The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “The battle to save a valley” plus 9 more

The luscious jungles of Cambodia's Cardamom mountains are under threat on many fronts. Few have visited the remote and pristine Areng valley in the Cardamoms, the latest target in the government's push to turn Koh Kong into the "battery province", until now. As the race to stop a hydropower dam slated for construction in the valley accelerates, a group of monks have joined the front line to try and save this natural treasure.

As political deadlock continues, Minister of Defence Tea Banh yesterday used the unveiling of 12 Chinese-made military helicopters to announce that the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces stand "ready to protect" the government and constitution, following what he called "free and fair" elections in July.

Speaking in the presence of the Chinese ambassador to Cambodia, Bu Jianguo, at a ceremony to show off the Z-9 helicopters – acquired as part of a $195 million deal with China inked in 2011 – Banh said the current one-party National Assembly had legitimacy and thus the support of the military.

"The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces are ready to protect the Kingdom's constitution and the government," he said, adding that the elections had been conducted fairly, and China had congratulated the Cambodian People's Party on its victory.

Banh did not say, however, what he envisaged that protection could be – or what the constitution and government might need protecting from.

The helicopters, he stated, would "strengthen the capacity for protection of sovereignty" and be used to "crack down on offences", including cross-border smuggling. He also added that the Z-9s would help combat natural disasters.

Banh also talked up relations between the two countries, pledging support to its ally's "One China Policy".

He could not be reached by phone later to elaborate on his comments.

Also speaking at the event, Bu said she believed the helicopters would help strengthen RCAF's capacity to provide emergency relief.

"China will continue to support Cambodia's economic development … and [will] continue to maintain a fresh relationship," she said.

Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua said she could not speculate on whether the defence minister's vow to protect the constitution and government were meant as a warning to the opposition and its supporters, who have staged several mass demonstrations since the July 28 ballot.

"I don't think the people and the CNRP are even concerned about [that]," she said. "But as far as we're concerned, [the election] was not free and fair."

Sochua added that she could not understand why the government spent so much time talking about protecting the country when issues in sectors such as health and education needed addressing.

"Where's the threat?… How much more does Cambodia need to defend [itself]?"

The opposition has now spent more than two months boycotting the National Assembly, after winning 55 of 123 seats at July's election. In that time, CPP lawmakers have approved a $3.4 billion national budget as a one-party assembly.

Political analyst Kem Ley said yesterday that rather than speaking of protecting the Constitution, the ruling party itself needed to ensure it wasn't violating it.

"The people are moving toward democracy and the government is moving back to communism," he said. "To do that, they must strengthen their armed forces … to continue to run the country without rule of law.

"But the people are not concerned about their military nature. The CPP must … strengthen rule of law if it wants to get its popularity back."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHANE WORRELL

Flouting a government order, representatives of SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd yesterday refused to rehire 19 union representatives and activists during a meeting with the Ministry of Labour.

Rehiring the 19 has been the key sticking point in ending the three-month-old strike, which erupted into violence two weeks ago today in an incident that left an uninvolved bystander killed by a police bullet.

The order to rehire the workers – all active members of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) – came just days after the shooting.

"The employers at SL strongly refused to accept the 19 workers back," said Sat Sakmoth, secretary of state at the Labour Ministry who attended the four-hour meeting. "I tried my best to explain to them that we will send the case to court now because of their decision."

Joseph Kee Leung Lee, director of SL International Holdings, declined to comment after the meeting last night, telling a Post reporter that he did not attend the meeting and had not spoken with anyone present. SL's general manager could not be reached last night. News of SL's refusal to rehire the workers came as no surprise to C.CAWDU vice president Kong Athit.

"That's not a surprise," he said yesterday. "C.CAWDU will keep pushing the government, and … buyers and to come to negotiate to settle this."

If SL, which supplies to Gap Inc and H&M, does not rehire the workers, the strike will continue, Athit said. If they decide to close the factory, they still must compensate the workers, according to the labour law's stipulations.

Two weeks ago, riot police fired live ammunition into a crowd of hundreds of SL protesters, killing 49-year-old street vendor Eng Sokhom and leaving nine hospitalised with gunshot wounds.

Nearly 40 people were arrested at that time, but only two teens – ages 14 and 17– remain in custody. Attorneys from the Community Legal Education Center, which is providing them with pro-bono legal representation, yesterday filed a request for bail with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, Moen Tola, who heads the NGO's labour program, said.

The riot occurred during an attempt by strikers and their supporters to march from the SL1 factory in Meanchey district to the home of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

At that time, workers demanded the factory oust Meas Sotha, the SL shareholder who hired armed military police to stand guard inside the factory. The act, C.CAWDU representatives argued, was a move to intimidate unionised workers.

Since the strike began, officials from the labour ministry and Phnom Penh City Hall have facilitated several fruitless negotiation sessions between SL management and C.CAWDU.

While not surprised by SL's decision to face court rather than hire back the workers, David Welsh, country director for labour rights group Solidarity Center/ACILS, said the move makes little sense from a business perspective.

"It's hard to visualise how this will end if [SL] refuses to budge," Welsh said. "It's hard to imagine brands would further invest in a company with so many problems."

Analysis

On Friday morning, two sources quoted in a report on illegal logging will face questioning at the hands of a Kandal province prosecutor over allegations that they defamed Cambodian tycoon Try Pheap.

Under the Cambodian penal code, the legal definition of defamation is much like that in established democracies – a defamatory statement must not only result in harm to the subject's reputation but must also be demonstrably false.

However, due to defamation laws' often capricious application, observers say, the factual basis of the statements by Sen San and Ouk Sambo, which largely relate to Pheap's alleged involvement in illegal logging, won't necessarily even be explored.

"Right now, in our current system, our police don't need to investigate," lawyer Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said yesterday.

Discretion to pursue cases is left up to investigating judges and prosecutors rather than evidence gathered by police, Sam Oeun said. When both officers of the court decide to send a case to trial, he continued, it often lends the case a legitimacy that shifts the burden of proof.

"The presumption of innocence is abolished. Because it means that one judge, and a prosecutor … two magistrates, believe there is enough proof," he said. "So this decision [in and of itself] is enough evidence [for a conviction]."

"It means the presumption of guilt replaces the presumption of innocence. The accused must prove that he is innocent," he concluded.

In a perfect world, said Cambodian Human Rights Center president Ou Virak, a prosecutor "would have to come up with facts that the two accused in this case are knowingly falsifying this information with a malicious intent".

In reality, however, "it's going to be the oknha, the tycoon, putting pressure on the court [to find them guilty], and it's going to be the NGOs putting pressure on the court to rule the other way," he added.

The truth behind San and Sambo's statements will "definitely not" receive a thorough investigation, Virak said, with the outcome of the case depending less on "actual evidence in the court, and more on the court of public opinion".

However, it still remains to be seen whether the pair's cases will go to trial, and Kandal provincial court vice prosecutor Sam Rithy Veasna declined to comment in detail on the progress of the case or any potential investigation into the statements at its centre.

"I am now taking action on this case," he said. "I cannot make any report or comment about this case because, according to the penal code, I am not authorised to report on, or talk about, any case to other people. I have to keep my professional confidentiality."

A representative of Try Pheap also declined to comment on whether the tycoon would welcome an investigation into his businesses, and referred questions to Pheap's lawyer, whom he declined to provide contact information for.

The price of food spiked this month, and Cambodia's low-paid garment workers are feeling the effects.

Meat, vegetables, toothbrushes, beauty accessories and even the plastic bags they get packed in have all seen a sharp bump up in price this month, some items by as much as 30 per cent, workers and traders said yesterday.

The Post reported last week that reforms to stamp out corruption in the customs department have led to an increase in the cost of imported goods. Customs officials who would often undercut tax rates on imports are now applying the official rate, meaning import costs have suddenly increased, leaving consumers to foot the bill.

With a base minimum wage of $75 a month, a garment worker's budget is sensitive to even the slightest inflationary pressure.

"In the past, I have sent some money home [to my family], but now the price of goods is going up, so maybe I cannot afford to do it," Lok Tho, a garment worker at M&V International Manufacturing in Phnom Penh's Meanchey district, said.

Even with overtime, Tho said she earns little more than $100 per month. After rent and living expenses, money for food is tight. Tho said she is struggling to afford baby formula – the price of which she said has also gone up this month.

Another worker, Kim Rina, at the nearby Hoyear Cambodia garment factory, said she was paying between 10 and 30 per cent more this month for oil, sugar and salt.

"They [garment workers] are the most poorly paid workers in the world, and they are incredibly vulnerable to inflation," Dave Welsh, country director for labour rights group Solidarity Center/ACILS, said.

Because of the nature of the sector – in which many migrate from rural provinces to factories in search of employment – workers are tied to the traders and landlords operating nearby, according to Welsh. Any rise in real wages is usually matched by an equivalent increase in food and rent.

Sudden increases, like tax hikes, are also inevitably passed on to workers, he said.

Welsh added that it is not just a pay increase needed to lift livelihoods, but that factories should also provide workers with three meals per day.

The Ministry of Planning's National Institute of Statistics said yesterday that recent figures on inflation were not yet available. But the many vendors at nearby factories said they were forced to raise their prices after import costs rose at the beginning of the month.

Ek Narat sells vegetables down a narrow lane by Hoyear's factory. Carrots and cauliflower are just some of the products she gets from Vietnam, all of which she says have increased on average by about 15 per cent.

"All imported goods that now have a higher price are difficult to sell," Narat said.

Compounding the problem, she added, was that local supplies cut short by severe flooding this year had raised the price of Cambodian products.

A neighbouring vendor told the Post that fish from Vietnam had increased by 10 per cent, while a vendor selling basic goods like toothbrushes and hair accessories from Vietnam and China said everything had increased after the government reforms – some items by as much as 20 per cent.

About $6.8 billion was spent on imports in the first nine months of this year, an increase of 13 per cent from $6 billion in the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

With local production capacity still quite low, Cambodia relies heavily on imports for basic goods.

Unless substitute products are found, "the increased prices are here to stay", Kang Chandararot, director of the Cambodia Institute of Development Study, said.

Chandarot cautioned, however, that although the price increase had affected some products, any adjustment in garment wages to supplement this should be assessed against inflation measured across all products produced to meet basic needs.

At the National Bank of Cambodia, director general Chea Serey was confident yesterday that the effect of customs reforms on inflation "would be minimal".

While food prices were the main indicator for inflation, the largest contributor was rice, which is locally produced and unlikely to be affected, she said.

Serey also pointed to the domestic price of oil, which she said so far had remained unaffected by the reforms.

Mey Kalyan, a senior adviser on the Supreme National Economic Council, said the balance between increasing tax revenue and price increases "is a trade-off that needs to be looked at on both sides".

Kalyan could only comment "in principle" as he did not have all the details, but said that in the national interest, increasing tax revenue was critical for the government's social spending. He added, however, that a review may be required if "excessive" taxation led to inflationary pressure.

On the factory floor, rising food costs is just one of many concerns linked to a call for higher pay.

Unions gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday demanding the minimum wage be increased to $154 a month.

Ath Thorn, president of the of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union, said workers were forced to put in overtime to pay for food and better living conditions.

"We are concerned with the workers' health – that's why we demand a rise to the minimum wage," he said, calling for a week-long garment worker strike in December.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MOM KUNTHEAR

Cambodian authorities will remove the requirement on exporters to provide a Certificate of Origin (CO) when exporting goods to destinations for which it is not needed, the newly elected minister of commerce said yesterday.

A CO certifies a product's place of origin, and until now it was a requirement on all products leaving Cambodia's shores despite whether it is needed by importing countries.

The Minister of Commerce Sun Chanthol said the removal of the CO will strengthen procedures for local exports.

"Today I am happy to inform you that I already proposed to the Prime Minister Hun Sen to remove the issue of CO to countries which do not [require it]. Hun Sen quickly approved to remove it," Chanthol said at a two-day meeting with private sector representatives at the Hotel InterContinental in Phnom Penh yesterday.

"Today I will sign the announcement to remove the CO [for exports] to the US, Japan and some other countries [which do not require a CO]," he said.

Chanthol added that he met with private companies to discuss the possibility of implementing an automated electronic CO system, where, for those importing countries still requiring it, local exporters will be able to apply and pay a fee online.

"Later on, the exporters do not need to come to the Ministry of Commerce, they are just at their office, [in the] factory and can write down information in the computer, then we will look at it at the ministry and then we will issue [a confirmation for the CO]," Chanthol said.

"The fee for the CO will be withdrawn from the bank account of the exporter so the CO can be printed anywhere and wherever they want," he added.

Ken Loo, secretary-general of Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia welcomed the idea.

"Well, it is good because we won't make more expenses [both official and unofficial] for applying for the CO which the buyers do not need, that's really important," he said.

"It can also reduce the factory's expenses. And, we also won't waste much time on preparing the documents."

Lim Bun Heng, president of the largest local milled rice exporting company, Loran Import-Export Company, also welcomed the initiative, saying that it would be advantageous for local exporters.

"I really support the idea because it is not necessary for us to apply for it [CO] for some countries which do not need it," he said.

"The minister of commerce decided to do it, so it is a good move for us as an exporter because it can reduce unnecessary expenses . . . causing us to lose our competitive advantage at the global market."

"If the government keeps on reducing the unnecessary expenses, I do believe our export prices will be much lower than in the global market."

He added that most of his milled rice was exported to European and Asian countries which still required a CO.

Heng said normally it takes at least three days to receive a CO.

Sun Chanthol said yesterday the commerce ministry needs between six to nine months for testing the program before it officially launches.

Cambodia imported 1.31 billion tonnes of oil in the first 10 months of this year, a 2.2 per cent slide compared to 1.34 billion tonnes in the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

Industry experts said the drop did not mean local production has slowed down but rather attributed it to the increased use of hydropower from emerging dams in the country.

Bin May Mialia, deputy managing director of PTT (Cambodia), said the firm saw a 10 per cent year-on-year drop of fuel oil imports in the first 10 months of this year. He said the decrease had little to do with local production as the supply of fuel oil to factories is limited, only accounting for around 200 to 300 tonnes per month.

"The drop in fuel oil for factories was because more and more factories are now starting to use … as a power source the electricity that comes from Vietnam and the hydropower dam in Kirirom and Kamchay," he said.

Jet fuel imports, however, increased by 22 per cent in the same period, Mialia said, attributing the rise to the growing number of tourists coming to Cambodia.

According to Meng Saktheara, director-general of the Industry and Secretariat of the Small and Medium Enterprise subcommittee, local production lines are in very good shape. He too linked the drop in oil imports to the rising use of electricity from dams and other sources imported from Vietnam and Thailand.

Saktheara said he foresees a further drop if Cambodia continues to ease its dependence on oil for energy in favour of electricity from the dams.

Cambodia currently purchases petroleum from Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand, as its own offshore oil and gas reserves have not yet been tapped. According to Saktheara, the sector consuming most of the oil is transportation.

In the first 10 months of this year, Cambodia spent $1.2 billion on oil imports, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce.

Late last year, locally owed Cambodian Petrochemical Company, a joint-venture with Sinomach China Perfect Machinery Industry Corp, invested $2.3 billion in the construction of a refinery on an 80-hectare oil field situated between Preah Sihanouk and Kampot provinces.

Local communities that lost their land via economic land concessions to private companies are now being paid by those same firms to illegally fell the trees that once sustained their livelihoods, a group of five advocacy groups contended yesterday.

At a press conference, the NGOs singled out 18 companies they say have been exploiting local villagers who see few alternatives to make ends meet.

Rights group Adhoc, along with the Natural Resources and Wildlife Preservation Organization, the Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) and the Community Peace Building Network Cambodia, said they would file complaints to the authorities if action was not taken.

"After this appeal, if the government does not take any action, we will file complaints to a judicial institution and the Anti-Corruption Unit against some 100 individuals who are … police, military police, oknhas and business people," said Chan Soveth, a senior investigator with Adhoc.

Employing local forest communities to illegally fell trees is a new strategy pioneered by tycoon Try Pheap, according to CCHR's senior natural resources researcher, Chhem Savuth.

"About 80 per cent of the population in Preah Vihear's Rovieng and Cheb districts [are involved in logging] for the companies, because they think the government does not take measures to prevent it, and if they do not log, the companies will log them all [anyway]," he said.

Last week, the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force reported that Pheap's companies possessed nearly 70,000 hectares through a number of subsidiaries in order to export luxury timber abroad in breach of Cambodian law. Try Pheap denies the claim and has filed for defamation against two people quoted in the report.

Try Pheap, director of MDS Import-Export Co, Ltd, could not be reached yesterday.

Savoeun said forest land had been sold off to companies at an alarming rate, causing farming communities to lose their incomes and rely on logging for the companies.

"Granting ELCs to the companies effects people's land, leading those people to lose their occupations and forcing them to log for the companies for survival," he said.

But despite people being put in this situation, he added, many more were angry and frustrated.

"A people's movement will occur, even though they know they would be in danger, because the forest crimes bring about climate changes," he said.

Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said unless clear evidence of wrongdoing was presented, the government would not take action.

"The evidence should be clarified clearly; which official has done something wrong and where. If they just hint, it is just an attack and it is not a measure to help crack down on forest crimes," he said. "We have clear principles for preserving and conserving the forest, and we will not work with the [NGOs'] appeal," he said.

Police have declined to press criminal charges against a driver for ruling-party lawmaker Cheam Yeap, who left the scene of a fatal accident, citing the fact that the other driver had been at fault, said Kar Savuth, a National Assembly lawyer representing Yeap.

"The case was absolutely finished today without charge," Savuth said yesterday. "There was no charge because the police had all the documents about the measurements of the [markings on the pavement], which showed that the motorbike driver was in the wrong."

Yeap has said he was asleep in the car when it collided with a motorbike carrying Phin Sophea, who died at Calmette Hospital, and her husband, Pheoun Tha. According to police, the motorbike was in the oncoming lane of traffic when the accident occurred.

Yeap has already given the surviving victim and family money for medical bills, as well as "one motorbike to the victim", Savuth added.

Kandal provincial police chief Eav Chamroeun could not be reached for comment.

Investors in drinks giant PepsiCo have filed a shareholders resolution urging the company to account for alleged land-rights violations in Cambodia.

The 14 shareholders – including Oxfam – are increasing the pressure on PepsiCo following Coca-Cola's pledge earlier this month of "zero tolerance" towards land grabs.

An Oxfam investigation last month found that PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Associated British Foods (ABF) and their franchises have been linked to violent sugar-related land grabs in Cambodia. PepsiCo and ABF had yet to address the allegations made in Oxfam's report Nothing Sweet About It, the charity said in a statement.

In the report, Oxfam cited a 2006 land-grab case in Sre Ambel district, Koh Kong province, where two companies belonging to Thailand's Kon Kaen Sugar Co Ltd, which sells sugar to franchises that produce products for Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, were responsible for evicting 456 families from their land concession.

"The pressure is only increasing on PepsiCo to address the realities of its supply chain," Judy Beals, manager for Oxfam's Behind the Brands Campaign, said in the statement.

"The company is leaving itself open to immense risks if it fails to tackle land conflicts in areas where it sources ingredients. Coca-Cola has already identified these risks and made promises to address them. The question investors should ask is: Why is PepsiCo so far behind?"

PepsiCo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The resolution will be voted on at PepsiCo's annual general meeting early next year.

"As shareholders we want to know what PepsiCo is doing to ensure its suppliers are behaving responsibly and preventing land conflicts from undermining its reputation and operations," Beals added.

Complementing the resolution, more than 250,000 people have signed petitions supporting Oxfam's campaign, which have been delivered to PepsiCo's bottling plants in the US.

Cambodia's sugar exports reached $13 million in 2011, with about 90 per cent of these exports going to the European Union under its Everything But Arms trade initiative, which allows duty-free imports from the world's poorest countries.