The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Culprits are everybody” plus 9 more

"If [we] return to the [investigation], the culprits are everybody. The first is the NEC, the second is the Constitutional Council, the third is the CPP, and the fourth is the King."

Two Cambodian soldiers sustained injuries after accidentally setting off a buried anti-personnel mine in Pailin on Sunday.

"These two soldiers were clearing the grass in a cassava plantation in Chheu Krom village near the military camp, and their knife hit an anti-personnel mine that was buried in the plantation," said Colonel Nup Srey Yuth, deputy chief of Pailin Provincial Police.

The soldiers were stationed at the A3 military camp based in Chheu Krom village, on the Cambodian-Thai border in Pailin.

One soldier, Hoeun Bunnath, 20, lost three fingers and received injuries to his eyes and left leg. The other injured soldier, Keo Savuth, 21, received minor wounds to his stomach and his back.

Both soldiers have been sent to the provincial hospital for treatment.

In the first nine months of this year, 86 people in Cambodia, including three in Pailin, were killed by mines and explosive remnants of war, according to the Cambodian Mine and UXO Victims' Information Systems.

They can't talk in the National Assembly, and they can't talk in the provinces – at least at the parliamentarian level – but a new round of local dialogues held by the National Democratic Institute will see the ruling party and the opposition face off via their commune-level counterparts this December.

Since 2004, NDI has arranged town-hall style meetings where members of parliament take questions from the public. This year, the format will be changed to accommodate the Cambodia National Rescue Party's ongoing boycott of the National Assembly.

The dialogues aim to create transparency and communication between constituents and representatives, with NDI facilitating the discussion and following up on any promises made and solutions delivered.

But with CNRP parliamentarians lacking the ability to effect political change in the government without taking their seats, the next series of 22 dialogues will host representatives from the commune council rather than members of parliament.

"We could still talk on the issues, but we cannot work on them in parliament, as we are not sworn in," Ou Chanrith, a CNRP lawmaker-elect who participated in dialogues for the past five years, said.
The intent of the dialogues remains the same, however.

"[The dialogues] allow citizens to hold their elected representatives to account and demand for the delivery of their interests," Laura Thornton, senior resident director of NDI in Cambodia, said. "With different elected officials present, [the dialogues] will be different, the issues raised will likely be different, probably more local, and the … commune council will probably be more able to deliver at that level."

But as a recently formed party that did not exist during the last commune-level elections, the meetings will require a level of creativity for the CNRP.

"The CNRP does not have local representatives," party spokesman Yim Sovann said. He added that one representative would be sent from the Sam Rainsy Party, and one from the Human Rights Party.

CPP spokesmen would not confirm involvement in the dialogues, but NDI said party officials have already agreed to take part.

"For the first couple years, the CPP did not participate," Thornton said, adding that while other organisations have attempted to facilitate multiparty dialogues, only NDI has had success at getting both the ruling party and the opposition to agree to public talks.

As in past years, the upcoming forums will also reach listeners across the country through radio broadcasts.

"[The dialogues] have shown to have statistically significant impact on the political awareness of citizens," Thornton said. "In the beginning, questions were often quite tame, but in the last couple years, citizens have been remarkably vocal about their grievances and not afraid to name names and point fingers. The demand for change and action has become clear."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VONG SOKHENG

A female market vendor faced court yesterday charged with regularly beating her domestic servant – a 15-year-old boy – a judge said.

Nuth Sopheak, who works at a market in the capital's Tuol Kork district, was charged with aggravated intentional violence over her alleged treatment of the boy, who has been sent to hospital for treatment, Phnom Penh Municipal Court investigating judge Te Sam Ang told the Post.

Soa Seny, an official from rights-group Licadho, said Sopheak had been paying the boy only $30 per month to work long hours and had used a rake and wire to beat and torture him "almost every day".

"It is a serious case of violence against children," Seny said. "The boy could not endure any more, so he escaped [last weekend]. He has so many wounds on his body."

Pich Sokhen, chief of Teuk La'ak I commune, said authorities rescued the boy after help from a neighbour.

"He was working for the vendor … and was mistreated," he said.

Police had contacted the boy's parents, who live in Svay Rieng province, and urged them to encourage him to return to school, he added.

Higher fees and new registration requirements have made starting a business in Cambodia more difficult over the past year, according to a report released by the World Bank yesterday.

Cambodia ranked 137th out of the 189 countries surveyed in the report, titled Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises. Cambodia slid two positions from 135th last year.

In the 11th edition of the annual report that investigates rules and regulations that enhance and constrain business activity, the US-based World Bank outlined a number of new bureaucratic hurdles that caused Cambodia's rank to dip.

"Cambodia made starting a business more difficult by introducing a requirement for a company name check at the Department of Intellectual Property and by increasing the costs for both getting registration documents approved and stamped by the Phnom Penh Tax Department and completing incorporation with the commercial registrar," the World Bank said in the report.

As for overall ease in starting a business, Cambodia was ranked an abysmal 184th.

Hiroshi Suzuki, CEO and chief economist of the Business Research Institute for Cambodia, said he agreed with the World Bank's assessment.

For example, he said, the new data show that incorporating a company with the Business Registration Department in the Ministry of Commerce costs $400, as opposed to $105 in last year's assessment. Also, having registration documents stamped and approved by the Phnom Penh Tax Department rose to $250 from $49 in the previous report, he said.

"However, these costs are not expensive if you compare them with other countries," Suzuki added.

Despite the rising fees, the report showed that in terms of "getting credit", Cambodia ranked 52nd out of all 189 countries, a 10-place jump.

Var Roth San, director of the Intellectual Property Department at the Ministry of Commerce, said that he disagrees that the requirement for a company to register its name at the department constrains business activity, adding that the World Bank should meet with him first before issuing such reports.

This year, Singapore topped the list as the easiest country to do business in, while Libya, the Central African Republic and Chad took up the bottom spots.

Rural farmers will soon be able to access farming information via experts under an initiative of the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD).

The project, with Bangladesh-based Grameen-Intel, encourages local entrepreneurs to first reach out to small farmers and collect data about crops. This is then fed into a larger web network of agricultural experts who can offer specific advice to the farmers, such as the appropriate seeds to buy.

Srinivas Garudachar, director of Strategic Business Development at Grameen-Intel, which has launched the program in India, said farmers benefit through enhanced productivity and more specialised services, while "village entrepreneurship" encourages young people to stay in the agricultural field.

"It helps you to aggregate and makes things more transparent," he said. referring to bringing farmers together to create greater economies of scale.

Meng Sakphouseth, country operations manager at IFAD, said that the project would compliment existing agricultural initiatives.

Through a South Korean government grant, funding is assured for the Grameen-Intel technology for two years. The project will cover 1,000 groups of 50 farmers across five provinces. Sakphouseth expects the first franchisees to be in place by early January.

The National Olympic Committee of Cambodia is awaiting formal Royal Government approval to organise the Kingdom's first full marathon in September next year around the world famous Angkor Wat temple complex in Siem Reap.

A large number of overseas and local runners who regularly take part in the annual Angkor Wat International Half Marathon have been strongly urging the country's prime sports body to introduce a conventional 42km race. Their wish has seemingly been granted.

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The NOCC began working on the logistics in January and since then has drawn up an action plan as well as a proposed running route that captures the World Heritage Site and its breath-taking antiquity and greenery in all
its glory.

Even before its official announcement, enthusiasm for the full marathon event has been so overwhelming that as many as 100 overseas runners have already confirmed their participation. Word is spreading so fast that not a day has passed in the last two months without someone from somewhere in the world indicating interest to take part.

Most of the half marathon participants the Post spoke to after last Sunday's inaugural Thansur Bokor International Half Marathon said they were excited about a full marathon in Siem Reap and couldn't wait for it to happen.

"We are ready with our organisational plan. We are in the process of finalising the sponsors. The route has already been worked out. For years, national and international runners have been craving for a full marathon," NOCC secretary general Vath Chamroeun, who was appointed for a second term in office earlier this month, told the Post on Sunday.

"We have sent the proposal and the blueprint to the Royal Government and we expect formal approval soon. The annual Angkor Wat International Half Marathon will continue and now we offer another exciting option and open another big window of opportunity to help charitable causes," Chamroeun added.

According to a press release issued by the NOCC yesterday, the 18th edition of the Siem Reap road race will be held on December 1.

"Until [yesterday], we already got the registration of 3,000 international runners from 58 countries and more than 1,000 Cambodian runners," it stated.

The event is set to celebrate 60 years of friendship between Japan and Cambodia.

Three staff workers of Japanese daily newspaper Sankei Sports conceived the half marathon in 1996, with non-profit organisation Heart of Gold established two years later to help with its running.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DAN RILEY

The Cambodian National Badminton Championship, which started on Sunday and is organised by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport, found bronze medalists in its various categories during games at the Badminton Hall of the National Sports Complex.

Over 160 players, including 17 females, from 15 different clubs and associations are participating in this year's event, with gold medal matches slated for today and tomorrow.

Four boxers will enter a 65kg round-robin tournament from November 10, with the winner earning a title shot with 2013 Cambodian Beer Championship belt holder Em Klum Khmao.

The four fighters are RCAF Club's Phal Sophat, Reach Sey Club's Roeun Sophan, Ministry of National Defence Boxing Association's Him Saram and Singha Sport Club's Nguen Sokkheng.

Pairs of bouts will be held fortnightly on Sundays at Bayon TV Arena.

A deputy provincial police chief in Kep is being asked to apologise to a subordinate whom he allegedly punched at the scene of a motorbike accident last week.

Kep provincial police captain Tuy Tin filed an internal complaint against deputy chief Nhem Khorn for hitting him as he was assisting an unconscious accident victim – an off-duty police officer – in front of the police station.

"Police officers are the people who help eliminate violence," Tin said. "I would like the general commissioner of the National Police not to allow such leaders to use violence against subordinates like this."

The blow allegedly occurred after an 8pm motorbike accident in front of the provincial police station. Tin began giving first aid to the victim, at which point Khorn stormed out of the station, saying the treatment was outside Tin's job description, and then punched him, Tin said.

Kep police chief Oueng Sam Ol said he has asked Khorn to apologise. No disciplinary action will be taken against Khorn, who could not be reached.