geovalin

The Cambodia-Thailand Multilingual Training Project, being implemented via a Memorandum of Understanding between Cambodia Against Child Trafficking Network and Thailand with support from Koh Kong province’s Department of Education is scheduled for completion next month. Cambodia Against Child Trafficking Network executive director Kong Villa said yesterday that the project has been ongoing for almost a year with 50 Thai and 50 Khmer students living near the Koh Kong-Thai border participating in the multilingual training. “The pilot project has been going on for almost a year with students taking 40 hours of multilingual training and will complete by end of May,” he added. He said the aim of the project is to make sure Cambodian children who follow their parents to work in Thailand can continue their studies in Thailand as they will know both the Thai and Khmer languages. “If the children know the Thai and Khmer languages, they will have no problem understanding what people speak and this will save them from abuses, human trafficking, and child labour.,” said Villa. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501052910/thai-language-taught-to-children-who-follow-parents-to-thailand/

Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that Angkor Wat will face the risk of losing its world heritage status if skyscrapers are built in the city. He said heritage sites were delisted in other countries over such construction. Mr Hun Sen’s comments came while he presided over the inauguration ceremony of 38 roads in Siem Reap city yesterday. He said there was already a complaint from real estate tycoon Dr Kim Heang who had said that development of Siem Reap is limited and real estate developers do not do business in Siem Reap because of UNESCO. “We can let skyscrapers in Siem Reap province but we don’t want Angkor Wat Temple to lose its world heritage status from UNESCO,” Mr Hun Sen said. “Please don’t compare Siem Reap with other provinces because Siem Reap has a world heritage site – the Angkor Wat Temple – and it belongs to the world,” he added. He said that it will never happen in Cambodia, but it happened in other developing countries after skyscrapers were built near heritage sites. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501052756/pm-hun-sen-rules-out-skyscrapers-near-angkor-wat/

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that Cambodia has overtaken Brunei as the country with lowest Covid-19 infections. This is according to the WHO as of April 3. According to the report, Vietnam had the highest infection rate with 9,716,282 cases, 42,563 deaths, 7,713,354 cases and 1,960,365 recovered patients. Indonesia ranked second with a total infection rate of 6,019,981, with 155,288 deaths, 5,768,703 cases and 95,990 recoveries. Malaysia ranks third with 4,234,087 cases, Thailand ranks fourth with 3,711,595 cases and the Philippines is third with 3,679,629 cases. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501052702/cambodia-has-lowest-rates-of-covid-19-in-southeast-asia/

Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned critics to refrain from viewing the new airport in Siem Reap province as part of China’s strategic capacity strengthening, as he reiterated Cambodia’s constitutional clause that prohibits the presence of foreign military on the Kingdom’s territory. Hun Sen made the remark while inspecting the progress of the construction of the Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport on April 3. “I want to make it clear to all analysts that they must not see this airport as China’s landing base. Don’t bother with analyses like this. If they [China’s military] want to land, they can even land in Pochentong [Phnom Penh International Airport]. Don’t be sceptical – they can land anywhere they want to if they begin military operations,” Hun Sen said sarcastically. read more https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/airport-not-china-landing-base

Princess Marie of Denmark has undertaken a trip to Cambodia in her role as honorary President of DanChurchAid, the Danish church’s humanitarian foundation. The program will take Her Royal Highness through some of the most evocative sites in the country, with her first stop of the trip being the Killing Fields outside of Phnom Penh, a memorial to the massacre carried out by Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. But the schedule for the visit will be primarily focused on the areas that Princess Marie and DanChurchAid have been working on for many years: poverty, sustainable development and human rights. The trip started on Sunday, 3 April, and will end on the following Thursday, 7 April. It will bring the Princess to the provinces of Takeo and Kampong Chhang, as well as the capital Phnom Penh. DanChurchAid turned 100 in 2022, and this trip serves as a celebration of the organisation’s significant milestone, as well as being a trip to mark Princess Marie’s tenth anniversary as Patron in 2021. Cambodia holds a special significance for the Princess because it was the first country that she travelled to in her new role with DanChurchAid. read more https://royalcentral.co.uk/europe/princess-marie-of-denmark-begins-humanitarian-trip-to-cambodia-with-poignant-visit-174899/

The decision by Cambodian authorities to revoke licenses of three news outlets is “brazen intimidation” a media watchdog says. The Ministry of Information’s decision impacts Bayong Times, Cambodia Today, and the online outlet Khmer Cover TV, or KCTV. All three are accused of “disseminating information that violates the ethics of journalism and business contracts being upheld,” by the ministry, according to a March 15 letter from Sok Prasidh, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Information. In an interview with VOA last week, Touch Yuthea of Cambodia Today, said he believes the decision is related to his news website reporting on irregularities in government contract bidding processes. Cambodia Today in February reported on alleged irregularities in bidding for supplies for the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training. Some officials at the ministry have said they suspect irregular practices, which may have resulted in a loss of millions of dollars in annual losses to the national budget. Yuthea told VOA that a senior official in the Ministry of Information’s legislative department repeatedly asked him to drop the report. At first Yuthea did not agree. Later, not wanting friction with officials at the Ministry of Information, Yuthea says he decided to drop the report from his news website. "I do not want to go too far with this issue.” Yuthea said. But, by March 15, “after I have made a compromise to end this trouble,” the ministry issued a letter “to terminate my license,” he said. Meas Sophorn, spokesman for the Ministry of Information, could not be reached for comment. Yuthea said he was disappointed by the decision. “I want to play the role of a real news publisher. So, if there is any release [of] the information that affects, for example, the loss of national income, then it should be reconsidered because I protect the national money,” Yuthea said. Asking media to drop “hot stories” on government issues “is harmful to freedom of expression and dissemination of true information," he added. The editor said he doesn’t think the license issue represents the decision of the ministry as a whole. VOA Khmer attempts to reach publishers for the Bayong Times and KCTV were not successful. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said that the ministry told all three publications the licenses would be restored if they corrected or removed certain content. None of the outlets received warning and were not able to appeal the decision, according to RSF. The loss of licenses is a “gross violation of the freedom of publication as enshrined in article 41 of Cambodia’s constitution,” Daniel <deleted>, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, said in a statement. “This is brazen intimidation, and we call on the government to immediately restore the publication licenses to these three outlets. Press freedom must not be the collateral victim of the actions of a few corrupt officials,” he added. Nop Vy, executive director of the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association, said that pro-government media outlets often lose publishing licenses. But, he added, the loss of licenses is “risky and even more dangerous for journalists who work in institutions that are not affiliated with the ministry or the government." The ministry revoked licenses for seven media outlets in 2021, Vy says. Cambodia has a poor press freedom record, ranking 144 out of 180 countries where 1 is freest in RSF's World Press Freedom Index. Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government embarked on an offensive against independent media outlets in 2017 to maintain its grip on power, RSF said. The media watchdog also cited the case of the defense minister last October allegedly ordering officials to “punish” provincial website operator Youn Chhiv for publishing an investigative report about illegal land seizures. The journalist in that case was sentenced to a year in prison. This story originated in VOA’s Khmer service. https://www.voanews.com/a/watchdog-condemns-cambodia-for-revoking-media-licenses-/6514554.html

The high cost of sending deceased Chinese nationals back to China from Cambodia has contributed to a large number of Chinese corpses being left for many years in Cambodian morgues, reports Chinese media. With the Qingming Festival – also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, a day when Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites, pray to their ancestors and make ritual offerings – being celebrated tomorrow, many Chinese people’s thoughts turn to their deceased family members But in Cambodia, says Chinese media outlet wgi8.com, there are still at least 83 Chinese corpses awaiting return to their homeland. Some of the relatives are actively working to get their deceased family members home. Some family members of the deceased still do not know that their family members in Cambodia have passed away. And some have given up – defeated by high cost and other difficulties. As an example, Deng Zongyu injured his leg while riding a motorcycle in February. He was infected with tetanus because he did not receive treatment in time, and eventually died. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501051997/longing-to-return-to-their-homeland-over-80-chinese-deceased-still-unclaimed-in-cambodian-morgues/

Having no milk to feed a crying baby, the mother decided to throw her one-month-old infant into the canal. Hon Samen, 22, who was arrested by police had confessed that she had to kill her child as she was crying from 9pm to 4am and she had no milk to feed her as she was very poor. She had told the police that she had to take care of another child who is 13 months old and decided to drown the infant. According to Battambang police chief Major General Sath Kimsan and Battambang city police chief Colonel Lim Puthyla, they found the child dead in the canal and subsequently arrested the mother. “The mother said she cannot afford to buy milk for her baby and decided to secretly throw her into the canal which is behind where she stayed,” said Maj Gen Kimsan, adding that the arrest warrant was issued by Battambang court prosecutor Keo Socheat. Together for Children and Elderly Organization’s (TCEO) executive director Om Dara said yesterday that what Samen did was an evil and criminal act and must be punished in accordance with the law. “Instead of throwing her baby into the canal, she could have asked other families to adopt her baby. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501052159/woman-throws-baby-into-canal-after-having-no-money-to-buy-milk/

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday sentenced a businesswoman to ten months in prison for selling poor quality milk meant for children in 2020. The woman, Khon Keokesey, a resident of Meanchey district in Phnom Penh, is the executive director of the export-import company Nutrilatt Master LM Co Ltd. The court ordered her to pay nearly $500,000 in compensation to 22 people who filed the case against her over the quality of milk. Judge Sin Sovanrith in his verdict said, “The court has decided to sentence the accused Khon Keokesey to ten months in prison and imposed a fine of eight million riels.” “The court ordered her to pay from $10,000 to $20,000 each in compensation to 22 people,” he said. Judge Sovanrith said that Keokesey was charged with false or fraudulent advertising under Articles 21 and 63 of the Law on the Management of Quality and Safety of Products and Services. He added that Keokesey was sued by 22 people who were her customers and also the parents of children affected by the poor quality milk products. Keokesey’s lawyer could not be contacted for comment. However, during a hearing last year, Keokesey admitted that the quality of milk was poor but said that the milk was not manufactured by her. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501052156/importer-jailed-for-selling-poor-quality-infant-milk-products/

Malaysian police have said human trafficking is widespread in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia. Cambodian authorities Friday denied media reports that Thai citizens are being held against their will in Cambodia by criminal gangs, but Malaysian police said human trafficking syndicates were running rampant across the entire Southeast Asian region. Chhoun Narin, police chief of the Sihanoukville Police Department, told RFA’s Khmer Service that more than 100 Thais have crossed over the border between the two countries to illegally take jobs in casinos located in Sihanoukville province. “We hear fake stories about detentions and torture,” he said. “There are no illegal detentions.” The denial contradicts reports in the Bangkok Post and other Southeast Asian outlets that there are between 2,800 and 3,000 Thais working illegally in Cambodia who have been tricked by gangs to take positions as scammers, according to Thai police estimates. Despite the denial, Chhoun Narin said the police will cooperate with Thai officials in repatriating Thai citizens. But he declined to comment on whether Cambodia will charge Thais found to be in the country illegally. RFA was unable to reach National Police spokesman Chhay Kim Khouen for comment on Friday. After the Cambodian government opened up the company following COVID-19 restrictions, reports of criminal activities in Sihanoukville province flooded the offices of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, Cheap Sotheary, the group’s Sihanoukville province coordinator, told RFA. She urged Cambodian authorities to work with their Thai counterparts to resolve complaints about kidnapping and detentions in Cambodia. “There should be an investigation to see how many separate incidents there are. If Thai delegates come, there should be a cooperation to avoid any misunderstanding,” she said. Police in Malaysia, meanwhile, have information indicating a human trafficking syndicate has trapped Malays as forced labor in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, reported. Since 2021, the Anti-trafficking unit of Malaysia’s Federal Criminal Investigation Department received six police reports of involving 26 victims — 24 men and two women—in need of rescue from crime syndicates. The police believe that there are still many people in similar situations but have not lodged reports with authorities. Police say that the victims were duped by job advertisements offering relatively high salaries doing social media work as customer service officers in other countries. Interested job seekers were encouraged to contact agents via WeChat, WhatsApp or Facebook who then would arrange travel costs for the unsuspecting victims. Once they arrived at the destination, the syndicate would confiscate or destroy travel documents and mobile devices, leaving the migrants with no way to call for help or escape on their own. The victims then would be sent to specific locations such as Preah Sihanouk in Cambodia, Mae Sot in Thailand, Vientiane in Laos and Kayin State in Myanmar and forced to work in scams involving online gambling, fake investments and Bitcoin mining. They would not be allowed to return home if they did not reach the company's sales targets or they could pay between U.S. $7,125 and $11,875 for their release. The Royal Malaysian Police is working with Interpol and Aseanapol to seek help in tracking and rescuing Malaysian victims. RFA reported last month that dozens of Thais and hundreds of Lao citizens were duped into working in casinos in Laos’ Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone. If these victims failed to meet sales quotas, they were told they would be sold to employers at different companies, including for positions in the sex trade. Multiple groups of Thais escaped last month back to Thailand or were rescued and repatriated. Translated by RFA’s Khmer Service and BenarNews. Written in English by Eugene Whong. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/trafficking-04012022172802.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

In the ancient forests of Cambodia, Amnesty International relies on Planet’s daily monitoring to help fulfill its mission of ending human rights abuses worldwide. Our satellite data, along with a “tip and cue” strategy, help Amnesty International identify and shed light on environmental abuses to slow or stop them before they irreversibly harm people and the ecosystem. Map showing the location of the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary in Cambodia (Data Sources: Planet monthly mosaic, Natural Earth, Open Development Cambodia) Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary is southeast Asia’s largest lowland evergreen forest. The sanctuary spans approximately 500,000 hectares across four provinces of Cambodia. Designated as a wildlife sanctuary in 2016, Prey Lang is government-protected land, containing diverse flora and fauna. This land plays a vital role in the traditions, local customs, and beliefs of indigenous people and local communities. Yet, recent events have weakened the sanctuary’s natural defenses and degraded its borders. The sale of timber rights on land just outside the sanctuary’s eastern border has negatively impacted Prey Lang. Amnesty International began monitoring illegal logging in Prey Lang, and Micah Farfour, a Special Advisor in Remote Sensing for their Crisis Response Program, has a long history of working with GIS and satellite imagery to monitor change globally. She and her team have effectively used Planet’s satellite data to identify and track illegal activity within the sanctuary’s borders. read more https://www.planet.com/pulse/planets-data-helps-amnesty-international-tackle-deforestation-in-cambodia/

A boy was killed in Preah Vihear province on Wednesday after he picked up an explosive device that he found in a field. The incident took place at Arn Ses village, Choam Ksan commune in Choam Ksan district. A member of a mine clearing team Linh Yut named the victim as 7-year-old Sok Dara. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501051329/boy-dies-after-mine-explodes-in-field/

Cambodia received a total of 151,680 foreign visitors in the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 114 percent from 70,901 arrivals recorded in the same period last year, a senior tourism official said on Friday. Kong Sopheareak, director of Tourism Statistics Department at the Ministry of Tourism, said that of the total, 86,588 tourists arrived in the Southeast Asian country by air during the January-March period, up 158 percent year-on-year. “Neighboring Vietnam topped the chart of the international tourist arrivals to Cambodia, followed by Thailand and China,” he told Xinhua. “During the first quarter of this year, there were 1,012 flights to capital Phnom Penh, 144 flights to Siem Reap province and 55 flights to Preah Sihanouk province,” he said. Sopheareak said the sharp rise in the number of foreign visitors came after the country fully resumed its socio-economic activities and reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers without quarantine since the middle of November last year following most of its 16 million population having been vaccinated against COVID-19. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501051512/international-tourists-to-cambodia-up-114-pct-in-q1/

A tranche of government documents released this week shows hundreds of hectares of state-land plots privatized for connected individuals and companies across the country. Twelve volumes of the royal gazette were published on Wednesday, a compilation of government orders and decisions dating from the end of last year. Around 100 volumes are released every year, with a delay of a few months between the decisions and publication. The latest batch of documents contain at least eight state-land privatization orders. The largest plot is compensation for Koh Kong residents in dispute with the controversial Union Development Group, a massive, 36,000-hectare coastal Chinese-owned project accused of forced evictions. Some 1,154 hectares of Botum Sakor National Park was reclassified in order to be handed to an unspecified number of residents. Around 600 hectares of other state-owned areas — lakes, forests, mountains, a port and a former economic concession — were also privatized around the country. Hun Seng Ny, a sister of Prime Minister Hun Sen, and oknha Lanh Pheara received 20 hectares of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Tamok lake. read more https://vodenglish.news/hun-sens-sister-canadia-bank-senators-family-receive-state-land-plots/

Residents of Oddar Meanchey’s Kokmon commune had never seen the animal before, commune chief Sung Bun Ngam said. Thinking it was a buffalo, three local residents tried to kick the bovine out of their farms, Bun Ngam said. But the animal, a wild gaur, instead charged the residents, ramming into them and sending them to hospital on Wednesday. Gaur are extremely rare, according to the International Union of the Conservation of Nature, with estimates of their numbers in the wild reaching as low as just 6,000. Still, their powerful bodies can make them a very real, though unusual, hazard to humans that cross their path. “In the absence of a tiger, the gaur is perhaps the most dangerous animal in the forest,” said Nick Marx, Wildlife Alliance’s director of rescue and care, on Friday. The villagers in Banteay Ampil district injured on Wednesday were Yun Voeur, 65, who suffered an injury to his right thigh; his wife Snea Neav, 55, who hurt her right arm; and Tik Kreng, 31, who injured his right knee. read more https://vodenglish.news/rare-gaur-a-1-ton-wild-cow-captured-after-injuring-three-villagers/

With Siamese crocodiles on the brink of extinction in the wild, conservationists are turning to Southeast Asia’s crocodile farms for help – despite their role in driving the species’ disappearance A crocodile bellows as a rope is hooked around its teeth and pulled. After the reptile is heaved out of a cool concrete pool onto sun-cooked pavement, a wrangler steps on its snout and binds its jaw shut, the crocodile’s bellows turning to hisses. Within an hour, more than 20 crocodiles are tied up and piled into the bed of a truck. These are Siamese crocodiles, some of more than 2,500 at a farm in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap. Cambodia’s crocodile farms breed and sell live crocodiles, often to buyers in China, Thailand and Vietnam, where they are harvested to make crocodile leather and other products. But the animals being collected today are not destined for sale or slaughter. Instead, they are a donation from the farm to conservationists trying to save the last wild populations of Siamese crocodiles in Cambodia. The Siamese crocodile was believed to be extinct in Cambodia until 2000, when a survey led by conservation organisation Fauna & Flora International rediscovered a remnant population in the Cardamom Mountains, in the southwest of the country. read more https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/nature/cambodias-crocodile-farmers-and-conservationists-forge-unlikely-alliance/

Prime Minister Hun Sen said that despite his standing for election next year, Royal Cambodian Army (RCA) Commander Lieutenant General Hun Manet, chosen to be the future premier candidate for the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), will not be sidelined and could succeed him at any time. Speaking during the inauguration of the Choam Chao flyover and underpass in Phnom Penh yesterday, Mr Hun Sen, who is also the CPP president, said he will continue to stand for the 2023 National Election as Prime Minister candidate and Lt Gen Manet is the “reserve” one. However, he hinted that the nomination of Lt Gen Manet as future Prime Minister is a precaution to avoid any eventual problems after the election, saying Lt Gen Manet is his “reserve” successor. “Reserving the next generation is something that must be prepared, otherwise a crisis will occur. For example, if suddenly Hun Sen is gone, who will continue? So there has to be a clear decision from the party,” he said. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501050786/reserve-pm-lt-gen-manet-could-take-over-at-any-time-says-hun-sen/

Border guards in the eastern province of Surin are on the lookout for an alleged “Cambodian princess,” an imposter, after catching wind that she plans to travel to Bangkok to attend private parties with police. Surin Provincial Governor Suwapong Kittiphatpibul issued an alert on Tuesday about the princess’s con, requesting local authorities to enforce the rules if she tries enter the country. The alert was sent to all district chiefs and the chief of the provincial immigration office, the Bangkok Post reported. But here’s the kicker: the princess doesn’t exist. The alert describes a woman who claims to be the so-called “Princess Kosoma Tevy Norodom” of Cambodia. But in fact, Cambodia’s royal family doesn’t have a princess with this name, according to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. The alert says that the imposter looks like a women who previously claimed to be another Cambodian princess and last visited Thailand in 2017 under a regular passport with the name Kosomaktevy Pich. So far, the foreign ministry hasn’t received her application for entry into Thailand. But with the district chiefs and immigration officials on high alert, she’d be well advised to stay away — or enter by another route. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501050770/fake-cambodian-princess-thailand-bound/

Phnom Penh Appeal Court yesterday once again upheld the lower court’s decision to sentence a Belgian man to life in prison for transporting more than one kilogramme of cocaine from Brazil to Cambodia in 2018. The Supreme Court had referred the case to be retried at the Appeal Court. Presiding Judge Sin Visal identified the accused as Tanguy Eddie J. Taller, 37, a freelance graphics designer. Judge Visal said that Tanguy was sentenced on December 18, 2018 by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to a life term in prison. He was charged with “drug transport and trafficking” under Article 40 of the Cambodian Law on Drug Control. He noted that on November 7 last year, the Supreme Court heard Tanguy’s appeal and transferred it to the Phnom Penh Appeal Court for retrial because there were gaps and some contradictory evidence in this case that were not examined and considered by the lower court. He added that Phnom Penh Appeal Court conducted Tanguy’s retrial in accordance with with the Supreme Court’s order. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501050978/appeal-court-upholds-belgians-life-sentence/

The government privatized more than 2 hectares of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Tamok to the chief of Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district council, who is also an appointed assistant to Prime Minister Hun Sen. The privatization and filling of the lake has progressed rapidly over the past couple of years, with little left of what was once one of the capital’s largest lakes. Krouch Phan received 2.2 hectares in a sub-decree signed by Hun Sen, in the swampy southwest corner of the lake in Prek Pnov district’s Kok Roka commune. The decree was signed in December, but publicly released this week. According to a July 2017 sub-decree, Phan, the chief of the Pur Senchey district council, was appointed as an assistant to Hun Sen. Phan told VOD on Thursday that he had the 42 hectares of land in the area in 1979 when he was in the army, and grew lotuses on the wetland. He sold the lotuses to help buy food for the army, he said, adding that the area was drier at the time. He said he had given away 39 hectares to locals, and said another hectare was taken from him, leaving him with 2 hectares. read more https://vodenglish.news/district-council-chief-a-pm-assistant-handed-boeng-tamok-lake-land/

When Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen became the first head of state to visit Myanmar since the military seized power in a coup last year, he seemed to think he would be able to bring the generals back into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) despite the country’s worsening humanitarian crisis. “I am thinking whether we should keep ASEAN nine or ASEAN 10, because, in the recent ASEAN Summit, we have only nine, this is a problem,” he said ahead of the January trip. In an unprecedented move, the group excluded Myanmar’s coup leaders from its annual summit and a special summit with China in 2021, because they failed to make progress on an ASEAN-brokered peace plan, which included an end to violence and negotiations with all parties. The military is believed to have killed more than 1,700 civilians since seizing power, sparking a broadening civil war. It has also declared the National Unity Government (NUG) – set up by elected politicians thrown out of office by the generals – a terrorist organisation, locked up civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an undisclosed location, and refused to allow ASEAN representatives to meet either her or the NUG. read more https://theaseanpost.com/geopolitics/2022/mar/31/why-hun-sen-failing-myanmar

Beijing also in talks with Solomon Islands on basing warships U.S. told Cambodia that China’s military threatened security The Chinese and Cambodian armies have signed a memorandum of understanding, as Beijing seeks to deepen regional security ties amid increasing competition with the U.S. Senior commanders from the ground forces of the two militaries sealed the agreement in a video call Thursday, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian told a regular news briefing in Beijing. He didn’t elaborate on the details of the agreement. “China and Cambodia are close neighbors and iron-clad friends,” Wu said. “In recent years, the pragmatic cooperation between the two militaries in various fields, including strategic communication, joint exercises and training, exchanges and personnel training, has continued to deepen.” The agreement was signed by General Liu Zhenli, commander of the People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces, and General Hun Manet, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Army. Hun Manet, who studied at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, is the eldest son Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, and has been endorsed by the nation’s ruling party as its future leader. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-31/china-signs-cooperation-deal-with-cambodia-army-amid-u-s-strain

Up to 100 Malaysian youth are being held captive in Cambodia by a syndicate that forces them to scam people online. This was revealed by Malaysian mainstream Media New Straits Times even when Khmer Times has been investigating this story since early March. “Because we don’t have mobile phones, I can only secretly send you emails during work hours. I will collect them as soon as possible and send them to you as soon as possible. After all, there are so many people and eyes and ears. If I get caught more than once, I will be buried in Cambodia. I’ve asked outside money for help more than once,” one of the Malaysian, who reached out to Khmer Times said. “This park is well equipped and set up as a self contained one -stop online scamming and online betting and gambling centre. It has its own massage parlor, a place called chicken, casinos, ktv, bars, canteens and restaurants. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501050115/more-entrapped-call-centre-victims-this-time-from-malaysia-seek-khmer-times-assistance/

Commune officials have to provide better services to their local residents and they cannot take bribes for the process besides being responsible for the issuance of birth, marriage certificates, and residence books. General Department of Identification spokesman Lieutenant General Tob Neth said yesterday that all commune officials have to speed up issuing all documents the people need. “Most of our officials understood what the people need,” he said, adding that if anyone faces problems such as delaying the issuance of important documents for them, they can call the hotlines for intervention. He said that officials have received no complaints related to residents forced to pay bribery to accelerate their documents. “If any officials fail to follow instructions and ask for more money from local people, then that is not right,” he said, noting that monitoring has been conducted to ensure the process goes smoothly. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501050104/commune-officials-told-to-provide-services-without-taking-bribes/

The two-year implementation of tough and aggressive traffic law enforcement has seen results with a significant drop in road accident deaths and injuries, said Interior Minister Sar Kheng on his Facebook page yesterday. He said the enforcement measures that were carried out in 2020 and last year have seen a decline in death and injury cases, thanks to traffic law enforcement and road users’ awareness of traffic laws. In 2019, Kheng said there were 3,615 road accident cases that caused the death of almost 2,000 people while more than 6,000 suffered minor and major injuries. Taking into account the high cases of deaths and injuries, he added the Road Traffic law was amended with inputs given by members of the public and experts via the media or directly over a period of six months to a year. “For many years, the National Road Safety Committee has been educating and disseminating the traffic laws to the people, in an effort to reduce road accidents but it was to no avail as road users still continued violating the traffic laws,” said Kheng. It was then, he added the traffic law enforcers decided to go hard on those who violated the traffic rules and regulations and this resulted in some 800 lives saved and only about 3,000 people sustaining injuries. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501050291/strict-traffic-law-enforcements-see-drop-in-deaths-and-injuries/