The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Who will help us?” plus 9 more

We do not feel scared. If we do not protest for change, who will do it for us and who will help us?

An interpreter who paid $10,000 for a hit on a high-profile timber dealer – which was never carried out – was yesterday sentenced in a Phnom Penh court to 16 years in prison after being convicted of attempted murder, a judge said.

Suos Sam Ath, presiding judge at Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said San Dychham, 42, a holder of both Cambodian and Lao passports, must also pay $5,000 in compensation to Khay Narin, 49, whom the court ruled he tried to have killed in Stung Treng province in 2011.

"The court has found San Dychham guilty.… He has the right to appeal it in accordance with the law if he is not happy with the decision," he said.

Dychham, an interpreter who can speak Khmer, Lao, Thai and English, was arrested by military police in November 30, 2011, in Stung Treng after Narin lodged a complaint with local police, Sam Ath said.

In a separate case last year, Dychham was convicted of fraud and sentenced to four years in prison, the judge added.

After the hearing yesterday, Dychham denied the attempted murder charge and vowed to appeal the court's decision.

"I could not accept this court's decision – it is very unjust," he told the Post.

Narin and her lawyers could not be reached for comment yesterday.

High-end global fashion brands will join fledgling Cambodian designers on the runway at the second Cambodia Fashion Illumination Spring/Summer 2014 collection.

Organised by luxury clothing importer Sovereign Retail Group, the event will take place on February 21 and 22 at Diamond Island's City Hall.

The Kingdom will be represented by six brands, including Soknan, Rong, Seam Fashion, Chin FDesign, CGBCN and Natacha Van.

The work of local designers range from the casual urban wear T-shirts of CGBCN to the intricate gowns made by Soknan.

The eight international companies will include denim giant Levi's from the United States, Axara from France and Mango from Spain.

Unlike the last Fashion Illumination show, a private event held in 2012 that only featured foreign brands, event organiser Ly Souden said that the new show will be bigger and emphasise local creativity.

"We skipped 2013 because we want to transform the previous event to a big one," said Souden, who is also the marketing manager for Sovereign.

Souden said that while the event's 800 tickets will mostly be sold to industry insiders, around 240 tickets will be reserved for nonprofessionals.

Tickets will be on sale for $20 from the beginning of the new year until the date of the event in February.

The earliest known map of the country, a chart of the Cambodian coast produced by sailors in 1860, has been donated to the National Archives.

The drawing of Kampot Bay was intended to map a safe route for ships to transport goods to coastal ports. It was given to the Phnom Penh archives by the Cambodian Cyclo and Careers Association (CCCA) last week.

The officers and crew of the HMS Saracen, captained by one John Richards, master of the British Royal Navy, drew up the map based on a survey made in 1857.

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Nearly a century and a half later, in the 1990s, historian and author Robert Philpotts discovered the chart while researching his book The Coast of Cambodia at the British Library in London.

Philpotts, who once volunteered as an English teacher at the old Phnom Penh Cyclo Centre, made a copy at the UK's Hydrographic Office before bringing it earlier this month to what is now the CCCA in Cambodia.

The handover coincided with a rally held by the association at the Blue Sea, Green City festival in Kep earlier this month.

Historian David Chandler said he was "sure" it was the earliest known map of the country.

"There were certainly no maps drawn by Khmer before the French arrived," he wrote in an email.

The chart outlines the "channels leading to Kamput" and was designed to improve safety for sailors by reducing the chance of shipwrecks.

Richards identifies one dangerous rock in particular, which he refers to as "Rosita Rock" after an English sailing vessel that had the misfortune to crash into it. The chart gives clear directions to sailors on how to avoid the barely visible rock.

According to Philpotts, before the chart was published there was nothing of scientific value for merchant ship captains on their way to Kampot.

"I don't think there's an earlier one than that – I mean, I don't see anybody who would be interested to do one, because the French exploration started in the 1860s, but the Saracen chart pre-dates that."

At the time, trade was increasing between Singapore and Cambodia. "Entry to the port was tricky, so a map that showed accurate soundings was invaluable," Philpotts said.

Im Sambath, executive director at the CCCA, said the map would help teach increasing numbers of young Cambodians interested in learning about their country's history.

"In the National Archives, it's useful for university students who want to do historical research, because there are more and more students researching about Cambodian history now," Sambath said.

Y Dari, deputy director at the National Archives, said the map would be displayed in the reading room for foreign and local researchers.

She added: "This document is very historically important for the National Archives, for keeping, preserving and conserving history."

Indigenous Jarai people from Ratanakkiri province who attended the opposition's mass protests in the capital in recent weeks have had their names taken by provincial police, raising concerns that they could face threats and intimidation.

The names of 81 pro-Cambodia National Rescue Party Jarai from O'Yadav, Kounmom and Andong Meas districts who had attended the daily demonstrations in Phnom Penh for the past two weeks had their names recorded on Sunday, Sen Voeurn, deputy police chief of O'Yadav district's Yatung commune, confirmed yesterday.

But Voeurn claimed it was a benign administrative formality intended to record who was coming in and out of the villages.

"We just want to know when our villagers leave and enter the village," he said. "They do not tell us. This is our measure, and is not involved with their protest."

But Romas Svang, a 47-year-old ethnic Jarai and CNRP member in Yatung, said the recording of opposition supporters among the Jarai was an attempt to intimidate them.

"This is a form of … intimidation on us who protest against the government, for a re-election and the resignation of the prime minister," he said.

"However, we do not feel scared. If we do not protest for change, who will do it for us and who will help us?" he asked.

Pouy Nhor, a villager in Yatung, said that a local police officer named Poy Fen had collected the names.

"Many villagers went to protest in Phnom Penh, and after knowing this, Mr Fen asked for their names. [The police] did that just to threaten us, and this is a violation of our human rights. We have the right to protest," Nhor said.

The case was reported to the provincial Adhoc office yesterday, CNRP member Svang added.

Chhay Thy, Ratanakkiri coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said that the police had violated the constitutional rights of the villagers.

"Our constitution says that every citizen has full rights and freedom to travel anywhere and they have the right to protest," he said.

Thy added that he plans to investigate the case next week and send a letter of complaint to the provincial police, asking for the recording of protesters names to be stopped.

Police are on the lookout for a British man after a young Cambodian woman was found with her throat slashed in his Phnom Penh hotel room on Sunday, authorities said yesterday.

Daun Penh district police officer Seng Kosal said that British citizen James Green is the primary suspect in the murder of an as-yet-unidentified 20-year-old Cambodian woman who had been staying with him since Christmas Day at his room at the Bolyna Palace Hotel.

"She was killed by stab wounds and cuts by a knife on her throat and neck. After the killing, the suspect took the mattress to cover her body, and hid her under the bed in the hotel room," Kosal said. "And he managed to escape from the hotel.

"She was found dead and naked by a hotel cleaner when she opened the door to go in to clean the room," he added.

The victim's body was sent for cremation at a pagoda in Meanchey district, Kosal said.

"So far, we do not know exactly what the reason for the victim's murder was. We are now seeking the suspect in order to bring him to justice and punish him under Cambodian law," he concluded.

An employee at Bolyna Palace, who asked not to be named, said yesterday that Green had checked into the hotel on December 25, and brought a young woman to stay with him at the hotel that night.

"On December 28, 2013, at about 11 at night, he asked to get his passport from the hotel receptionist, and said that he was taking it to get money from the bank in order to pay for his hotel room," the employee said. "But on that night, he left the hotel without paying any money for his room fee."

When Green did not return the next day, the employee continued, a cleaner entered the room and found the victim dead, and hotel management notified the police.

Officials at the British embassy could not be reached for comment yesterday.

In an apparent departure from the usual diet of colourless press releases and updates on the travel plans of officials, the Council of Ministers' Press and Quick Reaction Unit website yesterday posted two articles critical of Prime Minister Hun Sen's government.

The articles – Reuters' coverage of Sunday's mass opposition rally and a news analysis piece from the Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua – were both removed from the website by early evening.

"In a democratic society, people are the owners of the power, so the two leaders should ask the people through a referendum whether they want a re-election or not," president of Licadho Kek Galabru told Xinhua in the article posted online.

The comments were not out of the ordinary, but their appearance on a government website, long the sole domain of pro-government information, surprised media experts, who said yesterday that the government may be experimenting with offering more diverse views in its official news outlets after orders from Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith to state media.

"It's a surprise because for so many years, the government has maintained an entrenched policy of [not publishing] any negative reports about the government," said Moeun Chhean Nariddh, director of the Cambodia Institute for Media Studies.

"But actually, it is not a coincidence, because recently the Minister of Information Mr Khieu Kanharith has instructed all government TV stations not to follow their old policy of media coverage," he added. "So I think they may have followed the same instructions not to just report on the positive."

Press and Quick Reaction Unit spokesman Ek Tha did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

Nariddh said that the reluctance to comment on the issue and the subsequent removal of the articles from the website could indicate that the media unit was still coming to grips with the new instructions.

"Following the national elections, I think at the moment they are still testing the water," Nariddh said. "So even with the instructions from the Ministry of Information, they are not sure whether it is okay to do this."

Pa Nguon Tieng, president of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, said that opening state media to alternative information was most likely a show for the international community.

"The government is under a lot of pressure from the public, and they also want to show an image to the international community. Maybe they want to show the international community that they are doing reform, starting with diversifying their media," he said.

International donors along with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Planning kick-started the Kingdom's fourth Demographic and Health Survey in the capital yesterday.

Earmarked to be published in January 2015, the survey will be conducted by the Directorate General of Health and the National Institute of Statistics, and provincial officials will begin training next month, according to the timetable presented during the conference.

Data for the survey will be gathered on fertility, family planning and maternal and child health from sample interviews gleaned from 600 villages throughout all 24 of Cambodia's provinces, according to the ceremony's participants.

The survey will include interviews with a total of 16,500 people between the ages of 15-49.

A swath of international donors including the Health Sector Support Program-Second Phase (HSSP-2), several United Nations agencies, the government of Australia, and US and Japanese international development organisations USAID and JICA, will be providing technical support and more than two million dollars in support of the survey.

The government took a hard line against garment-factory strikers after thousands blocked Russian Boulevard in front of the Council of Ministers yesterday, ordering them to accept a $95 minimum wage and return to work on Thursday.

Alleging that six union groups provoked the nationwide strike – which officially began last week when workers were afforded a minimum monthly wage $65 less than they had asked – the Labour Ministry's notice warned union leaders that the government will pursue legal action if the strike continues.

"The [$95] minimum wage was the decision of the Labour Advisory Committee's on December 24," the notice says. "Competent legal authorities will take steadfast legal action against anyone who agitates and disturbs employees and enterprises."

Ministry officials sent the letter to leadership at the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), the Free Trade Union (FTU), the National Independent Federation Textile Union of Cambodia (NIFTUC), the Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW), the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions and the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU).

Letters were sent to unions after the Council of Ministers issued a notice to the Labour Ministry, instructing Labour Minister Ith Sam Heng to warn of harsh consequences for union leaders, and to begin legal action against CCU president Rong Chhun.

"If they do not want to stop their strike, we will suspend their license," reads the letter, which was signed by Council Secretary Ngor Hong Ly. "If they continue striking, we will cancel their licenses; and if they still continue then, we will sue them in court."

But because his confederation is not registered with the Labour Ministry, Chhun will face immediate legal action, the letter says.

Upon hearing of the order, Chhun told the Post that striking will continue.

"The ministry only ordered this because they do not have the ability to resolve the issue for the workers," Chhun said. If workers had no problem with the Labour Advisory Committee's decision last week, they would not have begun the strike in the first place, he added.

But Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan insisted in an interview yesterday evening that rule of law must be restored. Once employees and employers "cool down", they can consider negotiating among themselves.

"They used a public way [on Russian Boulevard], and it's unlawful to do that.… They force the unwilling workers to [strike]," Siphan said, referring to a police report of 20 to 30 men who allegedly disturbed several factories, forcing some to join the strike.

"We do not think factory workers should be polarised by any political party," Siphan added, asserting that "the unions … are aligned with the CNRP."

Factories and workers are eager to return to work, Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said, but whether unions involved with the strike will adhere to the order remains to be seen.

"We have to wait to see if the order is complied with, and more importantly, if the ministry will impose sanctions on workers and unions who do not comply," Loo said.

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GMAC released a statement on its website last night that said that some of its member factories that tried to open yesterday were disturbed by unionists. The factory association last week advised its 473 member factories to close for the strike's duration, and 435 are currently still closed, the statement said.

Harsh rhetoric in government notices yesterday afternoon stood in stark contrast with what was said at the Labour Ministry in the morning, when ministry officials met with involved unions, said Dave Welsh, country director for labour rights group Solidarity Center.

The Labour Ministry appeared willing and ready to continue a dialogue with union leaders at the meeting, Welsh said. The change in attitude may prove counterproductive, he said.

"It's very much not in the spirit of what this morning's meeting was about," Welsh, who attended the meeting, said in an interview yesterday. "If what they've done is simply restate what they said on [December] 24th, I don't think that's going to solve anything."

Chhun also left the meeting believing government officials were open to negotiation. Before hearing of the order to end the strike yesterday, Chhun told the Post that a government lawyer had said that a $160 monthly minimum wage would be in garment workers' best interest.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHANE WORRELL

Villagers locked in a land dispute with ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat's Phnom Penh Sugar Company have submitted a petition to the provincial court asking for a cessation of the court's issuing of summonses and arrest warrants.

The court has so far issued 37 summonses, including nine arrest warrants, to some of the 200 people involved in the dispute with the tycoon, who accuses the villagers of illegally occupying land in Thpong district's Omlaing commune.

Although the summonses don't list a complainant, some of those called to appear in court earlier in December say they believed Yong Phat was behind the court action.

Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a directive banning the use of land for 200 metres on either side of Road 44 in Omlaing, but the company did not adhere to the premier's directive, Phal Vannak, a representative of the villagers, told the Post.

"We came to hear the case, but we wrote a petition to demand the court stop summonsing us as well as cease arresting people in Omlaing commune, because we are the land owners and the victims who have lost our land," he said.

Representatives of the Phnom Penh Sugar Company, which is owned by Yong Phat, could not be reached for comment.

Since the villagers began fighting eviction from their homes in February 2010, about 65 of those involved have been charged after being summonsed to court.

Ouch Leng, director of the Cambodian Human Rights Task Force, said the company had used the courts to bully the villagers.

"In this case, the court has become the company's apparatus, because the court does not appear to seek justice for people. The court follows what the company orders," he claimed.