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At least 8 foreigners have been arrested after a brawl led to the death of a man last night in Phnom Penh. The incident happened at 10:30 pm on August 17, 2023 in Borey Prek Ta Sek, concrete road in Sangkat Chroy Changva, Khan Chroy Changva, Phnom Penh. According to a security guard, before the incident, he saw a group of Vietnamese men sitting and drinking together in Prek Ta Borey. The man then heard a loud argument. Suddenly, the guard saw a man running downstairs with blood on his body and face. Immediately, his compatriots called a private ambulance. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at the scene. After that, the security guards in Borey Prek Ta Sek reported to the upper level and the authorities to intervene immediately. After the local police arrived, they immediately arrested the perpetrators, while 8 other men and women were detained for questioning, The forensic officer of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police confirmed that the victim died due to stab wounds https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501345231/foreigners-arrested-after-brawl-leaves-man-dead/

Phnom Penh — Dozens of Cambodian medical school students gathered last month to learn how they can deploy their skills to help the millions of Khmer Rouge survivors still alive in Cambodia, many of whom are struggling with mental and physical health problems. The Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), a leading archival and support organization for Khmer Rouge survivors, organized the workshop in Phnom Penh on July 29 to develop leaders in the health field and highlight the positive contributions they can make working with elderly Cambodians. Sari Amira, a nursing student from Norton University in Phnom Penh, told VOA Khmer that she appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the life of Khmer Rouge survivors, and pitied those who are still struggling with the mental scars from the genocide. “After this workshop, I will apply the knowledge I gained today in the healthcare profession and share it with friends who did not attend today,” Sari Amira said. Although 30 years have passed since relative peace returned to Cambodia in the early 1990s, there remains pervasive shortages in health care access across the country, particularly in rural areas where many Khmer Rouge survivors live. Scarce mental health resources are stretched particularly thin, despite widespread trauma that has been handed down through the generations. Sari Amira explained that the workshop provided her a new understanding of how doctors can communicate effectively with patients, and highlighted the main illnesses — mental and physical — facing Khmer Rouge survivors. “I think this workshop is good for me. I have learned a lot such as changing behavior to build trust from patients,” she said. “I also understand how to work professionally, how to communicate with the patients ethically and the 10 main diseases and illnesses that most often occur with Khmer Rouge survivors.” DC-Cam’s third workshop on “Advancing the rights and improving the health conditions of Khmer Rouge survivors” was joined by 40 students from various medical schools across the city. It followed a nationwide survey in which the organization spoke to some 32,000 survivors in less than a year. DC-Cam volunteers identified 10 chronic illnesses among survivors — hypertension, stomach ailments, malaria, mental illness, cardiovascular disease, joint disorders, severe asthma, diabetes, tuberculosis and leprosy. Hong Pengky, 19-year-old laboratory student of Chenla University, said he felt inspired to help bring health care to the millions of survivors who desperately need it. “For effective treatment, we think that in remote areas, there is no hospital near most houses, so we [medical care providers] need to go to those areas. We have to give them advice, to help and tell them how to take care of themselves,” Pengky said. “We can volunteer to help treat them or we can inform…other volunteer doctors who are interested to go and help.” Medical students attends a workshop organized by DC-Cam, in Phnom Penh on July 29, 2023. (DC-Cam) So Farina, DC-Cam’s principal deputy director, told VOA Khmer the organization hoped the medical students would take a leadership role in treating Khmer Rouge survivors, understand how to engage with the older patients and recognize their health conditions. “We also focus on changing attitudes,” she said, “because we see that there are many factors that contribute to health care such as health problems, resources, surrounding environment and showing them how to prepare and become a good doctor,” she said. The problems facing these patients often run deep. “There is trauma due to various issues of that generation — work exhaustion, as well as the killing of their family members or what they have seen,” she added. She said that DC-Cam will conduct the fourth workshop on August 19 to help broaden the medical students’ knowledge on Khmer Rouge survivors’ health conditions and strengthen their leadership and compassion toward survivors or patients. DC-Cam has been investigating Khmer Rouge atrocities and working with survivors for nearly two decades. The health care project launched in 2021 and connects young volunteers with survivors across the country to document their stories, respond to health surveys and provide access to medical care in 48 clinics across the country. Many survivors of the regime hoped that the Khmer Rouge Tribunal would require the government to provide medical care as part of reparations awarded to “civil parties” to the trial. However, as the tribunal wrapped up last year it became clear that many of their health care needs would remain unmet. The tribunal argued that “it cannot impose legal obligations on the Cambodian Government, and that the Court lacks the resources to fulfill such obligations,” Michael Karnavas, a former criminal defense lawyer at the tribunal, wrote in a research paper. The workshop featured a number of expert speakers. Dr. Demosthenes C. Reyes, who provides medical services for DC-Cam’s Advancing the Rights and Improving the Health Conditions of Khmer Rouge Survivors program, told the medical students that being honest to patients is a key to building good relations and trust. “So as a doctor, you need to fight for the truth and the right treatment,” Dr. Reyes said. “If you're not sure, give it to somebody else who is actually expert on this, but if you can do it, do it because it's the right thing to do.” https://www.voacambodia.com/a/workshop-seeks-to-connect-cambodian-medical-students-with-khmer-rouge-survivors/7228840.html

Indictment in Taiwan reveals how Chen Hsin Han used WhatsApp to contact heroin couriers from behind bars. A Taiwanese drug lord freed from his 52-year jail sentence by masked gunmen while he was on a prison-granted dentist visit was conducting secret drug trafficking operations from Cambodia to Taiwan as recently as in 2020, despite being behind bars in Siem Reap, Radio Free Asia has learned. Court documents from Taiwanese authorities uncovered by RFA Investigative reveal that Chen Hsin Han, a Taiwanese national arrested on drug charges in Cambodia in 2009, managed to smuggle nearly 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of heroin to an associate in Taiwan in 2020 using a middleman he met while incarcerated. It is unclear whether Cambodian prison authorities were aware that Chen was conducting these illicit activities while in jail. But the degree to which he had access to outside resources could help explain his stunning escape on Thursday morning, when he was sprung from police custody by five men wearing masks after they charged into a dental clinic Chen was visiting. Footage from the raid shows the men pointing guns at prison guards accompanying Chen whom they had tied up while they searched for the drug lord before escaping with him. The group apparently abandoned the Lexus they drove to make their getaway, which was found several hours later with guns, masks, clothes and other materials left inside, Prison Department spokesman Nuth Savna said. “The reason the suspects could free the prisoner was because they pointed guns at the guards,” he said. “If we fought they would shoot us.” Chen Hsin Han, who was in prison for drug trafficking in Cambodia, is seen in custody in this undated photo. Credit: Fresh News Chen, 45, was arrested in 2009 and later sentenced to 52 years for drug trafficking. Before the escape, he was being held at a prison near the provincial capital of Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia. Court records from Taiwan described his role in at least two heroin smuggling cases dating to fall 2020. According to the documents, Chen masterminded one scheme to smuggle 28 cans of what was purported to be durian paste into Taiwan through Thailand. Chen instructed an associate, Nathan Guy Garrett - said to be a U.K. national he met in Siem Reap prison - to help with the shipments, but Thai authorities discovered that the containers were filled with heroin. Weeks later, Chen instructed Garrett to transport six handbags filled with 2 kilograms of heroin into Taiwan to help distribute them there with another associate, Chan Yuxuan. Chan Yuxuan, was arrested in November 2020, along with Garrett and a driver. They were indicted in 2021. Their charging documents noted WhatsApp communications with Chen about the schemes and that Chen had the ability to remotely control drug deliveries from prison. For example, when Garrett needed to take drugs to another city in Taiwan, he immediately reported to Chen that he didn't have money for transportation. "Chen promised to transfer the money immediately." Chen then instructed another Taiwanese individual to assist in transferring money to Garrett promptly, the indictment said. Cambodian police have arrested six men connected to Chen’s escape this week, but he remains at large as of Friday. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/khmer-taiwan-drug-lord-08182023182231.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

The Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department of the National Police rescued 12 women from cafes offering sex services after raiding four cafés in Phnom Penh on Monday. The police also shut down the cafes and arrested four shop owners, three women and a man, following the raids conducted at Tralork Bek area along Street 598 in Boeng Kak II commune of Tuol Kork district, around 9pm on Monday. The authorities said that the police cracked down on the cafes following complaints from people against the five cafes which according to them were open day and night, and offering illegal sex services. All the rescued women were sent to the Department of Social Affairs, while the arrested owners and the evidence collected in the raids were sent to the Department of Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection department for legal proceedings. Authorities refused to share the whereabouts and age of the victims. However, a commune police officer, on condition of anonymity, said that the authorities have warned the cafes running illegal sex services several times, but they ignored them. He also said that most of the cafes are run by long-term residents which makes it difficult for the police to take action against them. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501343546/12-women-rescued-after-crackdowns-on-cafes-running-sex-dens/

Preah Vihear provincial administration has organised a cycling programme in the compound of Koh Ker Temple, a major historical and cultural site in the province, to promote the provincial tourism. The event, initiated by Preah Vihear Provincial Governor Kim Rithy, took place late last week on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of International Youth Day. Rithy said this cycling programme was aimed to contribute to promoting the national heritage and tourism, as well as to celebrating the 24th anniversary of International Youth Day in order to encourage the public as well as officials at all levels, especially the young people to turn their attention to the national heritage, left behind by ancestors, such as Koh Ker and many other ancient temples in the province. Tep Sinith, a tourist from Phnom Penh, said that Preah Vihear is a province with great tourism potential, and if the provincial leaders and authorities continue to create more particular events, national and international tourists will get to know the province better. “As far as we know, in addition to Koh Ker, Preah Vihear, and Phnom Tbeng, there are many other temples and attractive natural tourism sites in the province,” he added. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501343664/preah-vihear-province-organises-a-cycling-programme-to-promote-tourism/

The 10 activists from a coastal province were given one-year jail terms amid a lengthy land dispute. A provincial court on Tuesday sentenced 10 activists to one year in jail in a case that stems from several long-running land disputes that have triggered protests in Cambodia’s southwestern Koh Kong province. The activists were arrested in late June after they tried to travel to Phnom Penh to submit a petition to the Ministry of Justice. The Koh Kong Provincial Court convicted them of malicious denunciation and incitement to provoke chaos. They were ordered to pay 10 million riel (about US$2,400) to tycoon Heng Huy, whose company is involved in one of the land conflicts in the coastal province near the Thai border. Illegal land grabs by developers or individuals are not uncommon in Cambodia, where officials and bureaucrats can be bribed to provide bogus land titles. Disputes over land are one of the major causes of social disturbances throughout Southeast Asia. “The activists have endured numerous disputes dating back as far as 2006, after companies linked to tycoons Ly Yong Phat and Heng Huy established sugar plantations on community land,” the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, or Licadho, said in a statement. “However, the activists’ efforts to protect their land have been continually met with authority-led harassment,” it said. Police threatened other community members who gathered in front of the provincial police station on June 30 after the arrests. They later prevented people from gathering in front of the provincial court. But on Tuesday, about 100 people were able to demonstrate in front of the provincial court to show support for the defendants, activists told Radio Free Asia. One defendants’ sentence was fully suspended, while the remaining nine intend to appeal, activists told RFA. Other recent decisions One of the defendants, Kert Nov, told RFA that she is worried about how her family will be affected if she is jailed. “I won’t accept the one-year jail conviction because I didn’t breach any law,” she said. “I will appeal the decision.” Radio Free Asia was unable to reach court spokesman Sou Sovannara and provincial Gov. Mithona Phuthong for comment on the sentences. Several other court decisions were issued this month related to Koh Kong land disputes. The Supreme Court on Aug. 4 upheld additional convictions of malicious denunciation and defamation against Det Huor, a representative of Koh Kong villagers who has led demonstrations in Phnom Penh. On Aug. 2, the provincial court found two women activists, Phav Nheung and Seng Lin, guilty of defamation and incitement to provoke chaos. Both were sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and ordered to pay 40 million riel (approximately US$9,600) in compensation. In Koh Kong, hundreds of villagers have also accused Ly Yong Phat, a senator from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and casino tycoon with business interests in the province, and the Chinese-backed Union Development Group, UDG, of encroaching on their land. UDG is building a US$3.8 billion project that includes a seaport, resorts and casinos in Koh Kong. Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/land-activists-sentenced-08152023161550.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

Cambodian authorities said Monday they have arrested seven Japanese nationals who are allegedly members of a fraud group. Japanese police suspect that two of the men are involved in several fraud cases in Japan, Kyodo News reported. They plan on dispatching investigators to Cambodia while procedures are under way to deport the suspects to Japan. According to investigators, the seven men were using a hotel in Cambodia as their hub. The men, aged in their 30s to 50s, had no passports, leading Cambodian police to believe they are part of a bigger gang that had coerced them into committing acts of fraud. Around May, information was provided to Cambodian authorities that a Japanese man was scamming people online from a Cambodian hotel near the Thai border. After local authorities contacted Japanese police, they managed to confiscate and check the contents of the suspect’s mobile phone and computer. He and another suspect are accused of getting a man in Saga Prefecture to invest cash in a bogus real estate deal. read more https://japantoday.com/category/crime/7-japanese-nationals-in-cambodia-arrested-over-alleged-fraud

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — Multiple Cambodian tycoons are under fire for alleged fraudulent real estate sales to thousands of people who are struggling to pay back loans from microfinance institutions and banks used to invest in land or gated community projects. In the most prominent cases, two “oknhas” — tycoons who have given at least $500,000 to the government — have been arrested and charged with fraud in separate schemes after families in multiple provinces accused them of reneging on promised monthly dividends from land investments or homes promised in gated community projects. Hy Kimhong, director of Piphup Deimeas Investment Co., and Chea Saron, director of Chea Saron Realty Co., could spend two to five years in jail if convicted in Cambodian court. At least two other tycoons, including music producer Leng Navatra and Nuon Ak, have faced social media criticism or complaints with local authorities over real estate projects that frustrated investors say have been slow to deliver. In Kampot province, in the southern part of the country, on the Gulf of Thailand, Kimhong, who is also the director of microfinance institution AMZ, faces more than 1,000 lawsuits alleging Piphup Deimeas cheated families out of a total of $21 million. Locals in Kampot’s Chhuk district told VOA that Piphup Deimeas employees have traveled house-to-house for at least three years, promising monthly dividends for investments in land plots. Oy Chantha, 62, took out $20,000 in microfinance bank loans for his son to invest in Piphup Deimeas. At first, they received steady dividends that boosted their income from selling banana rice cakes and allowed Chantha to keep up with $500 monthly loan payments. Around the Chhuk district, farmers and sellers who invested suddenly had money to spend. They bought new cars and motorcycles. They quit their jobs at the market. They hosted parties. But in April, the cash flow stopped. Now Chantha said he is considering selling his cows and motorbikes to pay back the loans. If he cannot do so, he said, he fears his house and farmland — which he put up for collateral — could be seized. “I can’t sleep,” he told VOA. “I’m the one who has to pay. … I’ll be nothing. I’ll be zero.” Kimhong, who was also named as an adviser to outgoing National Assembly President Heng Samrin in February, has maintained his innocence. On Aug. 7, he was arrested with 13 associates, but a viral Facebook video showed him, handcuffed, telling police that “I still think that I can handle it,” meaning that he still thought he would be able to get people their back dividends soon. “The word cheat is not correct — you can say delaying,” Kimhong said in the video. “This is delaying. … We promise that we will make it back smoothly by August.” AMZ representatives did not answer a phone call from VOA, and Piphup Deimeas posted on its Facebook page on August 8 that its employees were taking time off. In another case playing out in Kampot and neighboring Takeo province, at least 2,000 families have accused local tycoon Chea Saron, director of Chea Saron Realty Co., of fraud after buying into “borey,” or gated community projects, and land plots they say never came to fruition. Heng Ith, 65, first invested $10,000 in 2020 with the promise of a spot in a borey, and started receiving $250 back monthly in dividends. Encouraged by the steady flow of money — and Saron’s “convincing” team — she told VOA she invested more and more. An associate of Saron’s would drive her to microfinance institutions and banks, including BNK, Prasac and Hattha, to get loans, and take her directly to Saron’s local office afterward, she said. But the borey — which locals identified as a group of unfinished blue buildings off a busy road in the same district — stopped construction months ago, and in December, investors like Ith stopped receiving payouts. Then in April, Saron and eight associates were arrested and charged with fraud, accused of cheating people out of a total of about $40 million. Ith still owes $57,000 in microfinance loans with her home as collateral and has sold off jewelry to make payments. The lenders have stopped their daily visits since Saron’s arrest. “If they want to boil us [alive], or do whatever they want to do with us, it’s up to them,” Ith said. “Where can we get the money?” Accusations of real estate fraud are not new in Cambodia, where the loose regulatory environment has spawned get-rich-quick schemes and ambitious projects aimed at enhancing tycoons’ reputations. Many projects have failed to materialize over the years, including a tower developers promised would be the tallest in Southeast Asia and sprawling resorts along the southern coast. Small-time oknhas may start real estate schemes to build up their image but lack money or experience, Sylvia Nam, a former assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, who has studied real estate speculation in Cambodia, told VOA. “People are being sold a project by somebody with deep connections — or somebody who presents themselves as though they have deep connections — but maybe those connections aren’t actually that deep,” Nam said. “The line between what is legitimate versus illegitimate only comes at the moment of success. And even the moment of success is actually kind of unclear,” she added. The accusations also come at a time of overall stagnation in construction. Ross Wheble, country head at real estate consultancy Knight Frank Cambodia, told VOA that high inflation and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate hikes had a “direct impact” on Cambodia’s real estate sector, particularly borey projects, where buyers have struggled to make repayments on properties. “This has led to a slowdown of construction, particularly within the residential sector, with many developers now struggling with cash flow,” Wheble said. Ung Chhay, spokesman for Kampot province and deputy provincial governor, told VOA that he could not estimate how many people have been affected by fraudulent land investment schemes but that “many families” had suffered. Victims have also emerged in a handful of other provinces. We have taken measures by compromising with the financial institutions, like banks, to ask them to be understanding," Chhay said. "The banks understand and have weakened their measures[to collect on loans] while we wait for a solution. https://www.voanews.com/a/cambodian-tycoons-under-fire-for-alleged-real-estate-schemes/7224584.html

Interior Minister Sar Kheng instructed all ministry officials to continue to fulfill their departmental duties and unite to serve the country, while announcing his resignation as the Minister. Speaking at the graduation ceremony of about 560 cadets in police science at the Police Academy of Cambodia yesterday, Kheng emphasised that senior officials in general departments in the ministry must continue working harder to serve the country. Officials with the rank of Secretary of State and Undersecretary of State must also continue to accept the tasks assigned by the ministry because there is more work to be done, he said. “I am leaving the Ministry of Interior to attend to another duty. I hope that the officials of the general departments will continue with their efforts in doing their jobs well,” he said. Kheng said that he hoped that the officials in the ministry will continue to do their jobs better, so the ministry can continue to serve the country and the people. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501342894/sar-kheng-announces-resignation-at-police-cadets-graduation-ceremony/

Government officials from three Southeast Asian nations say the Denver Art Museum continues to house antiquities stolen from their countries’ ancient temples and heritage sites. Representatives from Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam sent letters to the museum, via U.S. investigators, in May and June, saying the prized relics had no legal export permits to lawfully leave their countries. The museum, they said, did not respond. “There is a taint on these cultural properties at the Denver Art Museum,” Phoeurng Sackona, Cambodia’s minister of culture and fine arts, wrote in a June letter obtained by The Denver Post. The countries are seeking the return of eight pieces in all — including six donated to the museum by Emma C. Bunker, a former Denver Art Museum trustee and research consultant. In December, The Post published a three-part investigation into Bunker’s critical role in a decades-long antiquities trafficking operation that implicated some of the world’s top museums and private collectors. READ MORE https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501343000/cambodia-thailand-and-vietnam-say-the-denver-art-museum-still-holds-their-stolen-heritage/

Phonm Penh/Washington — Cambodia’s incoming prime minister, General Hun Manet, had a trial run over the weekend for his most important foreign relationship, hosting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a visit to Phnom Penh. Hun Manet assured Wang Yi that Cambodia’s new government will maintain an “unchanged stance” on Bejing’s one-China policy and a “non-interference policy” toward China, according to a message on the Cambodian leader’s Facebook page. Hun Manet also agreed to join a Belt and Road Initiative forum in China in mid-October, which is likely to be one of his first foreign trips after being sworn in to office later this month. He will join the 20th China-ASEAN exposition in Nanning, the capital of the southern Guangxi region. Following his visit to Phnom Penh, Wang Yi said the forum would promote China’s “industrial development corridor” and “fish and rice corridor,” as well as “enhance Cambodia's capacity for independent development at a faster pace,” according to a statement on the Chinese embassy’s website. He also thanked Hun Sen for his “historic contribution” to the China-Cambodia friendship and said Beijing is “ready to work with the new Cambodian government…so that the friendship between the two countries is deeply rooted in people's hearts and passes on from generation to generation.” Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, right, hugs Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a meeting in Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Aug. 13, 2023. (Kok Ky/Cambodia's Government Cabinet) However, Hun Manet received Beijing’s highest blessing long before Prime Minister Hun Sen announced last month that his eldest son would succeed him within weeks of July’s national parliamentary election. In February last year, Hun Sen brought Hun Manet to a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “His excellency the president strongly believes in Hun Manet’s capacity … to maintain the speed of development” for the country, said a senior Cambodian official after the visit. Cambodia over the past decade has become increasingly reliant on China for its economic growth, and by extension its political stability. At the same time, Cambodia has been a spoiler in regional efforts to counter China’s rising influence. READ MORE https://www.voanews.com/a/cambodia-s-hun-manet-signals-unchanged-china-policy-ahead-of-succession/7224836.html

A good relationship with the Cambodian government would be a prerequisite for the resumption of negotiations on overlapping claims to natural gas resources in the Gulf of Thailand, experts said, but warned of a return to a cold conflict if there were mutual reservations. The dividends of a diplomatic bonhomie would be high, as together they could exploit an estimated 1 trillion baht worth of energy resources. Political turmoil and bruised nationalism, mostly in Thailand after the military coup in 2006, became a major impediment for progress in talks between the two countries on demarcating the disputed maritime boundaries as well as jointly developing petroleum reserves in the 26,000 square-kilometre area, they said. The issue was discussed at length during a seminar on the overlapping claims of the two countries in the Gulf of Thailand. The event was jointly hosted by Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Law and the Foreign Ministry’s Treaties and Legal Affairs Department on August 10, even as the Thai side is still waiting for new guidelines and instructions from the yet-to-be-formed government. read more https://www.thaipbsworld.com/a-pheu-thai-led-government-could-revive-talks-with-cambodia-on-gas-exploration/

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — China’s foreign minister visited Cambodia over the weekend to reaffirm his country’s commitment to the southeast Asian country after its incumbent prime minister handed off the job to his son following a one-sided election last month, officials said. Wang Yi is the first foreign leader to visit Cambodia, days after Hun Sen’s announcement that his 45-year-old son and the country’s army chief, Hun Manet, is replacing him. A video of the meeting was posted on Hun Sen’s Telegram channel on Sunday. Eang Sophalleth, Hun Sen’s spokesman, told reporters after the meeting that Wang Yi expressed China’s willingness to cooperate with the newly-appointed prime minister. Cambodia’s foreign ministry later released a statement citing Wang Yi as expressing China’s support for “the Kingdom’s emerging government leadership.” Hun Sen, the longest-serving government head in Asia, and his party sealed a landslide victory in the country’s general election after barring the main opposition group —the Candlelight Party— from contesting the polls on a technicality. Western nations and rights groups criticized the election saying it was neither “free” nor “fair.” read more https://www.thestar.com/news/world/asia/china-s-foreign-minister-visits-cambodia-days-after-incumbent-premier-hands-off-the-job-to/article_e9000723-8c84-5309-a7d8-5cef263fc231.html

A high school in north-eastern Cambodia has been forced to close temporarily after thousands of unexploded munitions were discovered. Cambodia remains one of the world's most heavily mined countries, 48 years after the end of its brutal civil war. At that time, the Queen Kosomak High School in Kratie province was being used as a military station. Photos show tons of rusty explosives neatly stacked in rows, with grenades and anti-tank launchers among them. In total, more than 2,000 pieces of ordnance was discovered over three days - Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre, told AFP news agency. He said the munitions were found when the ground was being cleared to expand a garden, and if the whole school was cleared, more would likely be dug up. "It is a huge stroke of luck for the students. These explosive devices are easy to explode if someone dug into the ground and hit them," Mr Heng said. Students were told to stay away from the school until the clean up was complete, which was expected to take two days. Cambodia's eight-year civil war ended in 1975, however it continue to suffer from the aftermath. read more https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-66491920

01000000-0aff-0242-4f2d-08db9c2f08ff_240p.mp4 Before COVID-19, Chinese investors turned Cambodia's sleepy seaside city of Sihanoukville into a ‘round-the-clock gambling hotspot. But China’s economy has been grappling with a post-pandemic slowdown, and now the buildings by the beach — abandoned by Chinese investors — have become eyesores. More on this from Hul Reaksmey in Sihanoukville. Camera: Pin Sisovann. https://www.voanews.com/a/cambodia-s-gambling-hotspot-reduced-to-ghost-buildings-/7223367.html

With upcoming change of leader, key posts remain within influential networks PHNOM PENH -- With incoming Prime Minister Hun Manet front and center, 48 members of Cambodia's ruling elite posed for a photo on the polished stone steps of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) headquarters on Thursday, in what appears to be a look at the Southeast Asian country's new cabinet. Manet, 45, is being handed the job directly from his 71-year-old father, Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for 38 years. The eldest son's accession, which will become official on Aug. 22, is part of a carefully managed generational transition within the CPP, which is built on familial patronage networks that link the country's wealthy political, business and military elites. As the creator of and dominant force in this highly personalized system, Hun Sen has been careful to balance competing interests within the party, ensuring that grandees can pass their jobs to their children, or at least secure influential roles for them. read more https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Children-of-elite-set-for-top-spots-in-Cambodian-government

Police have made another massive drug seizure in Cambodia – confiscating 465kg of methamphetamine in 2 raids The competent authority of the Anti-Drug Department (A4) led by Brigadier General Puth Sunrasmey, Deputy Director of the Department, Lieutenant Colonel Kheng Serey, Deputy Director of the Department and Lt. Col. Tep Samphan, Director of A4 Office Phnom Penh Municipal Police Commissioner Mr. Vong Savath, Deputy Prosecutor of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, cracked down on the drug traffickers on August 8, 2023. Police executed the operation to crack down on drug traffickers crossing the border from the Golden Triangle through Laos into Cambodia at two different destinations – a guesthouse in Prek Chrey village, Sangkat Spean Thmor, Khan Dangkor, and in Sangkat Phnom Penh Thmey, Khan Sen Sok. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501341542/drug-trafficking-on-a-giant-scale-police-seize-over-450kg-of-drugs-in-golden-triangle-bust/

Authorities have warned citizens not to eat the Yellow Meloid Beetle (Mylabris variabilis) after a husband and wife died after consuming the insects The Department of Health of Preah Vihear Provincial Administration issued the warning after a husband and wife ate the insects on August 4, 2023in Sraem Tbong village, Kantuot commune, Dam Ksan district, Preah Vihear province They were taken to Sraem commune health center for first aid and sent to the 16th of January Hospital in Preah Vihear province at 7 am on August 5 . 56-year-old Khet Ri, died on August 5, when she was taken to the 16 Makara Hospital in Preah Vihear Province. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501341231/citizens-warned-not-to-eat-deadly-blister-beetles-after-2-die/

Political rivals claim new National Assembly president appointment was selected for her loyalty to Hun family. Cambodia’s leader Hun Sen Wednesday stressed that an upcoming Cabinet reshuffle has nothing to do with infighting among the leaders of his ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP. Hun Sen, who has led the country since 1985, is preparing to step down from his role as prime minister, passing the baton of leadership to his son, Hun Manet, who will assume the position later this month. A call-in show produced by RFA’s Khmer Service this week discussed potential power struggles between Hun Sen’s family and other party leaders, including Minister of Interior Sar Kheng. Two guests speakers on the show pointed out that several high ranking CPP members have yet to declare support for Hun Manet. Hun Sen said in a voice message posted on Telegram that it wasn't necessary to respond to the comments about the lack of announced support from Minister of Defense Tea Banh and CPP vice president Men Sam An. He implied that the transfer of power to the new government later this month would be smooth. “RFA should not be too stupid, too timid and too provocative,” said Hun Sen. Khuon Sodary, seen in this 2017 file photo, will be Cambodia’s next president of the National Assembly. Credit: Heng Sinith/AP Regarding the appointment of Khuon Sodary as president of the National Assembly, he said that it had been planned in late 2021 as part of the CPP’s strategy to promote women into prominent positions. Khuon Sodary is currently the Assembly's second vice president. “If you are so stupid, you should seek clarity rather than concluding that everything is an internal dispute of the CPP,” Hun Sen said, addressing Radio Free Asia. “I request RFA as well as other foreign [media outlets] broadcasting in Khmer to always remember that the CPP has no habit of fighting one another for a power grab in the same [way] that you have, and that will lead to [your] eventual collapse due to your own internal disputes.” Finland-based political commentator Kim Sok, who left Cambodia after he was imprisoned for his criticism of Hun Sen’s government, told RFA on Wednesday that Hun Sen chose Khuon Sodary over Sar Kheng because he wields a greater amount of power within the CPP, while she does not and is therefore less of a political threat. “By choosing Ms. Khuon Sodary, it also does not mean that he really wants her for this post. He wants to choose only the people who are closest with him,” Kim Sok said. “[She] does not have enough power to be an obstacle to him [and she] is like the right hand woman to Hun Sen’s wife.” Sam Rainsy, the self-exiled president of the dissolved former main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, said that Hun Sen does not trust Sar Kheng and considers him a threat. “The position of National Assembly president is so sensitive,” said Sam Rainsy. “If [Hun Sen] were to give the post of National Assembly president to Sar Kheng, [Sar Kheng] would have the ability to allow a vote to dissolve the newly elected government and to remove Hun Manet from power.” Um Sam An, former CNRP lawmaker, told RFA that Hun Sen is trying to essentially neuter the power of both Sar Kheng and Tea Banh by appointing them to be supreme advisers to Cambodia’s king. “[Hun Sen] meanwhile, will consolidate more power for Hun Manet,” he said. “The father will be the head of the senate, holding the legislative branch in check, while the son, as prime minister, will hold the executive branch. He called the arrangement an obvious violation of the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances, as stated in Cambodia’s constitution. “There is no country in the world that would uphold a system of having a son as the prime minister and the father as the head of state,” said Um Sam An. “Not even in any of the communist countries or in North Korea.” Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Edited by Eugene Whong. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/reshuffle-08092023173035.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

The Indonesian Embassy (KBRI) has successfully repatriated 41 Indonesian nationals, the victims of online scam companies in several cities in Cambodia (5/8), including Steven and friends who had reached out to President Joko Widodo through a video appeal. The 41 Indonesians were returned to their home country in 4 separate groups from July 22nd to August 5th, 2023. The process was gradual due to the permit process and handling different cases for every person. The process was under the Ministry of Interior in Cambodia. Between June 5th and June 14th, 2023, the Cambodia National Police (CNP) rescued 41 victims of an online scam company from various provinces, including Banteay Meanchey (Cambodia-Thailand border), Svay Rieng (Cambodia-Vietnam border) and Phnom Penh. The rescue operation was conducted based on information from the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh. The embassy conveyed the information to the relevant parties in Cambodia through both formal diplomatic channels and informal methods. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501339426/indonesian-embassy-in-phnom-penh-repatriates-41-indonesians-from-online-scam-company-in-cambodia/

There are nearly seven times the number of male lawmakers in the 7th National Assembly compared to female members with 87.2% of seats occupied by men and 12.8% by women in the 125-seat parliament. The official results of the 7th National Assembly Election of the National Election Committee (NEC) revealed that 16 women won seats in the National Assembly. The percentage for men increased from the sixth mandate’s 84.8% of seats and dropped for women who had held 15.2% . The elected women are all members of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) with one lawmaker coming from Banteay Meanchey, another from Kampong Chhnang, one from Kampong Speu , Kampot two, Kandal one, Phnom Penh three, Prey Veng one, Siem Reap one, Svay Rieng three and two from Takeo provinces. CPP spokesman Suos Yara said the party had fielded female candidates for the 7th National Assembly Election in constituencies across the country, but whether or not they were elected depended on voters. Therefore, this isn’t an indication that the number of women running for office has declined. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501339090/16-women-win-seats-in-the-7th-national-assembly/

Police say that a tuktuk driver, who was arrested after subjecting a young Frenchwoman to a harrowing ordeal in Battambang at the weekend, was previously convicted of another crime against a Frenchwoman in 2018 Battambang detained Tep Phaly after he injured a young Frenchwoman – a case in which outgoing Prime Minister Hun Sen made a personal intervention It has now emerged that the man was convicted for stealing a mobile phone from a French woman named Coline Bachelier in front of the gate of Battambang Provincial Referral Hospital at 22:20 on October 31, 2018, which caused minor injuries to the female victim. Major General Sat Kimsan, Commissioner of Battambang Provincial Police said that the man was detained for his latest crime after a two-day search operation Prime Minister Hun Sen intervened on Monday in the case of a young French woman who sustained injuries when escaping from the man’s tuktuk on Saturday The French national has been named as 21-year-old Helene Dietschy, a French medical student. 2023 victim Helene Dietschy She came to Cambodia for two months and worked as an intern at Calmette Hospital. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501339806/man-arrested-for-attacking-frenchwoman-committed-crime-against-another-frenchwoman-in-2018/

Is the son with a Ph.D. in economics ready to take over for his strongman father? Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, who is stepping down later this month after four decades in power, has often suggested he is the reincarnation of a 16th century king. And he occasionally imbues his successor, Hun Manet, with similarly mythical powers. In public speeches and to his biographers, Hun Sen has insisted that blinding light shot out from a centuries-old Banyan tree upon his eldest son’s birth. “Five hundred people saw the light. That was when Manet was born,” he told the authors of Strongman: The Extraordinary Life of Hun Sen in December 1997. The anecdote, with its mythic overtones, seems calculated to portray Hun Manet as destined for the same kingly greatness as his father. But, speaking just four months after he ousted his coalition partners in a bloody coup, Hun Sen went on to tell the biographers that not only did he not want his son to walk the same political tightrope as he had, he did not think then-20-year-old Hun Manet would be well suited to it. “I would like to be the last member of my family who was involved in politics,” Hun Sen is quoted as saying in Strongman. “I would rather see [Manet] working as an assistant to a politician, helping in national reconstruction, and not become a politician himself. … It seems he is interested in study, in research, in making recommendations rather than doing things himself.” Hun Manet was appointed prime minister by royal decree on Monday and is poised to be sworn in on Aug. 22, following last month’s one-sided election. With the 45-year-old now taking the helm, many Cambodians are wondering what the rare moment of change will mean for the country. He is a trained economist and an experienced general. But as a politician he remains a cipher; and only time will tell whether he has his father’s autocratic tendencies. Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen [left] stands with his son, Hun Manet, after graduation ceremonies at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, in 1999. Credit: Reuters ‘An innocent guy’ Those who knew Hun Manet as a young man offer accounts not dissimilar to Hun Sen's. They recall a humble and conscientious youth, mild-mannered almost to the point of timidity and determined to carve out a career for himself in development economics. Hun Manet enrolled at West Point military academy in 1995, the first Cambodian ever to have done so, and one of fewer than 10 non-U.S. students in a class of more than 900. He struggled initially with communicating in English and was bewildered by cultural phenomena such as hazing, he told his father’s biographers in 2003. Kevin James, who roomed with Hun Manet for two years, described him as a “tolerant individual who, at the time anyway, didn’t have any presumptions about any one person being different from any other.” They got on so well their first year that they elected to bunk together again in their second, James told RFA. “I had zero complaints about living with Manet. He was friendly, and a kind and considerate roommate. He didn’t cause any issues, and he tolerated my smoking in the room,” recalled James, who is now a lieutenant colonel in the 101st Airborne Division. “He was an innocent guy with no airs, and this is coming from a guy from rural Pennsylvania – I was occasionally shocked at how innocent he was.” Having gained a bachelor’s degree in economics, Hun Manet continued his studies at New York University. There, he researched whether Cambodia would benefit from land reform for his 2001 master’s thesis. Back home, meanwhile, his father was beginning to parcel out the country to cronies and foreign investors in the form of economic land concessions. By 2014, according to a lawsuit, such ELCs had displaced 6% of the Cambodian population. As his father’s government continued to enrich its powerful tycoon class at the expense of the poorest, Hun Manet appeared increasingly interested in learning how the world’s worst off can be lifted out of poverty. He took an internship with the World Bank, during which time he was posted to the Congo, according to a Facebook post by Hun Sen. Afterwards, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he undertook a doctorate at Bristol University. “He was an able student, always polite and respectful, and hard-working,” his Ph.D. supervisor, Jonathan Temple, told RFA last year, adding that he expressed a desire to work in development economics. “I did not learn about his family background until his studies were well advanced.” Hun Sen’s family, including Hun Manet [back, fourth from right] and his wife, Pich Chanmony [back, fifth from right], pose during a visit by the ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and former Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat in Nov. 2009. Credit: Reuters Family values If his studies brought Hun Manet geographically and perhaps intellectually far from his family, there was little sign that he left their orbit. In his second year at N.Y.U., Hun Manet and his then-teenage siblings spent $550,000 on a four-bedroom house in New York’s Long Island suburb, despite the fact that all were unemployed and their father’s official salary was just $12,000 a year. (In the year 2000 when the purchase took place, the house equaled 1,600 times the average annual Cambodian salary.) In 2006 Hun Manet married Pich Chanmony, the well-connected daughter of a Labor Ministry secretary of state and minister attached to the prime minister. They would go on to have three children. As with his four siblings, whose spouses are the scions of powerful families, Hun Manet’s marriage reflected a growing dynasty intertwining business, politics and personal life. In November 2011, Pich Chanmony and the son of tycoon Choeung Sopheap (whose husband is ruling-party senator Lau Ming Kan) incorporated Phnom Penh Toll Way Co. Ltd. Soon after, the company won the $10.5 million contract to renovate and then collect tolls on Veng Sreng Boulevard. A month after toll collection started in November 2015, Hun Sen had announced that the government would buy the company out. Today, Pich Chanmony chairs four companies and is on the board of another six, according to the Commerce Ministry registry. Cambodian soldiers stand guard at Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, in 2008. Credit: Chor Sokunthea/Reuters The battle for Preah Vihear Any ivory tower dreams Hun Manet might have harbored dissipated shortly after he left Bristol in February 2008. A long-running border dispute with Thailand over the Preah Vihear temple complex boiled over into live fighting in June of the same year. The clashes were well timed for Hun Sen, who used them to drum up nationalistic support ahead of the July elections. He also took the opportunity to put his son’s West Point education to the test, placing him in charge of Cambodian forces around the temples, and sending him back when tensions flared again in 2011. The world took notice. Robert Willard, the U.S. Navy admiral in charge of American forces in the Pacific at the time, told a U.S. congressional committee that by sending Hun Manet to Preah Vihear, Hun Sen appeared to be grooming him as his “heir apparent.” “This conflict builds Hun Manet’s credentials as a military leader and hero who defended national sovereignty against an external threat,” Willard told the committee. The boy who would be ‘king’ In the following years, Hun Sen’s sons and sons-in-law took on greater roles in the government and military while his daughters became business magnates, but it was increasingly clear that Hun Manet was indeed being positioned for the top job. By 2015, the topic was the focus of a rare interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, with signs that the young then-lieutenant general was growing more excited by the prospect. After spending most of the conversation quietly trotting out the Cambodian People’s Party line about the dangers of upending the status quo, Hun Manet's mask slipped toward the end. The interviewer first asked him how long his father planned to stick around. A smile broke across his face, and laughing, he chided the interviewer: “Cambodia is a democracy; as long as the people want him to.” His smile grew larger when she asked, “If the people want you to, you would be prime minister?” “Not no, not yes,” he said. Tea Banh [left], minister of National Defence, places the insignia of a four-star general on the shoulder of Hun Manet, commander of the Royal Cambodian Army, during a promotion ceremony at the Ministry of Defense in Phnom Penh on April 20, 2023. Credit: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP As speculation around Hun Manet’s future role mounted, he received promotion after promotion, moving rapidly up the military ranks. He spoke rarely with reporters and closely guarded his public image. While other members of his family today have a robust social media presence, showing off expensive watches and private jets, Hun Manet maintains only professional accounts and keeps his children mostly hidden from view. (Requests to Hun Manet for an interview went unanswered.) At times, he has shown little tolerance of criticism. In 2016, he complained to the press that he had been met with protests by the Cambodian diaspora wherever he went in Australia. “Why are they looking down on me, causing divisions and conflicts?” he asked reporters. Ou Virak, president of the Phnom Penh think tank Future Forum, said past conversations with Hun Manet left him with the impression that the future premier was sincerely interested in tackling corruption and encouraging development. But along with the premiership, Hun Sen has also bequeathed his son a country whose power structures were forged in violent struggle and are precariously interlocked. Given such an entrenched political system, anything that upsets them could be disastrous for Hun Manet personally. “At his stage, politics is still a zero-sum game to him, it could be dangerous for his family [to accept change],” he noted. Additional reporting by RFA Khmer's Keo Sovannarith. Edited by Abby Seiff https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/hun-manet-profile-08042023102754.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

The Ministry of Public Works and Transport would like to inform all citizens that vehicles are not allowed to drive in reverse or turn back or stop to take pictures on Expressways. Citizens who wish to take pictures can be invited to take photos at the service areas (parking lots) at all 4 locations of the expressway. At the same time, the Ministry urges the people to respect the traffic law consistently and avoid committing any crimes for safety while traveling and maintaining order in public places. It urges drivers to : 1. “Drive responsibly” 2. “Today, tomorrow, do not have a traffic accident.” https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501337507/ministry-urges-citizens-to-drive-in-correct-direction-on-expressways/

Cambodia earned more than $20 million from more than 430,000 international tourists who bought tickets to Angkor in the first seven months of 2023, an increase of more than 500% over the same period in 2022. According to a press release from the Angkor Institute, in the first seven months, 439,365 foreign tourists bought tickets to Angkor Resort. Revenue was $20,317,345, an increase of 502.79% compared to the same period in 2022. More than 2.6 million domestic and international tourists visited Angkor in Siem Reap in the first seven months of this year, including 2,203,696 nationals and 439,365 foreigners. Report from the Ministry of Tourism show that in the first half of 2023, Cambodia received about 2.57 million international tourists out of a total of 11.1 million tourists, an increase of 409% compared to the same period in 2022. Top Sopheak, a spokesman for the Ministry of Tourism, said recently that the main markets were Thailand, Vietnam, China, Laos, the United States, South Korea, Indonesia, France, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Australia. According to the latest forecast in 2023, Cambodia can receive about 5 million international tourists, an increase of 120% compared to 2022. Kampuchea Thmey https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501337271/over-500-increase-in-angkor-ticket-sales/