during a ceremony on Saturday morning.

Around 300 athletes, coaches and sports officials attended the ceremony, which was held at NOCC headquarters in the National Sports Complex.

Han told reporters that the agreement included the offer of free blood tests to national team players and coaches up to three times a year.

The Sport Medicine and Science Centre, according to its president, has been endorsed by 150 doctors, domestic and international clinics and various global organisations. The tests will use imported equipment guaranteed to international standard.

"Our centre is the same standard as the Pasteur Institute and similar to those in countries such as Singapore," Han told the Post.

Vath Chamroeun said that the agreement helped "greatly contribute to the NOCC's development," while the head of the NOCC's Science Committee, Chea Sdeng, noted the importance of conducting regular blood tests before international competitions.

"Coaches need to know the blood type of their athletes and it's a good method of preventing the national team members from doping and using performance enhancing substances," said Chea Sdeng.

TRANSLATED BY CHENG SERYRITH

Decorated Kun Khmer fighter Long Sophy made his professional MMA debut on the undercard of ONE FC: Champions & Warriors in Jakarta on Friday night, which ended in disappointment for the 23-year-old as he suffered a controversial second-round submission defeat.

The Battambang native, who trains out of A-Fighter MMA club in Phnom Penh, was always the underdog against hometown hero Max Metino. The Indonesian submission grappling specialist was also making his ONE FC debut, but came into the bout with over a decade of MMA experience.

Long Sophy showed that, despite his outstanding striking credentials, he is developing into a genuinely well-rounded mixed martial artist when he survived a first round spent primarily on the ground defending submission attempts from the Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ) purple belt.

The second round followed a similar pattern, with Metino able to successfully take the fight to the floor and work for a keylock (arm submission), which caused the referee to step in and stop the fight.

Sophy was incensed at the decision, stating that he never tapped or verbally submitted and replays seemed to support him.

Under MMA rules, a referee does not normally stop the fight due to a submission attempt until a fighter acknowledges defeat (either verbally or with a tap), loses consciousness or suffers a serious injury.

Sophy's arm was not damaged and he was extremely frustrated to have his first bout under the banner of Asia's biggest MMA organisation stopped prematurely,

"When he was on top of me in the second round I felt that he was tired and his strength was wearing down. He had me in the submission, but I never tapped and I don't know why the referee stopped it," he told the Post.

However, Metino thought the referee's decision that went against his inexperienced opponent was the right one.

"[Sophy] doesn't know what the dangers are when I apply the Americana [keylock submission]. The referee could not wait any longer," he said.

The loss means that Sophy's MMA record stands at 0-1. His fearsome Kun Khmer credentials make fighters in Cambodia reluctant to fight him, so he struggles to find opponents on the domestic scene willing to step inside the cage with him.

By surviving multiple submission attempts, Sophy did at least demonstrate that Cambodian fighters are not complete novices on the ground, and he says he hopes he will be given another shot by ONE FC.

"I want to come back and fight because I'm not satisfied. I never felt any pain today. I still don't know what it means to feel pain in an MMA fight. I enjoyed fighting in front of such a big crowd and I want to fight again for ONE FC as soon as possible," he added.

The main event at the packed out Istora Senayan Stadium saw South African muay Thai specialist Vuyisile Colossa claim a clear-cut decision victory over former ONE FC lightweight champion Kotetsu Boku.

The Japanese veteran was on the receiving end of a series of hard low kicks throughout the fight and Colossa also scored with knees, punches and elbows to claim his second win inside the ONE FC cage and move a step closer to a potential shot at the ONE FC 155lbs (70.3kg) title.

There were also big wins for lightweight Caros Fodor, featherweight Bruno Pucci and light heavyweight Jake Butler, while three of the four Indonesian fighters emerged victorious to the delight of the home crowd.

Next stop for Asia's biggest MMA promotion is Singapore on October 18 when ONE FC: Total Domination will be headlined by a bantamweight unification bout between regular champion Soo Chul Kim of South Korea and interim champion Bibiano Fernandes of Brazil.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SUHAS BHAT

Official results from ONE FC: Champions & Warriors
Vuyisile Colossa (RSA) defeats Kotetsu Boku (JAP) by unanimous decision

Vincent Latoel (NED) defeats Willy Ni (IND/NED) by submission (guillotine choke) at 1:51 minutes of round 1

Jake Butler (USA) defeats James Kouame (CAN) by submission (arm triangle) at 2:11 minutes of round 1

Bruno Pucci (BRA) defeats Bashir Ahmad (PAK) by submission (rear naked choke) at 3:13 minutes of round 1

Vincent Majid (IND) defeats Eugenio Tan (MAL) by submission (keylock) at 1:30 minutes of round 1

Almiro Barros (BRA) defeats Kian Pham (AUS) by unanimous decision

Alain Ngalani (HKG) defeats Mahmoud Hassan (EGY) by knockout at 0:31 minutes of round 1

Caros Fodor (USA) defeats Yang Seung Ho (KOR) by unanimous decision

Max Metino (IND) defeats Long Sophy (CAM) by submission (keylock) at 3:24 minutes of round 2

Raymond Tan (MAL) defeats Brianata Rosadhi (IND) by submission (guillotine choke) at 0:21 minutes of round 1

There was a time when it was possible to buy genuine wartime propaganda posters in Vietnam.

Most date from what the Vietnamese call the American War, and one example, a large diptych of two women, adorns the wall near my desk.

The serene-looking woman on the left, a porter for the Viet Cong, wears a dark shirt and carries a pack of heavy rifles on her back; it is dated 1975, the year the war ended.

On the right, a younger, more coquettish woman wears a stylish blue ao dai dress and carries a bunch of red flowers; it is dated 1995, almost a decade after the doi moi economic reforms were introduced.

The picture is called Calendar Girls, Then and Now (Beauty and Strength).

For reasons that will become clear, it is better not to reveal the artist's name in case he might be persecuted by the authorities for his work.

That kind of thing is happening a lot in Vietnam these days, especially to artists and writers, academics and journalists, and most of all to internet users.

Many of these have set up blogs, using a nom de guerre, where they post articles and images expressing anger at the Hanoi government's inept management of the country.

They complain that their lives are shackled, and their motto, adopted from Pink Floyd's hit, "Another Brick in the Wall", is "We Don't Need No Thought Control".

It is nice to imagine sticking little quote balloons on the Beauty and Strength painting to indicate the two women are speaking these words.

If they did, they would likely be put in prison now, for the Vietnam Communist Party regime has turned on young bloggers and others who dare, even mildly, to chastise or ridicule its policies.

Across the country, hundreds of online scribes have been detained on charges of discrediting party leaders and posing a threat to national security.

Last month Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, lamented the jailing of Nguyen Phuong Uyen and Dinh Nguyen Kha because they had disseminated political views.

He called it "a scathing indictment of everything that is wrong with human rights in Vietnam".

Said Robertson: "It reveals a rights-repressing government determined to gag its own citizens and a lapdog judiciary eager to do the bidding of its political masters."

Soon afterwards, the Communist regime went even further and passed another repressive measure called Decree 72, which bans the sharing of general information through social media.

That means internet users in Vietnam can only send personal information; they cannot quote, gather or summarise material from the press or government websites.

And they certainly cannot put quote bubbles on pictures to indicate people saying scurrilous things about Ho Chi Minh's penchant for young ladies or the Politburo's fondness for single malt whisky.

Metaphorically speaking, however, that pretty well sums up what the successful Communism Cafe in Hanoi has been doing – and for which it has landed in deep doodah.

Owned by a well-known singer, Linh Dung, the place is festooned with Beauty and Strength, namely vintage propaganda images, many of which have been satirically embellished.

Its menus, for example, are written on pages from Marx and Lenin, and quotes by these great men, including Ho Chi Minh, have been edited to make them appear, well, rather silly.

Now, Commies love concrete, but they hate satire. It just drives them bonkers.

So the security services are now investigating Dung's cafe for its "blasphemous" decorations. Actually, their action is really due to the fact that it is so highly popular.

The Hanoi regime is petrified at the way Vietnam's new tech-savvy generation holds it in almost total contempt. Hence, the launch of yet another brutal assault on free speech.

It is a morally ugly and spiritually weak move. And it is destined to fail.

The beauty and strength of the country's young bloggers will prevail in the long run.

Security barricades and razor-wire installations set up around Phnom Penh yesterday were supposed to maintain order as the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party kicked off what it promised to be three days of mass protests.

But the show of force and control had more of an impact on local businesses that were left cut off and stranded by the seemingly arbitrary roadblocks.

The owners or staff members of a variety of businesses said yesterday that heightened security was cutting into profits by cutting off foot traffic. A handful abruptly closed after only a few hours.

CNRP leaders have vowed to carry on protesting until their demands for an investigation into irregularities they say took place during the July 28 parliamentary poll are met. In other words, the security presence isn't going away any time soon.

"I worry about this but I am not sure what I can do about it," said Heak Huor, owner of New Castle 2 guesthouse, just west of Norodom Boulevard on Street 172.

Other than military police on nearly every corner, Norodom was virtually vacant.

Barricades running up and down Street 51 plugged access to the thoroughfare.

At his guesthouse, Huor estimated that clientele was down 30 per cent from the norm. He didn't expect things to change if streets remained blocked for the remaining two days of demonstrations.

Most of the affected businesses are located in the vicinity of Phnom Penh's Freedom Park – the staging ground for the three-day protest – and several blocks south around Independence Monument, near Prime Minister Hun Sen's residence.

"Normally, we have hundreds of customers throughout the shop," said an attendant at Pencil supermarket on Street 214 who declined to be named because she was not authorised to speak to the media.

Only a handful of shoppers had arrived in the morning, and Pencil shut down early. The staffer expected the closures to go on over the course of the protests.

At the usually packed Brown Coffee on the same street, three tables were occupied.

"Every day when I walk around the shop, I can see customers everywhere, but today when I walk around there are empty tables everywhere," said Pen Samphors, the manager.

Samphors said those who showed up were local and lived inside the barriers.

Some shop owners in the Tonle Bassac area south and east of the Independence Monument closed yesterday out of security concerns, while others remained open and filled few orders.

On Street 294, general manager of Phnom Boutique, Sruy Lida, stood in the entrance of the open clothing store. She said that after the election in July, security fears and a tense atmosphere in Phnom Penh drove her to close down a couple of times. But yesterday, she decided not to repeat the same decision and lose potential customers.

"I don't want to close my shop again and again," she said.

Responding to questions on whether the government response was hurting the local economy, Long Dimanche, spokesman for the Phnom Penh municipality, said that added security was required because of the protests.

"They [demonstrators] start to march and can cause violence against the police, so we must block," Dimanche said. "Safety and security are the priorities."

REPORTING CONTRIBUTED BY DANIEL DE CARTERET, HOR KIMSAY, ANNE RENZENBRINK AND LAURA MA

Four unidentified men were arrested yesterday for allegedly killing an endangered and pregnant gaur – a species of wild bovine – in a protected wildlife reserve in Mondulkiri province, provincial officials said.

After villagers discovered the carcass on Wednesday, provincial authorities along with conservationists in charge of feeding the animal were alerted.

Hean Sakhorn, deputy chief of the province's department of environment, declined to name the four implicated men.

"[The accused] were wildlife hunters and arrested for hunting and killing" in a protected wildlife zone in Keo Seima district, he told the Post yesterday.

The animal's discovery was quickly followed by a joint investigation led by district police and the provincial department of environment, said Sao Sarin, a Keo Seima district police officer.

"When we found [the gaur], all that remained on site were the bones, head and legs," Sarin said.

The four accused men are expected to be charged by Mondulkiri's provincial court today.

Diminishing populations of hoofed animals in Southeast Asia have hit epidemic proportions, according to a report published by the conservation group WWF.

The report went on to say that Cambodia has also been hit hard, with one of its indigenous hoofed species, the banteng, experiencing a 90 per cent drop in its numbers since the 1960s.

Endangered animals are frequently found for sale in local markets, a situation that Sok Ratha, coordinator for Adhoc's Mondulkiri office, characterised as being extremely worrying.

If hunting of endangered wildlife continues at this rate, "there will be no life in this province in the future", Sok told the Post yesterday.