News_Editor

Dear Editor,

When workers took to the streets and protested for an immediate 100 per cent wage increase of up to $160 within a year, in hindsight I keep asking myself what should be the options for civil servants and university graduates who earn less than $100?

With 300,000 youth entering the job market each year, work is increasingly difficult to find, even for many university graduates, prompting some of them to take jobs with meager salaries in order to gain experience and to build skills to compete in the increasingly fierce job market.

For these people, should they also take to the streets or should they change their jobs to work at factories?

If we make such a comparison, then is the workers’ demand for $160 a luxury? Absolutely not.

However, in terms of income, factory workers are better off compared to being traditional farmers or seasonal construction workers.

Looking back at 10 or 20 years ago, it was widely accepted that the more than 400 garment factories, which employ about 600,000 workers and account for 35 per cent of the country’s GDP, have contributed significantly to the country’s economy as well as poverty reduction.

The fact is those 600,000 workers rely on their jobs to support not only themselves, but also their families in their hometowns. Generally, garment workers can earn more than $100 each month and many of them go home during festivities and the holiday season.

It is generally observed that people would not go for holidays if they don’t have extra money to bring home or cannot afford the transport fees.

On the other hand, from an employer’s point of view, if one is to run a company, doubling the wages in a single year is an unrealistic option, and it is especially true for a labour-intensive industry.

Compared to the region, it is understandable that workers demand a wage increase of 10-20 per cent each time, but 100 per cent is out of the question.

This raises the level of unpredictability of Cambodia’s investment climate, posing a serious blow to the management of the current investors and prompting potential investors to re-consider even harder before making their investment decision in Cambodia.

Being in a profession whose role is to promote investment, experience tells us that building investment confidence is something that is time-consuming and hard to earn, but it can fade away in the blink of an eye.

It is an inherent duty of every government to make their best efforts to attract foreign investment so as to boost the economy, create jobs and reduce poverty.

When Cambodia’s physical infrastructure and logistics are handicapped and the energy costs are high, foreign companies tend to look for low cost labour, which is Cambodia’s competitive advantage compared to the rest of the region, to off-set their total investment cost.

However, the demonstrations did show that the times are changing and that Cambodia is no longer a sanctuary for low-cost labour.

This should be clearly understood by every stakeholder. To balance the increasing labour cost, Cambodia has two major options, which is to improve its hard and soft infrastructure, so that companies can reduce their investment costs, and to build higher skilled labour, so that companies find it comfortable to pay higher wages.

These two options have to go hand-in-hand, but we have to be mindful that both options are not something that can be achieved in a single night.

An economy develops from non-skilled low wages to higher-skilled higher wages and Cambodia is in this transition period, so we need to be cautious and not to jump too fast before we are sure that we have better skilled labour and better infrastructure at a level of competitiveness on par with the region.

It is thus better for us to go step by step to maintain investment confidence, to ensure that this transition period goes smoothly and is acceptable to every stakeholder for the sake of, above all else, the wellbeing of the nation-wide economy.

Sim Vireak,
Diplomat
Tokyo

The new year has brought with it a mixed outlook for the vehicle market, as dealers post both positive and negative sales figures for 2013.

Pily Wong, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen distributor Hung Hiep (Cambodia), said sales had been seriously affected by the Kingdom’s political turmoil following national elections in July.

Wong said in an interview earlier this month that the number of vehicles sold decreased by 60 per cent in 2013 from the previous year.

“At the beginning of the year, business was OK. But during the second half, while people began to prepare for the election and even after the election, business has been poor due to the mass demonstrations,†he said, referring to the opposition party’s rallies and marches to contest the results of the poll.

The luxury car dealer also said that lax government regulation on imports has posed unfair threats to legitimate business.

“Competition is not so dangerous for us when everybody plays by the same rules. We call it fair competition. What I worry about is an unfair one,†he said.

Sales for Toyota and Ford, meanwhile, are looking up. They expect another year of positive figures from Cambodia’s growing family vehicle market.

Kong Noun, chairman of Toyota Cambodia, said the carmaker saw a slight increase in sales over the past 12 months, reaching a total of 1,000 units sold. He estimates that figure to rise by 40 per cent to 1,400 units by next year. “Ninety per cent of the cars driven in Cambodia are used cars, but families are now tending to invest in new cars,†Noun said.

He did not specify which new models would enter the local market in the next 12 months.

Toyota’s promising Cambodian figures were not mirrored throughout Asia, however. The company posted a unit decrease of more than 60,000 across the region to hit 779,586 sales, according to the latest financial statements. Seng Voeung, motor vehicle division manager for RMA Cambodia, the country’s importer of Ford vehicles, shared Noun’s optimism for 2014, but said short supply hindered the company’s unit sales for last year. Voeung said RMA’s dealership sales increased by 30 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012.

“Demand for the Ford Ranger peaked last year,†he said. “So there was a shortage of supply for a short time; all the while the demand from Cambodia continued to increase. We do not have enough cars to sell to the customers,†he said.

Driven by Ranger and Focus model sales, Ford posted a seven per cent increase in sales across the ASEAN region for 2013, with an all-time record of 95,906 units sold.

ASEAN unit sales of the Thai-built Ranger jumped by 65 per cent to 45,508, while Focus sales rose by 21 per cent to 9,690 units.

Secret negotiations between the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the opposition are close to reaching a solution to the political stalemate that has gripped Cambodia since July’s general election, according to sources privy to the discussions.

Officials from both parties yesterday denied that talks had occurred, but two independent analysts said they had been briefed in depth by the senior government official acting as a go-between in the negotiations.

Political analyst Kem Ley and Heang Rithy, president of the Cambodian National Research Organization, an NGO promoting human rights and democracy, said yesterday they participated in lengthy discussions with the mediator over the proposed demands.

According to the pair, a high-ranking government official met with the opposition following the crackdown on striking garment workers and the clear-out of Freedom Park on January 3 and 4 as an envoy of Prime Minister Hun Sen to lay the ground for negotiations between the two parties to be presided over by the King.

Of the key demands relayed back to the premier from the opposition, 80 per cent have been agreed to, according to Ley and Rithy.

A snap election and Hun Sen stepping down – key demands of the opposition-led street protests and mass demonstrations that rounded out 2013 – are not on the agenda, they said.

The list, however, includes amending the constitution through the National Assembly, establishing another parliamentary commission, dividing the 10 commission chairmanships equally between the two parties, giving the CNRP the deputy chair of the assembly, allowing the CNRP to have a TV license, and establishing a joint committee on electoral reform.

“[The mediator] said when the CPP and CNRP agreed completely on all the points, they will organise a meeting with the highest-ranking leaders of the party to meet in front of the King and sign [an agreement with] each other in front of the King,†Ley said.

According to Rithy, the opposition leaders met with the negotiator on January 5, a day after the violent evacuation of Freedom Park.

“He showed me one letter that Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha were requesting Prime Minister Hun Sen to negotiate and compromise, and he [Rainsy] wants to get the rank in the National Assembly; he wants to be vice-president,†he said.

The revelations come after Rainsy hinted on January 5, the day opposition leaders apparently met with the government envoy, that the government would eventually work with the opposition despite the crackdown.

“They use hard power for a while, to crack down first,†he told reporters at the time.

“But they are also responsible people to some extent. They have to ensure that after cracking down on the worker movement, they have to deal with the opposition, the political democratic opposition. They cannot arrest us, because they need a path, they need other political force.â€

Yesterday, with no explanation, state news agency Agence Kampuchea-Presse placed a prominent slideshow of photos on its official website showing past meetings and handshakes between Hun Sen and Rainsy with the text “Remember Alwaysâ€. The slideshow was not linked to a story and the caption text was missing.

Council of Ministers spokesman Ek Tha yesterday called the slideshow a “good signâ€.

“It means that Cambodia should solve problems through peaceful means. I support [what AKP is doing] but I don’t really understand it. It’s good to share old memories, even if they are not always good ones. It’s a good sign and could be that they can resolve their differences,†he said.

The opposition yesterday denied that they had met with the government official in charge of setting the agenda for talks.

“It’s not substantial. It does not have any substance. This talk is only speculation,†Rainsy said.

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann, meanwhile, said the CNRP was willing to negotiate but that any negotiations should “focus†on election reform and a new election.

Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith also denied the negotiations were taking place.

The revelations come as Rainsy and Sokha are set to face court this morning for questioning over allegations they incited striking garment workers to commit crimes and create social unrest.

Legal and political analysts yesterday dismissed the idea that the court would arrest or charge the leaders in order to avoid galvanising opposition anti-government protesters.

Ley, meanwhile, dismissed the court questioning as nothing more than a political sideshow.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy and Prime Minister Hun Sen discussed the possibility of offering amnesty to senior government officials in order to allow for “an honourable exit of the leadersâ€, Rainsy was quoted as saying to the French newspaper La Libération last week.

Rainsy reportedly said in the article published Friday that the discussion of the proposed amnesty law – which took place on September 16, during negotiations between the parties – had been initiated by Hun Sen, who said he would support such a measure if the opposition put it forward, but did not explicitly agree to leave office.

“It [the amnesty] would have to give guarantees in order to avoid a witch hunt, in order to not threaten [leaders’] fortune, their dignity,†and might include honorary posts, Rainsy was quoted as saying.

The Libération article went on to cite Rainsy as saying he had been asked to prepare an amnesty law for the three senior-most leaders of the government, and that the ruling Cambodian People’s Party would support the amnesty initiative, but would not step down under pressure.

Yesterday, Rainsy declined to comment on the piece, saying the revelations were not meant to be made public, and that while he “might†have made the remarks, it “would not be appropriate at this point†to elaborate on them.

Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmaker-elect Son Chhay, who was at the September meeting, said yesterday that while he didn’t remember the precise details, he seemed to recall that the idea came from CNRP deputy president Kem Sokha, who made the suggestion “to ensure a kind of trust†to foster compromise.

Though Hun Sen had appeared receptive, Chhay added, the idea soon fell by the wayside.

“On the second day of discussions, we could not reach an agreement … and it was never mentioned again on the second day,†he said.

CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap, who did not attend the September negotiations, said yesterday that he had heard about the idea, but couldn’t remember its provenance.

“If it’s created, it’s a good law, because it’s to protect the most senior leaders,†he said. “As we know, being a leader means doing [things that are] right and wrong.â€

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHHAY CHANNYDA

In his first public remarks of the year, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday took pains to recount his experience under the Khmer Rouge and thanked Vietnam for overthrowing the brutal communist regime.

Speaking at the inauguration of a Vietnamese hospital, in the presence of visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Hun Sen said he considers January 7, 1979, as “the second birthday†of the Cambodian people.

“Thanks for the party, the people and the government especially – Vietnamese volunteer soldiers – who joined to liberate Cambodians from the Pol Pot genocidal regime and helped to settle problems allowing Cambodians to survive,†he said.

Had the Vietnamese not entered Cambodia and overthrown the regime, he said, millions more would have been killed.

“Those who forget January 7, that’s their matter,†he said. But the day ensured that Phnom Penh could progress from a “deserted place into the most populous cityâ€.

Hun Sen said yesterday had special meaning to him as it was the anniversary of the day in 1976 when he and his wife were separated by the regime. His wife, he claimed, was ultimately taken away to dig a channel at a worksite – a fate he would not discover until they were reunited in February 1979.

“At this time and this hour [in 1976], I did not know whether my wife was dead or alive,†he said.

The hospital inauguration was followed later in the day by a closed-door meeting between the two premiers.

Speaking yesterday evening, Hun Sen’s spokesman, Eang Sophalleth, said the pair agreed to boost transit connections, tourism, telecommunications and banking, as well as agriculture.

Additionally, Nguyen Tan Dung agreed to help renovate National Road 78 in Ratanakkiri – where Vietnamese companies boast vast holdings – and sell 200 megawatts of power to Cambodia.

Also yesterday, representatives of the embattled Khmer Kampuchea Krom community sent a letter to Hun Sen urging him to raise the issue of mistreatment of Khmers living in Vietnam’s lower Mekong Delta region.

In the letter, they raise the case of two monks and six civilians who are now in prison after holding protests calling for the construction of a Khmer school.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MEAS SOKCHEA AND CHEANG SOKHA

Political instability has done little to dampen Vietnam’s appetite for investment in Cambodia, the latest figures revealed yesterday by Prime Minister Hun Sen show.

Last year, Vietnamese investment reached $302 million, up 250 per cent from $86 million in 2012, according to the prime minister, who spoke about the relationship between the two countries during the 4th Cambodia-Vietnam Conference on Investment Cooperation at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh.

With his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Tan Dung, looking on, Hun Sen ticked off a variety of industries that have benefited from Vietnamese funds over the years, and said that all the investments “have contributed to economic diversification, job creation and accelerated economic growthâ€.

The announcement comes barely a week after Cambodia commemorated the 35th anniversary of the Vietnamese-led victory over the Khmer Rouge in 1979, illustrating that ties between ruling party leaders and the neighbour, which first groomed them during the 1980s, are as strong as ever.

“The economic relations between Cambodia and Vietnam have been on an upward trajectory for the last decade,†Carl Thayer, an analyst at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said. “The reciprocal visits by Prime Minister Hun Sen to Vietnam and Prime Minister Dung to Cambodia are evidence that relations are at an all-time high. Increased Vietnamese investment in Cambodia has been the natural by-product of these developments.â€

But the investment figures also arrive amid a politically tense atmosphere, as supporters of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party fuel a rise in anti-Vietnamese sentiment, a dark byproduct of protests challenging July’s poll results. While enmity between the two countries has existed for hundreds of years, Hun Sen and his supporters cooperated with the Vietnamese caretaker government in the 1980s, bringing much official antagonism to an end. The opposition party, however, continues to see Vietnam in a less kindly light, and heated rhetoric has played out in spates of mob anger.

In July last year, groups of opposition supporters confronted people who looked Vietnamese at the polling booth, preventing them from voting.

As recently as the first weekend in January there were reports of opposition-aligned garment workers and local residents trashing businesses during a violent strike at Canadia Industrial Park that resulted in military police shooting dead at least four protesters. These incidents, however, have done little to deter Vietnamese money from flooding into Cambodia.

“Vietnam is clearly among the biggest players in Cambodia’s economy in terms of providing income, creating jobs and contributing to enhancing the livelihood of our people,†Kith Meng, president of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday at the conference.

Meng should know. The head of Royal Group travelled with Hun Sen to Vietnam last month for a state visit. On the trip, Meng signed a deal to import fertiliser through a subsidiary from Dap Vinchen Limited and the Petrovietnam Fertilizer & Chemicals Corporation of Vietnam.

Tran Tu, attache at the Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia, said companies have invested in telecommunications, aviation, rice, fertiliser, garments and milk production.

The investment environment is getting “better and better†Tu said, adding that investor confidence was buoyed by government-improved trade facilitation.

It is a shifting political landscape, rather than anti-Vietnamese sentiment, that would be on the minds of Vietnamese investors, Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said.

“[With a] stronger opposition, you have a government willing to fight corruption,†he said.

Son Chhay, the opposition party whip, grouped Vietnam with China as examples of communist regimes that had traditionally received “special privileges†from Hun Sen.

He said that many of their investment dollars are spent on economic land concessions that have little wider benefit for Cambodian society.

Labour union officials say inflation and Cambodia’s national election contributed to a nearly 300 per cent increase in strikes last year over 2012.

An annual study of Cambodia’s labour market released yesterday by the Free Trade Union counted 381 industrial strikes in the Kingdom in 2013. The FTU reported just 101 strike actions for 2012.

“The high cost of merchandise, rental houses and food is the reason why the number of strikes is increasing so much,†FTU president Chea Mony told the Post yesterday. “When everything gets more expensive, it leads to workers demanding pay raises and increased benefits.â€

Among the wage-driven strikes last year was a national garment worker strike that began on December 24 after the Ministry of Labour set the 2014 minimum monthly wage for garment and shoe factory employees at $95, a figure $65 less than the $160 unions demanded. A week later, the Labour Ministry raised the 2014 floor wage to $100, but unions balked at the small increase and continued striking.

Employees in Cambodia’s garment sector are the only workers for whom a minimum wage has been established. They currently earn $80 per month, which includes a $5 health bonus.

Chuon Mom Thol, president of the pro-government Cambodian Union Federation, yesterday rejected the idea that inflation was the primary reason for the jump in strikes, instead blaming opposition politicians for stirring resentment in the wake of July’s disputed election.

“I think the number of strikes increased because, during election season, some politicians and unionists wanted to become famous,†Mom Thol said. “They tried to incite anger among workers, who then went on strike.â€

In addition to strike data, the study reported that 802 workers fainted and one died on the job last year.

Neither Vong Sovann of the Labour Ministry nor ministry spokesman Heng Sour could be reached yesterday.

UN special rapporteur for Cambodia Surya Subedi has promised to raise Boeung Kak activists’ complaints over the loss of their land with government officials during his six-day visit to the country.

Despite a ban on public gatherings in the capital, about 200 Boeung Kak villagers gathered unhindered by security forces at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Phnom Penh yesterday to deliver a petition to Subedi.

The petition called for intervention in their land dispute and urged the Cambodian government to free 23 human rights activists and workers detained earlier this month.

Thousands of people have been evicted from Boeung Kak to make way for a $79 million development proposed by a company headed by ruling party senator Lao Meng Khin.

“In order to ensure the people in this country get full freedom in accordance with international standards, I will do my best to bring all of your concerns to discuss in the meeting which participated by donor countries, the international community and Cambodian government in the near future,†Subedi said after receiving the petition.

At least four people were killed and more than 20 injured when riot police fired on protesting garment workers on January 3.

Chan Puthisak, a representative of 48 Boeung Kak families, was arrested along with 22 others during the unrest.

The whereabouts of the 23 detainees was unknown for more than a week until it was finally confirmed they had been jailed in Kampong Cham province.

Hean Sokha, Puthisak’s wife, said she hoped Subedi’s influence could help the chances of her husband’s release.

“I believe that Subedi’s intervention to the international community and donor countries will urge the government to release my husband, human rights activists and 20 workers.â€

Am Sam Ath, a legal adviser for Licadho, said Subedi’s arrival renewed the relatives’ optimism that they might see the release of their loved ones and solutions to “the chronic land disputes and salary crisisâ€.

Civil society groups yesterday urged the international community to put more pressure on the government to ensure the safety of prisoners arrested in recent crackdowns and to prevent further police and military violence against civilians.

At a press conference yesterday morning, images of soldiers beating and arresting protesters at Yakjin (Cambodia) Inc on January 2 played on a loop beside panellists, who criticised the government’s use of excessive force – including opening fire with live ammunition, killing at least four – at demonstrations this month.

“Those who abuse their power, especially the military and soldiers, cannot go unpunished,†Yeng Virak, executive director of the Community Legal Education Center, told journalists and NGO workers in attendance. “The armed forces and military police beat everyone – young, old, men, women and even children.â€

The forum followed a statement calling for the release of 23 people arrested during demonstrations on January 2 and 3, an end to inhumane treatment of protesters and an investigation into the crackdowns – including the fatal Veng Sreng Boulevard shootings.

The use of military force against citizens is inappropriate in a democratic country, Cambodian Defenders Project director Sok Sam Oeun said. In any case, he added, the January 3 shooting must be investigated.

“The army should stay neutral if it wants the country to remain a democracy,†Sam Oeun said. “In all these incidents, whether the soldiers or military police are right or wrong, civilians are being killed, so there needs to be an urgent independent investigation.â€

Inaction by the International Labour Organization and brands would equate to complicity, independent political analyst Kem Ley said. “If no action is taken by buyers or ILO, it means they are involved.â€

Jill Tucker, chief technical adviser for the ILO’s Better Factories Cambodia, yesterday said that the organisation has issued many statements and letters to high-ranking government officials and is currently coordinating with international brands, as they decide what their next steps should be.

The Cambodian Court of Appeal yesterday suspended a Russian extradition request for former real estate tycoon Sergei Polonsky and ordered his immediate release from detention, his defence attorney said yesterday.

According to defender Benson Samay, Polonsky – who is wanted on charges of “large-scale fraud†in his native Russia – must first face charges of intentional violence in a Cambodian court for allegedly threatening six boatmen with a knife off the coast of Sihanoukville.

It is unclear whether Polonsky may still face extradition in the future, and both presiding judge Seng Sivutha and prosecutor Heang Rith declined to comment on yesterday’s hearing, saying it was confidential.

Though his client would still have to face charges in Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court, Samay reiterated both Polonsky’s innocence and the amount of money he planned to invest in the country.

“He cannot be extradited to Russia at this time, so he will stay in Cambodia. He brings millions of dollars for investment in Cambodia. He never committed a crime anywhere in the world,†Samay told reporters.

“He is a generous man; he is not a criminal. And I will find a [Cambodian] wife for him,†he added.

Forbes magazine pegged Polonsky’s wealth at $1.2 billion in 2008, but he was reported to have lost the lion’s share of that during the global financial crisis.

Polonsky himself smiled as he strode into the courtroom yesterday and, after the brief hearing, echoed his lawyer’s claims about his Cambodian investment plans.

“I would like to start a project in Cambodia with a development of millions of dollars on islands, big projects,†he said. “I’m staying in Cambodia.â€

Samay brushed aside concerns about his client’s Cambodian charges, saying the punishment would be light.

“He’s still awaiting trial at the Preah Sihanouk provincial court, but it is a minor crime, not a serious crime,†Samay said.

In Russia, Polonsky has been charged with embezzling $176 million and could reportedly face up to 10 years in prison there. Polonsky’s Cambodian charge of intentional violence, on the other hand, could draw a sentence of two to five years in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

Progress on the case, however, has been stalled for months. He was first arrested on January 3, 2013, after he and two others allegedly forced six boatmen overboard with a knife off the coast of Sihanoukville, where Polonsky owns an island.

The boatmen ultimately accepted a combined $20,000, and withdrew their complaints, but Polonsky remained in jail until he was released in April on bail. Despite being forbidden from leaving the country, he travelled to Israel, where he reportedly sought citizenship before returning to Cambodia in August ahead of a Russian extradition request.

He was arrested in Cambodia again over the extradition request in November, and despite still technically being out on bail after his release yesterday for the year-old intentional violence charges, Preah Sihanouk provincial judge Svay Tonh, who will hear the case, said that he has not yet set a date for the trial.

Russian embassy officials were not available for comment.

It's been a week since Khim Saphath’s family held a funeral for their missing son, last seen with blood pouring from his chest during clashes between striking garment workers and authorities on January 3.

Without a body to place in a casket, framed photos had to suffice as a physical reminder of a baby-faced 16-year-old who lied about his age to work at a Chinese-owned garment factory for $8 a day.

But although they say they have accepted the worst, Saphath’s doting parents haven’t stopped looking for him.

“I look for my son at pagodas, hospitals and clinics. Wherever we go, we ask people about him, but we have found nothing,†Saphath’s father, Khim Souern, 41, said yesterday outside the sparse rental room that the youngster shared with his older sister, a few hundred metres away from the factory where he worked. “We just want to know what happened to him, if he survived or died. If he is dead, we need to see his corpse.â€

Turning up to work that Friday morning, Saphath had found the factory shuttered and followed his fellow workers to Veng Sreng Boulevard, where hundreds were caught in clashes with military police.

His friend and co-worker, 18-year-old Srey Ry, said other protesters were throwing rocks at soldiers when security forces opened fire with live ammunition.

“I ran for my life and jumped to the ground, and when I got up, I was shot in the arm. My neighbour helped me get out of the scene to our rented room or else I would have been taken away by the soldiers like Chrouk was,†Ry told the Post from hospital yesterday, using Saphath’s nickname, meaning pig.

“Chrouk was about 30 metres from me. I did not see him getting shot with my own eyes. I just saw him lying on the ground with a serious wound to his chest. Blood was coming out. A neighbour tried to get him away but more and more blood was coming out and he asked him to leave him there.â€

Ry said that others told him Saphath was taken away on a military police truck, but this could not be corroborated with eyewitnesses. Still, the story of a possible arrest gave the family hope that Saphath would be one of 23 protesters secretly detained at CC3 prison in Kampong Cham. But when rights groups were finally given access on Wednesday, they said he wasn’t among the arrestees.

“We’ve all been looking for him, and he hasn’t appeared yet, so we now have asked the family if they want to do an announcement on the radio,†Naly Pilorge, director at Licadho, said.

Chan Soveth, an investigator at Adhoc whom the family filed a complaint with on Monday, said he was calling on the government to investigate the case.

“His body has not been found, so he [can be considered] missing. [but] we can say that we are 99 per cent sure he has not survived, so he was put onto our list of dead [numbering five from the protests],†Soveth said.

Licadho has not added Saphath to its confirmed list of four dead from the crackdown and is still treating him as a missing person, although he was not at CC3 or one of the 39 injured the group has spoken to, Pilorge said.

The opposition party’s list of six dead also does not contain Saphath’s name nor the fake name he used to secure work at the factory – Ang Chanthoeurn.

Mok Chito, chief of the Ministry of Interior’s central justice department, said yesterday cases of missing people taken away by the military and military police were just rumours, emanating in particular from the opposition party.

“We do not know whether it is true or not. They just said that, mainly the opposition party,†he said, asking the parents of those missing to file a complaint with police.

“We will find the missing persons for them if they lodge a complaint with our police. Do not just say it.â€

Saphath’s family say they are too scared to ask the authorities for information and will continue to search for their son, despite acknowledging he is likely dead.

“I don’t have hope to find him alive. He’s disappeared without a trace,†Souern said, his vacant eyes staring down, his head resting on one hand.

“I am still continuing to look for him.â€

Watching John Pirozzi’s documentary Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll is both a joyful and unsettling experience. In the space of two hours the film lets you fall in love with the vibrant and talented characters of Cambodia’s 1960s and 1970s music scene and then relates how almost all of them were killed.

Splicing together contemporary interviews with films from the period, archival footage, home movies, old newsreels, photos and cleverly animated record covers, Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten spans the period from Cambodian independence in 1953 to 1979, when the Khmer Rouge were driven out of Phnom Penh.

A co-production between Pirozzi and the Documentation Center of Cambodia, the film had its world premiere on Saturday night at Phnom Penh’s historic Chatomuk Theatre. The packed invite-only screening was followed by a question-and-answer session with the filmmaker and some of those interviewed in the film, and then a concert outside featuring some of the surviving musicians and Dengue Fever singer Chhom Nimol.

Filmmakers conducted more than 70 interviews across Cambodia, the United States, France and Singapore, although only a fraction of them ended up being used. Highlighted in the film is a selection of the more influential figures like crooner and songsmith Sinn Sisamouth, the golden voice Ros Serey Sothea, cheeky and rebellious Yol Aularong and the members of the guitar bands Drakkar and Baksei Chamkrong. In the years the regime was in power, records were destroyed and singers murdered.

At a basic level, the film serves as a digestible primer on a period of Cambodian history, touching on the major figures and events that precipitated Pol Pot’s takeover and delivering the full horror of the mass murderer’s reign. Prince Norodom Sirivudh and historian David Chandler provide historical context and narrative while musicians give first person insights into the effects the war that lead up to the Khmer Rouge takeover and the horror of living in Pol Pot’s “agrarian utopiaâ€.

The newly discovered footage of Phnom Penh alone makes the film worth watching: from the clean and modern-looking city of the 1950s to the overgrown streets left deserted after the Khmer Rouge. Shots of life in the street from the 1960s and 1970s – cyclos gathering outside the National Radio Station to listen to Sisamouth’s songs, people shopping at the Central Market – provide a rare glimpse into the vibrant and hopeful community torn apart by outside forces and ultimately wasted by the Khmer Rouge.

But it’s the musicians who are at the heart of the film. Among the survivors interviewed was the bashful Mol Kagnol – lead guitarist for Baksei Chamkrong, Cambodia’s very first guitar band – who talks about watching his brother and lead singer Mol Kamach get all the girls while Kagnol was followed around by the guitar nerds.

Then there are the interviews with the families of those musicians who didn’t survive, including Sinn Sisasmouth’s son, who never found out the true circumstances of his father’s death. Two of Ros Sereysothea’s sisters remember how she was called the “little cicada†because she would never stop chirping as a child.

One of the most engaging interviewees is Thida Mam, the mother of Cambodian-American singer Laura Mam, who provides a fan’s perspective on the scene. She idolised the likes of Sereysothea and the free-spirited singer Pan Ron and later bonded with other city folk toiling in the fields by singing pop songs when out of earshot of Khmer Rouge cadre.

Hopeful images like these are scatted through the film which, despite the tragic subject matter, doesn’t dwell on sadness. It was fitting, then, that the mood in the theatre after Saturday night’s screening was an ebullient one – a happy reflection of its endearing, enduring stars.

On December 29, more than 100,000 Cambodians – garment workers, teachers, farmers and students from all over the country – marched through the streets of the capital calling for Hun Sen, our long-serving prime minister-dictator, to step down or allow an independent investigation into the flawed national elections that took place in July.

The massive demonstration was the culmination of months of non-violent rallies and marches led by the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). It was also the most significant challenge to Hun Sen’s 28-year reign of exploitation and corruption.

And he could not tolerate it. He would sooner draw blood than enact real reform.

For almost three decades, Hun Sen – a Khmer Rouge defector who was put in power after Vietnam toppled Pol Pot’s regime in 1979 – has convinced foreign governments to pour aid into the country, even while the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has rigged elections, sold off our natural resources, imprisoned journalists, union leaders, opposition politicians and human rights activists.

Some 250,000 people have been evicted because of land concessions that favour the rich and well-connected.

On July 28, vast swaths of the country – civil servants, indebted farmers, educated youth from both the cities and the countryside – tried to vote for change. But the election was neither free nor fair.

A recent report by the Electoral Reform Alliance, a group of independent local and international nongovernmental organisations, describes massive irregularities, including fraudulent voter registries, which may have disenfranchised 1.25 million eligible voters.

So the peaceful protests began.

Factory workers joined the movement a few weeks ago. About 500,000 Cambodians are garment workers; most are employed by factories owned by foreigners with the backing of high-ranking Cambodian officials or the military and produce clothes for international brands like H&M, Nike, Gap and Adidas.

After the government refused to raise the minimum wage to $160 per month, some unions called for a general strike and workers started staging non-violent sit-ins in front of the Labor Ministry and the Council of Ministers.

Then, on January 3, in an industrial area on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, hundreds of military policemen and municipal police forces opened fire with AK-47s and handguns on a crowd of protesters.

At least four people were killed and more than 29 were injured, mostly garment workers. The human rights group Licadho called the shootings “the worst state violence against civilians to hit Cambodia in 15 yearsâ€.

The next day, police forces, municipal security guards and thugs wearing motorcycle helmets and red armbands stormed Freedom Park, a park the government had designated as a haven for peaceful protest. They evicted its occupants, wielding axes, hammers, metal pipes and wooden sticks.

They then destroyed what had become, for the country’s myriad marginalised citizens, a rare zone for free speech, a meeting place, a sanctuary. They tore down the stage and levelled a Buddhist altar.

They smashed loudspeakers, metal donation boxes and first-aid tents.

Fear, and memories of past crackdowns, rapidly spread beyond Freedom Park that afternoon as thousands of security forces patrolled Phnom Penh to break up public gatherings and threaten bystanders, while military helicopters, newly purchased from China, buzzed overhead.

That same day the Interior Ministry revoked freedom of assembly. And the municipal court issued a summons for CNRP president Sam Rainsy the CNRP’s vice-president Kem Sokha and the head of the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association, Rong Chhun, to appear next Tuesday for questioning about incitement of criminal acts and social disturbance.

Yet blame for the chaos and the violence lies with the government.

On December 20, after the CNRP announced it would call for sit-ins on main thoroughfares if the stalemate continued, Hun Sen issued this warning: “Blocking roads is blocking one’s own blood vein.â€

The government, he added, “would not allow action that would jeopardise national security, and I would urge precaution of the third handâ€, a euphemism for government repression. It wouldn’t be the first time the authorities had sent in agents provocateurs among the protesters in order to cause disturbances that could then justify the government’s intervention.

Despite the government’s attempt to scare them into silence, the Cambodian people remain strong and united in their desire to see their country move out of the shadow of the Khmer Rouge and into the light that is genuine democracy.

In this, they deserve more support than they have received. The international community, long content to take Cambodia’s apparent economic and social stability at face value, must now recognise the brutality of this government’s methods and help put an end to them and their underlying causes.

Foreign governments could provide technical and financial support for electoral reforms, including reform of the voter-registration system, so that a new election could be held within two years.

An investigation must be conducted into the government’s use of lethal force against protesters, perhaps by the International Criminal Court itself.

Foreign companies also have a role to play, by easing the despair of under-paid factory workers: If they reduced their profit margins just slightly, the workers could be paid a living wage without jeopardising Cambodia’s long-term competitiveness in the garment sector.

Gap, Adidas and other companies took a welcome step last Tuesday by condemning the use of force in an open letter to the government and calling for “a robust minimum wage review mechanism based on international good practicesâ€.

Freedom Park now stands empty, save for the military police who watch over it. Must it become a symbol of another dark day in Cambodia’s history, made darker by those who watched and did nothing?

Mu Sochua, a former minister of women’s affairs, is a member-elect of the National Assembly for the Cambodia National Rescue Party.

A hotel catering to foreign investors and expatriate employees is being built inside the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ), management confirmed yesterday.

“We target ex-pats, now there are 250 ex-pats working [within the zone], plus hundreds of businessmen visiting factories abroad for their business,†said Hiroshi Uematsu, CEO of the special economic zone, which houses mostly garment factories.

The project will be constructed through a joint venture between PPSEZ and the Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Tama Home.

Takeuchi Toru, a representative of Tama Home, said in an email yesterday that the hotel will be ready in September of 2015.

As for why it’s being built, Toru said that “there are no good hotels for foreign business people around PPSEZâ€.

Many of the factories inside the zone are owned by Japanese companies.

“Cambodia is enjoying economic growth that has been created by companies in developed countries sending their employees to Cambodia on long-term assignments,†a statement from Tama Home’s annual report says.

With concerns about a slowdown hitting the Japanese housing market, Tama is expanding its presence overseas – in particular in developing markets, according to the annual statement.

News of the hotel comes just weeks after the Post reported that PPSEZ plans to go public on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX). The PPSEZ listing is intended to raise money for an expansion of the zone, Sok Dara, deputy director general of the exchange commission, said last month.

There are close to 50 factories in full operation, and the number is growing.

Stung Treng province police are searching for suspects after authorities found more than six tonnes of luxury-grade timber buried near a remote home in Siem Pang district last week.

After receiving a tip from villagers, a multi-department coalition of police on Thursday unearthed 6,044 kilograms of rosewood and thnong wood, Stung Treng provincial court deputy prosecutor Chea Pich told the Post yesterday.

“The timber was buried in four different plots, more than one metre underground,†Pich said.

A 10-year-old girl was the only person inside the nearby home when authorities discovered the illicit wood, Pich said. The provincial court will issue a search warrant for the house once the provincial Forestry Administration files its report of the incident in court.

Siem Pang district Forestry Administration chief Ly Korn declined to comment on the case yesterday.

Kandal provincial court will this week summons five suspects held in detention since December 10 last year for a fresh round of questioning over relics stolen from Oudong Mountain last month, even as police said the investigation is now “quietâ€.

Judge Lim Sokuntha said yesterday that he had no choice but to question them again after the investigation failed to determine the whereabouts of the missing artefacts.

Additionally, Sokuntha said, the court has issued a warrant allowing police to increase inspections at checkpoints and in known points in the movement of goods.

“[since the discovery] the police have not found anything suspicious, because the relics are small and are hard to find,†he said.

In December, four security guards protecting the Royal Treasury on Oudong Mountain and one villager were arrested and charged with stealing an unknown number of relics – including an urn said to contain the ashes of the Buddha.

The theft led to allegations of corruption and several protests by monks and civilians who say the government and religious leaders should have taken more care to protect the sacred relics.

Provincial police chief Eav Chamroeun said that the investigation had not progressed, and was up to the judge at this point. “For police, we have followed the judge’s order, but it’s still quiet.â€

The president of the Independent Monks Network for Social Justice, But Buntenh, said that he had planned to gather monks to march from Phnom Penh to Oudong Mountain in protest, but had to delay the march after the January 2 arrest of rights activists Vorn Pov and Theng Savoeun.

“We are a bit busy with that, but we still plan to march to Oudong with thousands of monks, because it’s the nation’s soul,†he said. “I think police and court are not working, they are busy arresting our rights activists, not finding the relics.â€

Construction on a four-year, $150 million commercial and residential development that will transform 70,000 square metres of land on Koh Pich into Parisian-style apartments with a replica of the Arc de Triomphe at the centre is reportedly scheduled to commence in the coming months.

The Élysée, partially named after a boulevard in Paris leading up to the Arc de Triomphe, is the latest plan from the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation, the same group behind the ambitious 555-metre-high Diamond Island Tower. Details about the tower, advertised as one of the world’s tallest, are scant, though an official with the company said in May last year that engineers are studying the site before outlining a construction schedule.

The new French-style development will be located on the eastern edge of the island, in front of the $100 million commercial and residential project Elite Town (also from OCIC).

The Élysée includes 266 units spread over a number of nine-storey buildings, and is targeting local Cambodian buyers in an attempt to offer more flexible business spaces such as apartments, condominiums and hotels, according to the January and February issue of Phnom Penh’s Construction and Property magazine. In the issue, Samnang said that the sale of buildings within The Élysée will be aimed at middle class and “well-off†Cambodians.

While the project is still in the planning stage, Samnang told the Post yesterday that he envisions a combination of shops, apartments, condominiums and hotels populating the new precinct. “Each building will cost between $800,000 and $1.3 million . . . We are aiming to start selling next month,†he added.

The development was welcomed by deputy director at Vtrust Property Co, Chrek Soknim, who cited Phnom Penh’s increasing population and shortage of living space as rapidly growing concerns.

“There is a huge shortage of quality apartment accommodation in the city, and this project, if and when it is completed, will help to alleviate the pressure in [the] Phnom Penh city centre,†he said.

“In 10 years time, I hope Phnom Penh has many more large-scale developments aimed at the wealthy and foreign population.â€

Soknim’s evaluation of Phnom Penh’s real estate climate were reflected in CBRE Cambodia’s latest market growth report.

Despite increases in both occupancy and leasing rates, the market is still subject to intense demand from the foreign population.

“Foreign nationals continue to boost the demand for serviced apartments in Phnom Penh, and with levels continuing to increase, demand will remain strong and absorb the new supply allowing rents to remain stable,†the report said.

Kampong Thom’s Sambor Prei Kuk temple complex will be the next Cambodian site nominated for inclusion on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An announced yesterday at the 20th Congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association (IPPA).

The seventh-century complex, which predates Angkor Wat by at least 200 years, was first submitted to UNESCO as part of a tentative list of Cambodian sites in 1992, but its inclusion on the body’s official World Heritage List has been stalled in recent years.

Government spokesman Ek Tha was unable to say yesterday what changes, if any, had been made to the management plan for Sambor Prei Kuk, but said the bid will likely be submitted “later this year, or early next yearâ€.

“I think for Sambor Prei Kuk, I do not see any difficulty at all†in securing inclusion on the list, Tha said. “The cultural aspect is there; preservation is there; the management plan, we’re working on it.â€

“I’ve been to that temple in December 1999,†he continued. “I can tell you, it’s amazing. It’s a marvellous historical temple hiding in a big jungle. I thought Angkor Wat is amazing to me, but I was thrilled to see Sambor Prei Kuk.â€

According to Tha, the government hopes that inscription on the World Heritage List will help “mobilise donations†to contribute to the restoration of the temple complex and to foster the development of sustainable tourism at the site.

Cambodia already has two sites included on the UNESCO list – Angkor Wat, which was inscribed in 1992, and Preah Vihear temple, which was inscribed in 2008.

The government announced on Friday it would set up two commissions headed by Interior Minister Sar Kheng to investigate clashes between police and protesters early this month that left at least four dead, more than 20 injured and 23 arrested, a move criticised by rights groups, which said the government was incapable of carrying out an independent investigation.

One will focus on investigating the damage caused by “anarchic demonstratorsâ€, while the other will investigate how the incident occurred. A third commission will study the minimum wages of garment workers and be headed by Minister of Finance Keat Chhon, according to a statement from the Council of Ministers.

Pointing to the creation of similar fact-finding commissions formed after violent police incidences in the past, senior Licadho monitor Am Sam Ath said there was virtually no chance these groups would uncover the truth.

“Have a look at what happened on Kbal Thnal flyover; the crackdown at Stung Meanchey bridge; the case of Chut Wutty. Those investigation commissions have never got any results,†he said.

Unless the commissions are run separately from the government, he continued, they would be unable to operate independently.

Senior Adhoc investigator Chan Soveth echoed these statements, saying that without the participation of civil society, the commissions couldn’t be expected to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation.
“What is necessary at this time is for the government to release all 23 workers and rights activists,†he said.

On January 2, three activists and seven workers were arrested – and some badly beaten – after the elite 911 paratrooper brigade was sent in to quash demonstrations outside Yakjin factory.

A day later, at least four people were killed, more than 20 injured and 13 arrested during clashes between riot police and protesting workers who had blocked Veng Sreng Boulevard.

The 23 arrested were sent to Kampong Cham prison’s CC3 and their whereabouts withheld from families and lawyers for almost a week.

As protests in Cambodia become scarce in the wake of authorities opening fire on demonstrators near Canadia Industrial Park, killing at least four people, labour and human rights advocates across the globe are showing solidarity with demonstrations of their own.

Since the deadly incident on January 3, protesters have gathered at Cambodian embassies in more than a dozen countries to publicly condemn the shooting of unarmed demonstrators.

“The shooting against the protesters cannot be justified at all,†said Mikyung Ryu, international director of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which has organised three demonstrations in South Korea.
“On no grounds should the military fire on protesters.â€

About 2,000 demonstrators attended the protest at the Cambodian embassy in Seoul yesterday, Ryu said. Their first demonstration was held at the embassy a few days after the shooting, and they held a second rally outside South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where they decried the country’s alleged complicity in the shooting.

Before the crackdown, the South Korean government allegedly encouraged Cambodian authorities to take a hard line against striking garment workers.

Protests have also occurred at Cambodian embassies in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, the United States, India, Germany and Turkey, said Joel Preston, a consultant with the Community Legal Education Center.

An international group of at least 10 labour groups, calling themselves in a letter the World Solidarity Action to Support Garment Workers and Release Union Activist and Workers in Cambodia, have coordinated with each other to compel government officials and clothing brands that buy from Cambodia to launch an investigation into the incident.

In a rally at the Cambodian embassy in Washington, DC on Friday, Cambodian Ambassador Hem Heng met with organisers, said Jeff Hermanson, director of Global Strategies for Workers United, Service Employees International Union.

“We told him we would continue protesting until the workers’ rights were restored . . . and negotiation resumed,†Hermanson said in an email.

The Anti-Corruption Unit last week arrested a Banteay Meanchey provincial official and a lawyer for their alleged involvement in a purported fraud scandal that saw three others – including a British national – arrested early last year, officials said yesterday.

The arrests came roughly a month after ACU president Om Yentieng said that 10 individuals in Banteay Meanchey were under investigation for their alleged involvement in a fraudulent scheme to sell British pensioners stakes in a Cambodian biofuel plantation – a plan supposedly hatched by British national Greg Fryett, who was arrested by the ACU last March.

Last Thursday, former Banteay Meanchey deputy chief of administration Ouk Keo Rattanak – who was demoted in June – was arrested after being questioned along with several other provincial officials, said Svay Chek district governor Khou Pov, who was questioned himself but not arrested.

“The ACU questioned me about Meanchey Aphiwat [company] land and then released all of us,†he said. “They questioned seven people, but only Ouk Keo Rattanak was arrested. They questioned me about the company’s map related to the state land. That’s all.â€

Lawyer Ty Pov was arrested the next day in connection with the same case, said Banteay Meanchey provincial governor Kor Sum Saroeut.

“Ouk Keo Rattanak was detained in relation with doctoring public documents and fraud, while the lawyer [Pov] was arrested over faking the documents, but I do not clearly know anything other than that because I am a new governor,†Sum Saroeut said. “Now they are being detained.â€

Cambodian bar association spokesman Khim Sary said that he, too, was unsure of the precise charges Pov was facing.

“We have sent four lawyers to the province to study the case, [but] we do not know why they have arrested him,†he said. “He’s still a lawyer.â€

Fryett, the British national, is suspected of using fake land deals to launder some $11 million allegedly taken from British clients. Fryett’s alleged Cambodian-American accomplices, Om Sam Ang and Soeun Denny, were arrested in January for allegedly faking public documents and clearing forest land.

Activists from the embattled Boeung Kak community said yesterday they would begin indefinite protests if the government fails to free three rights activists and at least 20 garment workers arrested during clashes early this month.

Though the government has put a ban on all forms of public assembly, activist Tep Vanny said at a press conference yesterday that the community would soon launch a lengthy campaign of protests – with support from the Independent Monks for

Social Justice, a farmer’s group and more than 30 poor communities in Phnom Penh.

“We will keep protesting until the final minute if the government authorities do not stop using violence and free Chan Puthisak, Vorn Pov, Theng Savoeun and some garment factory workers unconditionally.â€

Last week, Vanny and four other Boeung Kak activists were arrested and detained for eight hours after attempting to deliver a petition to the French Embassy. The group was warned that such actions violated a ban imposed a day after authorities opened fire on protesting garment workers, killing at least four and wounding more than 20.

Puthisak, who represents 48 families from the Boeung Kak community, Pov, head of the Independent Democratic Economy Association, and Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community, were arrested on January 2 after the elite 911 paratrooper brigade was sent in to break up garment worker demonstrations. An additional 20 workers were arrested on the 2nd and 3rd and their whereabouts remained undisclosed for nearly a week.

Long Dimanche, spokesman for City Hall, said people had a right to talk about what they wanted, but could not do anything against the law including “making demonstrations by blocking the road or gathering in front of government buildings without permission by the authoritiesâ€.

Speaking on the sidelines of yesterday’s conference, the wives of the three men – all of whom have been charged with intentional violence with aggravating circumstances and intentional damage with
aggravating circumstances – said they were concerned for the health of their spouses and urged their release.

“Police and military police are deployed in front of the prison,†said Savoeun’s wife Nhong Sokheang, who has visited three times since authorities on Wednesday notified families they had been taken to Correctional Centre 3 in Kampong Cham. “Except for me and and my relatives, people are not allowed to enter and visit. The prison is cramped and lacks medicine and food. My husband is detained in a 20 metre-square room with 90 other prisoners,†she said.

US ambassador to Cambodia William Todd has weighed in on the government’s brutal crackdown on striking garment workers earlier this month, calling the confrontation and subsequent ban on demonstrations
a “significant setback†in the Kingdom’s democratic development.

In his first “Ask the Ambassador†column of 2014, Todd criticises the government’s use of military units to control protesting workers on January 2 and 3, which resulted in at least four deaths and 26 injuries from bullets, according to rights group Licadho.

“While the United States recognizes the fundamental responsibility of the Royal Government to maintain order and protect the general welfare of its people, appropriate proportional responses must be used,†he writes in the column published yesterday.

“Part of exercising restraint is adhering to the rule of posse comitatus, which prohibits the use of military force in responding to civilian crises.â€

Ambassador Todd also said he was “deeply disappointed†in Phnom Penh Municipality’s decision to ban opposition demonstrations – enacted following a violent clear out of Freedom Park on January 4 – and called for renewed talks.

“The need for sustained dialogue between the two major political parties is more urgent than ever,†he writes, despite noting that court summonses issued for opposition and union leaders are likely to stymie productive talks.

“I am equally concerned about the 23 detained protesters in Kampong Cham and the apparent violation of their basic rights guaranteed by the Cambodian constitution,†Todd added, saying that transparent and fair judicial proceedings for the arrestees and summonsed leaders would show the government’s willingness to work with the opposition and protesters.

“It is only through the hard work of negotiation and compromise that a sustainable and equitable way forward can be found.â€

Todd, who cut his end of year holiday short to return to Cambodia after the clashes, makes no mention of any punitive action if disproportionate military responses are again used by authorities against protesters.

Embassy spokesman Sean McIntosh yesterday said he would not “speculate on that pointâ€.