The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Wanted to take part” plus 9 more

I had no idea of what politics were, or about the election. I just followed the other people. I wanted to take part in social activities.

The Appeal Court yesterday heard the case of a woman convicted on trafficking charges after procuring underage girls for an American pedophile who was sentenced in 2008 to more than 200 years in prison by a US court after being arrested by Cambodian authorities.

Defendant Choeung Thisan, 36, was charged with human trafficking and procurement of prostitution in 2006 for her role in providing three girls, aged 10 to 11, and one woman, 20, to American citizen and former part-time Pannasastra University English teacher Michael Joseph Pepe, who reportedly drugged, beat and raped them.

Thisan, who was sentenced to 27 years in jail in 2007, admitted in court yesterday that she had procured the girls for Pepe, but nonetheless defended her actions, saying the transaction involving the young victims had been agreed to by their parents beforehand.

"I have committed this as accused, but I lodged the case to the Appeal Court because the Phnom Penh Municipal Court has put a massive burden on me, and I ask the court to lighten the sentence because I have learned my lesson now," she said.

Prosecutor Pan Kimlean even argued for a reduced sentence, saying that since the defendant had confessed, the court should consider leniency.

Echoing the sentiment, Thisan's defence attorney, Dun Vibol, argued that the Phnom Penh Municipal court's sentence had been excessive, and that the court should lighten the sentence, especially given that Thisan had learned her lesson.

Judge Im said that a verdict will declared on September 30.

Despite saying yesterday that it could not confidently claim the election results "accurately reflect the will of the Cambodian people", corruption watchdog Transparency International admitted that the time for an investigation that could change those results had run out.

A transparent election investigation, TI executive director Preap Kol said, would now have to occur after a political solution was found, and instead of changing election results, should be used as a fact-finding exercise for electoral reform.

"Civil society will still stand by our demand to find the truth and the facts of what happened regarding irregularities, so we can determine the impact and use the findings as … the basis for electoral reform," Kol said yesterday following the release of TI's final election observation report.

"Based on the position of the Cambodian People's Party and the legal framework that exists, [other possibilities] are exhausted.… But the opposition party can still call for whatever they want," he said.

Cambodia National Rescue Party whip Son Chhay said yesterday that the "truth" had to be found before any political solution was possible.

"The government has not yet recognised the problem; unless they recognise the problem, they will not be able to commit themselves to any reform," he said.

"In our talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen, he has not yet displayed any recognition that there were some serious problems in the election system.… Unless there is a proper election investigation to show to him he did not win … we can't look into how we can share [power]."

Taking the seemingly opposite position, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said that the government would only be willing to discuss such an investigation after the National
Assembly is formed.

"In the principles from the first meeting between [the leaders on Saturday], they agreed to reform the NEC.… There is nothing wrong with that," he said.

"But first, all the lawmakers have to be seated to officially talk [about this].… The NEC is mandated by the National Assembly."

According to the report released yesterday, TI election observers found that at 60 per cent of polling stations voters were unable to find their names on the voter list.

People were allowed to vote without valid identification at 26 per cent of polling stations, and at 11 per cent of stations, 51 or more voters cast their ballots using a temporary form called an identity certificate for election (ICE).

The most serious irregularities listed in the report largely provide voting day evidence of "large-scale disenfranchisement" caused by problems that were identified well before July 28.

These mostly relate to serious flaws in the voter list that disenfranchised up to one million, as well as the issuance of a similar amount of ICEs before an election that resulted in just a 290,000 vote difference between the major parties.

The NEC and commune councils would have to provide data including "the full voter list database, ICE distribution records and polling stations level results" after a government is formed, Kol said, something it has thus far declined to do.

NEC secretary-general Tep Nytha said that the NEC had not flat-out declined such requests from NGOs as claimed, but that such information was stuck at local-level authorities and election commissions.

"When they asked the NEC, we were too busy so we had to deny them," he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MAY TITTHARA

Because of ongoing strikes and an inability to fill orders, SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) says it is shedding cash flow as buyers shift away from one of Asia's largest producers, factory management confirmed yesterday.

International brands H&M and Gap reduced their orders, while Levi's ceased buying from SL in August, said an SL representative who declined to be named because of heightened tensions over the strike. Neither SL nor brands would disclose the value of orders.

"Because of C.CAWDU's [Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union's] endless strike at SL, we are unable to keep the shipment date. How can we process the order for the buyers?" the representative said.

The company said it has lost more than $1 million since the strike began on August 12.

Kong Athit, vice-president of C.CAWDU, said the onus is on factory management to meet demands so operations can resume again.

"The responsibility is on them, not on the worker; the worker does not want anything extra, they just want normal work," said Athit, referring to the slowdown in SL's business.

Workers are primarily demanding that military police at SL are removed and for the factory to cut ties with a shareholder, Meas Sotha, who they say hired the guards.

Ken Loo, the secretary general of the Garment Manufacturer's Association in Cambodia (GMAC), said that there are two kinds of buyers: Those that stick by factories in times of dispute and demand a resolution, and those that leave "at the first inkling of trouble".

"There are those that actually put pressure – those are considered the good buyers – and the bad the buyers just cancel orders," he said, adding that in the case of Levi's, the denim jeans brand had stayed with SL through a history of labour disputes.

Levi's confirmed yesterday that it currently has no presence at SL, but declined to comment on the strike. H&M also declined to comment other than to say that order volumes with suppliers vary over time. Gap did not immediately respond to questions about its orders with SL.

Close to 2,500 C.CAWDU members of the 5,800 workers at SL are on strike, according to the union. Workers are also demanding a return to an eight-hour daily schedule they say has been extended to nine hours, a $3 meal allowance, and wages for the strike period.

Cambodia's General Department of Taxation has laid out a series of reforms it says are needed as the 2015 deadline looms for the Asean Economic Community, a single market for trade and development.

Strengthening tax collection to increase revenue while nurturing an attractive investment climate is the balance that must be struck, said the department's director general Kong Vibol during a European Chamber of Commerce-hosted event at Raffles Hotel le Royal on Tuesday.

"We have to promote a fair playing field for all of you," he said to an audience of foreign and local business people, attempting to allay concerns of an unfair advantage for those that are compliant compared to businesses that avoid paying tax.

From tax education for small and medium-sized enterprises to reviews of investor taxation laws and better legal means for pursuing tax dodgers, the government has a broad range of policy implications that it hopes to achieve in a very short time frame.

"I have a lot of issues to resolve," said Vibol, who has established 78 working groups inside the department.

While calling the goals "ambitious", Clint O'Connell, a tax partner with firm VDB Loi, welcomes the department's goals to create a more lucid tax code.

"By clarifying the laws, the tax department is encouraging taxpayer compliance and indeed making it easier," he said.

The five-year tax strategy will be submitted for approval to the cabinet once the next government has been formed.

Opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party whip Son Chhay said the government has been making promises to tighten tax collection for a long time but "they never deliver".

"You can talk about that for a hundred more years, but unless you have a check and balance system then these bad people will not be punished," he said.

Starting off as a hobby in 2000, BongThom.com has become Cambodia's most popular classified and job postings site. Managing Director Ken White explains the inner workings of the business to the Post's Laura Ma.

What's the story behind the site?
I'd started a Khmer phrase guide for myself in 1998. Then I started selling it on CDs with advertising. Eventually it went online in 2000, and I added job postings. I realised it had started costing me a lot of money, because it was free. So we registered with all the ministries in 2006, but it wasn't until early 2009 that we really set up the business. The phrase book is still online, it still gets used.

How has the site grown?
The number of job announcements we get per day has doubled from two or three years ago. We started charging for job posts in February, 2007. That January, we advertised 885 jobs. After charging, we went down to 80 jobs. But by January 2008, we were back up to nearly 600. Since then it's kept going up. We have up to 450,000 users now.

What are some of the trends in the job market?
There's been a lot more job-hopping. It's a pain for employers, but it's increasing our business. There's also been a slight drop in the percentage of jobs advertised in Phnom Penh, and more significantly, in Siem Reap.

How has job recruitment changed?
Bong Thom was the first. Classifieds were all in newspapers. Cambodians had to pay 1,200 riel a day for the paper. That's why the site is well-known and well-used now. Searching costs nothing, and users can check out jobs from several different places.

What are some of the commonly posted positions?
We don't get a whole sweep of all the jobs because we are charging for job posts [though not for buy and sell classified ads]. We generally cater to higher-level and well-paid jobs. The smaller companies don't want to pay for listings. We definitely saw a big shift from NGOs to the private sector around 2009.

What about the volume of classifieds?
It really goes up and down. We get up to 2,500 new ones a day, and it's actually too much. We don't have a good search facility.

What other areas need improvement?
We'll be doing some apps and we'll be making huge upgrades on the website. In my opinion, there's a lot we can do. I wrote those pages 10 years ago, and I've hardly changed them.
We'll be incorporating maps and social networking too.

How does Bong Thom compare to Craigslist or Gumtree?
We are doing the similar thing, but we're small. Those guys are international. The thing about Craigslist, which is in Vietnam and Thailand, is that it hardly gets used. Probably, somebody has already taken that niche in the country. We've got the job market at the moment in Cambodia.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Philippine Airlines plans to launch flights between the Philippines and Cambodia, according to an aviation official. The move would break the monopoly of domestic competitor Cebu Pacific Air, which started flying the route in April last year.

Aviation authorities in the Philippines sent a letter to Cambodia's State Secretariat of Civil Aviation stating that the airline intended to fly to the Kingdom, said Vann Chanthy, director of the regulator's Air Transport Department.

Aviation industry website ch-aviation reported on Monday that Philippine Airlines plans to resume flights to Europe in November after it was banned by the EU in 2010. Philippine Airlines holds a 49 per cent stake in Cambodia Airlines, the carrier jockeying to break into a domestic market monopolised by Cambodia Angkor Air.

Details on the start dates for the flights was not available.

Ministry of Tourism statistics show that 97,000 Philippine tourists visited Cambodia last year, a 37 per cent increase compared to 2011.

Dear Editor,

The present upheaval in Cambodia is one of the best things that could have happened to this country.

Just imagine another overwhelming CPP victory and the crushing weight of corruption and nepotism to be endured for another five years. At the same time, it is the right time to reflect on what has gone wrong in the past.

As a foreigner it is appropriate for me to reflect on my country's performance. And there is a dismal record. Embassies and agencies have been basking in the usual self-praise of their achievements, at the same time admitting that more has to be done (so they can keep their jobs).

Again and again we hear the argument that too much pressure is counter-productive (and inconvenient for all sides) and so no pressure at all on the government to reform has been applied and the past years have changed nothing.

It has been a story of wink, wink, say no more. The CPP, embassies and agencies are working hand in hand for their own benefits and to the detriment of the people (those who miss out on the corruption). Let me give you an example.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is responsible for a lot of donations. This can be done in two ways. With some effort to make sure it stays fair and just, or by simply handing it over to the government (which is the same as handing it to the CPP).

Sadly the second (more convenient) way seems to have been chosen. Donated rice has been handed over to so-called village elders (people appointed by the party) to distribute more or less as they please in a work for food program.

Besides the fact that this is legally questionable (work is a form of payment and the donations stipulate that there should be no payment for the rice) and also unfair since it discriminates against the sick and the weak who can't work, but are most in need of help, it also plays into the hands of the CPP, who make themselves out to be the true source of this benevolence.

By distributing the rice they are also adding to their reputation of power and influence and thereby the ability to intimidate. This fits into the picture of their main task of controlling the votes. Another example is that the police often seem strangely reluctant to supply ID cards and then you have a so-called village elder coming to the rescue and exerting his influence. All Glory to the party.

All of this shows the laziness and thoughtlessness we foreigners have displayed in this country. Not least the inability to tie all donations to actual improvement of the situation. One of the most ridiculous excuses by governments not to do so is that Cambodia then would turn to China. Really?

Since when has China actually given money to Cambodia (instead of lending it, which means it has to be paid back with all its consequences)?

Burma has soon enough come to realise this and is desperately trying to free itself from the Chinese embrace. So the present situation seems to be somehow beneficial since it seems to focus the minds of all concerned, instead of going back to business as usual.

Heinz Wiese
Phnom Penh

Dear Editor,

Although one may sympathise with the views expressed by Mr Hilleary in Wednesday's edition of The Phnom Penh Post, I think particular care needs to be taken by those within the international community truly committed to the development of democracy in Cambodia.

Withdrawal of aid at this moment could send quite the opposite message to that intended, and any shortfall in promised financial support could almost certainly be made up by a state with a different view of the way Cambodia should be governed.

It is very doubtful if the result of the election will be overturned, and maybe more reports will be issued asserting that the whole electoral process was generally free and fair.

Such dubious blessings are nothing new. Indeed, one was recently given by the head of the Southern African Development Community observer mission after the recent election in Zimbabwe.

I know many in Harare do not share his opinion, but there is little they can do except look to the next election. It may be a long haul, but perhaps, despite the frustration, this is the way that Cambodia will need to go forward too.

It should not be forgotten that, to some extent, Cambodia was in a similar position 20 years ago. There can be no suggestion today of having two prime ministers, but there are real opportunities for the kind of power sharing which leads to the appointment of ministers from each of the main parties.

The situation is delicate, but maybe the best stance real friends of the Cambodian people can take at this time is to make no changes, or threats of changes, to the aid programs already in being.

Michael Hansen
Phnom Penh

One Fighting Championship, Asia's largest mixed martial arts organisation, have announced the launch of their ONE Asia Amateur MMA Series, which is set to provide an unprecedented platform for regional cage fighters to develop their skills against other aspiring professionals.

The series is part of the Singapore-based promotion's drive to grow the sport of MMA in Asia and will be held in association with ONE FC network partners to provide opportunities for its exclusive gym partners, as well as helping to groom amateur fighters for the leap to the pro ranks.

ONE FC CEO Victor Cui stated in a press release: "This is big, very big, and I'm excited to be building this Asia-wide amateur series because we have already received tremendous support from our sponsors, partners and gyms on this initiative."

Founded by trainer Im Ouk, Phnom Penh's A Fighter MMA Club is the only gym to be officially associated with ONE FC, and last week sent local kickboxing champion Long Sophy to Jakarta to become the Kingdom's first fighter in the ONE FC cage.

The 23-year-old Battambang native suffered a submission loss against Indonesia's Max Metino, a decision which was contested by his team after the referee appeared to stop the bout without Sophy tapping out.

A Fighter Club, who are slated to send another of its students to ONE FC's event next month, help some of Cambodia's most renowned combatants pursue a career in the rapidly growing sport of MMA.
Im Ouk told the Post yesterday that, although he thought the amateur series was "great to have", there were some concerns whether his fighters would be eligible as they were all professionals.

"We want our fighters to gain experience . . . but I don't know if they will be allowed to compete. Are they [considered] amateurs in MMA?" he asked.

"Physically they are a lot stronger than other local amateurs. They train every day and their [fighting] levels are very different. We would be happy to do it [fight in the amateur series], but I'm worried about producing mismatches.

"Nobody here wanted to fight Long Sophy [in an MMA bout], even if we put two against one. Would local karate and taekwondo guys go up against guys who've had one hundred kickboxing fights?"

The trainer also noted there would be difficulties in staging an amateur event on Cambodian soil. "Amateurs here can't even afford the entrance fee to competitions, let alone the costs of training," he added.

ONE FC are keen to stay true to their commitment of hosting events in every affiliated country and have pledged to work closely with A Fighter club to develop the amateur talents of the Kingdom.

"We will also reach out to all the gyms in Cambodia to become a part of the network as the growth of mixed martial arts in Cambodia is starting to take off exponentially," a ONE FC official told the Post yesterday.