They are saying anything to be let off the charges. This is the ECCC, but if they were outside the court I would chop them into pieces.

Intriguing 'doll baby' photo series is one of the highlights of the forthcoming Angkor Photo Festival. Miranda Glasser reports.

Hollywood actress Carrie Fisher snuggling up to a freakishly lifelike baby doll, and a photo of a large black dog gazing forlornly from behind the steering wheel of a car feature in some of the highlights of this year's Angkor Photo Festival.

In its ninth year, the international festival – running from November 23-30 – has no established theme. Rather it celebrates the work of both established and up-and-coming photographers worldwide. Collections will be shown in a series of indoor and outdoor exhibitions plus eight evenings of outdoor slideshows.

"This year I've had around 1200 submissions," says program director Francoise Callier, who is curating the festival. "We'll have around 130 photographers and this year the submissions came from 75 countries which is really good – it increases every year."

She adds that the photographers can be from anywhere, but the work has to tell a story.

Callier is particularly excited about a collection by London-based photographer Martin Usborne, who will be exhibiting his series Mute: The Silence of Dogs in Cars at the McDermott Gallery. Usborne, whose work over the years has featured in the Sunday Times magazine and Time magazine and has been exhibited at London's National Portrait Gallery, was inspired by childhood angst-ridden memories of being left in a car.

"I don't know when or where or for how long, possibly at the age of four, perhaps outside a supermarket, probably for fifteen minutes only," his press literature reads. "The details don't matter. The point is that I wondered if anyone would come back.

The fear I felt was strong: in a child's mind it is possible to be alone forever."

At around the same time, he says, he developed a strong affinity with animals and was particularly affected by the sometimes cruel way they were treated by humans, hurt but unable to speak back.

"When I started this project I knew the photos would be dark," he writes. "In a sense, I was attempting to go back inside my car, to re-experience what I couldn't bear as a child. What I didn't expect was to see so many subtle reactions by the dogs: some sad, some expectant, some angry, some dejected."

In Mute, Usborne snaps various mutts sitting inside cars, from the handsome, black pedigree-looking dog behind the wheel to the scruffy Old English Sheepdog-type staring through his fur through a grubby windshield.

Callier also enthuses about a "very beautiful" exhibition by Japanese photographer Herbie Yamaguchi called Hatachi No Shokei

"The photos were taken between the '60s and '70s when Japan was recovering after the war," she says. "It's a bit like those old Japanese movies, very nice atmosphere."

As for the slideshows, one particular artist has caught Callier's eye: American photographer Rebecca Martinez, who shot a photo-story titled preTenders, about women who own dolls that look like living babies. In some of the series her subject is actress Carrie Fisher, who posed in character with the dolls creating different scenarios such as "haggard homemaker, bored mother and a beautiful, sophisticated housewife."

Martinez writes, "Who and what we fall in love with comes in many forms. Babies create strong emotions for the bearer, holder and observer. I have discovered this holds true even when it is known the baby is not real. This series documents a subculture of women who create, adopt, and love dolls that look as close as possible to living infants. It is called preTenders as one pretends the dolls are real, one tends to the babies and there are tender feelings involved."

Callier says the lifelike appearance of the dolls is quite extraordinary, and it is something of a shock when you see the photo depicting a multitude of 'babies' lined up on shelves.

"This is quite an interesting story," she says. "Rebecca Martinez made a story about a community of people in the States, mostly women, who want a baby but can't have one so they order plastic babies – and they are exactly like real ones. When you see the first picture in the slideshow you can't guess that they're fake babies and suddenly you have an image with 100 babies made of plastic!

"It's incredible. You can choose if it's a crying baby, a smiling baby – whatever you wish. It's quite a crazy project. The 'babies' even have toys. There is one picture that's quite amazing; it's a pregnant woman and she already has twenty of those plastic babies so you can't imagine what's going to happen to the real baby, I don't want to know," laughs Callier.

SACRED DANCERS US TOUR WRAP-UPP
A world-weary Ravynn Karet-Coxen, who has been touring the US with 34 of her sacred little dancers, flew back into Siem Reap on Sunday morning. Ravynn reports, "The tour went very well and we accomplished our mission with success, bonding and bridging culturally and spiritually American Cambodian to Motherland, but also sharing our culture with the Boston, Washington and Los Angeles Ballet and New York Dance Institute.

"The children touched so many hearts and were feted everywhere. I managed to take all 34 of them to Disneyland to see the new film, Gravity, in 3D. In New York we went to the Natural History Museum and spent time at the planetarium, and in Long Beach at the aquarium."

Ravynn's sacred dancers also met dancers from the LA Ballet and dance styles were compared.

Blouin ArtInfo reported on October 23, "East met west last week as the Sacred Dancers of Angkor stopped by an LA Ballet rehearsal to trade steps and exchange technical tips on two distinctly different disciplines. Cambodian dancers sat on the perimeter, while the ballet's dancers ran through a compelling routine of pas de chats, grand jetes, and assembles. When it was over, the Sacred Dancers took the floor to demonstrate their subtler, earthbound steps in a slow-motion line dance set to gamelan, drum, and bell.

"…Where ballet dancers take to the air, their Cambodian counterparts tend to stay close to the ground, coordinating complicated finger movements with a three-step dance to a two-four beat.
"'If you don't have that pulse happening, you don't really get it right away,' said LA Ballet dancer Christopher Charles McDaniel, who warily tried a few steps. He, like many of the dancers, saw some similarities in the two styles, such as a variation on fifth position frequently repeated by the Cambodians, as well as a tendency to turn out.

"'When you send that heel forward you're automatically turned out,' McDaniel said. 'It's the same thing we're thinking about when we're doing a degage or like when I taught them the pas de chat. You have to get the heels forward in order to maintain that rotation'."

SHORTS
US Relief: On October 23 CNN began a two-week-long airing of a 60-second public service announcement for the Landmine Relief Fund. CNN had been in Siem Reap filming Aki Ra working in the field and with kids at the Landmine Museum Relief Center. Meanwhile, the Landmine Relief Fund also received a grant from the US Department of State for $175,000.

Shinta Mani Foundation Graduation: Hospitality students at the Shinta Mani Foundation, headed by hard-working Chitra Vincent, graduated on Wednesday. Clayton Jedam explains that the graduation is a "nice story." He says, "Twenty students, eighteen with employment already lined up. The program is heading into its tenth year next year and is a pretty good model."

AboutAsia awards: Siem Reap travel agency AboutAsia has won Travel + Leisure magazine's Global Vision Award for Community for 2013. AboutAsia's ebullient and ultra-philanthropic Andy Booth traveled to New York to collect this award for his team's commitment to ethical travel. Two months ago Condé Nast Traveler added AboutAsia to its World Top Travel Specialists list for the quality of its travel services.

Sniffing things out: Lots of zombie-eyed drugged-out young boys and teeners walking around town and hanging out in the Royal Gardens, sniffing substances from plastic bags not so well hidden behind caps held to their faces.

Correction: Last week Man About said that the new Kaya boutique will be located in front of Shinta Mani hotel. What should have been said is that the new Kaya shop will be in the Cassia Gallery which, incidentally, is over the road from Shinta Mani.

Tonight sees the culmination of a week of Halloween-themed fun at Rosy Guesthouse, with a special spooky pub quiz in aid of NGO Honour Village Cambodia.

The owners Simon Tufts and Rachel Band have gone to town on the decorations with hundreds of black paper bats decorating the walls, a giant spider and a mummy's head placed artfully on a pumpkin-carving table.

The popular kids' Halloween party was a great success last Sunday, with 40 children turning up, more of them dressed up in costume than ever before.

"I feel the kids' party gets better every year," Band says. "We know what works and take out things that don't work so well. A lot more children were dressed up this year so maybe more families were getting into it too. There's quite a wide range of ages; we had about five under-twos and the rest were up to about probably nine or ten years old.

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"There seem to be quite a few people who come every year. It's a lot of effort but every year I'm pleased that we do it because all the children and their parents seem to like it."

Among the various witches, vampires and monsters, the best costume awards were won by eight-year-old Annan Balch who was Frankenstein, and Medusa, aka Chloe Scott, aged six.

Band says the children enjoyed the usual arts and crafts plus food and drink specials including Cheesy Deadman's Fingers (cheese on toast) and Slime (lime) juice.

Tonight, meanwhile, the adult contingent will be able to quench thirsts at the quiz with a Ghoulish Ale, a Zombie Brain or perhaps even a Black Magic Martini, while answering creepy questions.

"Most of the questions will be Halloween-themed and there will hopefully be a Halloween music round too," says Band.

The pub quiz kicks off at 8pm tonight at Rosy Guesthouse.

FCC Angkor's latest exhibition, Light and Shadow, which opens tomorrow is not the work of a professional photographer, but of a man more used to pulling teeth: German dentist Dr Walter Keller, who is volunteering for his fifth year at Angkor Hospital for Children.

This will be his first exhibition in Siem Reap. Last year he exhibited a similar collection at FCC Phnom Penh, but this time the photos are for sale with all proceeds going to the hospital. The exhibition comprises 43 photographs in colour and black and white, taken over the five years Keller has been visiting Cambodia.

"Some of the pictures are from the temples," he says. "A lot of them I took during our outreach program with the hospital, so the children are watching during the health instruction with wide-open eyes. It looks so beautiful to me."

Dr Keller, who has been volunteering two weeks a year at AHC since 2009, says he has seen much improvement at the hospital since first starting.

"It changes from year to year," he says. "When I first started there was one Khmer dentist and three dental nurses. Now there are two dentists and five dental nurses. Also they have a bigger area to work in; first there was only one small room now it's a big room with four dental chairs and they've had X-ray since last year. So it's improving."

The most common problem, he says, is tooth decay and abscesses due to too much sugar and not enough teeth brushing.

"They do not really know how to brush their teeth and about the influence of sugar," Dr Keller says. "I think one problem is the parents are perhaps are of an age where they were young during Khmer Rouge time or shortly after; they didn't have sugar at that time and so it didn't matter if they didn't brush their teeth.

"But now they have sugar, and they're still doing as they have done for the last twenty or thirty years. That's the problem."

He adds that Khmer children do not share the traditional fear of the dentist that most Western kids have.

Light and Shadow opens at FCC Angkor at 6.30pm on November 2.

Siem Reap's water festival celebration has been cancelled for the second year running due to recent floods that affected many people in the province, Siem Reap governor Khim Bun Song said.

This follows the announcement of the cancelation of the Phnom Penh water festival in the wake of floods around the country that killed at least 39 people.

"This year's water festival in Siem Reap will be cancelled as our province had been suffering from the floods and many victims still need help. That is why we decided not to celebrate it," the governor told Insider while he was walking along the riverside cleaning the city on Tuesday morning with relevant authorities and hundreds of students.

Flooding in Siem Reap last month affected thousands of families in several districts including Pouk, Angkor Chum, Krolanh, Varin and Srey Snom.

The governor added that along with houses and businesses, about 6,000 hectares of rice fields were also ruined.

But he said he felt that cancelling this year's water festival would not affect the tourism sector as the festival is only an annual one-off occasion. He said he also believed that Siem Reap residents would understand the reasons for the cancellation.

Last year, the annual Water Festival celebration in Siem Reap was cancelled during the mourning period for the former King Norodom Sihanouk.

The water festival was first cancelled in Phnom Penh in 2011 following the terrible tragedy that occurred during the 2010 festival when 347 people were killed and hundreds more injured in a human stampede on November 22.

Khmer Heart FC quite literally played their hearts out to scramble home 6-5 against Young Star to grab a place in the last 16 from Group D as the inaugural Tiger National Futsal Championship entered the knockout phase at the Beeline Arena late on Wednesday.

With their qualification chances hanging in balance, the two teams were at each other's throats every minute of the way in this must win game before the thrilling verdict went in favour of Khmer Heart, who had earlier been beaten out of sight by Family FC 7-0.

Khmer Super Red topped the four-team group after winning all the three matches.

There were no matches yesterday and action in the round of 16 starts today with the semi-finals and grand final, to be telecast live by local channel MyTV from 4:30pm onwards on Saturday.

"It has been hectic three days of intense futsal. We could see so much of enthusiasm and energy among the teams and the public response has also been good. We are looking forward to an exciting second stage of the competition," Beeline Arena general manager Charles Julliard told the Post.

Today's Fixtures
Norton FC v Super Striker 2:35pm
Western FC v Victory FC 3pm
Green World v Khmer Heart 3:25pm
Khmer Super Red v Daniel 3:50pm
PP Crown v Charlo FC – 4:15pm
Ramar FC v Pailin Gems 4:40pm
Dambo FC v Bavet Community 5:05pm
Makut Pich Weddings v Veasna 5:30pm

A tiny tamarind tree that sprouted from the ground on Tuesday has lit the superstitions of a growing network of residents in the capital's Sen Sok district who believe it resembles a human face.

Phann Srey Phen, 31, discovered the tiny 10-centimetre "magic" tree in the corner of a room in her house in Teuk Thla commune.

"When I saw it, I felt it smile and dance at me, waving from side to side, so I called my neighbour to come see it," Srey Phen said yesterday.

A fortune teller, Srey Phen added, had said a spirit known as "grandmother Dy" was embodying the tree and would bring good luck to her family.

The fortune teller instructed Srey Phen to buy sweets as an offering to the sprout, which would bring luck to the whole family, particularly her ailing son.

"We brought sweets and prayed to her. When the incense finally finished burning, my son got better," Srey Phen said, noting that since the discovery of the tamarind sprout her addiction to wine has subsided and many villagers have been visiting the tree.

Being the owner of a "magic" tamarind tree in Phnom Penh is proving lucrative.

Srey Phen raked in about $30 during the first day and even more the second.

The tree, she told the Post yesterday, was the real deal.

Villager But Luy Sambour, 66, decided to check it out for herself before buying into the urban legend.

"I believe in the tamarind's magic because it looks like a human being," Sambour said, adding that she planned on taking some of the water, strategically placed in front of the sprout, and sprinkling it on her body to ward off illness.

Teuk Thla commune chief Tann Navin visited the tamarind tree but was not won over.

It was, however, everyone's right to worship whatever they wished, he said.

"As I see it, it doesn't look like a human being. But our people are always quick to believe."

Discovery of the magical tamarind sprout is the second mystical story to alight this week with the discovery of a two-year-old boy in Kampong Cham, purported to have healing powers, extensively covered by Cambodian-language media.

An ethnic Jarai family has been evicted from their Ratanakirri province village where they say they received death threats over a land dispute.

This is the third time the family has abandoned their home after they filed a lawsuit against three commune authorities in 2011, alleging they illegally sold 480 hectares of community forest.

"They threatened to execute us if we did not leave. For safety, my family got out of the village," Romas Svang, 47, said.

Svang said commune chief Rocham Ven and his officers forced the family of nine out of the village by gathering the community for two meetings and collecting thumbprints of those who wanted the family to leave.
The commune chief declined to comment.

Svang claims the villagers sought revenge for the legal trouble and discriminated against the Christian, CNRP-supporting family.

Chhay Thy, coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said the three village officials accused of threatening and intimidating the family – including the former commune chief, the previous commune police chief and the commune clerk – will soon face a hearing.

O'Yadav district governor Dak Sor said villagers collected thumbprints to dismiss the family, but no one threatened murder. "Our villagers did not like him because he sued this person and that person. Such complaining is wrong," Dak Sor said.

An opposition commune chief police say was caught red-handed transporting a load of illegal luxury timber in Ratanakkiri province destined for Vietnam has found little support from his party.

Sev Nhang, a Sam Rainsy Party chief of Pate commune in O'Yadav district, was arrested at about 8pm on Wednesday night by military police while driving his Toyota Camry toward the border, O'Yadav district police chief Ma Vichet said.

"He was transporting 23 pieces of timber, but I don't know the size of the timber. Only the forestry officers know because they are cooperating," he said.

Eam Oeun, a Cambodia National Rescue Party representative in Ratanakkiri province, said the party could not get involved in the case but would be reporting the details to higher levels.

"The commune chief [Sev Nhang] used to seize other people's timber and to sell it to other people. He had been a timber businessman for ages," he said.

Nhang's phone was switched off yesterday.

Chhay Thy, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said it was widely known Nhang had been a timber trader but that crackdowns on illegal trading seemed confined to opposition perpetrators.

"But a lot of timber is transported across O'Yadav district – Ratanakkiri province does not have effective crackdowns."

Comment

We are now 25 per cent into the new Premier League season and already there have been quite a few surprises.

Arsenal are top, Manchester City have lost three times away from home and Manchester United – Rooney and Van Persie aside – seem quite ordinary.

Former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealed in a new book that he would rather of shot Cristiano Ronaldo than let him go to Real Madrid, and if that were not distressing enough for the Portuguese playmaker, he had to endure unfavourable comments about his hair, made last Friday by FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

However, it is the omission of Chelsea's Juan Mata from Jose Mourinho's preferred starting line-up that has shocked me the most. The gifted Spaniard scored his first goal of the season on Tuesday night to help see off Arsenal in the Capital One Cup, yet he is considered only good enough to start on the bench for Premier League matches.

This is the same Juan Mata that scored for Spain in their 2-0 win over Georgia in a World Cup qualifier only two weeks ago.

So the the big question is, if Mata is good enough for world and European champions Spain, why does Mourinho think that he is not good enough for Chelsea?

Trying to find a logical thinking process to The Special One's mind is a bit like trying to find a "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma" (I thank Sir Winston Churchill for that particular paraphrase).

Maybe Mourinho is trying to show just how special he is, that he can win the league title without his best player. Maybe he feels intimidated by Mata's attempt at a beard, as it resembles a similar line in apparent trendiness previously attired by Jose's arch-rival Andre Villas-Boas.

The answer to the puzzle probably lies in the system that the Chelsea manager favours. If Juan takes a look at all of Chelsea's nine Premier League matches to date, a trend that has nothing to do with facial hair can be observed.

Mata has actually started in four of those games, against Aston Villa, Cardiff, Everton and Norwich. However, he has been substituted in all four of those matches in the 65th, 59th, 57th and 81st minute respectively.

Against Fulham, Hull, Man City and Man United, Mata never figured. In the encounter with Tottenham, Mata came on in the second half and changed the course of the result by being instrumental in reversing a 1-0 half time defecit to a 1-1 draw.

In that match Mourinho started with his customary "park the bus" tactics that begins with two holding midfield players (Mikel and Lampard) and ends with all 11 on their own six-yard line.

A slight hyperbole perhaps, however it does illustrate that Jose prefers to have only one of either Hazard or Mata and not the two creative players together.

Quite simply, I do not understand this and the results suggest that Mourinho has it fundamentally wrong. We only need to analyse the results against the four top sides that Chelsea have played in the Premier League to verify this point (Everton, Man City, Man United and Tottenham).

Chelsea have won only one of those games, against Man City, and that was only due to another customary Joe Hart blunder.

In the aforementioned Tottenham game, Mata replaced holding midfielder John Obi Mikel, Lampard slipping into a lone holding role, which actually does not suit him, yet it did mean that both Hazard and Mata could weave their magic and Chelsea were a different team with the dynamic duo.

However, Mourinho has hardly opted for that scenario at all since then. Or maybe Mata is simply being saved for the final 75 per cent of the season.

Bob Morton has a first-class degree in Media and is the only person in history to win the Daily Mirror's 'You The Manager' World Cup and Premier League Manager of the Month prizes back to back.

Swiss national and longtime Siem Reap resident Rudolf Knuchel was arrested yesterday on child sex charges for what a local child protection NGO said was his third time while in Cambodia.

Knuchel, chairman of Aseana Hotels and Resorts, was sentenced to two years in prison in 2010 for committing indecent acts against a 14-year-old boy. One year of that sentence was suspended.

As of press time, Knuchel was being questioned by police on new allegations, Siem Reap Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Unit chief Duong Thavry confirmed yesterday.

"He has been detained temporarily at our provincial police office," she said.

Yi Moden, deputy director of field operations for the NGO APLE, said the 66-year-old's arrest yesterday hinged on a 15-year-old boy's testimony that he "had sex with Knuchel on multiple occasions in exchange for money".

Knuchel could not be reached for comment.

Less than a week after the government was praised for keeping the peace during mass opposition protests in Phnom Penh, Daun Penh district security guards, in the company of police, used violence to disperse land-eviction protesters yesterday.

Memories of the peaceful protests began to fade as security officials armed with batons clashed with villagers outside City Hall, where about 200 people blocked traffic on Monivong Boulevard.

This followed an earlier clash with police as protesters gathered outside the Peace Palace on Russian Boulevard.

Three villagers, including a 14-year-old girl, were injured in the clashes, while a 34-year-old man – believed to have no connection to the protesters – was arrested after a confrontation with authorities and later released.

The protesters from five communities, including Borei Keila and Boeung Kak, were demanding that Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong honour a promise he made soon after assuming the job in May to resolve long-running land disputes.

Just last week, he told Boeung Kak protesters that 32 land titles were to be awarded in short order once land was demarcated.

"We've just come to demand he follows through on his promises – or has he lied?" asked Hor Chenda, 32, from Borei Keila. "He should come meet us, not use violence against us."

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Following the clashes, municipal authorities allowed 10 representatives to negotiate with Socheatvong.

Chan Soveth, senior investigator for rights group Adhoc, said the governor advised the representatives to stop protesting while City Hall worked to resolve their land disputes.

In a statement yesterday, Adhoc called for the security guards involved in the violence to be punished.

"Daun Penh district security cannot continue to commit violence against civilians and should be disciplined for such acts as they currently act as little more than hired thugs," the NGO said.

City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche urged protesters to be patient "because we have only one man working on the [case]".

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHANE WORRELL

Hundreds of villagers in Preav Vihear's Kulen district cut down a palm tree on Monday and used it to block provincial officials attempting to confiscate tonnes of luxury timber from their village, their representative said yesterday.

Ri Sothun, a spokesman for more than 400 families in Tbeng II commune's Kdak village, said between 400 and 500 villagers – after hearing the sound of beating drums and other instruments at a local pagoda – rushed to help block the officials' cars and trucks from leaving the area with seven cubic metres, or 128 pieces, of the timber.

"All the villagers were determined not to allow the trucks to leave the village, because they use the timber to build houses, make furniture and sell to traders in order to support their families," he said.

Villagers considered the officials' crackdown on their activities "inappropriate" and had impounded their vehicles without violence, he added.

"Previously, the villagers were allowed to fell trees without any problems from the authorities and sold the timber for $200 per cubic metre," Sothun said.

Kulen District Governor Chum Puy said yesterday that after negotiating with the villagers, the officials had agreed to let them keep the timber in exchange for the return of their vehicles.

"Some of that timber has been pre-sold to a trader, but we have given it back in order to avoid serious confrontation," he said.

Rather than pursue the issue with the villagers further, Puy said, the authorities would instead focus their crackdown on a businessman believed to buy luxury timber from the villagers.

But Lor Chann, provincial coordinator for rights groups Adhoc, said he doubted authorities would do that.

Authorities, he said, were only willing to take action against poor villagers who were trying to make a living rather than those who profited most from the trade.

"The authorities are not brave enough to intercept the rich and powerful companies behind the illegal logging," he said, adding that the villagers had only been responding to unfair treatment against them.

Cambodian garment workers are slowly embracing a dial-in hotline created by United Nations-backed monitor Better Factories Cambodia that aims to be an information source on labour rights, a report released yesterday shows.

Named Kamako Chhnoeum in Khmer, which translates to "Outstanding Worker", the automated hotline, launched two months ago and answers questions in three areas: wages, occupational health and safety. Workers get the information, while BFC is able to collect data on the extent to which the garment sector employees understand their rights. The hotline can be reached by dialing 8397, but is only free on Smart and Cellcard networks. It also takes anonymous voicemail messages.

Jill Tucker, BFC's chief technical adviser, said the technology allows the monitor to reach a much larger number of workers than traditional face-to-face training, as "every worker has a mobile phone".

"This is obviously not as in-depth as all-day training, but we can get information out on a regular basis, and more than that, we can find out what workers know and what they don't know," she said.

In 2011, BFC delivered labour rights and safety training to about 2,500 workers, a number Tucker says is "just not sufficient" when there is an estimated 450,000 countrywide.

Some 3,245 garment and footwear workers dialed in to Kamako Chhnoeum from its launch on September 1 to October 28. While Tucker was happy with the initial intake, she expects much more in the near future as BFC steps up publicity to include radio advertising, wallet-sized calendars and posters in industrial areas.

Early insights show that 76 per cent of workers understand their full maternity-leave entitlements, while 37 per cent of workers incorrectly answered that having two emergency drills per year was a waste of time.

Workers contacted yesterday were not yet aware of the service, but said they would use it.

Nith Reaskmey, a garment worker at USA Fully Field (Cambodia) Garment factory who had spoken to ILO representatives before, but only face to face, welcomed the new program.

"It is important, it helps workers to get their voice out wider," she said.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodia Federation of Unions, said educating workers on labour laws helps strengthen their position in times of dispute.

This is not the first digital initiative from BFC, which launched a smartphone application in September targeting factory management, NGOs and union officials.

Expatriates gave some of the highest marks for quality of life, ease of setting up and integration into society to Thailand, according to the world's largest global survey of foreigners living abroad released yesterday.

Thailand ranked first out of 37 countries in the "Experience" category, which is part of the sixth series of the Expat Explorer survey commissioned by HSBC Expat and conducted by independent research firm YouGov.

The survey finds that 76 per cent of all expats in Thailand note the ease with which they made friends, compared with the global average of 52 per cent.

Of the expats moving to Thailand, 59 per cent are more likely than those in any other countries to see an improvement in their social life. More than seven in 10 expats said they found integrating into the local community easy.

Thailand also placed first for "Expenses." Expats in Thailand enjoy a relatively high income and face lower spending on everyday essentials, personal tax rates and accommodation, the results show. Indonesia ranked second and Vietnam fifth.

"This year, the results show Asia to be the leading destination for expat quality of life, with the region also emerging as an expat social hotspot," Dean Blackburn, head of HSBC Expat, said in a statement.

Besides Thailand, four other countries among the top 10 destinations in the 2013 Expat Explorer "Experience" section are in Asia. China ranks third, Singapore sixth and India seventh, followed by Taiwan in eighth place.

Between April 29 and June 11, 7,004 expats in nearly 100 countries took part in the online survey. A sample size of 30 or more respondents from each country was required to be included in each league table. Cambodia didn't qualify for this year's survey due to a lack of responses.

In the "Economics" section, which measures countries by earning potential, disposable income and economic outlook, Switzerland scored first, followed by China and Qatar.

As for raising children abroad, European countries scored highest among expats, with Germany in the top slot, France ranking third, Belgium sixth and Spain landing on ninth.

The number of new businesses registering in Cambodia continued to plummet through the third quarter of this year amid tightened rules for start-ups and waning investor confidence following the still-unresolved national elections.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce yesterday showed that 853 new businesses registered with the ministry from July to September, down 6.5 per cent from 912 in the 2012 quarter.

The numbers are part of a downward slide in the first nine months of the year, when there were 2,221 new business registrations, compared with 2,606 in the 2012 time frame, a fall of 14.7 per cent.

In the first nine months, foreign-owned company registrations stood at 1,118, down 8.8 per cent from 1,227 in the same period of 2012. New local businesses fell from 1,379 to 1,105, a decline of 19.9 per cent, according to the data.

Kong Putheara, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, blamed the performance on the post-election stalemate in which Cambodia National Rescue Party members have steadfastly refused to take their seats in protest over election results.

The party has also threatened a general boycott if its demands for an independent review of the election, which went to the ruling Cambodian People's Party, aren't met.

"Well, in terms of business confidence, I think the businessmen and investors wait to see the progress of our political situation here – this affects their investment decisions to start up the business," Putheara said.

Grant Knuckey, CEO of ANZ Royal Bank, touched on the same point.

"I believe they are simply a function of the overall slowdown in business activity in the third quarter of the year, particularly in the post-election period," Knuckey said, adding that mass floods exacerbated the problem.

"Undoubtedly, many potential new businesses would have been waiting for signs that the political deadlock was behind us before registering. This is a fairly natural level of caution."

The slowdown was also tied to increased fees and processes for new businesses introduced by the government over the past year.

In a report released on Tuesday, the World Bank said that Cambodia is making it more difficult to do business in the country because of requirements that a company register its name with the Department of Intellectual Property, pay higher fees for getting registration documents approved and stamped by the Phnom Penh Tax Department, and mandating incorporation with the commercial registrar.

Cambodia ranked 137th out of the 189 countries surveyed, a slide of two positions from 135th last year. As for overall ease in starting a business, Cambodia was ranked an abysmal 184th.

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.

Putheara, with the Ministry of Commerce, conceded the changes in the registration process introduced earlier this year were worrisome.

"Of course, I do agree with the World Bank report because it makes the businessmen spend more due to what they have to go through, the many steps with other departments," he said. "But, I hope we will discuss the issue with the minister in order to improve the situation soon."

He said most foreign businesses were from China, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Chan Sophal, former president of the Cambodia Economic Institute, said the political situation is in the "eye of investors," but the climate is "still normal despite businessmen waiting to see the improvement of the political situation,"

The Cambodian equestrian team came through its first competitive stress test ahead of December's Myanmar SEA Games in good shape and spirits after notching up a string of strong performances at the Selangor Turf Club Horse Show last weekend.

Competing against some of the best riders from various clubs in Malaysia, the Cambodian riders showed rich promise both in dressage and show jumping.

Though none of the six riders could pin their colours to the mast, team leader Hoy Sopharith and youngest member Lon Sopheaktra got a lot nearer by slotting themselves into second place in FEI dressage tests while 19-year-old Sim Narith finished a close third.

In show jumping, Ly Sovanachandara picked up third in both equitation and power and speed classes, with Sor Putminea getting home fourth in equitation. Phat Makara was the only member of the team going unplaced in the competition.

"The federation has to thank Horseware and RM Asia Ford for their steadfast support. Horseware has equipped the team with professional competition jackets, shirts and jodhpurs. RM Asia has been with us throughout all competitions," Cambodian Equestrian Federation secretary general Mona Tep told the Post.

National coach Kathleen Lovatt, who accompanied the team, summed up the Malaysian tour as a rewarding experience for the Cambodian riders.

"This was by far the strongest set of rivals they had faced and I feel that they have come through this stress test quite well. It has certainly raised our expectations of a medal in the SEA Games," Lovatt said.

"While the local riders were on their own regular mounts, our riders were on borrowed horses they knew nothing about. In this context what our team has achieved is quite remarkable," she added.

Meanwhile, the six SEA Games probables will be seen in action at the annual Cambodian Country Club show jumping competition to be held at the CCC Horse Park on November 10. The event is supported by the sports governing body, Federation Equestrian International, and World Horse Welfare.

CIA First International School will host the Road Safety Basketball Tournament on Saturday, the third edition of the annual event aimed at promoting road safety.

CIA, East West International School and Pour un Sourire d'Enfant return to competition while Abundant Life International School and ICAN International School will field teams for the first time.

Middle School and High School Boys and Girls games lasting 20 minutes will be played from 8am, with the winning team collecting motorbike helmets.

The controversial Don Sahong hydropower dam, which Laos says it will soon build just a kilometre from the Cambodian border, will not have significant effects on the Mekong River, according to an environmental impact assessment paid for by the dam's builder.

Obtained yesterday, the report – prepared for Malaysian developer Mega First Corporation Berhad – says the project will actually benefit Laos, despite widespread concerns from environment groups.

"[The dam] will not have significant local or cumulative impacts on the Mekong River flows, fish migration, or fisheries," the document says.

The EIA, submitted in January, adds that only 11 households will be relocated to make way for the project, which may have "small but positive impacts on global climate change by providing electricity that does not involve the burning of fossil fuels".

"The health risks facing people living in the Lao PDR are higher than for those living elsewhere in the region …the hydropower project can improve this situation."

The EIA was prepared by the National Consulting Company, which is based in the Lao capital, Vientiane, following an earlier EIA in 2007.

Laos, which has committed to building hydropower projects on the Mekong in the face of opposition from environment groups and its neighbours, pressed ahead with building the 1,285-megawatt Xayaburi dam last November.

A number of Lao ministries, including the prime minister's office, were involved in the environmental assessment process, the Don Sahong EIA says.

Environment group International Rivers has warned that the dam "spells disaster for Mekong fish" and threatens the survival of the already endangered Irrawaddy dolphin.

Adding to these concerns, Meach Mean, a coordinator at the 3S Rivers Protection Network, said yesterday that the EIA had not considered Cambodians living downstream.

"It just focuses on the Laos side and the company that is investing . . . the communities downstream here, we have had not any consultation," he said. "It will have a huge effect on fisheries, especially during the dry season."