At 9 a.m. yesterday, more than 200 soldiers, police and military police officers were gathered outside a large mansion on Street 55 in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district. …
All were waiting for their promised “ang pao” – red envelopes containing cash usually handed out during Chinese New Year – from Choeung Sopheap, the powerful owner of controversial land development firm Pheapimex and the wife of CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin.
Pheapimex holds a number of economic land concessions around the country, most notably a 316,000-hectare site in Pursat province’s Krakor district where villagers have staged several protests alleging that their land was illegally cleared. Armed military police officers have been deployed to guard the concession. …
Rights groups have long accused government security forces, especially the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, of protecting the private land concessions of well-connected families in a clear conflict of interests. …
Chea Vannath, an independent political analyst, said this practice of private business owners providing money to state employees would inevitably raise questions. “What you see now is the result of the [informal] policy for the higher-ranking [officials],” she said. “So if there is any change, there needs to be a policy from the top that the military and the police have to be independent and not have…financial transaction whatsoever from the business or private sectors.” …
Aun Pheap and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/senators-wife-showers-police-military-with-new-year-cash-9831/
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday accused unnamed individuals of attempting to grab land in Kompong Thom province by invoking his wife’s name and ordered one of his sons to investigate and give back any misappropriated land. …
According to Mr. Hun Sen, unscrupulous individuals were claiming that his wife Bun Rany and the Cambodian Red Cross, which she heads, had grabbed land in Kompong Thom province. …
Land grabbing by the powerful and government-issued economic land concessions have become a lightning rod for criticism of the ruling CPP government.
By Eang Mengleng, P. 17
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly castigated the Kampong Thom provincial governor in a speech on Saturday for allegedly claiming a large portion of land and saying it was needed for the local office of the Cambodian Red Cross, an agency lead by Hun Sen’s wife, Bun Rany.
He brought up the provincial governor, Chhun Chhorn, during a ceremony to distribute land titles to citizens in Kampong Chhnang province’s Kraing Leav commune. Chhorn had submitted a proposal, later rejected by the prime minister’s office, that 500 hectares of land be used for the Cambodian Red Cross. …
[Provincial governor Chhun] Chhorn told the Post that nobody controlled the land when he submitted the proposal, but 250 families have set up makeshift homes there now, and their timing couldn’t have been better.
Hun Sen, in the same speech, called on plots to be given to the new residents. …
By May Tittihara, P. 3
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012102959451/National-news/land-deals-leave-the-red-cross-out-of-it.html
More than 100 families were evacuated to higher ground in Banteay Meanchey province’s Serei Saophoan City yesterday, as Prime Minister Hun Sen urged people to be vigilant in the face of continued flooding. …
After heavy rain last night, 100 more people from Serei Saophan City had to be evacuated, taking the total number of families evacuated from the town to 433, according to Orm Reatrey, Serei Saophan governor. “We have requested more emergency supplies from the Cambodian Red Cross,” Mr. Reatrey added.
Poipet City and O’Chrou district were also badly hit by flooding over the past week, but floodwaters there are now receding and evacuees are starting to return home. …
Aun Pheap and Phorn Bopha, P. 20
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
More than 400 families in Banteay Meanchey province have now been evacuated from their homes due to heavy flooding in towns and villages along the Thai border, provincial officials said yesterday.
About 100 families were evacuated from Poipet City – the worst-hit area – yesterday alone, and are recieving emergency assistance from the Cambodian Red Cross, Poipet City Governor Ngor Mengchroun said.
“We have distributed tents and food such as rice to 2,000 families and we will distribute further supplies when more assistance arrives today,” Mr. Mengchroun said.
While floodwater appeared to be receding yesterday, there was still a chance that rain would resume, said Chan Youtha, cabinet chief of the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology. ….
Aun Pheap, P. 17
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
Three people have drowned and more than 3,000 have been evacuated since flash flooding struck a trio of provinces late last week.
Yesterday, the Cambodian Red Cross said it was mobilising aid and planned to have packages of rice, canned fish, noodles and other materials in the hands of 2,340 families, mostly in Banteay Meanchey, by this weekend. …
Ten of the 11 villages in his commune were flooded, Suong said, with 126 families forced to leave their homes. …
Phak Seangly and Rosa Ellen, P. 5
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012092058817/National-news/three-lives-swept-away-by-flash-flood.html
Hundreds of families in Banteay Meanchey province were evacuated from their homes yesterday due to severe flooding, with authorities warning that more than 1,000 additional families may have to be rescued if torrential rains continue as expected over the course of next week.
The rains that have hit Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province and caused the flooding along the Cambodian border are predicted to continue over the next four to five days, the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology said in a statement yesterday, warning provincial authorities to move people threatened by floodwaters to higher ground. …
The Cambodian Red Cross has already provided 700 tents for the 500 evacuated families, according to Mr. Oeun [Banteay Meanchey provincial governor], who added that he had requested more emergency supplies in case of further evacuations. …
Aun Pheap, P. 1
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
NagaCorp, the owner of Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, launched the sale of tickets for a new national lottery on Friday with the inaugural draw to take place on July 12 and a top prize of $218,000.
In a statement, NagaCorp said 30 percent of net profits from the lottery would be donated to the Cambodian Red Cross, the National Police and the Military Command at the Preah Vihear temple.
“As you can see, these bodies are chosen because whatever they do basically benefit people of all ages,” Melanie Loong, marketing and communications manager at NagaLottery, said in an email. …
Simon Marks and Khy Sovuthy, P. 10
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
Academics at the Royal University of Law and Economics defended banning thesis topics for fourth-year students, arguing that subjects such as illegal drug use and land disputes are written about too often at the school.
In a Feb. 2 letter posted online and signed by the university’s research director Kong Saphon, graduating students have been barred from writing about 14 topics including the management and functions of the Cambodian Red Cross, work-related disputes and Cambodia’s newly-launched stock exchange. …
The university’s vice rector Luy Channa said students have submitted theses on the same 14 topics for years – despite the fact that Cambodia’s stock exchange only launched in July and its first initial public offering is yet to happen. …
Am Sam Ath, technical adviser at local rights group Licadho, said the banned topics represent some of the country’s most important issues and should be researched in greater depth by law students. ….
Phorn Bopha, P. 17
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
As severe flooding continues to plague provinces along the Mekong River and around the Tonle Sap lake, new figures released by aid groups and officials yesterday showed that the scale of the disaster is far bigger than initially expected and could be worse than Typhoon Ketsana, which wreaked havoc on Cambodia in 2009.
According to the Cambodian Red Cross, nearly 40,000 families have now been evacuated to safe high-ground areas in five provinces alone, while a government officials said that about 163,000 hectares of paddy fields are inundated with floodwaters in 14 provinces.
The figures represent a three-fold increase from the previous government estimates of the number of evacuees and a four-fold jump in the extent of flood damage to crops…
(Paul Vrieze and Phorn Bopha, p.1)
http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/ (Note: Infrequently Updated.)
The wet season had come and gone with almost no rain. Despite the best efforts of the farmers from Tralach commune, in Takeo province’s Traing district, widespread crop failures two years ago brought the community to the economic, and dietary, brink…This week, farmers in Kratie province are facing the opposite problem. Severe flooding in 30 communes across the province has inundated more than 1,000 hectares of transplanted rice seedlings, threatening damage to this year’s crop, said provincial governor Kham Phoeun last week. As the government evacuated families and cattle to higher ground, many residents were concerned that this year’s harvest would be wasted… Worldwide, greenhouse gas emissions are spurring changes in the earth’s climate, leading to temperature increases and more erratic weather patterns. In Cambodia, rice cultivation relies on a predictable annual cycle of monsoon rains and dry seasons, and significant crop loss due to the occurrence of floods and drought is quite common.
(Daniel Sherrell, p 4)
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011081551046/National-news/climate-change-considered-as-flooding-hits-cambodia.html
