Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (21) Chinese Extortionists Arrested in Cambodia

Since the beginning of 2010 more than 500 Chinese and Taiwanese nationals have been arrested in Cambodia for extortion and attempted extortion of their countrymen.

Using the internet to make cheap calls they threaten and cajole folk back home into parting with their money, usually from Phnom PenhVillas.

500 is surely the tip of the iceberg...

Water Cannons Used against Peaceful Cambodian Land Protesters (Video)

May 30, 2013 - This morning near Phnom Penh city hall, authorities called in three fire trucks, which used high-pressure water from their hoses to disperse peaceful protesters from the Boeung Kak, Borei Keila and airport communities. Firefighters also targeted some community members who came to rescue colleagues who had fallen down due to the impact of the water. This video was taken at the scene.

~http://www.licadho-cambodia.org/video.php?perm=39

Hun Sen Quotes (18) Location of House Ensures Victory

“In terms of good fortune, my house is in such a good location that nobody can defeat me.

My location is on the dragon’s shoulder and in between two pagodas. That is why nobody can kill me. It’s in the fortunes, we must believe.”

~ Prime Minister Samdach Akaek Moha Sena Padei Decho Hun Sen

Monday, 27^th May, 2013, Phnom Penh

So, Hun Sen will be elected because of where he placed his house, without a thought as to how he built such a monstrosity on a salary of little more than $2,000 a month?

Face of the Day

My Occasional Moto-driver: Phsar  Doeum Thkov, Phnom Penh,
Cambodia

What Wat? Wat Sansam Kosal, Phnom Penh

A once-a-week look at Southeast Asian Wats and other places of worship.

Cambodian Power Prices Highest in ASEAN

Power Cuts to be of the past in Phnom Penh?

The director-general of Electricite du Cambodge claims that power cuts in Phnom Penh, Kandal and Kampong Speu, will be a thing of the past once the coal-fired power plant in Sihanoukville starts producing next month.

Cambodian consumers, however, have been told not to expect significant price decreases to come with the extra supply.

So, while a continuity of supply will make Cambodia more attractive to investors, the country’s astronomical power prices will continue to deter some.

In fact, Cambodia has the highest power prices in ASEAN. Consumers here pay between 11.71 and 14.63 cents per-unit. This compares most unfavorably with the Thai who pay between 8.67 and 9.43 cents, and the Lao who pay between 6.23 and 7.34 cents. 

And it’s astronomical when compared with the Vietnamese who pay as little as 2.3 cents and a maximum of just 8.32 cents a unit.

A Song for Sunday (6) Bomphea Mon Klath by Thet Sambath

'The Missing Picture' Triumphs at Cannes

Director: Rithy Panh

CANNES, France — An autobiographical French-Cambodian film, “The Missing Picture,” which explores the bloody history of Pol Pot’s dictatorship in late 1970s Cambodia, has won the “Un Certain Regard” prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

To rousing applause, director Rithy Panh collected the award at a ceremony Saturday night, expressing his gratitude to be able “to have the freedom to do the films I want to do.”

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/cambodian-film-on-familys-experience-under-pol-pot-wins-cannes-un-certain-regard-prize/2013/05/25/19c4a06c-c56b-11e2-9642-a56177f1cdf7_story.html

Hun Sen Quotes (17) Compares Opposition with Pol Pot

“The question is: what will they do [The Cambodia National Rescue Party- Cambodia's main opposition party] in order to cancel debt? … Firstly, they will do the same as Pol Pot, meaning they will shut down all the banks and dissolve all the laws on the banks; this will be dangerous and a disaster.”

Campaign rhetoric is too be expected, but to compare the Cambodia National Rescue Party with Pol Pot, is disgusting.

Note: The CNRP denies outright that cancellation of debt is part of their political platform

Face of the Day

Phsar Doeum Thkov, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Good News Cambodia (5) New Building for Female Prisoners with Children.

The stuffed-to-overflowing Prey Sar Correctional Centre 2 prison now has two new buildings designed to segregate female prisoners, locked up with their children, from the general population.

Such buildings should go a long way to stopping incarcerated children from contracting diseases such as tuberculosis, which is endemic in Cambodian jails.

Outside of the new cell-blocks is a playground for these captive kids.

Mothers and their children should move into the new facility on Monday.

However, this being Cambodia, there are concerns that the shiny new cells may become home for wealthy convicts who will simply bribe prison officials and and move in. Not this time, one hopes.

The buildings were paid for by Medicins San Frontieres 

Face of the Day

Indian National Museum, Calcutta

Three Garment Workers Shot at Puma Factory: No Justice

Note: Earlier today [Tues, 21], former Bavet Governor Chhouk Bandith - accused of shooting three female factory workers during a factory strike last year - failed to appear to his trial in Svay Rieng province.

And Then There Were 5: Wine Glasses

Socheata doesn't yet approve of alcohol.

And I don't know if I'm being paranoid, but is that why she hides the wine glasses at the back of the cupboard every time? Or, is that just where she thinks they belong.

I'm leaning towards the former...

What Wat? Wat Phitchaya Yatikaram Worawihan, Thonburi

Cambodian Mad Men: Cambodian Bad Men (3) Take it or Leave it...

Two people died when part of a shoddy Cambodian shoe-factory collapsed recently.

Relatives of the dead- and one leaves behind a wife and young baby- have been offered compensation by the shoddy owners of the factory.

But it's been presented as a take it now, or you'll get nothing deal.

What kind of person and what kind of company fronts up to a grieving family and threatens them in such a way and at such a time?

The company makes shoes for Asics.

Face of the Day

Phimai,Thailand

See: Saved By A You!

Cambodia: This Day in History

19th May, 1925

Saloth Sar, alias Pol Pot, alias Brother Number One, was born on this day in Prek Sbauv, a small village on the East bank of the River Sen.

There is some debate as to his true birthday; most sources give the above date but  biographer Philip Short puts it sometime in March, 1925, and his birth was officially, but falsely, registered by his family as May 19th, 1928.*

*There was nothing unusual about the false registration of the birth as Cambodians often changed (and still do) the date of birth of a child so that they can comply with school entrance requirements.

A Song For Sunday (5) OUN SKOR CHET BONG

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (20) Coconut Palms

It's estimated that there are more than 12 million coconut palms in Cambodia.

Or, to be more precise, a 2004 survey put the number at 12,337,000.

Kampot has the most palms (2,699,000), followed by Kampong Speu (2,536,000). 

Compare that to the remote Northwest province of Oddar Meanchey, which has just 24,000 palms.

Face of the Day

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Hun Sen Quotes (16) Terrorists in Opposition Party

May 16, 2013

"Entire groups have been hiding in the opposition party, and I would like to send a message to the opposition, that when these people are arrested, don't say they are just members of the opposition- they are terrorists."

Mango Munching

Sticky Rice and Mango:
my favourite way to eat mango

It's not apples. Nor, is it bananas.

Mangoes are the world's most-eaten fruit.

In fact they are eaten at a ratio of three to one over bananas and ten to one over apples.

Eaten green or ripe, Indians, Chinese, South Americans and Southeast Asians can't get enough of the more than 2,000 varieties of mangoes grown.

Anyone in Cambodia for even a short time would soon know that Cambodians share this love affair with the mango.

Khmer Proverbs (20)

 

For those who have a mouth fragrant as lotus flower, and speak polite words like cool sandalwood, but in their stomach lies venom cutting like Vishnu's disc of power, with such people one should not voluntarily associate. ~http://www.khmerinstitute.org/

Face of the Day

Street Barber, Sothearos Boulevard, Phnon Penh, Cambodia
A well-earned break. It's Pchum Ben and the day that it was announced that Cambodia's King-Father had  died. So he has been busy-very busy- shaving heads.

What Wat? Wat Svay Pope, Phnom Penh

A once-a-week look at Southeast Asian Wats and other places of worship.

A Step Back in Time (12)

Fisherboys: 1968
La Peche Sinoun la petite Cambodgienne Ancienne Photo Wertheimer 1968

Vintage Odile Wertheimer Studio Photo.
This photograph was published around 1970 in "Sinoun, la petite Cambodgienne" Collection Enfants du Monde

Face of the Day

Cowringhee, Calcutta, India

Playing in one of Calcutta's thousands of narrow lanes were these four youngsters. They quickly volunteered for a picture and were more than happy with the results.

A Song for Sunday (4): Lea Haeuy Sneaha by Houy Meas

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (19) Car Import Duties

45% excise tax.

35% import duty.

10% added value tax.

And a host of other logistic fees and 'informal' costs.

Those are the costs that must be paid if you wish to import a car into Cambodia.

Twelve Cambodian Faces (2)

Cambodian Monks Sent Home

Ever thought that Cambodian monks are out collecting alms much later than those in neighbouring countries?

It seems that are late rises, as at least one Thai abbot- Phra Maha Somnuek of Wat Talom - has told his Cambodian guest monks that they needed to get out of bed earlier to do their rounds.

Getting the monks to rise earlier is the least of the problem in some Thai temples however; monks from Cambodia and especially Battambang are frequently caught begging for money.

44 bona fide Cambodian monks have been deported so far this year for doing just that. And recently, 34 Cambodian monks were rounded up in just one afternoon, by Thai police for begging in Chon Buri.

The Battambang monks claim, probably quite rightly, that the locals in their villages are so poor that they cannot spare food for them.

Cambodia's Freedom of the Press Ranking Falls...Again

Depressing and predictable.

That sums up freedom of the press in Cambodia, as, for the sixth year in succession, its international ranking has tumbled.

Citing 'an increase in the number of journalists behind bars...and a significant rise in threats and physical violence against the press,' Freedom House now puts Cambodia in 143rd place in the world rankings and labels the press as 'not free.'

What Wat? Wat Damnak, Siem Reap

A once-a-week look at Southeast Asian Wats and other places of worship.

Hun Sen Quotes (15) My Son the Ghost

He's made the outlandish claim that the opposition would bulldoze public buildings should they win the upcoming election. 

And he's made the outrageous claim that civil war would break out should he lose the popular vote.

But that is not enough for Prime Minister Samdach Akaek Moha Sena Padei Decho Hun Sen.

 

In a recently nationally televised speech Prime Minister sought to appeal to the superstitious nature of some of his countrymen with possibly his stupidest claim; Manet, his favoured son, was, he said, the child of a 'Neak ta,' a powerful local spirit.

 “When he [Manet] was born , there was a bright light flying around the cottage’s roof,” Hun Sen said, before turning to his son. “You should go visit that banyan tree, because you come from that tree.”

Face of the Day

Washing Up: Boeung Trabek Market
Phnom Penh

A Song for Sunday (3): Kom Nirk Oun Eiy - Ros Sereysothea

And Then There Were 5: Sarey's Mother Stops Work

I've not seen Sarey's home.
Brief descriptions lead me to believe it looks something
 like this one-room hut.

Sarey tells me her mother is 'OK' after her accident.

That's difficult to believe as she has burnt her legs to such an extent that she must stop working for an extended period of time.

Instead of working she is, I am told, going to stay home and look after Sarey's grandparents. They don't have any money. And now the breadwinner-Sarey's mother- can't earn a crust, either.

I don't know how Cambodia's poor manage when times are 'good,' let alone when disaster strikes.

Coming Home

By TOM MASHBERG and RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: May 3, 2013

'Six weeks ago the Metropolitan Museum of Art sent two of its top executives to Cambodia to resolve a thorny dispute: whether two pieces of ancient Khmer art that the museum has long prominently exhibited were the product of looting.

On Friday the museum said it would repatriate the life-size sandstone masterworks, known as the Kneeling Attendants, which have guarded the doorway to the Met’s Southeast Asian galleries since they opened in 1994.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/arts/design/the-met-to-return-statues-to-cambodia.html?_r=0

Face of the Day

Three Wise Men:
Mirza Galib Road, Calcutta, India

Cambodia 1965 (3) Education

Shows the Cambodian education system was in fine fettle. A gross exaggeration  but then these things usually are. Strangely fascinating, nevertheless.  

Phnom Penh Pensioner

This elderly, all-but blind lady, emerged from Wat Sansam Kosal in Phnom Penh, Wednesday morning. With stick in hand, moving slowly she readied to cross a busy intersection.

She thrust out her stick to indicate she was about to cross and without waiting walked out into the traffic. A motorcyclist squealed to a halt to avoid hitting her. Another motorcyclist cracked into the back of the first.

Both drivers looked at each other and then the old lady and quickly summed up the situation. Then, without a word, and without inspecting the damage and apportioning blame, they both drove on.

It's difficult to imagine such a reaction in a western city. More likely the old lady would get a mouthful of abuse. And the two drivers would get into a heated argument as to who should pay for the damage.

The old lady continued, oblivious, down the street; cars, trucks, and cyclists carefully avoiding her to make sure she got safely to where she was going.

Face of the Day

Requested a Photo: Sansam Kosal Market

Hun Sen Quotes (14): Bulldozing Buildings

Not content with claiming that civil war will break out in Cambodia if his party doesn't win the upcoming election, Prime Minister Samdach Akaek Moha Sena Padei Decho Hun Sen recently made the outrageous claim that should the opposition win they might destroy a multitude of public buildings bearing the PM's name.

"If they [the opposition] win, they may destroy all buildings that have Hun Sen's name on it."

Now, the Prime Minister claims that he and his wife have contributed to the construction of 3,539 schools. (all on a salary of approximately US$2,000 a month) And it may be that they have slapped their names on that number of educational institutions.

But the schools themselves are built using donor or state monies, or the money of his favour-seeking cronies, something that the ever-electioneering Prime Minister counts on a sometimes naive rural population not realizing.

The claim that any new government would swiftly bulldoze these Cambodian state schools is ridiculous and yet another scaremongering statement from an increasingly paranoid-sounding Premier. Unfortunately with most of the media in his pocket these outrageous tactics often hit the mark.