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Thais conrm killing three loggers, burning corpses

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Irregularities reported as Crimea votes

CRiMEANS voted yesterday in a unique referendum on breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia that has precipitated a Cold War-style security crisis on Europes eastern frontier. Cossacks and pro-Moscow militias were seen patrolling at some polling stations and Russian flags were being flown everywhere from city buses to convoys of bikers who were roaming the streets. However, possible irregularities were highlighted early on: voters were seen casting their ballots even before the official start of the referendum at a polling station in Sevastopol in one of several cases. Journalists were also turned away at some polling stations in Sevastopol and the regional capital Simferopol despite having official media accreditation from Crimeas authorities. There was blatant campaigning for Russia, which is not allowed under election rules, in the form of rehearsals for parties later yesterday to Continues on page 11
A man holds a sign reading Ukraine will ght! General mobilisation! Weapons for the people! at Independence Square yesterday in Kiev. Crimeans took to the polls yesterday for a referendum on breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia. AFP

CPP wants leash on watchdogs

Vong Sokheng and Kevin Ponniah

Pol Pots daughter weds

May Titthara Banteay Meanchey province

O A passing stranger, the distant sound of music may have hinted at just another celebration in a typically busy wedding season fast drawing to a close. But this was no ordinary wedding. The biggest crowd that some villagers could ever recall seeing in Banteay Meancheys Malai district was gathered yesterday to witness the wedding of a woman whose genealogy will forever remain notorious across the country and, indeed, the world.

Event doubles as KR reunion

Pol Pots daughter, Sar Patchata, was getting married. Rows of luxury cars lined a field in Malai communes Kbal Spean village, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold. Assembled inside the wedding party were officials from as far away as Phnom Penh. Alongside them were former Khmer Rouge soldiers who had travelled a much shorter distance to attend and whose friendships with each other went back decades. Its a good opportunity, said Ros Ka, a former Khmer Rouge soldier who spent years fighting with forces loyal to Pol Pot and who was enjoying the chance to see some of his former comrades for the first time in years. We can meet with the seniors after we have lived apart for years. You dont know how delighted we are. Not everyone could make it to this reunion, he added, because they simply couldnt afford the journey. Patchata, 26, is the only daughter of Pol Pot, the former Khmer Rouge leader responsible for an estimated 1.7 million deaths during Democratic

Kampucheas brutal agrarian-based dictatorship of 1975 to 1979. Patchatas mother, Mea Son, married Pot whose real name was Saloth Sar in the mid 1980s after he fled Phnom Penh and was waging bloody war from the Cambodian-Thai border. Following Pots death in 1998 while under house arrest, Son, then 40, told the Post that the brutal dictator had treated her and his only daughter, then known as Mea Sith, well right until the end. He was a good husband to me; we met in 1985, she said. I am very sad Continues on page 2

THE ruling party wants biased election watchdogs to be on a tight leash by the next election and wants the opposition to agree to it, senior Cambodian Peoples Party lawmaker Cheam Yeap said yesterday ahead of the third meeting of a bipartisan election reform committee this morning. Despite mudslinging between the ruling and opposition parties last week that at one point saw Cambodia National Rescue Party leader Sam Rainsy pledge to walk away from talks and hold more demonstrations, the CPP has agreed to discuss the oppositions key demand of National Election Committee reform, Yeap said. But in return, the ruling party wants election-monitoring NGOs, whose documenting of poll irregularities bolstered the oppositions rejection of the July election, to come under increased scrutiny via a long-gestating law on NGOs and associations. On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Bin Chhin, head of the CPPs negotiating team, replied to a letter from his opposition counterpart, Son Chhay, agreeing that the reform of electoral institutions could be added to the election reform framework the committee is tasked with preparing. He added, however, that the neutrality and honesty of civil society groups [working on] election would also have to be on the table. The CPP had already raised the issue during last weeks meet, but it was dismissed by the CNRPs Chhay as ridiculous. Yesterday, Yeap confirmed that his party wanted the NGO law to specifically target the neutrality of election watchdogs. I would like to inform [the public] that a number of civil society groups were involved in election observation. They alleged that irregularities occurred and protested that we had Continues on page 4

ISSUE NUMBER 1886

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

National

Pol Pots daughter gets married Thais confirm

Continued from page 1

that he has died and I do not know what the future may bring. The future was equally uncertain for Patchata. Photos at the time showed a young girls grief as she stood beside her mother and her fathers jailer, staring through a long black fringe. Yesterday, that same face which bears a resemblance to her fathers beamed as the cameras captured her at every turn. Tep Khunnal, a former Malai district governor, adviser to Pol Pot and member of the Khmer Rouge delegation to the UN in the 1980s, married Patchatas mother after the dictators death, and brought them to live in the district. Khunnal has raised her since she was 10 after Pol Pot died, said Chen Nat, one of Khunnals colleagues. After earning a masters degree in English literature in Malaysia, where she met her Cambodian husband-to-be Sy Vicheka, Patchata returned to her home three years before the wedding, Nat said. She said she will not go to live or work anywhere else now and will stay here to run her uncle and aunts rice mill. Suong Sikoeun, a former spokesman and high-ranking official in the Ministry of Information and Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the Democratic Kampuchea era, said those who attended the wedding yesterday remained part of a strong community. Its not a meeting of politics, he said. It is a show of friendship . . . [Pol Pots] daughter is not mired in politics. We love and respect each other as one and help one another. The celebrations had all the pomp expected of a Cambodian wedding. Just after dawn, couples with trays of fruit formed a procession that slowly made its way to the brides house. Wedding guest Meas Chey spoke of her connection with

three shooting deaths: official

Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Daniel Pye

Family and friends sit in a circle around Sar Patchata (right) and Sy Vicheka during their wedding in Banteay Meancheys Malai district yesterday. HENG CHIVOAN

Sar Patchata (right) and Sy Vicheka hold ceremonial items during their wedding ceremony.

HENG CHIVOAN

RMED Thai security forces killed three illegal loggers and burned their corpses last Wednesday, according to a district governor in Preah Vihear province, who said the Thai military had conrmed the deaths yesterday. Sok Hai, governor of Choam Ksan district, said Thai armed forces killed the three illegal loggers on Wednesday after they crossed the border to fell valuable rosewood in the area, burning their bodies in the forest. The Thai military conrmed to us that they shot three [Cambodians] who tried to cross the border [on Wednesday] to illegally log timber, then set re to them, he said. He added that the Thais had denied accusations made on Friday by Cambodian ofcials that another 12 loggers were killed on March 5. But he said he believed the Thais were withholding information about the killings from the Cambodian authorities. They have tried to hide information about the number of people who have illegally crossed the border, he said. Major General Prawit Hookaew, a spokesman for the Thai military, could not be reached for comment. Cambodian loggers are regularly caught by Thai authorities while attempting to smug-

gle rosewood into Cambodia, where it is then transported on to Vietnam and China. The Ministry of Interior said last month that at least 69 Cambodians were shot dead by Thai forces last year. Local rights group Adhoc maintains a more conservative gure of 30 deaths. The announcement by the

The people [in Thailand] are afraid . . . so they are not providing any more information
Cambodian military on Friday that 12 people were killed on March 5 has caused the lines of communication between the two sides to break down, Hai said. Chan Soveth, a senior monitor for rights group Adhoc, said the Thais had largely stopped responding to enquiries from Cambodia over the shootings. We are [having] difculties talking with the Cambodian authorities, they provide just a little [information], he said yesterday. The Thais accused [the loggers] of having weapons, guns, knives. There are no [ongoing] negotiations. After [the shootings], they went to investigate. Some evidence was lost. And the people [in Thailand] are afraid of the local authorities. So they are not providing any more information to Cambodia.

the bride. Just days after Patchata was born, Chey gave birth to a child in the same camp hospital as Pol Pots wife. I dont know her very well

anymore, she said. When she finished high school, she went to study in Phnom Penh. But I know she is . . . very different from her father. By the afternoon, friends and

relatives were offering the married couple thousands of dollars in cash and gifts Son offered her daughter a gold necklace as the couple prepared for a new life together.

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
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Vacancy Announcement
UNOPS mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and ecient manner. To ensure more eective support and oversight of ongoing projects/programmes and facilitate the development of new projects/programmes, UNOPS established its Cambodia Oce in early 2013. This Oce oversees a regional portfolio that includes a multi-donor funded project to support the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and a GFATM funded programme to help contain and eliminate malaria in Cambodia. UNOPS Cambodia is in the process of bidding for the Access to Finance for Small Electricity and Water Operators in Cambodia Support Program to Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia (FTB) s Consulting Services. Consequently, we are looking for experts as below to join the team of professionals (nance, risk management, business development, water engineer, electrication engineer, etc.) to deliver technical services to FTB. Position Business Development Consultant Electrication Engineer Water Engineer Project Finance Expert Risk Management Expert Environmental and Social Consultant Level LICA7/IICA-2 LICA7/IICA-2 LICA7/IICA-2 LICA7/IICA-2 LICA7/IICA-2 LICA7/IICA-2 Duty Station Phnom Penh Phnom Penh Phnom Penh Phnom Penh Phnom Penh Phnom Penh Deadline 25-Mar-14 25-Mar-14 25-Mar-14 25-Mar-14 25-Mar-14 25-Mar-14

Interested and qualied applicants are requested to apply via the UNOPS Global Personnel Recruitment System (GPRS) https://gprs.unops.org/pages/viewvacancy/VAListing.aspx More information about the positions and the application process can also be found on www.unops.org Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted to participate in the recruitment process. UNOPS, Phnom Penh Centers 6th Floor, Room # 628, Corner of Sihanouk and SothearosBlvds., 12301 Phnom Penh, Cambodia

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

National
Meas Sokchea

Princes party progressing

FORMER Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh made his bid to return to politics official yesterday, signing papers to be sent to the Ministry of Interior today to seek registration and recognition for his new political party. In a closed-door meeting with around 300 supporters in Phnom Penhs Sunway Hotel, Ranariddh signed the papers, which he will send to Interior Minister Sar Kheng so that his new Community of Royalist Peoples Party (CRPP) can take part in the next election. In a press conference after the meeting, Ranariddh, who ruled in a coalition government with Prime Minister Hun Sen from 1993 to 1997, said he is returning to politics because the Cambodian Peoples Party and Cambodia National Rescue Party are failing to find solutions to the countrys problems. The party A, I will not join; the party B, I also will not join. But I have always prepared [my] self to work with any party that has [a] vision to resolve national problems the same as my party [does], Ranariddh said. The one-time political arch-

Prince Norodom Ranariddh talks to media outside Sunway Hotel in Phnom Penh yesterday. HONG MENEA

Ethnic villages block a road and hold placards in Koh Kong provinces Areng Valley during a protest against the construction of the Stung Cheay Areng dam. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Dam route blocked

Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye

ESPERATE ethnic minority villagers in Koh Kong provinces Areng Valley have blocked a road that was to be used to transport heavy machinery onto their lands to start construction of the highly controversial Stung Cheay Areng dam, according to villagers and ofcials. Three Chinese employees of dam concessionaire Sinohydro Corp, who were brought in to conduct assessments for the huge company, had to be escorted out of the area by military police over the weekend after being surrounded by villagers at a Sinohydro ofce. Ven Vorn, 35, an ethnic Chorng village representative from Thmor Baing district, said that about 150 villagers had worked in rotating shifts to ensure the machinery did not leave land rented by the company in preparation for construction of the dam. Thirty or 40 people took it in turns to block the access road, and if we see the company bringing the machinery,

we will close [the road] immediately, he said yesterday. The villagers decided to block the road after noticing the three Sinohydro workers enter the site on Friday. When we saw the Chinese people, we were very worried. We are afraid of the dam construction, Vorn said. If the dam is constructed, about 10,000 hectares of our farms, houses and ancestral forest land will be inundated. Alex Gonzales-Davidson, founder of NGO Mother of Nature Cambodia, said the villagers were planning to take their protest to the capital, along with members of the Independent Monks Network and environmental activists. We plan to march [to Phnom Penh], but the important thing to do now is to stop the machinery from entering the Areng Valley, he said. If [the machinery] is brought in, it will be hard to get [Sinohydro] out of the area. If villagers are determined to resist, the world will be surprised. Pich Siyun, Koh Kong provincial director of mines and energy, said that Sinohydro

Corp was granted the contract because it had more experience in large-scale dam construction. The company just wants to study the hydroelectric dam, and they need to drill the land by using the machinery, since they cannot use their hands to drill the land, Siyun said. Last week, the Post reported that the local rm Sinohydro Corp partnered with to build the dam, Sinohydro (Cambodia) United Ltd, had two of Cambodias most connected brokers CPP senator Lao Meng Khin and his wife Cheung Sopheap on its board of governors. Ith Praing, secretary of state at the Ministry of Industry Mines and Energy, could not be reached for comment. Phay Thoun Phlam Kesorn, deputy provincial governor, said that the authorities had asked Sinohydro to stay out of the valley until the situation calmed down. We are trying to calm down the villagers and explain to them about the project. But the project will not be dropped, he said.

rival of Hun Sen hit out at CNRP leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha for posing a threat to the royalist regime and urged the opposition to take its seats in the National Assembly. I dare to say . . . that if he [Rainsy] is elected . . . he would end the royalist regime, Ranariddh said. CNRP vice president Kem Sokha scoffed at the rhetoric. We will not [listen to] his ideas, citizens also will not allow us to [listen to] his ideas, Sokha said. Political analyst Kem Ley said that Ranariddhs unclear poli-

tics when he was in power will stand in the way of the success of the new party and that the only way for him to return would be to join the CNRP . CNRP lawmaker-elect Yim Sovann agreed. There are only two political parties in the country . . . it will stay this way, he said, adding that the creation of the party will not stand in the way of the CNRPs goals. We [the CNRP] are in their hearts. They [the CRPP] have the right to form a party and people have the right to choose the CNRP . ADDITIONAL
REPORTING BY ALICE CUDDY

Proposed Iran loan under re

Alice Cuddy

OPPOSITION lawmakers-elect yesterday lambasted reports that Cambodia has asked Iran for a $54.45 million loan. Following an official visit to Tehran last week by a delegation from the National Assembly led by First Vice Chairman Nguon Nhil, Cambodias official news agency, Agence Kampuchea Press, reported that Iran is currently pushing for a final decision on the loan. The loan would be used on six projects focusing on agriculture and water resources. All the loans that our government receives . . . [are used] to improve the social infrastructure and agricultural development as well as vocational training, senior Cambodian Peoples Party lawmaker Cheam Yeap said yesterday. But opposition lawmaker-elect Son Chhay described the loan as a waste of money. To bor-

row money from Iran is just ridiculous. It seems to me that the CPP doesnt know what to do but waste a lot of money on trips just to get into more debt. It could be a disaster. Nhil was unavailable for comment. Chhay added that Irans relationship with Cambodia is based on an authoritarian government [looking for another] to make friends with. Fellow CNRP lawmaker-elect Yim Sovann said that while any country should be able to provide Cambodia with loans, they should consider the illegitimacy of the government. Kol Preap of Transparency International Cambodia also expressed concerns. Every time Cambodian delegations visit other countries, they like to show of[f] their success . . . by declaring how much money the countries they have visited pledge to give or to lend to Cambodia. As a Cambodian citizen, I personally feel ashamed, he said by email.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KHOUTH SOPHAK CHAKRYA

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

National

CPP wants to put leash on watchdogs Clean water keeping

Continued from page 1

kids in school: report

Laignee Barron

robbed the ballots. Therefore, we want to create a law that ensures their neutrality, he stated. I wont name them, but some civil society groups have taken sides and become a tool of the opposition party or even played a more active role against the ruling party than the opposition [does]. Earlier this month, a senior Interior Ministry official told the Post that civil society groups would no longer be consulted on the NGO law. In January, the Council of Ministers Press and Quick Reaction Unit released a booklet addressing findings made by the Electoral Reform Alliance, an umbrella group of election watchdogs, in a post-election report. It is clear that the authors of the JointReport are talented experts having knowledge concerning elections and experience in tricky writing to mislead readers concerning the electoral process, it said, adding that, conspicuously, the report was released at the same time the CNRP decided to hold daily demonstrations. It was produced to discredit the 2013 electoral process by manipulations and fabrications, aiming to bring its readers to view the electoral system in Cambodia as not fair . . . misleading the public into believing that this is the reason behind the CNRPs loss. Preap Kol, executive director at Transparency International Cambodia (TIC), a key contributor to the ERA report, said yesterday that he was surprised that the CPP considers [this issue] equally important as the reform of the [NEC]. While NGOs like TIC are bound by prin-

A man casts his vote as an election ofcial supervises at a polling station in Phnom Penh last year. SRENG MENG SRUN

ciples of transparency and integrity that guarantee their financial funding, he said, that a small number of NGOs might have a political agenda. But Kol added that the governments focus on the NGO law at this time implied a clear agenda on their part to suppress civil society organisations. Hang Puthea, executive director of election monitoring group NICFEC, also a contributing member to the ERA, said that he welcomed an NGO law that would crack down on errant organisations, because he was confident that the ERA groups were all impartial. Meanwhile, the CNRPs Chhay said he hoped that the CPP would stop playing

around in todays discussions by outlining all the issues they want to reform, even if that includes the irrelevant NGO law, so the committee can push forward. I want them to put it all on the table . . . We arent going to waste our time arguing with them what issues are for discussion or not . . . Put everything and take all those issues to debate at a workshop, he said. He added, however, that any public consultation would dismiss NGO impartiality as a non-issue. The CPP have a kind of a problem regarding any organisations who dare to find the facts about the wrongdoing of this government. To report on this is [to be] considered as the enemy.

EEPING students in school may not be as straightforward as providing them with clean water, but a ltered drinking supply makes them less likely to take sick days, research published on Friday shows. The study, conducted by a UK-based medical school, compared drinking water access in eight Cambodian primary schools in Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap and Battambang with the 3,250 students absentee records. Students were 2.5 times more likely to attend regularly at the schools where French NGO 1001 Fountaines supplied ltered water, researchers found. However, the difference in attendance at schools with and without clean water was noted only in the dry season. We believe that during the wet season, children may not always be able to get to school because of ooded roads, etc. or may be kept off school to help in the elds, said Dr Paul Hunter, one of the studys authors and a professor at

the University of East Anglia. At the schools that were not provided with drinking water, students predominantly brought their own water to class, or else drank from rainwater, public tube wells or from a nearby pond. Water and sanitation improvement at schools is critical to preventing students from getting sick from diarrheal diseases, said Chay Lo, an author of the study and director of Teuk Saat, the local NGO arm of 1001 Fountaines. UNICEF says 2,000 Cambodian children die from preventable diarrheal diseases annually. The ltered water scheme costs $1.40 per student per day, or more than $4.3 million for all public school students, an amount the Ministry of Education said it cant afford. The government budget cant cover everything, said Yung Kunthearith, deputy director of the school health department. Kunthearith was unable to supply data on absentee rates, but said 59 per cent of the nations 11,370 schools have clean drinking water.

International School of Phnom Penh

EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

ISPP is a non-prot, non-sectarian, IB World School providing an internationally recognized education for Cambodian and expatriate students aged 3 - 18 years. We wish to invite applications for the following position: ALUMNI AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS OFFICER WORK SCOPE: Work both independently and with ISPP Communications Department team. 20 hours per week for a set salary per month plus stipend. Onsite and offsite requirements. Flexible hours, within reason, with attendance at meetings and events as required. Initial position will be contracted for 4 months with review and possible renewal at end of initial short-term support agreement.

Administrative Assistant
The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh is seeking an individual for the Administrative Assistant position for the Executive Ofce, USAID/Cambodia. The Administrative Assistant performs a variety of duties integral to the success of the Executive Ofce. The incumbent provides administrative support to the Executive Ofcer, makes all travel arrangements using an automated travel management system, is responsible for records and correspondence management, and serves as sub-cashier. The incumbent is under the direct supervision of the Administrative Specialist. Salary: The annual salary range for this position is USD 12,142 18,824. Required Qualications 1. A Bachelors degree in Administration, Management, Development Studies, English, Communications, Business, or Foreign/International Relations. 2. Three (3) years of experience in administrative management. At least two (2) years of this experience must have been with an international organization, local or international non-governmental organization, or development donor agency. 3. Level IV (uent) Speaking/Reading/Writing English and Khmer are required. Language prociency will be tested. Application Procedure The application deadline is March 27, 2014. Interested candidates must submit applications by email to RecruitmentPHP@state.go v using the Universal Application for Employment as a Locally Employed Staff or Family Member (DS-174) form. The application form and complete details on this position can be found at http://cambodia.usembassy.gov/employment_opportunities. html. Note: All Ordinarily Resident (OR) applicants must have the required work and/or residency permits to be eligible for consideration.

STANDARD CONSTRUCTION &ENGINEERING CO., LTD. Job Announcement

Standard Construction & Engineering Co., Ltd. is a leading local construction company, now urgently seeking qualied candidates to ll the following position: 1. Project Manager 2. Site Manager 3. QS Engineer 01 Post 02Post 02Post

Position requires: Undergraduate degree in Marketing or Education; or equivalent combination of education and international experience Strong interpersonal skills required to establish positive and effective relationships with a variety of stakeholders Demonstrate high level of commitment and professionalism Event planning, organization and coordination and is an advantage Being alumni of ISPP is an advantage

Essential requirements: 1. Project Manager - Foreigner or Cambodia Nationality - At least Bachelor degree in civil Engineer or equivalent - Fluent in English writing and speaking (can speak, read, write Chines an advance) - At least 5-year experience in project manager with 3year experience in material level as Factory construction, High-rise building, road, bridge, and drainage works etc. - Good planning, organizing, leading, managing in construction site - Good in problem-solving, motivate people, team working etc. - Strong schedule and construction site management. - Strong communication with investor and client - Can work under pressure, good personality - Willing to travelling to province and oversea - Advanced understanding in Ms. Ofce, Auto CAD, Ms Project., Outlook &Internet required. 2. Site Manager - At least Bachelor of Civil Engineer or equivalent - Good English in writing and speaking - At least 5-year experience in site management as factory construction, High-rise building, road, bridge, drainage works etc. - Experience in sub-contractor management (suppliers) for at least 10 companies - Good technical works & site management - Good in problem-solving, motivate people, team working etc. - Strong management for schedule and construction site. - Strong communication, coordination with project owner - Can work under pressure, good inter-personal skills - Willing to stay at job site - Advanced understanding in Ms. Ofce, Auto CAD, Ms Project., Outlook &Internet required. 2. QS Engineer - At least Bachelor of Civil Engineer or equivalent - Good English in writing and speaking - At least 3-year experience in BoQ, Cost Estimate, Cost Breakdown, QA, Interim progress claim, Interim progress payment, raw material analysis etc. - Experience progress report, progress claim payment to sub-contractor (suppliers) for at least 10 companies - Good in problem-solving, motivate people, team working etc. - Strong communication, coordination with site staff - Can work under pressure, good inter-personal skills, honestly - Advanced understanding in Ms. Ofce, Auto CAD, Ms Project., Outlook &Internet required. Company offer: Company will offer competitive salary &benet for qualication candidate Interested candidates are invited to submit their CV and qualications to our head ofce (SCE) #336, Street Vichealay, Sangkat Chroy Chang Va, Khan Khan Russey Keo, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Tel: 023 722 006, Fax: 023 722 007 E-mail: kongkamadmin@sce.com.kh, touchvannak@sce.com.kh Deadline for application : April 10, 2014

Qualied candidates are invited to submit their CV together with a covering letter and references to: Mr Barry Sutherland, Director 146 Norodom Boulevard, Phnom Penh Email: hr@ispp.edu.kh Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interview. The closing date for applications: 4pm, 24 March 2014

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

National

Tycoons vehicular assault case heard

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

Sugar on EU visits agenda

Kevin Ponniah and Vong Sokheng

TYCOON Nhem Kosal was notably absent from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday as the rst day of his trial for allegedly running down and injuring three pedestrians in a t of rage in June last year started. The 45-year-old director general of Khem Kosal Development and Transport Co Ltd was charged in abstentia with attempted murder and criminal damage by the court, investigating judge Sous Sam Ath said yesterday. Kosal had argued with his neighbour, Ny Sath, 49, on the day of the incident, according to witnesses. The formerly close friends had fallen out over a $10,000 commission on a land deal, Saths wife, Tep Liza, 41, said yesterday. During another neighbours birthday party held at Saths house in Sen Sok districts Phnom Penh Thmey commune on June 16, Kosal ew off the handle after he and Sath had become embroiled in an argument and Sath punched him in the face,

witnesses told the court. According to Liza, the pair had both been promised a hefty commission from a land sale involving a mutual friend, but only Sath had been paid. He was jealous [of] my family over the $10,000 commission [we made] from selling his friends land, Liza claimed. So he had an argument with my husband, and also threatened to kill him. He drove his car to hit him, and when my daughter and I tried to rescue my husband . . . he drove his car into me and my daughter, she claimed. Judge Sam Ath said in court that after knocking down the family, Kosal ed the scene in the Range Rover he had hit them with. He is believed to have ed to Vietnam shortly after the incident. After driving and hitting the victims, he managed to drive his car, escaping from the scene, he said. Ny Kimhor, Kosals defence lawyer, said that Sath had assaulted his client and should be held accountable and ned $20,000. A verdict is due on April 9.

UROPEAN Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht will visit Cambodia this week, the European Commission announced, with rights groups hoping that land grabbing related to sugar plantations will be high on the agenda. Following bilateral meetings in Brussels last week between Cambodia and the EU where human rights, trade and political issues in the Kingdom were raised, European ofcials will also arrive later this month to discuss development aid commitments until 2020, a foreign ministry ofcial said yesterday. In a four-day visit to Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, De Gucht will aim to bolster the EUs trade links with ASEAN countries, the EU said. According to the Commerce Ministry, De Gucht will meet with Minister of Commerce Sun Chanthol on Tuesday. Cambodia exported more than $3.3 billion worth of goods to the bloc last year under a preferential trade scheme, Everything But Arms (EBA), which gives the Kingdom duty-free access to European markets. While sugar only made up 1.6 per cent of those exports, rms taking advantage of the trade scheme by growing sugar cane in Cambodia have been linked to rampant land grabbing and forced evictions. Although a high-level government working group that includes the local EU

Labourers harvest sugar cane at a plantation in an economic land concession owned by Phnom Penh Sugar Company in Kampong Speus Thpong district earlier this month. DANIEL QUINLAN

Ambassador has been discussing a comprehensive solution to outstanding disputes between sugar rms and villagers, rights groups are calling on De Gucht to push for immediate action. The EU has to put a clear condition, basically to demand that the Cambodian government respects EBA policy and addresses the pending issues, Eang Vuthy, executive director at Equitable Cambodia, said. There needs to be a clear timeline and a

clear blueprint . . . and we want the EU to closely monitor this. Returning from Brussels yesterday, Ouch Borith, secretary of state at the Foreign Ministry, told reporters that he had made it clear in meetings of the Cambodia-EU Joint Committee that the government supports human rights, despite what the opposition might say. I clearly stressed to the EU that the government is determined to protect and promote human rights and democracy.

Vendors ght for right to stay put

Chhay Channyda

Transport vehicles, food stalls and people crowd the front of Phnom Penhs Orussey Market yesterday afternoon. PHA LINA

FOOD vendors at Phnom Penhs ORussey Market have fought and won a battle against eviction. On Friday, about 80 vendors, including some who have sold food at the market since 1997, were told to clear out of what has become a heavily congested parking lot outside the premises. Where do we sell when we have sold here for so long and we have regular customers? said one female vendor who did not give her name yesterday. District governor Som Sovann said many people were pleased with the authorities decision to order out the vendors, who sell items including

rice, noodles and coconut. Most people around the market are happy, because the roads are wider and now have space for pedestrians, he said. But vendors were complaining that they had paid $40 to sell outside the market for the whole year and were being evicted without a refund just a few months into it. Some told the Post they were willing to march to City Hall in protest if officials did not find them a replacement site. Leng Kimsong, the markets deputy chief, said the vendors had paid money to the parking lots management, not directly to the markets bosses. Now we are explaining to both the

parking lot owner and the sellers about public order, he said. Kimsong announced later that vendors would be allowed to come back, provided they were more orderly and only sold hygienic food. They can come back tonight, he said. Sovann said earlier that authorities intended to beautify the parking lot area for customers and increase parking space. Earlier this month, city governor Pa Socheatvong introduced new uniforms for market tax collectors around the capital, a response to Prime Minister Hun Sens calls for officials to rein in market thuggery and make life easier for vendors.

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

National

Villager rep held over burning rms timber

Phak Seangly

Factory flaws go live

Sean Teehan

pOLICE BLOttER
Wreck Battle for just taxi too customer gritty for driver ofin sand truck gets violent a hurry
IN BUSINESS A hit andmust run on have Friday, beenit wasnt rough for the two drunken Banteay moto driver Meanchey who fled. taxi According drivers to to come police to blows in over Kampong a potential Thoms cusStung tomer Sen on Saturday. town, a 32-year The twoold speeding, 29-year-olds drunk work driver along the crashed Thai-Cambodia into the border back of ina Malai truck district. transporting When a migrant sand.workThe man er needed damaged a lift home, his motorcycle the taxi and drivers sustained started serious to argue, injuries leadto ing both one his to take head out and his body. keysThe and moto attackdriver the others was taken face. Police to hospital, intervened while and the truck took one driver driver fled, to the abandoning hospital and his the load other of to sand, the slammer. which will The remain customer in police was left custody to find another until claimed. way KaMPUCHEa THMEY santEPHEaP home. koH

A REPRESENTATIVE for villagers living in Ratanakkiris OChum district who say that buyers from a local company failed to uphold a 2007 land deal has been charged and temporarily detained by local authorities for allegedly destroying private property. Haing Noeur, 50, was detained on Saturday after plantation owner Ly Sok Ngim filed a lawsuit against him, alleging that Noeur burned timber destined to build huts on his land, said Chhay Thy, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc. That land dispute involves 66 families and Ly Sok Ngim, but authorities did not intervene, and the workers keep clearing the forest on the disputed land. There is no other option but burning down the material to stop the clearing, Thy said. In March, an Adhoc investigation revealed that Seng Visith and his wife, Sek Sopheak Soeur Monea, who together owned a majority share of the now bankrupt VKM Company, promised to give villagers $20,000 and to build bridges, roads, schools and a village hall.

The investigation also revealed that former owners of the 400 hectares in dispute were in debt to Sok Ngim. A court ruling in February transferred five properties including the 400 disputed hectares to Sok Ngim. Workers employed by Sok Ngim have been clearing the community forest unabated since early March, according to Chhay, claiming that the area had been awarded to Sok Ngim by Judge Luch Lao. Both sides in this case, the community villagers and Ly Sok Ngim, have filed lawsuits against each other over the illegal land grabbing but the court only takes action against the simple citizen, Chhay continued, adding that efforts to provide legal aid to Noeur were under way. District police chief Hak Lao confirmed yesterday that authorities arrested Noeur on Friday for allegedly burning 10 cubic metres of wood. He poured gasoline [on the wood] and burned it down and dismissed the workers. We arrested him based on the law, Lao said. Neither Judge Luch Lao nor Sok Ngim could not be reached for comment yesterday.

NIONISTS and labour rights ofcials are applauding a website scheduled to go live today that will hold to account garment factories that out Cambodias labour law. The site, created and maintained by the International Labour Organizations (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program, will publicly name factories that violate two or more ILO workplace standards. Before, [factories] were not publicly disclosed, BFC spokesman Tivea Koam said yesterday. All of the public pressure will push buyers to . . . make sure they comply with the law. A quarterly report identifying the factories will be available through the website, Koam said. Named factories will be allowed to upload to the website photographs and other media detailing steps they are taking to improve working conditions. Before, reports of individual companies could only be viewed by factory owners [and buyers], the public could not check, said Ath Thorn, president of the Coalition of

Garment workers sew clothing on a production line at the MAG factory in Phnom Penhs Dangkor district in January. PHA LINA

Blood Distracted thicker man than drives water, but money trumps blood straight into bamboo
A WOMAN in too Phnom Penhs FOLLOWING closely and Sen Sok districta got a rude turning without signal made introduction to the combination old adage for an unfortunate neither aA borrower nor farma on Friday. 37-year-old lender on Friday. The er was be driving through Kamwoman, 22, did her relative pong Chams Chamkar Leu a favour, district lending with his him wife her andmotortwo bike to visit friend. nephews enaroute to According relatives to relative, 25, forpolice, a visit.the Themale group got stuck pawned bike for $250 and behind athe three-wheeled moto spent all the bamboo, money, hoping transporting and his relative wouldnt need her when the moto turned without wheels back. woman signalling, theThe farmer drove turned her fibbing relation stomach-first into the shoots. over thein police when she He isto now hospital with serikoH santEPHEaP spotted him walking near his ous injuries. home. kaMPUCHEa tHMEY

Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CADU). Its a tool for pushing the companies, so this way companies nd ways to improve working conditions and obey the labour law. Koam named child labour and repression of union activity as frequent violations of labour law. The heightened transparency the public notications will bring to Cambodias garment and shoe industry comes at a time when compliance to labour laws is on a downslide, said David Welsh, country di-

rector for labour rights group Solidarity Center. Telling the public which garment factories subject employees to poor working conditions and the clothing brands that buy from them will likely benet most workers, Welsh said. But the sector has problems beyond lacking transparency. Its an important rst step, [but] I dont think things are going to change overnight, Welsh said. Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia secretary general Ken Loo could not be reached yesterday.

Suspected of chicanery, Lazy man executes lazy trio doesnt disappoint scam, toolearned lazy to THREE men tooflee late

An international Christian child focused humanitarian organization working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation and fullness of life for every child.
Our Cambodia Oce seeks energetic, result driven, change-oriented, creative and proactive service-minded Cambodians or International to join us. Position: Location: Human Resource Ocer (2 posts) Kompong Chhnang or Kompong Thom Province Siem Reap or Phreah Vihear Province Closing Date: 21 Mar 2014

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

3. Good verbal and written communication skills in English 4. Eective computer skills in Ms. Oces and various business software applications 5. Proven coordination, organization and logistics planning skills, demonstrating a high degree of initiative, attention to detail, critical thinking, and broad experience in several functions 6. Able to embrace organizational values towards the mission of WVC. Position: Senior Program Ocer for Operations Location: Operations Oce, Phnom Penh Closing Date: 21 Mar 2014 General Description: The Senior Program Ocer is responsible for developing and maintaining key program information including context analysis, needs assessment, as well as project design and proposal development and information management. The Senior Program Ocer is required to assist Operations Director to build relationships with key stakeholders (Government, UN, donors and International Non Governmental Organizations (INGOs), WV partners) for the critical duration of the response. Moreover, this position will provide additional support to the senior leaders of WVCs ministry-focused business units: Operations, Integrated Programmes, and Strategy & Evidence, to enable planned strategic initiatives to be achieved within agreed time frames Requirements: 1. University degree in social science or related elds is required; Technical specialization in child protection, economic, bio-statistics is highly preferred. 2. At least 2 years experience in program / project planning - (Highly preferred for demonstrated competency and ability in implementing assessments / evaluations including: a) monitoring and evaluation methodology; b) data collection and analysis tools; c) managing data collection in the eld; analyzing data, d) experience in reporting of program / project progress; and story writing. Proven track record of experience in presentation, facilitation and coordination skills. 3. Proven track record and strong reference in excellent interpersonal communication skill, and ability to work closely and supportively within a team. 4. At least 2 year proven experience in communication and working relationship with multi-international partners e.g. donor and organizational international support oce and English speaking work place. 5. English Prociency and possess computer skills especially Ms. Oces and internet. Position: Communication Coordinator for Operations Location: Siem Reap Province Closing Date: 21 Mar 2014 General Description To support the Area Development Programs (ADPs) within their operation with the coordination and production of all communication collateral; video & photography, graphic design & print, writing, events, media, and support the Creative Youth Transformation Development Facilitators (TDFs) with the implementation of the Creative Youth Curriculum. The Communication & Creative Youth Coordinator supports the Communications Team at the National Oce with the gathering of communication resources, scouting stories and emergency communication support, hosting of visitors, and facilitating the delivery of the Creative Youth Curriculum into the youth clubs. Provide capacity building and technical support to the roll-out of Sponsorship 2.0 throughout the ADPs. Requirements: 1. Bachelor Degree in Communications or Journalism. 2. Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills (Khmer and English). 3. Knowledge of the communication and media industry. 4. Understanding of local and international development. 5. One Year communication work with experience across graphic design, photo and video production, story writing, journalism, media. 6. High level of computer prociency, Mac and PC. 7. Experience working with children and youth. Position: Production Ocer Location: Phnom Penh Closing Date: 21 Mar 2014 General Description Lead in the eective production and dissemination of key messages, through the production of high quality videos and photographic resources, for our internal and external audiences. Act as the senior producer and head photographer with the ability to mentor and train junior sta. The Communications Department requires eective, accessible, up-todate media resources. Contribute to the enhanced prole of WVCs nationally and internationally. Requirements: 1. Must understand and agree with WVs vision, mission and core values. 2. Degree in Communications, Media, IT, Arts, or equivalent. 3. Minimum 5 years experience of in digital media production (such as Video and photo production and postproduction) with sample of relevant work. Production company experience highly desired. 4. Experience lming video and shooting photographs with DSLR cameras, such as the Canon 7D and 5D. 5. Proven experience on Mac & PC video editing platforms, like Final Cut Pro X. 6. High-level computer, English communications and experience in cross-cultural work. 7. Frequent travel outside of Phnom Penh and provinces to lm and shoot stories.

General Description To ensure the implementation of excellent Human Resource Management (HRM) practices as provided through the Human Resource Department ( HR Dept.) including being the HR administration service provider and business partner to the senior managers. The position will facilitate the recruitment, sta development, sta well-being, sta performance management, and sta retention of the right people to serve in our ministry. Requirements: 1. Bachelor degree in Human Resource Management or Business Administration. 2. At least 3 years broad Human Resource experience. 3. English prociency (written & speaking), and highly competent in standard oce software. 4. Strongly experience in coordination, facilitation, follow up, monitor, organizational and logistics planning skills, demonstrating high degree of initiative, and critical thinking ability. 5. Fully able to embrace organizational values and commitment towards the mission of WVC. Position: Technical Ocer for HEA and DRR Location: Phnom Penh Closing Date: 21 Mar 2014 General Description: To Support the technical to programs and projects in the Integration of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Disaster Management (DM) into LEAP products and processes for assessment, design, monitoring, implementation, evaluation and learning. Help Humanitarian Emergency Aairs/Disaster Risk Reduction (HEA/DRR) Manager in particularly on capacity building, documentation and representation on behalf of the HEA/DRR Manager. Requirements: 1. University degree in social science or related elds is required. 2. At least 2 years experience in disaster management or community development or programming and with previous experience in Design Monitoring & Evaluation. 3. Eective Communication, facilitation and knowledge of humanitarian Emergency aairs 4. Strong planning & organizational skills, and ability to prioritize multiple tasks 5. Eective speaking and writing with a high standard of English. 6. Computer literate in Microsoft Oce, Lotus Notes or similar database, email and Internet. Position: Technical Manager for Youth Engagement Location: Integrated Programmes, Phnom Penh Closing Date: 28 Mar 2014 General Description: To provide strong technical leadership of youth programming in WV Cambodia that will lead to improved well-being outcomes for young people by equipping them to be creative and active citizens the next generation of leaders. This position will also need to build strong relationships with internal World Vision Support Oce partners to increase mutual understanding and develop positive new opportunities to work together for the benet of young people. Requirements: 1. Bachelors Degree in any of the Social Sciences or equivalent. 2. Excellent English and knowledge of youth empowerment approaches. 3. Strong planning, critical analysis, negotiation, problem solving, liaison, and networking skills 4. At least 3 years experience working in a relief or development or local community context. 5. Procient in the use of Information Technology, digital media (photographs, video, blogs), social media applications in a youth empowerment context and Computer literate. 6. Able to embrace organizational values towards the mission of WVC. Position: Senior Ocer for Strategic Planning Location: Phnom Penh Closing Date: 21 Mar 2014 General Description Coordinate WV Cambodias routine strategy management processes to ensure eective implementation and alignment with WVs regional and global priorities and standards. Processes include annual business planning, quarterly business plan monitoring, annual strategic reviews, and consolidation of progress reports. This position will also provide project management of new strategic initiatives from design through to successful delivery against targets, and coordinate eective processes for communication in national, provincial and district oces. Requirements: 1. Masters degree in economics, business administration, or international development 2. Strong knowledge and understanding of humanitarian industry (relief, development, and advocacy), including how INGOs operate in the global, regional and local contexts.

A 27-YEAR-OLD Dangkor disthat hanging around a dark, littrict con artist took money, tle-trafficked area is the no way to but forgot to runattention. last week. A avoid suspicious The construction company driver, 18-, 22- and 25-year-olds were the man delivered caught trying to sellmaterials metham- to customers paid him town phetamineswho in Siem Reap $2,000. On returning the on Friday night. When to spotted company, the driver reported by police patrolling the area, the that he hadnt received paytrio tried to flee, but the cops ment, suspicious boss closedbut the his road and confiscated ya ma as well uncovered the botched ploy two packages of as drug paraphernalia from the with a few phone calls. On Frisellers. Thenabbed men admitted to day, police the suspect selling the drugs and were who said hed already spent all kaMPUCHEa tHMEY shipped to court on Saturday. the money.

Man masters jealousy, Neighbourhood watch adds wrath to repertoire undoes car thievery PAILIN town police are on the
A PAIR of car hadnt lookout for a thieves 34-year-old concounted on nosy neighbours struction worker who allegedly ruining their heist. of The beat his wifeperfect to the point duo followed an officer from the unconsciousness on Friday. Council of Ministers Friday, Police said the manon was jealand when he parked his carwith ous after spotting his wife outside aman mechanic in another in theshop village. Phnom Penhs Tuol Korkat disThe husband got drunk a trict, the two got to work. A wedding, and on returning neighbour saw fiddling home, beat histhem wife with a belt with wooden the car door and shouted, and stick badly thief, thief, callingshoulder, the owner injuring her head, to the scene. Police able to eye, thigh and backwere before Nokorwat arrest one suspect, but the othfleeing. er got away. kaMPUCHEa tHMEY

kaMPUCHEa tHMEY

Stab-happy lover picks Past sins comes back to funny way of apologising haunt motorbike thief A 25-YEAR-OLD man was
A 26-YEAR-OLD moto thief apprehended in Kampong shouldve thought toSaturday skip town Speus Oral district all his bridges. On after burning stabbing his girlfriend. Saturday, the18, man was spotted The woman, lived with her in Phnom in Penhs Sen Sok disboyfriend Phnom Penh, but trict by friends he had went toformer stay with her parents stolen motosSpeu from and they in Kampong after the were inhad no mood to catch up. couple an argument. A The 25-year-old student and week later, the man followed 34-year-old taxi driver turned her, begging her to return to over thePenh. suspect to police, Phnom When the womalleging he was one who a an refused, the the man grabbed had borrowed and then pawned knife and stabbed her in the their motos last year. The man back, armpit and arm. She admitted to the transgressions, was hospitalised, and her parand added a third victim the ents prevented the manto from tHMEY Nokorwat list. kaMPUCHEa escaping arrest.
Translated Translated by by Phak Phak Seangly Seangly

Interested applicants should obtain an application form from WVC oce or download from WVC Website and submit a cover letter, Personal CV, and ONLY photocopies of relevant formal Education certicates such as High School certicate, university degree, etc. : HR Department, World Vision Cambodia # 20, St.71, Sangkat Tonle Basak, Khan Chamkamorn, Phnom Penh, P.O Box. 479 Tel: 023 216 052. Website: www.worldvision.org.kh Email to: cam_recruitment@wvi.org. GO GREEN! SAVE THE TREES! SUBMIT ONLY PHOTOCOPIES OF UNIVERSITY DEGREES OR EQUIVALENTS ONLY with your application. DO NOT submit photocopies of other certicates.

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

Business
Indicative Exchange Rates as of 12/3/2014. Please contact ANZ Royal Global Markets on 023 999 910 for real time rates.

USD / KHR

EUR / USD

AUD / USD

NZD / USD

GBP / USD

USD /CNY

USD / JPY

USD / HKD

USD / SGD

USD / THB

3,982

1.3859

0.8966

0.8464

1.6626

6.1424

103.06

7.7616

1.267

32.35

MH370 fallout to cost airline

Bhavan Jaipragas

Solar move at PPWSA to cut costs

Hor Kimsay

HE mystery surrounding the fate of a possibly hijacked Malaysia Airlines plane raises the spectre of costly lawsuits and a damaging drop in bookings for a national carrier already haemorrhaging cash in the face of intense competition. Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday that investigators believe the jet, with 239 passengers and crew on board, had been deliberately diverted from its course and own on for hours after primary radar contact was lost. It denitely makes investors very concerned, Daniel Wong, an analyst with Hong Leong Investment Bank in Malaysia, told AFP . People want to know what went wrong, whether there is a safety issue or security issue with Malaysia Airlines if the plane was hijacked, he said. The airline has a good safety record, although a Twin Otter aircraft belonging to its fully owned subsidiary MASWings crashed in October last year, killing two people. Najibs announcement all but ruled out a mechanical issue with the Beijing-bound Boeing 777 that disappeared on March 8. It also raised the alarming prospect that one or both pilots might have been involved. The singular peculiarities of the case have kept the missing plane at the top of the global news agenda for more than a week, placing the carrier under a harsh and unwanted spotlight at a time when it is desperate to turn its nances around. Last month, Malaysia Airlines announced a 1.17 billion ringgit ($360 million) loss for the year to December 2013,

A Malaysia Airlines employee writes a message expressing prayers and well wishes for passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines ight MH370 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on Friday. AFP

exceeding the expectations of analysts. The airline, which is 70 per cent owned by Khazanah Nasional, Malaysias state investment arm, last posted a net prot (237 million ringgit) in 2010. In 2011 and 2012, it reported consecutive losses of 2.5 billion ringgit and 433 million ringgit, respectively. Analysts have long blamed poor management, government interference, a bloated workforce and powerful, change-resistant unions for preventing the airline from remaining competitive. Wong said the sensational daily headlines generated by the missing Boeing could only undermine efforts to bring

the carrier back to prot. The nancial impact will be longer term. It could mean less people wanting to travel on Malaysia Airlines, and the airline will have to reduce ticket prices to encourage people to travel with them, he said. Travel agents told AFP that Malaysian travellers were already shunning the airline. Of course there are customers who dont want to y MAS. They are scared, said one travel agent, who declined to be named. Even if MAS has the best rates, some dont want it. They try to avoid it. They are willing to pay more. Malaysia Airlines did not immediately respond to que-

ries on whether ticket sales have been affected. In a statement on Saturday, the airline defended itself against criticism that it was slow in disseminating fresh information about developments in the search for the missing aircraft. Shukor Yusof, an aviation industry analyst with Standard & Poors Capital IQ, said the airlines earnings could be impacted by incidental expenses arising out of the incident, as well as potential legal costs. Malaysia Airlines has offered family members of each passenger $5,000 in expenses as they await the conclusion of the search for ight MH370. And the possibility of legal

suits from family members has to be taken into account when we look at MASs earnings, Shukor said. The price of the missing Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, which has a list price of $261.5 million according to the US manufacturer, is not on the airlines books. Shukor said it was leased from Penerbangan Malaysia, an aviation company fully owned by Malaysias nance ministry. Irrespective of how the MH370 mystery nally pans out, analysts say that the real challenge for the airline remains the structural and managerial inefciencies blamed for its plunge into the red. AFP

THE Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) installed a solar power generation system last week in an effort to reduce electricity bills by about $200,000 a year. The solar power system, which was funded by the Japanese government, was installed at the PPWSAs water treatment facility in the capitals Daun Penh district at a cost of $7 million. Ros Kimleang, chief of the accounting and financial department at PPWSA, said yesterday that the system is part of an overall effort to reduce dependency on other energy sources. Kimleang said he hoped the savings would translate into profits for Cambodias only publicly listed company, though he did not say how much the company spends on electricity each year or whether the savings would be passed on to consumers. The new system will generate one million kilowatt-hours each year, enough to supply power to all of the PPWSA.

CORRECTIONS
In an article headlined Grand Twins sets listing date on March 13, the Post misunderstood Stephen Hsus comments regarding interest in Grand Twins IPO road show. He was referring to the amount of people planning to attend the first day of the road show, not overall investor interest in the IPO. In the article Next stop for bitcoin: Cambodia? dated March 14, the Post misstated the position of Ki Chong Tran, the author of the bitcoin proposal, in a group photograph. He stood on the far right of the picture, not the far left.

THE PHNOM PENH POST mARCH 17, 2014

Business
Massive recall

Alibaba to go public in US
Lulu Yilun Chen

LIBABA Group Holding Ltd, Chinas biggest e-commerce rm, will begin the process of ling for an initial public offering in the US that may be the biggest since Facebook Inc. The announcement comes after Alibaba struggled to persuade Hong Kong regulators to approve a governance structure that would allow its partners to nominate a majority of its board of directors. A listing in China may be considered should circumstances permit in the future, the Hangzhou-based company said in a statement. Investment banks have valued Alibaba, founded by former English teacher Jack Ma, at as much as $200 billion, which would make it the second-biggest Internet company behind Google Inc based on market capitalisation. A US share sale by Alibaba would be a blow to Hong Kong, which hasnt hosted an IPO of more than $4 billion since October 2010. Alibabas preference to keep its partnership structure is probably the biggest reason why it chose to list in the US,

Employees work at Alibaba.coms Chinese headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, in 2012. BLOOMBERG

Stephen Yang, a Hong Kongbased analyst at Sun Hung Kai Financial Ltd, said yesterday. Alibaba hasnt decided when to le for the listing, how much it plans to raise, how large a stake it may sell or which exchange in the US it would seek to list on, according to a person familiar with the matter. This will make us a more global company and enhance the companys transparency, Alibaba said in the statement. We respect the viewpoints and policies of Hong Kong. The prospectus for an IPO

may be disclosed as soon as April, people familiar with the matter have said. The company is also working with New York-based law rm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP , two people familiar with the matter have said. An Alibaba IPO could raise about HK$100 billion ($12.9 billion), Ernst & Young LLP said on June 28. That would make it the worlds biggest rst-time share offering since Facebook raised $16 billion in May 2013, and Hong Kongs largest since AIA Group Ltds

$20 billion sale in October 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Alibabas expansion since Ma started the company in his Hangzhou apartment in 1999 with two dozen items for sale mirrors Chinas emergence as an economic superpower. The company had about 25,000 employees at the end of February and generated about 70 per cent of package deliveries in China in 2012. Customers bought 35 billion yuan ($5.7 billion) of goods on one sales promotion day via Alibabas two main platforms last year. The success has made Ma, 49, one of Chinas richest people, with an estimated net worth of $11.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. There is still room for growth. China has 618 million Internet users, greater than the population of any other country except India, and McKinsey & Co estimates Chinas Internet retail market will triple to $395 billion from 2011 to 2015. Alibaba, which operates online markets for products from Louis Vuitton bags to Boston lobsters, posted its fourth straight quarterly

prot on surging sales. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was $792 million in the three months ended September, a 12 per cent increase from the June quarter, according to a January presentation from Yahoo Inc, which owns a 24 per cent stake. Revenue increased 51 per cent to $1.78 billion. Billionaire Ma Huatengs Tencent Holdings Ltd, operator of the WeChat instant messaging service, is the biggest Hong Kong-traded Internet success story so far. Shares have soared more than 150 times from the June 2004 IPO price of HK$3.70, giving the company a market value of $142 billion. Alibabas $792 million prot in the September quarter, the most recently disclosed by Yahoo, compares with the $422 million Facebook earned in the same period and Tencents net income of 3.9 billion yuan, or $634 million. Weibo Corp, Chinas biggest microblogging outlet, last week led to raise $500 million in a United States initial public offering. Last year, Alibaba agreed to buy a stake in Weibo, which is controlled by Sina Corp. BLOOMBERG

Honda cites defect in fuel pump cover

APANESE automaker Honda is recalling nearly 900,000 vans in the United States for a defect to the fuel pump that could cause a re. In its notice to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Honda said no injuries or fires have been reported due the defect, linked to a crack in the fuel pump strainer cover. The cracks, which developed when acidic chemicals and a high temperature caused deterioration, could lead to a fuel smell being present or to leaking fuel, increasing the risk of fire, Honda said in the notice. The company is notifying van owners now, however said that parts will not be available until this summer, and a second notification will go out when the repairs can be made. Any cars with an existing leak will be entitled to immediate repairs. The recall affects 886,815 Honda Odyssey vehicles from the 2005 to 2010 model years. AFP

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
KIDS CITY ASIA COMPANY LIMITED is an indoor entertainment center providing sport activities and entertainment for families such as Ice Skating, the Science Gallery, Laser Tag, Toddler Town, Clip & Climb and the Playground. Other facilities include; childrens clothing stores, a restaurant, a caf and a function room for birthdays, team building programs and other exciting events at Kids City building. We are presently seeking appropriately qualied persons to support our work, to be based at our Phnom Penh Ofce. The following positions are currently vacant: 1. SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR Duties Plan and implement the sales and marketing strategies Build relationship with peers, business partners and relevant customers/clients Prepare sales/marketing reports on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis Achieve sales and marketing operational objectives by contributing sales/marketing information and providing recommendations for the strategic plan and reviews; complete action plans. Meet sale/marketing nancial objectives base on forecasting requirement, prepare annual budget, schedule expenditures and analyze variances Improve service marketability and protability by conducting research, identifying, and capitalizing on market opportunities Dene and implement communication and promotion plans (Advertising, PR, Social media, and direct marketing) Develop creative tools to support all marketing strategy and promotion plans Qualications Minimum 3 years experience in Sales or Marketing Management Minimum 25 years old Minimum qualication degree holder in Marketing/ Business preferred Demonstrated experience to ensure visibility of the pipeline to sales management for forecasting and business planning Understanding consumer insights and market trends 2. CREATIVE DIRECTOR Duties: Management of the Creative Department, and their duties which include: Design and production of all visual communication materials including: yers, banners, print and web advertising, displays, internal and external signage, branded content such as tee-shirts, etc. Design and implementation of corporate brand identity following and updating the companys graphic charter Oversight and production of visual materials including: Graphic Design, Illustration, Logo design, Photography, Video production and editing, and Event Decorations Oversight and management of the Kids City website, Facebook account and corporate online and mobile marketing campaigns, newsletters Working in collaboration with other departments as well as acting as a liaison between Kids City and printers, designers, photographers, videographers, publishers, newspapers, etc. Management of Creative Departments deadlines and duties Organization and maintenance of Kids City communication resource les Train and support members of the Creative Department Qualications: Minimum 30 years old with at least 5 years of experience in the eld of Creative Design Degree in the eld of Graphic Design or Fine Arts preferred Fluency in English, mother-tongue preferred. Fundamental understanding and prociency in: - Graphic Design - including illustration, and use of typography, and use of: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver and other design software - Typography - namely good sense of designing with type - Print production: from design to press - Photography - Web Design: knowledge of html, CSS, PHP, JavaScript - Video production a plus Must be creative and open-minded, with an eye for quality Must have strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple tasks under tight deadlines

Applicants are requested to submit a CV and cover letter to #162, Preah Sihanouk Boulevard, Khan Daun Penh, Phnom Penh, or by email to: hr@kidscityasia.com or 012 388 836, 077 76 77 85. Deadline for applications: by April 12th, 2014.

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

Markets Business China growth targets in doubt as retail and production drop off
Fran Wang

CHINA could miss its ofcial growth target for the rst time in 16 years, a snap poll of economists shows after surprisingly weak data for January and February. Industrial output, a key measure of production at factories, workshops and mines in the worlds second-largest economy, rose just 8.6 per cent in the rst two months of 2014, the slowest pace in ve years, government gures showed on Thursday. Retail sales, an indicator of consumer spending, increased at the lowest rate since February 2011, while growth in xed asset investment, a gauge of government spending on infrastructure, came in at a surprisingly low 17.9 per cent during the period, according to the new data collected. In a survey of 10 economists on Friday, the median forecast for 2014 growth was 7.4 per cent, with some saying the weak start to the year had led them to cut their annual predictions. At the just-concluded National Peoples Congress (NPC), Premier Li Keqiang set this years growth target at around 7.5 per cent, lower than last years actual expansion of 7.7 per cent, which was unchanged from 2012 and the worst since 7.6 per cent in 1999. China is a key driver of the world economy and the last time its actual GDP growth came in below the government target was in 1998, at the height of the Asian nancial crisis. The disappointing economic data in January-February will be a test of the governments tolerance level, as this pace of deceleration has rarely been seen before, Shen Jianguang, a Hong Kong-based economist with Mizuho Securities, said in a research note. He cut his projection for 2014 growth from 7.5 per cent to 7.3 per cent. Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts also lowered their prediction from 7.6 per cent to 7.2 per cent for the full

year due to the signicantly weaker than expected data in the rst two months. Goldman Sachs, meanwhile, said that if economic growth falls under 7.5 per cent in the rst quarter, there will be signicant risks of not hitting the annual target. Chinas top leaders have said they are ready to accept slower expansion as they seek to transform the economys growth model away from an over-reliance on often wasteful investment, and instead make private demand the driver of future development. After the close of the NPC, Chinas Communist Partycontrolled legislature, on Thursday Premier Li sought to downplay the importance of the target. We have a level of exibility by setting the target at around 7.5 per cent, he revealed. We think the government will not let growth slide below the seven per cent mark, Wang Tao, a UBS economist in Hong Kong, said in a report. Key downside risks ahead this year include uncertainties in export recovery, credit volatilities related to Chinas multi-trillion-dollar shadow banking sector, heightened by the countrys rst-ever default on a domestic corporate bond recently, and a more pronounced property slowdown, she said. The government has avoided introducing major stimulus measures since Li took ofce in March last year, and the ruling party leadership promised in November to let the market play the decisive role in resource allocation. But that vow could make it more difcult for the government to intervene in the economy, for example with infrastructure investment, as such policies may conceptually contradict the goal, Goldman Sachs economist Song Yu said in a report. It does imply more constraints on what and how much the government can do compared with the past, Song wrote. AFP

Executive Director Engineering of Maruti Suzuki India Limited, CV Raman poses with a new Celerio car during a launch ceremony in Hyderabad, India, in February. AFp

ndiAs top carmaker Maruti Suzuki said on Saturday that it would seek minority shareholder approval for a controversial plan to source cars from a plant to be built by its Japanese parent that spurred an investor revolt. Japans Suzuki Motor Co owns some 56 per cent of Maruti. It said in January that it would invest nearly $500 million in building a plant in western Gujarat state, reneging on an earlier plan under which Maruti would build the factory itself. Now, in the face of intense opposition from institutional shareholders, Maruti after a board meeting said it had decided to give minority shareholders a chance to approve the decision. Even though not required by law, the board decided, as a measure of good corporate governance, to seek minor-

Investors see red over India, Japan car deal I

ity shareholders approval, the company said in a released statement. The decision by Maruti Suzuki to procure its cars from the Gujarat plant to be constructed by its parent Suzuki Motor Co triggered an outcry from shareholders, including institutional investors. In an unusual display of shareholder activism in India, where institutional investors are often just silent partners, fund managers wrote to Maruti asking the company to reconsider its plans, saying they were unfair. Analysts have said minority shareholders might prot more if Maruti made the cars itself at the Gujarat plant as it has traditionally done at its other plants and remains a manufacturing company. Maruti added in the statement that in the event that both parties mutually agree to terminate the manufacturing agreement, the facilities of the Gujarat Sub [plant] would be transferred to Maruti Suzuki India Ltd at book value. Maruti shares have come under heavy pressure since the plan emerged in January. The rm has two factories in northern India located in Manesar and Gurgaon that can produce up to 1.5 million vehicles a year. Local media had reported fund managers were considering taking legal action against Maruti over the Gujarat plant. The plant would have an initial capacity to make 100,000 cars a year, rising to an expected 1.5 million a year, equal to the Indian carmakers current capacity. I think this is a good move by management as minority shareholders often feel their voices arent being heard, said Deepesh Rathore, direc-

tor of Indias Emerging Markets Automotive Advisors. Maruti, which dominates Indias car market, has insisted that the deal is a win-win plan for both the company and investors. But minority shareholders assert that the winners would be parent Suzuki which would obtain the gains from higher domestic sales. Under the proposal, Maruti would purchase the cars made by Suzuki at the new factory and then sell them through its dealers. Suzuki says its funds in Japan are generating lower than desirable returns and that it would be better for its money to be invested in the Gujarat plant. Given the Indian car markets current weak outlook, some analysts also say it might be tough for the company to fund the construction of the Gujarat plant. AFP

10

THE PHNOM PENH POST march 17, 2014

Business

Green cars dirty tracks shut mines

Elisabeth Behrmann

S MORE environmentally conscious Americans do their bit to help clear the air by paying up for an ecofriendly Prius or a sporty Tesla, a damaging form of polluted rain is falling in China. The link is graphite, a vital component in batteries used in Teslas Model S, Toyotas plug-in Prius and other electric cars, as well as in electronic gadgets including iPhones. Its mostly mined and processed in China where graphite pollution has fouled air and water, damaged crops and raised health concerns. Now, in response, Chinese authorities are closing dozens of graphite mines and processors in a bid for cleaner air even as global demand for the commodity is surging. Theres little question that the Chinese are between a rock and a hard place environmentally, Josh Landess, an advanced transportation analyst with Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said. Theres an obvious irony that the disruption its causing is within the clean vehicle and transportation industry. The graphite outcry is the latest among environmental ashpoints in China that have ranged from lead poisoning to acid spills and unbearable smog in big cities. And while the clampdown may help improve the quality of Chinas environment, it could also affect as much as a third of worldwide production. Analysts disagree about the impact of a sharp decline

of graphite supplies. Simon Moores, a London-based senior analyst at Industrial Minerals Data, sees Chinas tougher stance pushing graphite prices up as much as 30 per cent this year. Others say even that rise would have an only minimal impact on the overall price of electric cars though it could slow the expected longterm decline of battery prices. The market for hybrid and electric cars such as Toyota Motor Corps Prius hybrid and Tesla Motor Incs fully electric Model S as well as for e-bikes is forecast to surge this decade, propelled by demand for greener vehicles. To keep up with demand, Tesla plans to invest $5 billion building a factory to produce battery packs for its luxury electric cars, it said last month. The project, dubbed the gigafactory, would be the worlds largest such operation, according to chief executive ofcer Elon Musk. Each electric car contains about 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of graphite. Hybrid cars use about 10 kilograms, e-bikes 1 kilogram, laptops about 100 grams and mobile phones about 15 grams, according to Anthony Pandolfo from Monash Universitys department of materials engineering. The growth and diversity of electronic devices will propel demand for rechargeable batteries, according to Lux Research. Teslas factory alone could double demand for graphite in batteries, requiring the equivalent of six new mines to come into production, according to Industrial Miner-

A battery awaits installation in a Tesla Motor Model S sedan at the companys assembly plant in Fremont, California, last year.

BLOOMBERG

als Moores. Battery makers include Sony Corp, Panasonic Corp, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and NEC Corp. Instead, China is cutting back production as it battles more damaging environmental issues stemming from its reliance on coal for electricity and conventional automobiles. As many as 55 graphite operations were suspended in Shandong province, which controls 10 per cent of global supply, in December last year on a range of environmental breaches. The government intervention could easily extend to other poorly run producers in Heilongjiang Province, said Credit Suisse Group AG analyst Michael Slirski. More damaging than the graphite rain, the silver dust that falls from carelessly managed mines, is the hydrochloric acid used in China to process raw graphite into a usable form. The acid is highly

corrosive and when released untreated as waste water into the environment is harmful to all forms of life. No signicant new mines have been added outside China since the 1980s, according to Industrial Minerals. Thats about to change. Concern about diminished supply from China is prompting a rush to secure other sources, including the Uley graphite mine in Australia thats due to reopen this month after being shut for more than two decades because of rising output from China that depressed prices. The demand for lithium-ion batteries, which use graphite, will drive up the total value of the rechargeable battery market by 52 per cent to $41 billion by 2018, according to Cosmin Laslau, a Boston-based analyst at Lux Research Inc. The lions share of growth will come from products such as Apples iPad and Amazon.

com Incs Kindle, as well as smart phones, Laslau said in a presentation. A spokesman for Toyota, the worlds biggest carmaker, said in an email that it is important to maintain a stable supply of any raw material, and we work with our suppliers to do so. Tesla, Apple, Panasonic and Sony declined to comment on the potential effect of higher graphite prices for its batteries and production practices in China. Seiichiro Toda, a Tokyobased spokesman for NEC, said prices hadnt increased at this point. Samsung said it didnt expect an impact from capacity closures in Shandong province. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG last month said it had 11,000 orders for its fully electric four-door i3 car, while BYD Co, the Chinese automaker backed by investor Warren Buffetts Berkshire

Hathaway Inc, is preparing to begin US production of electric buses in March. Chinas graphite pollution crackdown is raising concern among battery makers over supply security, according to Chris Darby, chief executive ofcer of Valence Industries Ltd, the developer of the Uley in South Australia. The company already has commitments for initial output from stockpiles, he said. They can see demand growing, Darby said. They want certainty of supply, and theyre uncertain about the supply thats coming out of China, or any of the other regions around the world. A 30 per cent increase in graphite prices could increase the price of battery packs for electric vehicles by as much as 5 per cent, according to Brian Warshay, a New York-based analyst for Bloomberg New Energy Finance. BLOOMBERG

Fixed Deposit Interest Rates

Financial Institutions
As of MARCH 12, 2014

Cambodian

On Deposits
3 Months
USD
5.50% 3.50% 2.50% 1.35% 2.25% 3.50%

Emaar properties aims for secondary offering

N/A

6 Months
USD
6.50% 4.50% 3.75% 2.50% 3.00% 4.50% 3.25% 3.25% 3.50% 3.25% 3.00% 3.50% 3.50% 4.50%

12 Months
USD
8.00% 5.50% 5.00% 3.50% 4.00% 5.50% 3.50% 4.00% 4.75% 4.25% 4.50% 4.75% 4.50% 5.50%

RIEL
6.50% N/A 5.00% 3.50% N/A N/A N/A N/A 5.00% N/A 2.00% 4.00% N/A N/A

RIEL
7.50% N/A 6.00% 4.00% N/A N/A N/A N/A 6.00% N/A 3.00% 5.00% N/A N/A

RIEL
9.75%

PrAsAC ABA Bank ACLEDA Bank ANZ Royal Bank Bank of India Cambodia Asia Bank

7.00% 5.50% N/A N/A N/A N/A 7.00% N/A 4.50% 6.00% N/A N/A

Cambodia Mekong Bank 2.75% Cambodian Public Bank 2.25% Canadia Bank Maybank MAruHAn Japan Bank RHB Indochina Bank SBC Bank
2.50% 2.25% 2.00% 2.75% 3.00%

EMAAR Properties PJSC, builder of the worlds tallest tower, said it expects to raise as much as $2.45 billion in the public offering of a 25 per cent stake in its shopping malls and retail business after revenue surged. The estimated 8 billion dirhams ($2.18 billion) to 9 billion dirhams generated from the secondary public offering in the Emaar malls and retail unit will primarily be distributed to the companys shareholders as a dividend, according to an emailed statement released on Saturday from Emaar. The Dubai-based company didnt give a

time frame for the share sale or location. Emaar is beneting from a tourism and retail boom in Dubai thats driving up visitor numbers at its agship malls and boosting sales. The malls and retail business posted a 20 per cent increase in revenue to 2.84 billion dirhams in 2013, while the Dubai Mall received 75 million visitors last year. Emaars shopping malls and retails subsidiary is our high-performing business, which derives its growth impetus from the sustained growth of Dubai, Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties, said in the statement.

Emaar also said it proposed a cash dividend of 15 per cent of the companys share capital for 2013 as well as 10 per cent bonus shares to shareholders. Emaar is the most recent company in the region to take advantage of surging markets and asset prices to plan public offerings. Dubais economy expanded about 4.9 per cent in 2013, four years after it was rescued from near default with a $20 billion bailout from neighboring Abu Dhabi. Property prices are surging and companies including real-estate developer Nakheel PJSC are repaying debt early to win back investor condence. AFP

Union Commercial Bank 3.50%

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

11

World
Irregularities reported as Crimea votes
Continued from page 1

celebrate an expected pro-Moscow result. Mykhaylo Malyshev, the head of the referendum organising committee, denied reports that Russian citizens were being allowed to cast ballots, saying that only people with Ukrainian passports and resident in Crimea could take part. At a polling station in Bakhchysaray, a reporter saw a pensioner trying to vote with a Russian passport being turned away. Malyshev also said there had been no incidents requiring police involvement despite concern of possible provocations by pro-unity activists. Ukraines new government and most of the international community except Russia have said they will not recognise a result expected to be overwhelmingly in favour of immediate secession. This is a historic moment, everyone will live happily, Sergiy Aksyonov, the local pro-Moscow prime minister, told reporters after casting his ballot in the regional capital, Simferopol. We will celebrate this evening, Aksyonov said, after a man waving a blue and yellow Ukrainian ag and demanding it be put up inside the polling station was pushed away by security guards. The Black Sea peninsula is inhabited mostly by ethnic Russians and has been seized by Russian forces over the past month after the ouster of Ukraines pro-Kremlin leader in February, plunging US-Russia ties to their lowest point since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Ukraines interim President Oleksandr Turchynov, who last month replaced the ousted Viktor Yanukovych, called for a boycott of the ballot, accusing Moscow of preparing an invasion. The result has been pre-planned by the Kremlin as a formal justication to send in its troops and start a

A woman holds a Russian ag a ballot and a Ukrainian passport a polling station in Sevastopol yesterday. AFP

war that will destroy peoples lives and the economic prospects for Crimea, he said. Some Crimeans who requested anonymity said they were planning to spoil their ballots in protest and there was a call on social media for people to stay at home and cook vareniki Ukrainian dumplings instead of going out to vote. Accredited journalists were prevented from entering some polling stations in the port city of Sevastopol and the regional capital Simferopol, and several people were seen voting in Sevastopol even before the polls opened. Foreign observers were present but the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

declined an invitation to monitor saying it was not ofcial because it did not come from Ukraines national government. We have waited years for this moment, said 71-year-old Ivan Konstantinovich, who raised his hands in victory after voting in Bakhchysaray. Everyone will vote for Russia, he said. The town is the main centre of Crimeas native Muslim Tatar community, which is urging a boycott of the referendum, and mostly ethnic Russians were seen turning out to vote there. Voters can choose to become part of Russia or retain more autonomy but stay in Ukraine a vote for the status quo is not an option. Preliminary results were ex-

pected to be announced soon after polls close at 8pm (1800 GMT). The referendum committee said turnout was at 44 per cent a third of the way through voting. Rehearsals for planned celebrations have included the slogan We are in Russia! beamed on to the government building in Simferopol, leaving no doubt about the expected outcome. In Sevastopol, home of Russias Black Sea Fleet since the 18th century, the mood was celebratory and patriotic Russian military songs blared. Preparations to become part of Russia a process that could take months are to begin this week if the referendum result is pro-Moscow. Pro-Russia authorities and Moscow say the referendum is an example of self-determination like Kosovos decision to leave Serbia but Washington says it cannot be democratic because it is taking place under the barrel of a gun. Tensions have escalated in mostly Russian-speaking parts of eastern Ukraine ahead of the vote. Three activists have been killed in the eastern cities of Donetsk and Kharkiv in the run-up, while proMoscow supporters have called for similar separatist polls in other Ukrainian regions. Around 1,000 pro-Moscow activists rallied in Donetsk yesterday to support Crimeas referendum and 2,000 turned out in Kharkiv with a large Russian ag and a sign reading Our Homeland is the USSR. Russian troops and pro-Kremlin militias took control of the strategic peninsula soon after Yanukovych ed Ukraine for Russia in the wake of three months of deadly protests in Kiev. Russian senators have also given the go-ahead for President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine when he wants, citing the need to defend ethnic Russians against ultra-nationalist radicals.

Ukrainian military bases in the region are surrounded by militias and the post-referendum fate of the personnel who live in Crimea with their families is unclear. There have been several attacks on journalists and pro-unity activists condemned by Amnesty International as extremely worrying. The diplomatic wrangling and brinksmanship over Crimea have been startling, including a confrontation at the UN Security Council in which interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk asked: Do the Russians want war? Successive rounds of negotiations between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov have failed and Kerry appeared to break diplomatic protocol by not showing up for planned talks in Moscow. While the West has been powerless to stop Crimeas annexation, Russia faces a painful round of sanctions against top ofcials that Washington and EU nations are set to unveil on Monday and it could be ostracised or even ejected from the Group of Eight (G8) leading world powers. Local authorities are calling this a Crimean Spring but many Crimeans are concerned about a possible legal vacuum and economic turmoil. One immediate worry is about the availability of cash and there have been long queues outside banks with Crimeans rushing to withdraw their money. Crimea would not automatically join Russia after the vote and Ukraines government has said it cannot survive since it depends on electricity, energy and water supplies from the mainland. In Bakhchysaray, Anna Ivanovna, 70, said she had voted to join Moscow, but was apprehensive. Yes, we will be Russians. Its good but at the same time, at my age, its hard to change countries, she said. AFP

MEDIVET CO., LTD

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
MEDIVET Co., LTD is a growing animal health care company base in Phnom Penh. We are looking for Khmer candidates to ll 2 positions of marketing planners. Ideal candidates should be cheerful, well presented and enjoy meeting new people. Veterinarians: - Marketing Planners: 2 positions.

JOB Announcement
COMPANYNAME: Royal Cargo Combined Logistics (Cambodia) Co., Ltd JOB TITLE: Branch Manager (Bavet Branch ofce) JOB SUMMARY: Royal Cargo Combined Logistics Cambodia is a Dynamic Freight Forwarding company. Royal Cargo Manila Philippines our Corporate Head Quarters was created in 1978 and has grown to 24 ofces around the globe as a complete Solution provider in the freight forwarding Industry. RESPONSIBILITIES: To achieve the target set up by the company Develop, maintain and execute sales strategies Prepare Sales strategy to gain clients and accounts Communicate and liaise with both existing customers and new customers Prepare monthly sales report for Country Manager Perform other duties as assigned by Country Manager Manage and control overall ofce in the location REQUIREMENTS: COMPANYNAME: Royal Cargo Combined Logistics (Cambodia) Should be a bachelor degree from any recognized university. At least, 3 years of working experience with shipping industry or freight forwarder. JOB TITLE: Branch Manager (Bavet Branch office) Knowledge of Microsoft Ofce, Email, Internet and IT is an advantage. Very good command of oral/written English and Chinese Reliable and trustworthy, active and dynamic, orderly Should have your own vehicle. MERITS Experience of preparing sales strategy Knowledge of budgeting/planning and initiative idea Must be uent in Khmer, English and Mandarin Benet package Salary based on experience and Industry standard. Petrol,telephone card allowance will be provided. HOW TO APPLY: Interested applicants should submit a cover letter with expected salary together with CV and a list of two to three references, not later than March 31, 2014 to pnh@royalcargo.comOnly short-listed candidates will be notied. Kindly note that applications will not be returned.

REQUIREMENT - Prepare Executive Summary of marketing challenge and company goal. - Assess the state of market in which company is operating. - Conduct the efciency marketing strategy. - Conduct Action plan and Financial by arranging SWOT Analysis Generator, Business Plan Templates, Selling our tness service and material promotion. - Conduct work with high responsibility and efciency. - A good command of English. - More than 2- years experience in Marketing planning.
Interested candidates should summit a CV and Cover Letter with current photo to our Company. Closing date: 31st March 2014.
MEIVET CO., LTD : No.323, St. Northbridge, Sangkat TekThla, Khan Russeykeo, Phnom Penh. Tel: 012 500 220 / 012 48 77 38 Email: ratha_medivet@yahoo.com

JOB Announcement

Co.,

12

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

World

Malaysia doubles scale of MH370 search

Giles Hewitt

ALAYSIA said yesterday that the number of countries searching for a missing airliner had nearly doubled to 25 as a full-scale criminal probe into its disappearance got under way, with particular scrutiny of the pilots. Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the number of participating countries had jumped from 14 to 25 as the search for the aircraft focused on two vast, and vastly contrasting, land and ocean transport corridors. The dramatic re-calibration would inevitably bring new challenges of coordination and diplomacy, the minister said. Police said they had searched the homes of both pilots and examined the captains home ight simulator after it became increasingly clear that the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that vanished on March 8 had been deliberately diverted by someone on board. Hishammuddin cautioned people against jumping to conclusions about the thrust of the investigation, which national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar stressed was covering all the 239 passengers and crew. Engineers who may have had contact with the aircraft before take-off were also being looked at, Khalid said. The police action followed Saturdays startling revelations that the planes communications systems had been manually switched off before the jet veered westward and

More countries join search for MH370

Investigators say the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 239 people on board changed course after someone switched off its communications systems
The search now focuses on two different land and ocean transport corridors

KAZAKHSTAN BEIJING CHINA PAKISTAN

INDiA THAILAND
Andaman Islands

Air traffic control lost contact with plane at 01:30 am

Approximate last position tracked by military radar

MALAYSIA

25 countries
are now helping with the search

Took off from Kuala Lumpur, March 8, 00:41 am

INDONESIA

Sources: MalaysiaAirlines/Vietnam govt/Malaysia govt/NOAA/media

ew on for hours. Like Prime Minister Najib Razak the previous day, Hishammuddin refused to use the word hijack, saying only that the pattern of events was consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. The new search parameters involve two possible ight corridors a northern one stretching from Thailand to Kazakhstan and a southern

one from Indonesia towards the southern Indian Ocean. The Malaysian foreign ministry briefed representatives from 22 countries on Sunday, including the central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, and requested support in the form of satellite and radar data. For anguished relatives, the news the

plane had been diverted was a double-edged sword holding out the slim hope that hijackers had landed the plane somewhere, while ushering in another agonising open-ended waiting period. Relatives of Bob and Cathy Lawton, a missing Australian couple, said they were horried by the notion of a drawn-out hijack ordeal. Thats one of the worst things I could have hoped for, Bobs brother David Lawton told News Limited newspapers. Even if they are alive, what did they have to put up with? The scope for speculation is as broad as the new search area. Experts said it would have taken specialist knowledge to disable the communications system, intensifying scrutiny of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his First Ofcer, Fariq Abdul Hamid. Friends and colleagues of both pilots have testied to their good character, but questions have been raised over the simulator Zaharie installed at home even though aviation commentators have said this is not uncommon. Fariqs record was queried after a woman said he had allowed her and a friend to ride in the cockpit of an earlier ight. Hishammuddin noted that the two pilots did not ask to y together on the missing plane. The alternative scenario that the cockpit was taken over or the pilots coerced opens a Pandoras Box of possibilities as to who might be involved and why. Two passengers who boarded the plane with stolen EU passports have been identied as Iranians by Inter-

pol, who said they were most likely illegal immigrants who did not t terrorist proles. The fact that most of the passengers on board the Beijing-bound ight were Chinese has raised speculation of involvement by militants from Chinas Muslim ethnic Uighur minority. Security experts warned against reading too much into partial data. We still really dont have a lot of evidence to go on, said Anthony Brickhouse, a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators. We dont have any wreckage, we dont have the plane itself, we dont have a lot of electronic data. The last satellite communication from the plane on March 8 came nearly eight hours after it took off around the time the airline has said it would have run out of fuel. Hishammuddin said both search corridors were being treated with equal importance, but a number of analysts said the southern ocean route was more likely. Flying along the northern corridor would have required the plane to travel undetected through numerous national airspaces in a strategically sensitive region. I just cant think of a scenario where this aircraft is sitting on a runway somewhere, Brickhouse said. Scott Hamilton, managing director of US-based aerospace consultancy Leehman Co, said a crash in the ocean would present a daunting search and recovery challenge. Any oating debris will be widely dispersed and the main debris on the sea oor, he said. AFP

MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIghT: WhAT wE KNOw AND whATS STILL SPECULATION

HY did it take so long before anyone realised the plane was missing?

It didnt. Malaysias acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, has confirmed that the plane ceased communicating with ground control about 40 minutes into its flight to Beijing, but this information was not made public for many hours. Malaysia has faced accusations of not sharing all of its information or suspicions about the planes final movements. It, however, says it would be irresponsible to narrow the focus of the search until there is firm evidence of the planes flight path. Malaysias reluctance to go public with the news that one of its planes had vanished is perhaps understandable. The disappearance of the Boeing 777 one of the safest commercial jets in service is one of the most baffling in aviation history. It is extremely rare for a modern passenger aircraft to disappear once it has reached cruising altitude.

approved limit, soon after its disappearance from civilian radar, then making a sharp turn to the west. The radar tracking then shows the plane descending unevenly to 23,000ft, below normal cruising levels, before climbing again and flying north-west towards the Indian Ocean. What the military did with this information is not known. Why this flight? Here we enter the realm of wild speculation: the internet is awash with theories. It could be that Malaysia was geographically convenient. Some suggest that, if it is a hijack, it is probably the work of Uighur separatists in Xinjiang, western China, or Islamic terrorists. On March 1 attackers armed with knives killed at least 29 people and injured more than 100 in Kunming station in southern China. Chinese authorities and state media were quick to describe this as a terror attack by Uighurs in their jihad. Hijacking a plane would be by far their most spectacular achievement. The plane had fuel to get as far north as Kazakhstan, according to some experts, which means it could have been flown to Pakistan or Afghanistan. However, given that the jet was not detected by these two militarised countries, this seems unlikely. Some say a flight from Malaysia to China was a softer target than, say, a transatlantic flight, but there is little evidence for this. There are, say pilots, many softer targets.

Sched

uled ro

ute

Why are the pilots homes being searched only now? This does raise questions about Malaysias handling of the situation. The lengthy delay appears to bolster criticism that Malaysia has been ineffective in this crisis. Numerous false sightings of wreckage may have convinced the authorities that they were dealing with a disaster, not terrorism, which could explain why they did not immediately search the mens homes. Why did Vietnam not raise the alarm? Once an aircraft is more than 150 miles out to sea, radar coverage fades and crews keep in touch with air traffic control and other aircraft by radio. About 40 minutes in, the flight was still the property of Malaysian air traffic control, which we know made contact with the plane minutes before it disappeared. All seemed fine as the pilot reported all right, good night. This last verbal communication came at the boundary between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace. Malaysian air traffic control told the pilots the flight was being passed to Ho Chi Minh control. The Vietnamese authorities may never have assumed responsibility for the plane as it never entered their airspace. This would be consistent with where the search has now moved to. How do investigators know the communications systems were shut off and did not just go wrong? This is based on information from the Malaysian

authorities who, admittedly, have given contradictory reports. The prime minister, Najib Razak, said investigators now had a high degree of certainty that one of the planes communications systems, the aircraft and communications addressing and reporting system (Acars), was disabled before the aircraft reached the east coast of Malaysia. Shortly afterwards, someone on board switched off the aircrafts transponder, which communicates with civilian air traffic control. How do we know the plane flew on after the transponder was switched off? Routine, automated signals from the aircraft known as electronic handshakes or pings registered on the Inmarsat satellite network. MH370s last ping suggested it was in one of two flight corridors: one between Thailand and Kazakhstan, and another between Indonesia and the southern Indian Ocean. The last confirmed communication was at 0811, which would indicate that the Boeing continued flying for nearly seven hours after contact was lost. So its location will be extremely difficult to pinpoint. Without further radar/satellite/eyewitness testimony, say experts, it is very much like looking for a needle in a haystack. A source familiar with US assessments of the Inmarsat pings said it appeared the plane turned south over the Indian Ocean, where it would presumably have run out of fuel and crashed. THE GUARDIAN

Why did no one see the plane veering so far off course? They did. The New York Times, quoting American officials and others close to the investigation, said radar signals recorded by the Malaysian military appeared to show the airliner climbing to 45,000ft, higher than a Boeing 777s

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

World

13

New red shirt leader warns of battle ahead

A fiREbRAnd hardliner who was a core leader of Thailands red shirts in the countrys massive 2010 protests has been chosen to head the pro-government movement, saying yesterday that a big ght lay ahead. Former MP Jatuporn Prompan, facing terrorism charges in an ongoing trial related to the 2010 uprising, said any new red shirt tactics would be peaceful. We have to discuss our strategy, Jatuporn said yesterday. The next battle will be big. He ruled out violence, saying that any new strategy would involve no weapons. Jatuporn took the helm as chairman from previous Red Shirt leader Tida Tawornseth at a gathering of 10,000 supporters in Ayutthaya, north of Bangkok, on Saturday. Bangkok has been rocked by months of mass protests calling for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step aside in favour of an unelected peoples council to tackle what opponents see as a culture of money-driven politics. The backdrop is a longstanding struggle between a royalist establishment, backed by the judiciary and the military, and Yinglucks billionaire family which has strong support in the north of Thailand. Yingluck now faces charges of negligence from Thailands anti-corruption body which could lead to her being removed from ofce. Her administration has limited caretaker powers because opposition demonstrators disrupted a general election last month. But, despite the governments embattled situation, Jatuporn said the opposition, led by Suthep Thaugsuban, cannot achieve success. In 2006 they used a military coup. In 2007 and 2008 they used independent organisations like the constitutional court. Now they used a peoples revolution led by Suthep but it did not succeed, Jatuporn said. After bringing parts of Bangkok to a standstill in a self-styled shutdown, opposition protesters have now rowed back their presence, instead basing themselves in a park in the city centre. The current crisis has led to a spike in political violence, often targeting protesters, which has left 23 people dead and hundreds wounded. AFP

Seven die in Nigeria stampede

T LEAsT seven people were killed and dozens more injured in Nigerias capital Abuja on Saturday after thousands of panicked job-seekers stampeded during a government recruitment drive at the national stadium. Survivors said that thousands had gathered to apply for jobs with the immigration department in the Abuja stadium. One witness said the stampede broke out as applicants surged towards a central stage. They said only one entrance to the 60,000-capacity stadium was open. It was unclear how many people were inside at the time of the crush. No ofcial toll was given, but one journalist counted seven dead and dozens injured. The public hospital was forced to turn victims away due to a lack of capacity, spokesman Tayo Haastrup said. The recruitment drive was being held at several stadiums around the country on Saturday. The sheer size of the crowds was testament to the vast numbers of unemployed in Nigeria, most of whose 170 million citizens live on less than two dollars a day, while the country lags behind in key development indicators such

At least seven people were killed and dozens injured in Nigerias capital Abuja on Saturday after a stampede at the national stadium. AFP

as health. Unemployment is a particular challenge, with an estimated 37.5 per cent of under-25s out of work, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. President Goodluck Jonathans Peoples Democratic Party said it was shocked and deeply saddened by the deaths of young citizens who were at the exercise not only to secure jobs but to be allowed the opportunity to contribute towards the development of the nation. Meanwhile, at least 100 people were killed in weekend attacks on three villages

in central Nigeria, local ofcials said yesterday. Scores of residents were also injured when about 40 assailants armed with guns and machetes stormed the villages of Angwan Gata, Chenshyi and Angwan Sankwai, attacking locals in their sleep and torching their homes, said Yakubu Bitiyong, a lawmaker at the Kaduna state parliament. We have at least 100 dead bodies from the three villages attacked by the gunmen overnight Friday-Saturday, he said. Some of the victims were shot and burnt in their homes while others were hacked with

machetes, Bitiyong said. Kaduna state police spokesman Aminu Lawan conrmed the attacks but refused to give a casualty toll or say who was behind the violence. Local residents blamed the bloodshed on Muslim Fulani herdsmen, who have been accused of similar raids in the past. Chenshyi village was the worst affected with at least 50 people killed, said Adamu Marshall, a spokesman for the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, a regional political and cultural body. Many people are still in the bush, afraid to return to their burnt homes, he said, conrming a total toll of at least 100 dead. The attackers looted food and set re to the barns during the attacks, he added. Fulani leaders have for years complained about the loss of grazing land which is crucial to their livelihood, with resentment between the herdsmen and their agrarian neighbours rising over the past decade. Most of the Fulani-linked violence has been concentrated in the religiously divided centre of the country, where rivalries between mostly Muslim herdsmen and mostly Christian farmers have helped fuel the unrest. AFP

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THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

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18-missile salute
helicopters targeting rebel positions around Arsal. Yabrud was once home to some 30,000 residents, around 90 per cent Sunni Muslim and 10 per cent Christian. Last year, al-Qaeda afliated rebels seized 13 nuns from the nearby Christian hamlet of Maalula and held them hostage in Yabrud. The women were released on March 10 after lengthy negotiations mediated by a Lebanese security ofcial that saw the government agree to release dozens of female prisoners in regime jails. The Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah is believed to have played a key role in the armys recapture of Yabrud. The group is a staunch ally of the Syrian regime and has dispatched some of its welltrained ghters to bolster the armys ranks. Its involvement has prompted retaliatory bomb attacks by extremist groups against areas in Lebanon sympathetic to the movement. The attacks have mostly killed civilians. Hezbollah and Lebanese security forces have alleged that many of the car bombs used in those attacks originated in Yabrud and were driven across the Lebanese border. AFP

yRIAs army, backed by ghters from Lebanons Hezbollah movement, seized control of the rebel stronghold Yabrud yesterday, state media said, dealing the opposition a heavy symbolic and strategic blow. Our brave armed forces have full control over Yabrud in Damascus province and are combing through the town and removing explosive devices placed by terrorists, state television said, citing a military source. It broadcast images of dead ghters and its correspondent on the ground said trafc was moving normally along the nearby highway that links the capital Damascus to Syrias third city Homs. Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights NGO, said government troops were in control of most of the town, but ghting is still ongoing. Opposition sources said civilians and activists in the town had ed overnight into neighbouring Lebanon. And Syrian state television said the army was targeting groups of terrorists eeing Yabrud between the village of Fleita in Syria and the town of Arsal just across the border in Lebanon.

Korea Syrian army takes Yabrud: state TV North res rockets

into the sea

A handout picture released on Saturday by the ofcial Syrian Arab News Agency reportedly shows the city of Yabrud after the Syrian army advanced in the key rebel bastion. AFP

The fall of Yabrud comes after months of Syrian army operations in the strategic Qalamun region, north of Damascus, where the town is situated. Late last year, the army captured a string of nearby towns Qara, Deir Attiya and Nabuk as it extended its control in a southern sweep along the Damascus-Homs highway. It then turned its sights to Yabrud, which has been a rebel bastion since early in the Syrian uprising that began

in March 2011. In addition to its symbolic importance, the town is a key strategic prize because of its proximity to the highway and the Lebanese border, across which rebels have smuggled ghters and weapons. The capture of the town, and continuing army operations in the surrounding area, will sever important supply lines for the rebels as they face several army advances on different fronts.

The towns seizure is also likely to place new pressure on Lebanons Arsal, just across the border, which is hosting tens of thousands of refugees that have ed the Qalamun region. Sunni Arsal is largely sympathetic to the Sunni-led uprising, and rebel ghters are believed to have bases in areas around the town. The Syrian air force has regularly carried out air strikes with war planes and

ORTH Korea yesterday test-red 18 rockets into the sea, South Koreas defence ministry said, the latest in a series of launches to provoke criticism from Seoul and Washington. The rockets were red off the Norths east coast and ew about 70 kilometres over the Sea of Japan, a ministry spokesman said. The ministry said 10 rockets were red at 6:20pm (0920 GMT), and eight more at 8.03pm. Seouls military has maintained a close watch for possible North Korean provocations, the spokesman said. Yonhap news agency earlier reported that 10 shortrange missiles were red. South Korean troops have increased vigilance following a series of rocket or missile launches in late February and this month. The activity coincides with annual South Korean-US military exercises that started in February and will run until mid-April. Yesterdays rocket launch came two days after the Norths National Defence Commission threatened to demonstrate its nuclear deterrence. Analysts said the comments could indicate the regime is preparing to carry out a fourth atomic test. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST mArCh 17, 2014

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Egypt vows decisive action after attack

Samer al-Atrush

US is deeply disturbed over China activist death

gYpTs interim government pledged decisive action and ordered heightened security yesterday after gunmen killed six soldiers at a Cairo checkpoint, as the countdown began to presidential elections this spring. The shooting on Saturday morning came two days after gunmen killed a soldier in Cairo, as militants once based in the Sinai Peninsula widen attacks that surged after the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July. The government is preparing for a presidential election that will likely be contested and won by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the eld marshal who overthrew Morsi. Sisi is widely expected to resign as defence minister and army chief and announce his candidacy this week, following the interim presidents approval of a law to organise the poll. His supporters see him as the best suited leader to re-

Egyptian soldiers and ofcials inspect the sight where gunmen killed six soldiers at a Cairo checkpoint on Saturday. AFP

store stability and law and order amid persistent militant attacks and street protests by Morsis supporters. In Saturdays attack, masked gunmen opened re on military policemen as they were nishing their morning Muslim prayers and then planted two bombs to target rst responders, the military said. The health ministry said

six soldiers were killed. In an emergency meeting that ended early yesterday morning, the cabinet decided to decisively confront whoever attacks citizens and civilian and government installations, it said in a statement. It emphasised that attacks on the army would be dealt with by military courts, in accordance with a constitu-

tion approved in a referendum in January. The government also ordered heightened security measures to counter what has become a low-level insurgency that has killed more than 200 soldiers and policemen since Morsis overthrow. Most of the attacks since have been carried out in the Sinai, but militants have ex-

panded their reach to the Nile Delta and the capital in recent months. The government has mostly blamed Morsis Muslim Brotherhood, which renounced violence decades ago and has denied any involvement. The most prominent attacks, including a car bombing at a police headquarters in Cairo and the downing of a military helicopter in Sinai, have been claimed by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem), a Sinai-based jihadist movement. The group said on Friday that one of its founders, Tawq Mohamed Fareej, died last week when a car accident set off a bomb he was carrying. Fareej led a 2011 cross-border attack in Israel that killed eight people and was also involved in a failed attempt on the life of Egypts interior minister, it said. The group has said the attacks in Egypt are in retaliation for a brutal government crackdown on Morsis Islamist supporters, which Amnesty International says has claimed some 1,400 lives. AFP

THE US on Saturday offered condolences to the family of a Chinese activist who died while in detention and urged Beijing to respect human rights. The United States is deeply disturbed by reports that rights activist Cao Shunli has passed away at a hospital in Beijing. US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. We continue to be concerned about the human rights situation in China and will continue to urge Chinese authorities to guarantee all Chinese citizens the protections and freedoms to which they are entitled under Chinas international human rights commitments. Rights groups said Cao died on Friday after falling critically ill in police detention, where she was at first denied treatment. She had joined a rare protest outside Chinas foreign ministry in June last year to demand greater participation in the UNs review of human rights in China, according to rights groups. AFP

Attack on anti-al-Qaeda chief leaves four dead

Intelligence panel Democrat offers NSA reform

SuppOrTers of a stalled congressional effort to end the National Security Agencys bulk collection of Americans metadata are looking warily at an alternative proposal by a key NSA advocate purporting to seek the same goal. This week, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, who represents the Maryland district home to the NSAs Fort Meade headquarters, came out in favour of a remedy for the controversial surveillance. Ruppersberger, in interviews with the Washington Post, National Journal and the Politico, said he was working to craft a proposal that would require court orders for government requests for Americans phone records perhaps on an individual basis from the telephone companies, without requiring the companies to expand retention of their customer records beyond current practice. Its an idea that on its face aligns with what privacy advocates have wanted since the Guardian exposed the NSA bulk phone records collection in June, thanks to leaks from Edward Snowden. But his idea also attracted suspicion. Not only has Ruppersberger been a staunch advocate for the NSA and a fervent critic of Snowden but his proposal would compete with the civil-libertarian alternative, the USA Freedom Act, that has 163 co-sponsors in both congressional chambers and would go further than Ruppersbergers effort, as initially described. Ruppersbergers ofce concedes that the details of the proposal, which are crucial in the arcane world of surveillance authorities, are still being worked out something giving privacy advocates pause. On the other hand, sources said, Ruppersbergers evolving position represents what one called a huge step forward toward an outright end to bulk domestic metadata collection. Ruppersbergers credibility with the NSA might also be an asset for such an effort. The Obama administration has yet to take an outright position on the USA Freedom Act, an ambivalence that several members of Congress consider the equivalent of a rejection several months after the bill was introduced. THE GUaRDIaN

HEaVILY armed militants attacked the home of an antial-Qaeda militiaman north of Baghdad yesterday, killing and decapitating his wife and two sons and killing another woman in a brutal pre-dawn assault. The militia leader, Abu Salim, was not in the house at the time of the attack, which involved more than a dozen vehicles and fighters armed with heavy machine guns and other weapons and also left two of his young sons wounded. Policemen at a nearby checkpoint attempted to repel the assault, the officers said, but were unsuccessful and fled the scene when they ran out of ammunition and reinforcements that they had radioed for failed to arrive. AFP

British socialist stalwart Tony Benn dies at 88

POLITICAL foes and allies paid tribute to Tony Benn, the totem of the British left who spearheaded the movement against the Iraq war, following his death on Friday aged 88. A Labour cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s, Benn was a widely respected orator who clashed with his partys leadership over its drift away from the radical socialism he espoused. Benn also forced a change in the law allowing hereditary members of parliaments upper House of Lords to renounce their titles, after he was disqualified from his seat in the elected lower House of Commons on inheriting his fathers Viscount Stansgate title in 1960. After recently spending a month in hospital he died peacefully at his west London home surrounded by his family, his four children said. In one of his final interviews, given a few weeks ago to BBC radio, Benn said: I think it has been a very satisfying life. I made every mistake in the book but making mistakes is how you learn. But as long as you say what you believe and believe what you say, thats the test of authenticity. The well-spoken politician was typically pictured puffing on his pipe and drinking from a huge mug of tea. Prime Minister David Cameron said Benn was a magnificent writer, speaker and campaigner, with a strong record of public and political service. The Conservative party leader said: There was never a dull moment listening to him, even when you disagreed with everything he said. UK Labour party leader Ed Miliband, who at 16 did work experience with Benn, paid tribute to an iconic figure of our age. More than half a century after entering parliament, Benn retired in 2001, only half-joking that he wanted to spend more time on politics. Some of Benns best quotes If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people Tony Benn was interviewed in Sicko, Michael Moores documentary film about the health industry in the US. Explaining the post-war creation of the welfare state, he said the popular mood of the 1945 election was: If you can have full employment by killing Germans, why cant we have full employment by building hospitals, building schools? His five questions for the powerful Tony Benns final speech to the House of Commons as MP was an appropriately eloquent farewell, in which he talked widely on his view of the role of parliament and the wider question of democracy. He said: In the course of my life I have developed five little democratic questions. If one meets a powerful person Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates ask them five questions: What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you? If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system. I think there are two ways in which people are controlled. First of all frighten people and secondly, demoralise them Another quote from Tony Benns interview with Michael Moore in Sicko, in which he highlighted poverty and healthcare inequality as a democratic issue. The people in debt become hopeless, and the hopeless people dont vote . . . an educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern, he said. Hope is the fuel of progress and fear is the prison in which you put yourself Tony Benn thought any meaningful change could only come from below, and felt apathy was openly encouraged by those in positions of power. The Prime Minister said in 1911, 14 years before I was born, that if women get the vote it will undermine parliamentary democracy. How did apartheid end? How did anything happen? We are not just here to manage capitalism but to change society and to define its finer values Blamed by many for contributing to Labours lack of electoral success during the 1980s, Tony Benn was a totem for those who rejected the shift to the right widely seen as necessary if the party was to regain power. This shift was eventually completed under Tony Blair, who redefined Labour as a party comfortable with privatisation and free market economics. The quote above indicates why Benn resisted such a move. There is no moral difference between a stealth bomber and a suicide bomber. Both kill innocent people for political reasons After his retirement from parliament, Benn became the public face of the Stop the War coalition. In a particularly spiky edition of BBC Question Time, his exchanges with US Republican John Bolton included this broadside: I was born about a quarter of a mile from where we are sitting now and I was here in London during the Blitz. And every night I went down into the shelter; 500 people killed, my brother was killed, my friends were killed. And when the Charter of the UN was read to me, I was a pilot coming home in a troop ship: We the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind. That was the pledge my generation gave to the younger generation and you tore it up. And its a war crime thats been committed in Iraq, because there is no moral difference between a stealth bomber and a suicide bomber. Both kill innocent people for political reasons. A faith is something you die for, a doctrine is something you kill for. There is all the difference in the world. Tony Benns calcified view of the US as an imperialist force left him on the margins of mainstream opinion during the cold war, but a voice of reason to many after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. AFP/THE GUaRDIaN

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World

Did humans kill off the giant beasts?

Robin McKie

HEY were some of the strangest animals to walk the Earth: wombats as big as hippos, sloths larger than bears, four-tusked elephants, and an armadillo that would have dwarfed a VW Beetle. They ourished for millions of years, then seemingly vanished from our planet just as humans emerged from their African homeland. It is one of palaeontologys most intriguing mysteries and will form the core of a conference at Oxford University this week when delegates will debate whether climate change or human hunters killed off the planets lost megafauna, as these extinct giants are known. Creatures like megatherium, the giant sloth, and the glyptodon, a car-sized species of armadillo, disappeared in North and South America about 10,000 years ago, when there were major changes to climates which some scientists believe triggered their extinctions, said Yadvinder Malhi, professor of ecosystem science at Oxford, one of the organisers of the conference, Megafauna and Ecosystem Function. However, it is also the case that tribes of modern humans were moving into these creatures territories at these times and many of us believe it is too much of a coincidence that this happened just as these animals vanished. These creatures had endured millions of years of climate change before then, after all. However, this was the rst time they had encountered humans. Modern humans emerged from Africa around 70,000 years ago, travelled across Asia and reached Australia 50,000 years ago, a time that coincides with a wave of extinctions of creatures there, including the diprotodon, a species of wombat that grew to the size of a modern hippopotamus. By about 14,000 years ago, humans had reached North America by crossing the land bridge that then linked Siberia and Alas-

most plants had adopted. This awareness has led some scientists to propose moving populations of the planets surviving large animals into regions where they could help restore the ecologies to their previous healthy conditions. One such experiment is being carried out by the ecologist Sergey Zimov at a nature reserve called Pleistocene Park in Siberia. Possibilty of cloning? Zimov has reintroduced musk ox, moose and other large animals and is attempting to nd out if their browsing will restore the landscape to its previous healthy, grassy state. Zimov is also scheduled to speak at the Oxford conference. Other researchers go even further and have proposed bringing extinct megafauna back to life. For example, several scientists have suggested that it could be possible to clone a mammoth from frozen remains found in Siberia using an Asian elephant as a surrogate mother. Lister was cautious about the prospects of such work, however. I think people greatly underestimate the incredible difculties involved. The mammoth corpses we have found are thousands of years old and we have yet to nd one that possesses an entire, intact cell with a nucleus. Without that, you are going to nd it very difcult to bring an animal like a mammoth back to life. In fact, the real lesson from the fate of the Earths megafauna is to appreciate how important surviving species are to our planet. Oxford University ecologist Emily Read, a conference organiser, said: We need to protect the megafauna that we have. More than 20,000 elephants were killed in 2012 for ivory and rhino numbers are declining because their horns are traded, illegally, at more than the price of gold. Its not just the cultural value of these large animals that we need to think about, but the fact that removing them affects the whole ecosystem.
THE OBSERVER

Brendan Atkins, of the Australian Museum in Sydney, stands next to a reconstructionof a diprotodon, a prehistoric rhino-sized mega-wombat on June 21, 2012. AFP

ka. Then they headed south. By 10,000 years ago, Homo sapiens had conquered North and South America at a time that coincided with major megafauna extinctions, including those of the giant sloth and the glyptodon. We think of Africa and south-east Asia with their lions, elephants and rhinos as the main home of large animals today, but until very recently in our planets history, huge creatures thrived in Australia, North America and South America as well, said Professor Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum in London. The question is: why did they disappear in the new world but survive in the old world? Some believe it is because large animals in Africa and south-east Asia learned to become wary of human beings and decided to avoid them at all costs. However, I also think climate change may have

been involved in the Americas and Australia and that humans only nished off these big animals when they were already weakened by loss of habitats and other climaterelated problems. Lost afnity with nature The idea that humans were involved in any way in eradicating dozens of species of giant animal when we were still hunter-gatherers has important implications in any case. It was thought, until relatively recently, that it was only when humans invented agriculture several thousand years ago that our species relationship with the natural world become unbalanced. Until then, humans had a close afnity with nature. But if ancient hunter-gatherers played a part in wiping out these species of huge animals as long as 50,000 years ago, humanitys supposed innate harmony with the living

world appears misplaced. More to the point, humanity is still paying the price for the disappearance of the megafauna of the Americas and Australia, the Oxford conference will hear. There is now a lot of evidence to suggest that large herbivores like gomphotheres, a family of elephant-like animals that went extinct in South America around 9,000 years, played a key role in spreading nutrition in areas like the Amazon. They would eat fruit in the forest, including avocados, and their excrement would then fertilise other areas. That no longer happens and places like the Amazon are today affected by low nutrition as a result, Malhi said. Another example is provided by the giant wombat, the diprotodon, which some scientists have argued browsed bush across Australia and kept biomass levels very low.

When the diprotodon vanished, plants and shrubs across the outback grew unhindered. The result was major bush res which, archaeologists have discovered, became a serious problem just after the giant wombat disappeared from Australia. Similarly, creatures such as the mammoth played a key role in trampling tundra and maintaining healthy grasslands in high latitudes such as Siberia. When the mammoth became extinct, the tundra took over to the detriment of the landscape. It is now becoming clear that lots of our understanding of contemporary ecology is incomplete because it does not take into account that ecosystems were adopted to having giant animals like the mammoth or the diprotodon, Malhi added. These are not natural systems today because they are missing key components to which

Myth of Planet X is debunked at last probably

Jean-Louis Santini

It wAs an elusive planet that for 200 years appeared to explain Uranuss wobbly orbit. And there was the sister sun theorised to be near our solar system that caused asteroids to swerve toward Earth. There is just one problem: neither Planet X nor Nemesis ever existed, researchers now say. Or probably not. The outer solar system probably does not contain a large gas giant planet [Planet X], or a small, companion star [Nemesis], concluded University of Pennsylvania astronomer Kevin Luhman, who directed the study using NASAs Wide-eld Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope. The results were published in the

most recent edition of The Astrophysical Journal. Most theories had estimated Planet X to be up to four times the size of Jupiter the biggest planet in our solar system. They suggested it would be found some 1,486 billion kilometres (923 billion miles) from the sun, or about 10,000 times farther than the Earths orbit. But the images gathered by the telescope did not detect any object larger than Jupiter. Luhman doesnt rule out the possibility that a planet is lurking somewhere in the asteroid belt. It would be hard to nd if it were closely aligned with a bright star that blinds the telescope or were much smaller than had been previously theorised.

But after this latest survey, Luhman said the odds of nding one are very unlikely: That is like a one in a hundred chance. Scientists rst imagined the existence of Planet X in 1781, when they discovered Uranus, a gas giant that astonished astronomers with its orbital variations, apparently incompatible with Newtons laws of gravity. Observers concluded that these irregularities could be explained by the existence of another, unknown planet that was exerting its own gravitational force. Attempts to track this mysterious Planet X led to the discovery of Neptune in 1846. But the estimated mass of Neptune couldnt explain the deviations of Uranuss orbit. That led astronomers to continue

their search for Planet X which, in turn, led to the discovery of Pluto in 1930. But the dwarf planet was also too small to explain Uranuss irregular path around the sun. Finally, in the 1990s, researchers determined that they had slightly overestimated the mass of Neptune, which meant the planet could in fact be the reason for Uranuss orbital behavior. Yet Planet X believers were still not convinced. The existence of Nemesis, a sunlike star nearby, was rst posited in the 1980s. The star, by occasionally coming closer to the sun, interfered with the orbit of comets and asteroids leading them to occasionally hit the Earth. Collisions like these are blamed for the ve mass extinctions over

the last 540 million years the most recent being the dinosaur extinction 65 million years ago. So over the years, there have been different pieces of evidence suggesting there might be something there, Luhman explained. But the WISE telescope didnt nd anything. The hunt for Planet X and Nemesis may have turned up empty, but the study did uncover 3,525 stars and brown dwarfs celestial objects whose mass puts them between a star and a large planet within 500 light years of the sun. Neighbouring star systems that have been hiding in plain sight just jump out in the WISE data, said Ned Wright, a University of California, Los Angeles astronomer who contributed to the study. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

World

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United colours of Vrindavan

Indian widows celebrate Holi with water and gulal, coloured powder, in Vrindavan on Friday. Breaking centuries-old tradition, around 1,000 widows living in the holy city of Vrindavan celebrated the spring colour festival of Holi at Meera Sahabhagini Sadan in the city. In a symbolic gesture, the widows celebrated Holi with colours and gulal unlike the previous year where they only sprinkled ower petals over each other. As per Indian tradition, widows are considered social outcasts and refrain from celebrating Holi. AFP

Iranian militia recruiting Iraqis to die in Syria

Martin Chulov

ACH day for the past nine months, the bodies have been coming. Some are carried in simple wooden cofns strapped to car roofs. Others arrive with more ceremony, escorted by black-clad mourners or men in military fatigues to a hypnotic soundtrack of Islamic hymns. The convoys turn into the lanes of the Valley of Peace cemetery, squeezing past tombstones weathered by millennia and stopping next to freshly dug holes in the desert soil. The newest inhabitants of the worlds biggest cemetery were killed not here in Iraq but in Syria, where they fought under the green ag of the Middle Easts most potent new Shia Islamic political force, Asaib Ahl al-Haq (League of the Righteous). The militia has been busy readying for the afterlife, buying up more than 2,500 square metres of burial plots and erecting shrines for its fallen. In Baghdad, nearly 100 miles north, the group has been more occupied with the here and now, imposing its inuence on Iraqs fractured political scene and steadily asserting its will throughout the citys Shia heartland suburbs. Since the US military left Iraq in December 2011, and within two months of the rst national election since then, Asaib Ahl al-Haq has quietly emerged as one of the most powerful players in the countrys political and public life. Through a mix of strategic diplomacy, aggressive military operations and intimidation signature methods of its main patron, the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani the group is increasingly calling the shots in two countries. Its rise to prominence has disturbed many Iraqi political leaders. Little more than seven years ago, they were just another Iranian proxy used to attack the Americans, said a minister. Now they have political legitimacy and their tentacles in all the

security apparatus. Some of us didnt notice until it was too late. Until early 2007, few outsiders had heard of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which emerged over several years from a split within the Mahdi Army, the then dominant arm of the Shia insurgency in Iraq. Its earliest incarnation stealth tactics and the denial of responsibilty for attacks was straight from the playbook of Suleimani, an elusive Iranian general whose inuence over Irans strategic interests has grown sharply in the past 10 years. The group has a close connection to Lebanons Hezbollah and ideological links to Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Its debut as a strike weapon of Suleimani, who reports directly to Khamenei and commands the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, came with an attack in January 2007 on a US military outpost in Karbala, another Shia shrine city, south of Najaf, that killed ve US soldiers. Several months later, the groups leader, Qais al-Khazali, his brother Laith and a senior Hezbollah member, Ali Moussa al-Daqduq, were captured by the SAS near Basra. Then came a series of events that gave rise to the groups claim to legitimacy. In May 2007, a British IT consultant, Peter Moore, and four of his bodyguards were seized by Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Iraqi security force members from a government building in east Baghdad. Moore was released in late 2009 after the Khazali brothers were freed from US prisons in Iraq. However, the Britons guards were all killed, their bodies returned one by one as part of a choreographed exchange with Asaib Ahl al-Haq prisoners who were released from US and Iraqi prisons. Daqduq, one of the last to be freed, was returned to Lebanon in 2012. Now, as Iraq approaches parliamentary elections on April 30, the group is stepping up its political activism in Baghdad and its support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syr-

ia. In speeches and interviews in the past two years, Qais al-Khazali has claimed a role for the group based on its military defeat of the US. His message has galvanised thousands of Iraqi Shias who have volunteered to ght for the Assad regime in Syria. And it has worried many communities across the Shia heartland, who see their countrymens involvement in Syrias battles as a costly investment in a sectarian conict that increasingly respects no border. In the Najaf cemetery, gravediggers say they can barely distinguish between the end of one war and the start of the next. No sooner had the Americans gone than Syria exploded, said one worker, standing against a newly built shrine. There have been more of their bodies coming back from Syria than ever before. There are easily around 500 of them buried here. Weve been getting about three a day for the past month alone. They get driven to us from across the border in Iran. When they are killed in Syria, they are own there. The regular rhythms of life and death keep business ticking over in this graveyard of more than ve million souls. But even by Najafs standards, business has been brisk lately. A warm wind swirls soil from open graves nearby, and a newly etched tombstone spells out the short life of the Shia jihadist killed somewhere in Syria last November. His grave, and the 30-odd alongside it, all say the occupant died defending the Holy Shrine Sayyidah Zaynab. The mosque, on the southwest outskirts of Damascus, is said to be the resting place of the daughter of the Imam Ali, the prophet Muhammads cousin, and is revered by the Shia faithful. Its defence has served as a clarion call for Shia ghters from around the Middle East who believe it to be under attack from Sunni extremists. Hezbollah also claims its intervention in Syria on the side of Assad is in defence of the shrine. So too does

Kataib Hezbollah, another Iranianbacked Iraqi proxy, whose members are often buried alongside Asaib Ahl al-Haq ghters. Both Iraqi groups ght across Syria under the banner of Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas, which has been at the vanguard of attacks against the almost exclusively Sunni opposition across Syria. They, along with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, are helping turn the tide in favour of Assad, which in late 2012 was losing control of Damascus to rebel groups who were nding serious cracks in the regimes inner cordon. Then came a strategic decision by all the Shia groups to defend Assad whatever the cost, said a regional ambassador previously based in the Syrian capital. You could see the turnaround in Assad almost immediately. Even in his speeches, it was like we can do this. Estimates of the numbers of Shia ghters in Syria range between 8,000 and 15,000. Whatever the true gure, the involvement of large numbers of Iraqis is not the secret it was in the early months of Syrias civil war, which is now being fought along a sectarian faultline. Outside Baghdad University, a large poster of Asaib Ahl al-Haqs dead, superimposed on a photo of the Sayyidah Zaynab shrine, greets students. Similar posters stand outside other universities, and on prominent public squares. Security forces pay them no heed. The government has given them cover for their political and security life, said a senior Iraqi ofcial with links to the intelligence community. [The Iraqi prime minister Nouri] alMaliki is wary of them, but what can he do? His nature is that if he cannot deal with the issue he will turn his head away. He tried to set up a cell to monitor them in late 2010, but they found out and he was embarrassed. He paid them money and said sorry. They dont respect him now. Iraqi intelligence ofcials believe Asaib Ahl al-Haq is receiving $1.5-

$2 million a month from Iran. They see themselves as the Soldiers of the Marjaeen [the ultimate Shia religious authority], the ofcial said. Their power is unchecked. The gravediggers who sit waiting for business in concrete huts along the main road through the cemetery fear nothing in death, but admit to being scared of the threat faced by anyone who earns the ire of Asaib Ahl al-Haq. They are everywhere, said one. Theyre in the [ofcial records] building. Dont go asking questions there. You will be arrested. In Baghdad, homes and ofces have been bought or, in some cases, commandeered by ofcials from the party who use them as recruiting centres for anyone looking to ght in Syria. Most locals seem to give them a wide berth. You need to be young and you need to have two written references, said a local man who had sat in on an interview between a would-be volunteer and Asaib Ahl al-Haq ofcials. Those guarantees are important. It is also better if you dont have children, or a wife. If you are accepted, you will be taken to Iran for about two weeks for training and then you will be sent to Syria. Its the same way home if you die there. If someone dies, they will be looked after by Iran. The families of martyrs are paid up to $5,000 each. And if they are too poor to pay for the burial, that will be taken care of too. The Najaf gravediggers were staying ahead of the market, digging holes in advance for the bodies soon to follow. Tombstones were piled nearby for up to 30 Ketaib Hezbollah graves waiting for engravers. On a corner, a woman in a burqa was cleaning dust from large plastic bottles of pink rosewater that family members use to wipe tombs, new and old. A faint oral smell wafted past the new arrivals on a dusk breeze. Well be back here tomorrow, said the gravedigger. We will bury whatever they send us. THE GUaRDIaN

18

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

Opinion
www.phnompenhpost.com

EDITORIAL PERSONNEL Publisher Chris Dawe Editor-in-Chief Alan Parkhouse Managing Editor Chad Williams Editor-in-Chief Post Khmer Kay Kimsong Managing Editor Post Khmer Sam Rith Chief of Staff Cheang Sokha Deputy Chief of Staff Chhay Channyda National News Editor Shane Worrell Digital Media Director David Boyle Deputy News Editor Vong Sokheng Group Business Editor May Kunmakara Deputy Business Editor Joe Freeman Property Editor Pisei Hin Foreign News Editor Joe Curtin Sports Editor Dan Riley Picture Editor Scott Howes Lifestyle and 7Days Editor Poppy McPherson Deputy Head of Lifestyle Desk Pan Simala Chief Sub-editor Michael Philips Sub-editors Shane Rothery, Daniel de Carteret, Amelia Woodside, Laignee Barron, Kevin Ponniah, Stuart White, Sean Teehan, Bennett Murray, Will Jackson, Daniel Pye Reporters Meas Sokchea, Mom Kunthear, Khouth Sophak Chakrya, May Titthara, Khoun Leakhana, Sen David, Phak Seangly, Buth Reaksmey Kongkea, Chhim Sreyneang, Kim Sarom, Lieng Sarith, Hor Kimsay Photographers Heng Chivoan, Pha Lina, Hong Menea, Sreng Meng Srun, Vireak Mai Web Editor Leang Phannara Webmasters Uong Ratana, Horng Pengly SIEM REAP BUREAU

Zhou Yongkang, Chinas top security ofcial (centre), attends Chinas National Peoples Congress in Beijing, China, in 2012. BLOOMBERG

Fallen tiger, shaken dragon

Comment
Minxin Pei

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ESS than 18 months after becoming General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping is poised to cage the biggest political tiger a corrupt top official in the history of the Peoples Republic. Although rumours of the imminent fall of former internal security chief Zhou Yongkang have been swirling for months, many observers remained unsure whether Xi would prosecute Zhou and thus break the partys longestablished unwritten rule of immunity for sitting or retired members of the Politburo Standing Committee. But doubts about Zhous fate have now been dispelled by a recent flurry of uncensored news stories in the Chinese media that revealed shocking details of corruption involving Zhous family and former subordinates. One newspaper reported that the authorities recently searched the homes of Zhous two brothers. Though these stories have yet to implicate Zhou directly, it will be only a matter of time before the Chinese government officially charges him with corruption. Whispered reports are even more lurid. Zhou is said to have plotted to murder his first wife, and there are rumours that at the height of last

years scandal involving disgraced former Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai, he attempted to assassinate Xi in the leadership compound at Zhongnanhai. Based on what the Chinese press has disclosed thus far, it is clear that the Zhou case will be the ugliest and most sensational scandal involving a senior party leader that the country has ever seen. It will make Bo, an ally of Zhou and a former Politburo member who was sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption, look like a petty thief. Apparently, the Chinese government is meticulously building a case against Zhou by pursuing two critical leads. The first one targets his son, Zhou Bin, a businessman who has amassed a huge fortune through shady deals and possibly criminal activities. With so many officials and private businessmen eager to curry favour with his father, Zhou Bin had no difficulty cashing in. His business activities include brokering sales of oil-field equipment to Iraq (causing huge losses for Chinese state-owned oil companies); construction of hydroelectric power stations in Sichuan (where his father was the provincial party boss from 1997 to 2002); providing information technology for 8,000 state-owned gas stations; and investments in real estate, oil exploration, and toll roads.

The most damaging revelation so far concerns Zhou Bins friendship with billionaire mafia boss Liu Han, who is now standing trial for organised crime and murder. Liu made his fortune with Zhou Bins help. In one case, the younger Zhou allegedly used his political connections to help Liu sell two hydroelectric power stations to a state-owned power company for a profit of 2.2 billion ($330 million). The second lead centers on Zhou Yongkangs former lieutenants. A tactic favoured by Chinese anti-corruption investigators is to detain junior officials who have worked closely with their primary target. Typically, these minions are threatened with long prison sentences, or even the death penalty, unless they cooperate. In this case, a dozen officials who worked for Zhou in the energy sector in Sichuan and in the Ministry of Public Security (where Zhou was Minister from 2003 to 2008) have been arrested. Most ominously for Zhou, the officials include two of his former executive assistants, who presumably have intimate knowledge of Zhous activities. When the Chinese government formally announces Zhous arrest probably after the conclusion of the annual session of the National Peoples Congress in mid-March the

revelations of the rot within the Chinese party-state will stun even the most jaded observers. What Zhou, his family, and their cronies have done can be described only as insatiable looting and blatant gangsterism. More important, the Zhou scandal will almost certainly implicate a record number of senior officials. As of now, one minister, two provincial vice-governors, one vice-minister and several senior executives in state-owned oil companies have been detained. More officials are expected to fall in the coming year. For Xi, ensnaring Zhou in his anticorruption net will likely provide a boost in his popular standing. He can show a sceptical Chinese public that he has the political will to take down one of the countrys most powerful politicians. Moreover, vanquishing a once-untouchable politician will leave no doubt about Xis personal authority. For the rest of the world, the unfolding Zhou scandal reconfirms a profoundly worrisome fact: the Middle Kingdom remains deeply corrupt. Caging a tiger will not destroy a vampire. PROJECT SYNDICATE
Minxin Pei is Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College and a non-resident senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

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THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

19

Lifestyle
Young talent recognised at political debate show finale
Poppy McPherson

In brief
THEIR first album was almost scuppered by US sanctions and they lack the money for all their instruments, but Myanmar rockers Side Effect have played the gig of their dreams in America helped by fans from around the world. Facing everything from censored lyrics to tight restrictions on live gigs under the former junta, the band became the first from Myanmar to play the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas since their isolated country opened up following decades of military dictatorship. Theres so much love in the air. I think because of the music, you know all the people are here because they love music, said lead singer and guitarist Darko C, just before playing to a packed Austin bar late on Thursday. The indie rock band sings in both English and Burmese. afP

Myanmar group rocks US fans at SXSW fest

FEW days ahead of the reality television triumph that changed her life, Eang Linda was modest about her chances. It is going . . . normal. Not very well. Its kind of hard to talk with students, she said, handing out yers to girls and monks outside Pannasastra University. A smartly dressed 20-yearold with a blunt fringe, Linda was harnessing the youth vote before the nale of Next Generation, a televised political debate show funded by USAID and organised by the International Republican Institute (IRI). The nale, screened live on MyTV on Friday and rebroadcast on CNC on Saturday, centred on whether provincial governors should be elected rather than appointed. Three phone voting lines one for each of the candidates were opened and, after successfully arguing on the side of elections, Linda drew more than 2,000 votes, edging out rivals Kongkea Mao, 25, and Seak Leng, 23. The three remained from the original eld of 24 contestants, all between the ages of 18 and 27 and most of whom were voted off in previous shows. Previous episodes of the weekly one-hour show, known as Neak Beantor Vean in

(From left) Ou Virak, Eang Linda and Jeff Daigle at the nale of Next Generation on Friday night.

PHOTO SUPPLIED

Khmer, have featured young people debating controversial issues like the legalisation of prostitution and the politicisation of monks. But this weeks issue was particularly timely, as electoral change has been a key demand by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party in talks with the government. IRI chose the topic of provincial governors as the nal debate topic given the relevant electoral reform discussions now under way in the country, said Jessica Keegan, country director for Cambodia at IRI, which has produced

similar programs in Georgia and Guyana. The idea of bringing representative politics closer to the people is not a new concept for Cambodia, but it is a relatively new topic for television. The rst prize, handed out by Ou Virak, chairman of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, and Jeff Daigle, charge daffaires at the US embassy, includes a study tour of Washington DC, including meetings on Capitol Hill with lawmakers from the House and Senate. Accepting the trophy, Linda said: I am a small person, but

Im solid like the core of a tree. I will learn all that I can when Im in the United States, and bring that knowledge back to my country where I want to work to improve Cambodia. Linda has come a long way from her roots in Kampong Chhnang province, where, growing up, she had no aspirations to involve herself with government. My family told me to stay away from politics. But as I grew up, I feel like something went wrong with our society, she said. She started to develop an interest in social issues and

applied to take part in Next Generation at her sisters urging, on the last day before the deadline. Although she is studying business administration at Pannasastra, she hasnt ruled out entering the political arena later in life. Sometimes when Im working on my campaign I feel like I should be a politician, she said. Yesterday, Lindas Facebook page was ooded with comments. Congratulations on your achievement, but dont forget me, one person implored.

DISSIDENT Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has said he hopes President Xi Jinping makes time to see his exhibition during the leaders visit to Germany this month, in an interview published on Saturday. It would be good if the president found the time to go visit the exhibition. He would see how a man of the same age as him and from the same background can become a totally different person, Ai told the daily Suddeutsche Zeitung. Xi is due to pass through Berlin at the end of this month as part of a European tour. AfP

Ai Weiwei asks Chinese president to his show

Rome honours Great Beauty filmmaker

Songkites music festival fosters original talent

Bennett Murray

SARUN Jimmy Kaoon, son of 60s rock star Vor Sarun, stepped into his fathers shoes last night on a stage on Koh Pich. Along with 11 other young

Cambodians, Kaoon performed behind City Hall at Songkites, a one-night concert intended to garner enthusiasm for original songwriting in the Kingdom. Its very important because, our past original songs are everywhere, said

Euan Gray (left) and Phillip Javelle help to set up for last nights Songkites music show on a stage behind City Hall. PHA LINA

Kaoon, who supports himself as a tour guide for foreign visitors. Hundreds of young concert-goers turned out to hear the songs, sung in both English and Khmer to the backdrop of an international band. The tunes ranged from acoustic pop in the style of Sarah McLachlan to blues. Organised by Ragamuffin arts therapy NGO co-founder Carrie Herbert and musician Euan Gray, Songkites aims to promote new music as opposed to tunes that copy international hits. There is original music in Cambodia, but it hasnt really been given an opportunity to flourish, Herbert said, adding that Cambodian music often takes foreign titles and adds Khmer language lyrics. The festival marked the launch of an album, also called Songkites, which was produced during a six-month period of workshops and recording sessions with 12 young Cambodians. Lewis Pragasam, the leader and founder of Malaysian band Asiabeat and the drummer who provided percussion last night, likened the Cambodian music scene to Malaysias when he started his band 30 years ago. It was just in this short time that all this incredible talent came out, and

everybody started coming out, Pragasam said of his native country. Kaoon said his song Baby, Im Sorry, which he performed at the concert, shares similarities with American blues music. Its about a man who made a mistake, and made his woman feel so bad, he said. Kaoon said that though his father who took a job as a police officer after the Khmer Rouge helped him learn the trade, the retired rocker has not gone on stage since before 1975, despite being invited to perform abroad by overseas Cambodians Hes very famous, but he had to burn all his photos, he had to burn all his albums and put a lot of dirt on his skin to hide himself from the Khmer Rouge, and thats why hes still alive. But his band had died. Ly Kan Pich Vongseng, who also performed last night, said that Songkites is all about re-igniting Cambodias pre-Khmer Rouge passion for original music. It is waking up this industry to reform, and to make a change for the writers, the production of the songs, to have original music, as it was developed in the old era, in the Sinn Sisamouth era.

THE Great Beauty director Paolo Sorrentino on Friday was made an honorary citizen of Rome, the backdrop for his Oscar-winning film. Part ode to the architectural and artistic glory of the Italian capital, part indictment of the decadence of its elite, Sorrentinos film has won a string of awards culminating in the Oscar for the best foreign film last month. AfP

CHIMAMANDA Ngozi Adichies first novel was long-listed for the Man Booker prize; her second, Half of a Yellow Sun, won the Orange prize. Now her third, the acclaimed Americanah, has beaten Donna Tartts The Goldfinch to win the Nigerian author one of most prestigious literary prizes in the US, the National Book Critics Circle award. Americanah, which has also just been long-listed for the Baileys womens fiction prize, alongside titles by Evie Wyld, Elizabeth Gilbert and Bookerwinner Eleanor Catton, had previously found favour among US book reviewers. THE GUARDIAN

Success for Nigerian author at book awards

20

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

Travel
INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT SCHEDULE
MH 765 5J 258
Arrival 03:30 09:05 09:05 14:40 16:20 18:40 19:40 21:50 20:50 14:30 20:50 13:45 20:50 13:00 14:30 20:50 16:30 18:45 10:25 16:05 17:00 17:25

3.5.7 2.4.7 1, 6, 7 2.4 5 7 3, 2 5 2.4.5.7

1. 5
Days 1-3-5

14:15 22:30 16:35 10:40 12:25 12:45 18:30 18:35 10:05

20:15
Dep 12:55

17:25 02:11 22:15 15:20 15:40 16:05 21:35 21:55 13:00

21:25
Arrival 13:55

MH 764 5J 257 MI 633 MI 622 MI 616 MI 636 MI 630 MI 618 QV 512

8M 401
Flighs K6 131

3.5.7 2.4.7 1, 6, 7 2.4 7 3, 2 5 5 2.4.5.7

1. 5
Days 1-3-5

12:10 19:45 14:35 08:40 10:40 13:55 07:55 16:35 06:30

17:05
Dep 11:20

13:15 21:30 15:45 09:50 11:50 17:40 11:35 17:45 09:25

19:15
Arrival 12:20

FROM PHNOM PENH

Flighs K6 720 PG 938 PG 932 TG 581 PG 934 FD 3617 PG 936 TG 585 CZ 324 QR 965 QR 967 CZ 324 CZ 6060 VN 840 QR 965 QR 967 VN 841 VN 3856 KA 207 KA 207 KA 209 KA 209 KA 205 KE 690 OZ 740 AK 1473 MH 755 MH 763 AF 273 FM 833 MI 601 MI 622 3K 594 3K 592 3K 598 MI 607 2817 2817 2817 2817 BR 266 VN 840 QV 920
8M 402 8M 401

TO PHNOM PENH
Arrival 01:10 08:15 11:10 11:10 16:40 18:15 20:40 21:45 16:05 22:45
05:20+1

SIEM REAP - MANILA SIEM REAP - SINGAPORE MI 633 MI 622 MI 630 MI 615 MI 636 MI 617 QV 522
8M 402

MANILA - SIEM REAP SINGAPORE - SIEM REAP

Days Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily ..34..7 12...6. Daily 2.4.7 Daily ..34..7 12...6. Daily Daily 1.2.4.7 6 1 3.5.7 2 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2 2.3.4.5.7 1.3.5.6.7 2.4 1.3.5.6 .2.4..7 .2.4..7 Daily 1.3 2.4.5 6 7 Daily Daily Daily 1.3.6 1.3.6

Dep 12:05 06:40 09:55 10:05 15:30 17:05 19:30 20:40 08:00 16:10 22:40 08:00 14:45 17:30 16:10 22:40 14:00 19:20 11:25 11:45 18:30 17:25 19:00 23:40 23:50 08:35 11:10 17:10 20:05 19:50

Flighs K6 721 PG 931 TG 580 PG 933 FD 3616 PG 935 TG 584 PG 937 CZ 323 QR 964 QR 966 CZ 6059 CZ 323 VN 841 QR 604 QR 966 VN 920 VN 3857 KA 208 KA 206 KA 206 KA 206

Days Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily ..34..7 12...6. 2.4.7 Daily Daily ..34..7 12...6. Daily Daily

Dep 02:25 07:55 07:55 13:30 15:15 17:30 18:25 20:15 14:30 01:05 07:25 12:00 19:05 09:40 13:30 19:50 15:50 18:00

PHNOM PENH - BANGKOK

BANGKOK - PHNOM PENH

SIEM REAP - VIENTIANE

SIEM REAP - YANGON
PREAH SIHANOUK - SIEM REAP Flighs K6 130

VIENTIANE - SIEM REAP

YANGON - SIEM REAP
SIEM REAP - PREAH SIHANOUK

PHNOM PENH - BEIJING PHNOM PENH - DOHA ( Via HCMC)

BEIJING - PHNOM PENH DOHA - PHNOM PENH ( Via HCMC)

PHNOM PENH - GUANGZHOU 11:40 18:10 20:35 17:10 23:40 14:45 20:05 15:05 22:25 22:05 21:00 22:35

GUANGZHOU - PHNOM PENH

PHNOM PENH - HANOI PHNOM PENH - HO CHI MINH CITY

HANOI - PHNOM PENH HO CHI MINH CITY - PHNOM PENH

PHNOM PENH - HONG KONG

HONG KONG - PHNOM PENH 1.2.4.6.7 08:50 3.5.7 1 2 14:30 15:25 15:50

The interior of the Crowley Theater in Marfa, Texas.

AFP

AIRLINES CODE
2817 - 16 Tigerairways 5J - CEBU Airways. AK - Air Asia BR - EVA Airways CI - China Airlines CZ - China Southern FD - Thai Air Asia FM - Shanghai Air K6- Cambodia Angkor Air KA - Dragon Air MH - Malaysia Airlines MI - SilkAir OZ - Asiana Airlines PG - Bangkok Airways QR - Qatar Airways QV - Lao Airlines SQ - Singapore Airlines

COLOUR CODE
1 Monday 2 Tuesday 3 Wednesday 4 Thursday 5 Friday 6 Saturday 7 Sunday

PHNOM PENH - INCHEON 06:40 06:50 11:20 14:00 20:00 06:05 23:05

INCHEON - PHNOM PENH KE 689 OZ 739 AK 1474 MH 754 MH 762 AF 273 FM 833 MI 602 MI 622 3K 593 3K 591 *3K 597 MI 608 2816 2816 2816 2816 BR 265 VN 841 QV 921 8M 401 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2 18:30 19:10 15:15 09:30 3:20 20:05 22:20 22:50 16:00 10:20 4:10 06:05 22:40 08:40 11:25 14:25 20:20 15:15 17:15 15:50 08:10 14:00 12:30 11:35 13:00 13:15 10:45

PHNOM PENH - KUALA LUMPUR

KUALA LUMPUR - PHNOM PENH

TG - Thai Airways | VN - Vietnam Airlines

This ight schedule information is updated about once a month. Further information, please contact direct to airline or a travel agent for ight schedule information.

Marfa: oasis of culture in the Texan desert

PHNOM PENH- PARIS PHNOM PENH - SHANGHAI PHNOM PENH - SINGAPORE 09:30 12:30 12:20 15:10 21:05 16:00 18:10 16:40 09:10 14:50 13:20 12:45 17:30 17:50 13:30 11:45 15:20 18:10 0:05 19:25 21:10 19:40 12:00 17:50 16:10 17:05 18:50 19:10 14:55 12:30

PHNOM PENH - PARIS SHANGHAI - PHNOM PENH 2.3.4.5.7 19:30 1.3.5.6.7 07:40 2.4 1.3.5.6 .2.4..7 .2.4..7 Daily 1.3 2.4.5 6 7 Daily Daily Daily 1.3.6 08:40 13:20 19:15 13:50 16:20 15:00 07:20 13:00 11:30 09:10 11:30 11:45 08:20 SINGAPORE - PHNOM PENH - SIEM REAP *
Air Asia (AK) Room T6, PP International Airport. Tel: 023 6666 555 Fax: 023 890 071 www.airasia.com

AIRLINES
Koreanair (KE) Room.F3-R03, Intelligent Ofce Myanmar Airways International Center, Monivong Blvd,PP Tel: (855) 23 224 047-9 #90+92+94Eo, St. 217, Sk. Orussey4, Kh. 7 Makara, www.koreanair.com Phnom Penh, Cambodia. T:023 881 178 | F:023 886 677 www.maiair.com Cebu Pacic (5J) Phnom Penh: No. 333B Monivong Blvd. Tel: 023 219161 Siem Reap: No. 50,Sivatha Blvd. Tel: 063 965487 E-mail: cebuair@ptm-travel.com www.cebupacicair.com

Cambodia Angkor Air (K6) PP Ofce, #90+92+94Eo, St.217, Sk.Orussey4, Kh. 7Makara, 023 881 178 /77718-333. Fax:+855 23-886-677 www.cambodiaangkorair.com E: mai@royalaviationexpert.com

Dragon Air (KA) #168, Monireth, PP Tel: 023 424 300 Fax: 023 424 304 www.dragonair.com/kh

PHNOM PENH -TAIPEI PHNOM PENH - VIENTIANE

TAIPEI - PHNOM PENH VIENTIANE - PHNOM PENH

Tiger airways G. oor, Regency square, Suare, Suite #68/79, St.205, Sk Chamkarmorn, PP Tel: (855) 95 969 888 (855) 23 5515 888/5525888 E: info@cambodiaairlines.net

PHNOM PENH - YANGON SIEM REAP - PHNOM PENH

YANGON - SIEM REAP

Qatar Airways No. 296 Blvd. Mao Tse Toung (St. 245), Ground oor, Intercontinental Hotel PP Tel: +23 42 40 12/13/14 www.qatarairways.com

SilkAir (MI) Regency C,Unit 2-4,Tumnorb Teuk, Chamkarmorn Phnom Penh Tel:023 988 629 www.silkair.com

REGULAR SHIPPING LINES SCHEDULES CALLING PORT ROTATION

LINE CALLING SCHEDULES 1 Wed, 08:00 - Thu 16:00 RCL (12calls/moth) 2 Thu, 14:00 - Fri 22:00 3 Fri, 20:00 - Sat 23:59 MEARSK (MCC) (4 calls/moth) SITC (BEN LINE (4 calls/onth) ITL (ACL) (4 calls/month) APL (4 calls/month) COTS (2 calls/month) 1 Th, 08:00 - 20:00 2 Fri, 22:00- Sun 00:01 Sun 09:00-23:00 Sat 06:00 - Sun 08:00 Fri, 08:00 - Sun, 06:00 Irregula FREEQUENCY ROTATION PORTS 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 Call/week 1 call/week SIN-SHV-SGZ-SIN HKG-SHV-SGZ-HKG (HPH-TXGKEL) SIN-SHV-SGZ-SIN SGN-SHV-LZP-SGN - HKG-OSA-TYO-KOB - BUS-SGH-YAT-SGN - SIN-SHV-TPP-SIN HCM-SHV-LZP-HCMNBO-SGH-OSA-KOBBUS-SGH-HGK-CHM SGZ-SHV-SIN-SGZ SIN-SHV-SIN

SIEM REAP - BANGKOK Flighs

K6 700

BANGKOK - SIEM REAP Dep

12:50

Days
Daily

Arrival
2:00

Flighs
K6 701

Days
Daily

Dep
02:55

Arrival
04:05

PG 924 PG 906 PG 914 PG 908 PG 910 CZ 3054 CZ 3054

K6 850

Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2.4.6 1.3.5.7

Daily

09:45 13:15 15:20 18:50 20:30 11:25 19:25

06:50

11:10 14:40 16:45 20:15 21:55 15:35 23:20

08:30

PG 903 PG 905 PG 913 PG 907 PG 909 CZ 3053 CZ 3053

K6 851

Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 2.4.6 1.3.5.7

Daily

08:00 11:35 13:35 17:00 18:45 08:45 16:35

19:30

09:00 12:45 14:35 18:10 19:55 10:30 18:30

21:15

SIEM REAP - GUANGZHOU

GUANGZHOU - SIEM REAP

SIEM REAP -HANOI VN 868 VN 842 VN 844 VN 800 VN 3818 VN 826 VN 3820 VN 828 VN 3822 KE 688 OZ 738 AK 281 1.2.3.5.6 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 12:40 18:05 19:45 21:00 11:10 13:30 17:45 18:20 21:35 23:15 23:40 08:35 15:35 19:45 21:25 22:40 12:30 14:40 18:45 19:20 22:35 06:10 07:10 11:35

HANOI - SIEM REAP VN 843 VN 845 VN 845 VN 801 VN 3809 VN 827 VN 3821 VN 829 VN 3823 KE 687 OZ 737 AK 280 Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily Daily 15:25 17:05 17:45 18:20 09:15 11:35 15:55 16:20 19:45 18:30 19:20 06:50 17:10 18:50 19:30 20:00 10:35 12:35 16:55 17:40 20:45 22:15 22:40 07:50

2 calls/month BBK-SHV-BKK-(LZP)

34 call/month
SGZ= Songkhla, Thailand SHV= Sihanoukville Port Cambodia SIN= Singapore TPP= TanjungPelapas, Malaysia TYO= Tokyo, Japan TXG= Taichung, Taiwan YAT= Yantian, China YOK= Yokohama, Japan

SIEM REAP - HO CHI MINH CITY

HO CHI MINH CITY - SIEM REAP

BUS= Busan, Korea HKG= HongKong kao=Kaoshiung, Taiwan ROC Kob= Kebe, Japan KUN= Kuantan, Malaysia LZP= Leam Chabang, Thailand NBO= Ningbo, China OSA= Osaka, Japan SGN= Saigon, Vietnam

SIEM REAP - INCHEON

INCHEON - SIEM REAP

FLY DIRECT TO MYANMAR MONDAY, WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY YANGON - PHNOM PENH SIEM REAP - YANGON

PHNOM PENH - YANGON YANGON - SIEM REAP

FLY DIRECT TO SIEM REAP MONDAY, WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY #90+92+94Eo, St. 217, Sk. Orussey4, Kh. 7 Makara, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Tel 023 881 178 | Fax 023 886 677 | www.maiair.com

SIEM REAP - KUALA LUMPUR

KUALA LUMPUR - SIEM REAP

ESTLED in the Texas high desert about an hour from the Mexican border, Marfa appears, at rst glance, to be hidden from the outside world. With a population of only 1,900, the city that began life as a railroad stop feels like a backwater, with fading buildings, modest homes and dormant streets. Yet the sleepy appearance is misleading. For the thousands who ock to the town each year from around the world, Marfa is a cultural paradise, an El Dorado for art lovers. A visitor might struggle to locate a pharmacy or a supermarket, but will be able to enjoy bookstores, galleries, a theatre, a radio station, two annual lm festivals and numerous art deco treasures. Every weekend, the crowds descend on a town the local tourist board markets as: Tough to get to. Tougher to explain. But once you get here, you get it. Its like the tide, joked Valerie Arber, an artist who has lived in the town for 16 years. The stream of visitors regularly includes luminaries from the creative world, such as the director of the Tate Gallery, Nicholas Serota, actress Sissy Spacek, singer Beyonce or edgy bands such as The xx. Marfa is a contemporary utopia, a place for thought and art in a landscape of wild beauty, said Fabien Giraud, a French artist who works in the Fieldwork Marfa project. Founded in the late 19th century, Marfa developed into a thriving community that included ranches and a military base. A devastating drought decimated livestock, however, and the end of World War II saw the military base close, triggering a decline in Marfas fortunes.

The town received a eeting moment in the Hollywood spotlight when it was used as the location for the 1955 James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor classic Giant, but it would be nearly another two decades before Marfas revival would begin in earnest. Marfas renaissance can be traced back to 1972, when Donald Judd, one of the most important minimalist artists of the 20th century, arrived in the town in 1972. Tired of the frenetic pace of life in New York, and in love with the desert landscape, Judd purchased a number of former military and commercial buildings in Marfa to house his giant sculptures. He moved his family and his studio to the town, and with support from the Dia Art Foundation in New York, set up the Chinati Foundation, dedicated to the creation of a permanent exhibit of his huge works and those of fellow artists such as Dan Flavin or John Chamberlain. Since Judds death in 1994, the collection has grown, helping Marfa establish itself as a hub of contemporary art. Judd was sure of the quality of his own work. He knew people would come, Chinati Foundation associate director Rob Weiner said. Other organisations have also contributed to Marfas booming reputation as an artistic centre. The Lannan Foundation sponsors four- to six-week residencies in the town for writers, poets and essayists. The Ballroom Marfa centre for art, music and cinema opened in 2003. We loved the idea of a creative space where people converge from all over the world, co-founder Fairfax Dorn said. We liked the idea of a new frontier. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

Entertainment
NOW SHOWING
LEGeND CINeMA
300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE Greek general Themistokles leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and vengeful commander of the Persian navy Artemisia. Toul Kork: 9:30am, 1:35pm, 3:40pm, 7:35pm, 9:55pm ROBOCOP In 2028 Detroit, when Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) a loving husband, father and good cop is critically injured in the line of duty, the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp sees its chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer. Toul Kork: 5:15pm, 9:40pm POMPEII A gladiator finds himself in a race against time to save his true love, who has been betrothed to a corrupt Roman senator. As Mount Vesuvius erupts, he must fight to save his beloved as Pompeii crumbles around him. Toul Kork: 11:20am THE MISSING PICTURE Rithy Panh uses clay figures, archival footage and his narration to recreate the atrocities Cambodias Khmer Rouge committed between 1975 and 1979. Nominated for an Oscar. Toul Kork: 8pm MR PEABODY & SHERMAN The time-travelling adventures of an advanced canine and his adopted son as they endeavour to fix a time rift they created. Toul Kork: 9:30am, 3:25pm, 5:50pm 3AM PART 2 Thai horror movie. Toul Kork: 11:35am, 1:20pm PUCH KHNOM CHEONG Khmer film. Toul Kork: 9:30am, 1:40pm, 3:45pm, 7:45pm, 9:55pm KON BRO SA LEUR KEUR Khmer film. Toul Kork: 11:30am

21

Go Club @ Mloup Snai

Go, or Baduk (common meaning: encircling game) is a board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago. The game is noted for being rich in strategy despite its simple rules. It involves black and white playing pieces called stones. Go originated in China but is also popular in other parts of Asia including Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Anyone is welcome to show up.

Mloup Snai Restaurant, #91 Street 592 (Toul Kork district). 10am

Ballet class @ CSB PP

This class is structured to provide students with a rm foundation in ballet technique and vocabulary in a series of steps. This class is mainly for people who danced when they were younger, remember the basics of ballet and are looking for a refresher course. Also welcome are those who have a lot of experience in another dance style and want to quickly cover the basics of ballet before advancing.

Join in with Go, or Baduk, at Mloup Snai restaurant. AFP

TV PICKS

8:25am - MUNICH: Based on the true story of the Black September aftermath and the five men chosen to eliminate the ones responsible for that fateful day. HBO 12pm - REAL STEEL: Set in the near future, where robot boxing is a top sport, a struggling promoter feels hes found a champion in a discarded robot. During his hopeful rise to the top, he discovers he has an 11year-old son who wants to know his father. HBO 3:50pm - ALEX CROSS: A homicide detective is pushed to the brink of his moral and physical limits as he tangles with a ferociously skilled serial killer. FOX MOVIES 9pm - LOOPER: In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent into the past, where a hired gun awaits someone like Joe who one day learns the mob wants to close the loop by sending back Joes future self for assassination. HBO

Central School of Ballet Phnom Penh, #10 Street 183. 12:15pm

Vintage @ BKK1
The History of Things to Come sale features authentic, hand-picked womens clothing items from the 1940s onwards, ranging from World War II era sundresses to 1980s jumpsuits.

Private residence, #21 Street 306 next to Coee Bean and Tea Leaf. 8am 8pm

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in Looper. BLOOMBERG

Thinking caps
THIS ONE IS HARD
ACROSS
1 5 10 14 15 16 17 20 21 22 25 26 29 31 35 36 38 39 43 44 45 46 49 50 51 53 55 58 62 65 66 67 68 69 70 Dolls comment, often Shoelace piece Tart taste Early space explorer Shepard Watts of Hollywood English horn, e.g. Reporters challenge Aloha! Mark with grooves Green emotion Wistful exhalation Humble dwelling Make watertight Cascades peak 112.5 degrees away from S Gave employment to Blenders sound Solid venture Ripped Twig used in grafting Cause of team dissension Pilfers Roll call response Bookcase locale, often Presidential caucus state Icy coating Bottom of a chest Start for structure or red Excellent thing to build on Solo for opera stars Bombastic Change copy Faculty head Caught some Zs Something to play

DOWN
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 18 19 23 24 26 27 28 30 32 33 34 37 40 41 42 47 48 52 54 55 56 57 59 60 61 62 63 64 It has its pluses and minuses Skin cream ingredient Wound by clawing Camera view Santa __, Calif. One of the three states of matter Bottom-line bummer Sends forth Baghdads river Native American weapon Help, as a prankster Alls alternative Attain Chief Japanese island Close by, in poetry Its often removed from shrimp Football-field units Tests the weight Knot-tying result ___ firma Parasitic creature ___ away from (was timid) Bit of color Vacuum-tube gas Beauty-shop device Happening at noon Singer/songwriter Amos Iron deficiency Chevrolet rival Swallow kin Run ___ of the law Type in Additional amount Russian skater Kulik See red Generic name for a dog Stir up Pay to join the hand Insufficient, as an excuse Cold-day feature Banned insecticides letters

Fridays solution

Fridays solution

22

THE PHNOM PENH POST mArcH 17, 2014

Lifestyle

Socheata and Sontery Social Life Team

Yamaha business network @ Yamaha showroom Olympic

Sasaki Tetsuo, Nakaba Hayama, executive ofcer of Crystal Ball, Keng Nou Kimnen, manager, marketing & planning division, Numazawa Rin Thyrith, violinist, Ros Keo Thida, Ros Khemarin and Bun Sambath, Kazuhiro, managing director, and Seang Tola, general manager of the Socheat, legal assistant of STJ Intl Law Ofce. commerical department of Yamaha. the guitarist in a classical band.

Khov Sokly, business manager of Borkor Bikes Shop, Chhum Bunly, sales executive.

Sem, Dy Bunnara.

Loren Kumalasari, general manager of 7One, Meas Panha, assistant manager marketing and sales section of Aeon, Gael Berticat, COO of Mega Leasing.

Yahama Olympics business networking event, The Destination, was held on March 13 to promote communication between members of Cambodias business community. The event, which was organised by Yamaha Motor Cambodian and Rose magazine, was attended by national and international guests and featured an appearance from Rose magazine cover model Douch Lyda and a preview of the new seasons Yahama motos which were being sold with a special Khmer New Year discount. Photos by Chhim Sreyneang.

Nop Sotheavy, Ngov Eangly.

Kim Sokheng, brand manager, Heng Pisey, assistant branch manager, Ka Sovuthea from IT Jone Motor Shop.

Douch Lida poses with a Yamaha Filano.

Shoung Voleak, personal assistant to the managing director of RSMK Group.

VJ Nata.

Similac Mum presents International Womens Day @ Sotel

Hong Srey Ukem, marketing manager at DKSH.

Sapor Rendall, Heng Viroath, doctor at Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital, and Seng Takak Neary, president of Cambodian Women Entrepreneurs Association. Sin Thid, Chhan Somaly, Soeun Socheata and Eang Sophuong.

International Womens Day brought together DKSH Cambodia and Abbott Nutrition International for Journey of Success, a seminar aimed towards working mothers. The seminar, which was conducted in collaboration with the Cambodia Women Entrepreneurs Association, invited Doctor Heng Viroath from the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital to raise awareness about diseases which are common to women. Seng Takak Neary, President at CWEA, also gave a talk about women who play an important role in society, and female entrepreneur Sapor Rendall also spoke. Attendees were also able to taste Similac Mum, a low-fat supplement for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, and to take a gift back home. Photos by Chhim Sreyneang.

THE PHNOM PENH POST mArcH 17, 2014

Chhim Sreyneang Social Life Manager

Lifestyle

23

Late Rothschild wines dinner @ Fox Bistro

Bill Longhurst, British ambassador to Phnom Penh, Katie Longhurst.

Ekin Balik, senior manager, Vincent Mascio, senior vice-president at Nagaworld.

Mary Sarath and Chris Thompson, brand ambassador for Late Rothschild Wines.

Khun Channarith, Thon Molyka, Channa Morn from Frangipani Villa Hotels.

Nakry Sovann, Nay Sochoeun from Huat Huat BBQ Chicken Wings.

Sao Moun Daung, general manager of Malis, Sarah Marcni, Marina Quadrao, club and bar manager.

Ellis Chheng Lang, Chea Chanraksa, sales and marketing manager at IDD.

Khun Niyaro, Kuch Chanvuthdy, Chhun Chetna, director of IDD.

Phin Sokhary, catering sales manager, Chhim Verak, business development manager from Nagaworld.

Phe Chantravuth, Kong Samnang, managing director of KJKs Aluminum, Meas Ravuth, deputy director at Garuda Security Company.

Malen Chea, Kim Hoan Pheng.

Bearring Phang, COO of World Wide Investment, Siew.

New British Ambassador Bill Longhurst and wife Kathryn Scheding attended the launch of a new range of wines from distributor International Diversity Distributor at Phnom Penhs Fox Bistro on Saturday, March 15. The wines paired with a tasting menu were also enjoyed by representatives of the citys best hotels and restaurants. Chris Thompson, brand ambassador for Late Rothschild wines, commented that the wine market in Cambodia was growing as Cambodians were becoming more and more interested in drinking wine and trying new styles and that IDD were helping to develop the market by making more varieties of wine available. Longhurst replaced the previous British ambassador, Mark Gooding, earlier this year. IDD wines are a 100 per cent Cambodian-owned and operated company. Photo by Chhim Sreyneang.

Blue Circle presents Unleashed @ various

Singer Meas Soksophea poses with a group.

Singer Ouk Sokunkanha.

Blue Circle celebrated in town

Singer Chheay Virakuthand.

Blue Circle models.

Meas Soksophea performs with dancers.

Party organisers Blue Circle presented their Unleashed-Coolness party in several high-end clubs, bringing popular Cambodian celebrities like Mea Soksophea, Ouk Sokhunkanha, Chheay Virakyuthand and Sok Silalin to perform in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville. With 12 events over several weekends, Blue Circle entertained the crowds with shadow dancers, break dancers and laser shows.

Singer Sok Silalin.

24

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

Sport

Irelands centre Brian ODriscoll (right) and full-back Rob Kearney hold the trophy after winning their Six Nations rugby union match against France on Saturday at the Stade de France in Paris.

AFP

Retiring legend Brian ODriscoll treasures special Ireland victory

I
RiSH rugby legend Brian ODriscoll said ending his stellar international career with a rare win away against France and taking the Six Nations title to boot was a moment he would treasure for life. The 35-year-old centre the world record caps holder with 141 bowed out in the best possible style as Ireland beat France 22-20 in a pulsating encounter at the Stade de France which also secured them the championship by virtue of a superior points difference to England. He may not have added to his 47 Test tries including a Five/Six Nations record haul of 26 but he was instrumental in their third try scored by Jonathan Sexton which saw them to only their second win in 42 years in Paris. Suitably it came at the same ground where in 2000 and almost 14 years to the day (the match was on March 19) a callow 21-year-old ODriscoll had announced he was a great talent by scoring a hat-trick of tries as Ireland beat the French. There have been lots of good memories in between, said ODriscoll, who had waited patiently on the stage while Ireland coach Joe Schmidt rounded up his post match press conference. Obviously 2000 was amazing because it had been 28 years since we won in Paris and to do it 14 years later is incredibly special. Not many people get to go out on their own terms and it is one I will treasure. Also for the fact that I was part of such a great team and bunch of guys. ODriscoll, who captained Ireland to the 2009 Six Nations Grand Slam, said that his decision following a poor Six Nations in 2013 to stay on and play for one more year had paid off. It is a feeling of sheer delight to have played on for one more year, ODriscoll, who played in a record 65 Six Nations matches, said. I was hoping for a win over the All Blacks and that didnt happen [the Irish led until the nal minute in their November test before losing to a converted try]. I was also hoping to win the Six Nations and that did happen. You cant have it all but you take what you get. ODriscoll, who despite being erudite once confessed to former captain Keith Wood that he felt uncomfortable giving rousing speeches in the changing room when he assumed the captaincy, said he was nding it difcult to take off the green shirt. What is it an hour or more since the match nished and here I am still wearing it, said the man known affectionately in Ireland as BOD and whose biography was titled In BOD We Trust. I am dragging the arse out of it a little bit but I just dont want to take it off. I know I will have to when I take a shower, which I will have to do at some point soon, and it will be hard. However, while there have been some nearlies in my career with Ireland when I do take it off it will be with great happiness that it came on a day like today. ODriscoll, son of two doctors and who has a daughter with his actress wife Amy Huberman, said that there had been no tears at the end of the match. There were no tears owing down my face but there was a frog in my throat, he said. Even with the pre-match warmup [there was a lm played with several of present top players including Ireland captain Paul OConnell paying tribute to him], I just tried to channel those emotions into my performance. I think I played fair today. We as a team couldnt let the occasion get the better of us because I am a tiny cog in the wheel. Later this evening I am sure there will be a few tears with multiple beers. But its [the victory] a wonderful way to nish.

England look to All Blacks series

England coach Stuart Lancaster put aside the loss of the Six Nations title to Ireland on Saturday to express condence and pride in a youthful side who will next face the formidable challenge of a three-test series in New Zealand. A potent England scored seven tries on their way to steamrollering their way through a limp Italian defence and a 52-11 win at the Stadio Olimpico to raise hopes of a last day hold-up for the title. However for the third year running England, who beat Ireland, Scotland and Wales leading into Saturdays clash, nished runners-up.

Scotlands Hogg says sorry for red

Scotlands Stuart Hogg made a public apology after being sent off during his sides record Six Nations defeat by Wales in Cardiff on Saturday. The full-back was given his marching orders at the Millennium Stadium by French referee Jerome Garces in the 22nd minute following a late shoulder charge into the face of Wales y-half Dan Biggar. Garces initially produced a yellow card but, after viewing replays on the stadiums screen, changed it to a red. Scotland, already seven points down and with skipper Kelly Brown out with a head injury, then slumped to a 51-3 loss their heaviest to Wales and record reverse in the Six Nations against all opponents. AFP

Italys Luke McLean is tackled by Englands Mike Brown during their Six Nations International rugby union match on Saturday at Olympic stadium in Rome. AFP

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

Sport

25

AnAdAs Richard T. Lee claimed a sensational comeback victory at the Solaire Open in Manila at the expense of home favourite Angelo Que whose title chances were dashed after one bad hole yesterday. Lee overcame a four-shot decit in the nal round with a twounder-par 69 to defeat Thailands Chawalit Plaphol by one shot and win his rst Asian Tour title at the US$300,000 event. Overnight leader Que was on course for a fourth Asian Tour win before disaster struck on the par-ve second hole when he shot a 12 after hitting three out-of-bound tee shots at the challenging The Country Club. Carlos Pigem of Spain shot a 69 for tied third while Steve Lewton of England, Paul Peterson of the United States and Masahiro Kawamura of Japan, whose 65 was the days lowest score, shared fourth. This win means so much to me and it opens so many doors. To be honest, I felt like I was in contention for the rst three days. I shot underpar each day and I knew that if I can come out on the last day to play the way I did then I would have a chance to win. Im glad I did just that! said Lee, who totalled seven-under-par 277 to win US$54,000. Lee, whose parents are Korean, was ecstatic with his maiden victory after enjoying a solid rookie season on the

Lee strikes the winning number

I told myself that if I can make one more birdie then I can make it happen. The birdie on 15 was a great and solid putt. I think that birdie made me win the tournament, he smiled. Chawalit, a four-time Asian Tour winner, narrowly missed a huge 35feet birdie putt on the last which he needed to make to force a play-off. I was watching the leaderboard after 13 holes and I saw that I had a chance but I couldnt sink my putts. It is very difcult to win a golf tournament if you do not have luck, Chawalit lamented. I had about a 35-feet putt on the last and that almost went in. I had so many long putts that almost went into the hole. This is golf for you. My game is good so hopefully the win will come soon, added the 39-yearold Thai. Que stayed positive even though he missed out on what he claims to be his best chance to win on the Asian Tour again. He settled for tied 21st after shooting an 82 for a 287 total. I cant take my round back. It is a lesson learnt from me. I feel bad because I had a chance to win but blew it on one hole. These things happen. Thats golf and life. All you can do is look back and see what youve learnt and move on. I just had one bad day. Everybody has bad days. Unfortunately for me, it had to be today and on one hole! said Que.
THE ASIAN TOUR

Richard T. Lee of Canada triumphed yesterday at the US$300,000 Solaire Open Asian Tour golf tournament in Manila.

AFP

Asian Tour in 2013 where he nished 32nd on the Order of Merit. However, there was a sense of disappointment as he had to watch his best friend Que walk away empty handed. It was a learning experience for me on the Asian Tour last year. I met some great people like Angelo Que, Unho

Park and Lam Chih Bing. They are good players and I learnt a lot from them. I wished Angelo luck yesterday and told him to play his best. It was unfortunate to see what happened to him, said the 23-year-old Lee. Lee has endured many ups-anddowns in his career. As an amateur,

he qualied for the 2007 US Open but struggled to perform due to a wrist injury. Learning from that experience, he ensured that he sealed the deal at the Solaire Open with a huge 25 footer birdie putt on the 15th hole. I was looking at the leaderboard out there. When I made birdie on 12,

Australia a threat at World T20, says Proteas Du Plessis

SOUTH African captain Faf du Plessis believes Australias strong batting line-up will have a signicant impact in the World Twenty20 which started in Bangladesh yesterday. Theyve got a powerhouse batting attack, said Du Plessis after Australia cruised to a sixwicket win over his team at SuperSport Park on Friday on the eve of the departure of both teams for the world event. Every one of their top seven or eight can take the game away from you, said Du Plessis. That makes them very dangerous. Theyve also good quality fast bowling. They didnt give us anything to hit in the rst six overs. They have a very good chance of getting to the semi-nals. Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc, man of the match on Friday, said their Twenty20 squad had made the most of their two weeks in South Africa, despite rain washing out one match and reducing another to seven overs a side. Australia won the threematch series 2-0 to follow a 3-0 clean sweep against England earlier this year. Weve got a lot out of the three games against England and the two weeks here, said Starc, although he admitted going to Bangladesh was a step into the unknown. Ive never been there and a fair few of us havent been to Bangladesh, he said. But weve got a warm-up game against New Zealand which will give us a good idea of what to expect. It will be a case of doing everything as well as we can before that rst game. Australias rst match of the tournament is against Pakistan in Mirpur next Sunday. While Australia head to Bangladesh in condent mood, South Africa need to improve on two lacklustre performances. Du Plessis admitted his side had performed poorly in all three disciplines. We lost early wickets and there were mistakes by the batting unit, he said. Were not giving our big hitters the base to attack from. We bowled the wrong lines and lengths and we made mistakes in the eld. But Du Plessis said that condence remained high. Weve had good success in the sub-continent and weve got two warm-up games before the tournament. But we need to play our best cricket if we are to do well. Du Plessis said the return of fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, nursing hamstring and shoulder injuries respectively, would add quality and experience to South Africas bowling attack. Both are expected to be t to play in scheduled warm-up games against Bangladesh A and Pakistan in Fatullah. AFP

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis bats during their second KFC T20 match against Australia in Durban last Wednesday. AFP

26

Sport

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

Garcia retains light welterweight titles

DANNY Garcia kept his undefeated boxing record intact late on Saturday by taking a majority decision over challenger Mauricio Herrera in a light welterweight title fight. Garcia improved to 28-0 and retained his World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association titles with a hardfought victory that two judges scored 116-112 and the third had even, 114-114. American Garcia, who is of Puerto Rican ancestry, had the crowd of 10,100 at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, on his side. Herrera, also a US citizen, dropped to 20-4 with seven knockouts. AFP

Nets sign Collins for remainder of season

ThE Brooklyn Nets have signed centre Jason Collins for the remainder of the National Basketball Association season, the team said in a statement. Collins, who on February 23 became the first openly gay active athlete in major US sports when he signed the first of two 10-day contracts, has scored five points and totalled six rebounds in eight games. Collins, 35, has averaged 3.6 points and 3.7 rebounds during his 13-year career. The Nets have 33 wins and 30 losses, trailing the Toronto Raptors by 3 1/2 games in the NBAs Atlantic Division. BLOOMBERG

US beat Russia for sledge hockey gold

ThE United States defended their Paralympic champion title in sledge hockey on Saturday, winning 1-0 against Russia in a gruelling game that sent hockey sticks flying and at times resembled baseball. The Russian team, created in 2010, settled for silver in their Paralympic debut in Sochi, while Canada got the bronze medal after beating Norway earlier in the day. The Russians had the support of over 6,000 fans packing the arena in Sochi, but made one mistake by accidentally passing to a player from the rival team who scored the decisive goal. We played well, just made one mistake, Russian defender Vadim Selyukin said. This silver was hard won. AFP

Cold, hard splash

Swimmers compete during a kids race meet at Northbridge International School on Saturday. The event attracted participants aged between 8 and 18 years old from international schools across the capital including Hope, I-Can, ISPP, Logos and Northbridge. Individual races over 50 metres included freestyle, backstroke, buttery and breaststroke, while there were also individual medley and relay disciplines of 4x25m. SRENG MENG SRUN

Khim Dima suffers more ONE FC disappointment

James Goyder Kuala Lumpur

Ruby Walsh to miss two months after operation

RubY Walsh flew back to Ireland on Saturday night following a successful operation on his right arm, broken in a shocking fall at the Cheltenham Festival on Friday. He is expected to be out of action for at least two months, though that is a more optimistic prognosis than seemed possible in the immediate aftermath of his injury. Ruby is good, relatively speaking, of course, said Dr Adrian McGoldrick, senior medical officer with the Irish Turf Club. The operation went well. The jockey will miss next months Grand National, in which he may have ridden the fancied Tidal Bay. Jump racing will be in its off-season when he returns to health, with Galways festival in late July being the first major meeting at which Walsh might aim. THE GUARDIAN

HIM Dima is still looking for his rst international mixed martial arts win after suffering a heart-breaking split decision defeat at the hands of Saiful Merican in Kuala Lumpur on Friday night. The Cambodian came close but could only convince one of the three judges that he had done enough to win. Dima and Merican had met before in the Kun Khmer ring in 2011 with the Malaysian losing by decision, but at ONE FC: War of Nations, which took place at the Stadium Putra on Friday, the roles were reversed. The rst round was spent with both ghters standing for the full ve minutes, which should have suited Dima, but save for a few solid low kicks to the lead left leg of Merican he was unable to capitalise. In the second stanza Meri-

can, who tends to go the distance, began looking for a takedown and at one stage mounted Dima, but the Cambodian did a good job of tying him up and defending himself from any potential submission attempts or strikes. The takedowns meant Merican was almost certainly ahead going into the third round but Dima didnt ght with any sense of urgency, patiently waiting for an opportunity to present itself. The approach almost paid off when he sliced his opponent open with a perfectly timed elbow. Blood was pumping out of the Malaysians face but fortunately for him, the wound was to the side of the eye and after a brief pause while the doctor took a look at the damage the ght was allowed to continue. Perhaps sensing he was still behind, Dima started to ght with some imminence and punished a failed takedown

attempt from Merican by swinging kicks at his legs as he lay at on his back on the canvas. There was still time for the Malaysian to score with another takedown but with damage done being a key component of the ONE FC scoring criteria, where ghts are judged overall rather than round by round, there was an argument to be made that the bloody-faced ghter had lost. To the Cambodians disappointment, two of the three judges decided that Mericans takedowns and positional control were worth more than Dimas elbows and low kicks, meaning he is now 0-2-0-1 in MMA having not won a ONE FC ght in three attempts. He clearly felt he had done enough to win, stating afterwards: He never hurt me. I dont have any marks on my body but he was cut so badly that the ght was nearly stopped, so I thought I had

won because of that. I hope ONE FC will give me another chance as I train very hard at the A Fighter gym and really want to win an MMA ght for everyone in Cambodia. Mericans record now stands at 3-1 after a third straight decision win. After going to war for three rounds on Friday, he donated a percentage of his winnings to his opponent to help rebuild Dimas sisters house, which was recently destroyed in a re. In the main event at ONE FC: War of Nations, Nobutatsu Suzuki scored an upset win over American veteran Brock Larson, with the hard hitting Japanese ghter landing numerous knees and kicks to become the inaugural ONE FC welterweight world champion courtesy of a unanimous decision.

Fridays other results

Dae Hwan Kim defeated Kevin Belingon by submission

(rear naked choke) at 4.39 minutes of round 1 Bantamweight bout Adriano Moraes defeated Yasuhiro Urushitani by submission (rear naked choke) at 3.48 minutes of round 2 Flyweight bout Kamal Shalorus defeated Ariel Sexton by unanimous decision at 5.00 minutes of round 3 Lightweight bout Andrew Leone defeated Shinichi Kojima by unanimous decision at 5.00 minutes of round 3 Catchweight bout Kotetsu Boku defeated Arnaud Lepont by TKO (strikes) at 4.06 minutes of round 1 Lightweight bout Peter Davis defeated Waqar Umar by submission (verbal tapout) at 3.07 minutes of round 2 Lightweight bout Herbert Burns defeated Harris Sarmiento by unanimous decision at 5.00 minutes of round 3 Featherweight bout

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

Football
Womens futsal competition kicks off at KB Field pitches

27

Police down BBU to lift first Hun Sen Cup title

H S Manjunath

HE much coveted Samdech Hun Sen Cup will adorn the National Police Commissarys trophy cabinet as their rst prized possession following the clubs guts and glory 2-0 win over Build Bright United in an enthralling nal at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday. The Policemen stormed into a 13th minute lead courtesy of a Noun Borey header off a perfectly delivered corner kick by Ol Ravy, whose hard work was nally rewarded when he nailed the second deep into injury time to complete a memorable twilight triumph. The University-backed side put up a stout-hearted performance but despite the disappointing outcome in the end and a rueful look back over all their spurned chances, BBU could still be proud of achieving their best Cup run after being touched off in the semi-nals a couple of years ago. We were well aware of BBUs tactic of attacking heavily on us, but we were prepared for it, so it was easy for us to ght back and defend against it, Police coach Ung Kanyanith told the Post. Ultimately, we earned the victory which we expected to do. I, the other coaches and all the players, as well as all the staff are so excited about this triumph and we all will be trying hard to defend the title next year and for years to come. BBU assistant coach Chan Veasna, meanwhile, noted a lack of composure in defending corners as the root cause for their failure in the decider. We did brilliantly in our previous Cup games against [Phnom Penh] Crown and Boeung Ket, but today my players made a few mistakes, especially when [Ol Ravy] took the corner kick. We obviously tried to ght back, but our midelders and strikers didnt cooperate well with good understanding. We are so sorry [to the fans] for this result, he said. History had already been made long before the rst touch on Satur-

THE inaugural Cam-Ed Womens Futsal Cup, sponsored by Cam-Ed Business School, got underway yesterday at KB Field opposite the Australian Embassy. Nine teams split into three groups will contest games each Sunday, leading up to finals on April 6. Cam-Ed Business School president Casey Barnett told the Post: The objective of this competition is to promote the potential of women in the education and sport sectors of Cambodia. The teams groups include Purple, Jumbo and Fantastic C (Group A), The Green, Cam-Devils and Twinkle Star (Group B) and Queen United, Cam Ulet, and Victory (Group C). CHHORN NORN,
TRANSLATED BY CHENG SERYRITH

Bayern plan to welcome Uli Hoeness back after jail term

DEspitE his conviction for tax fraud, Bayern Munich are planning to welcome back ex-president Uli Hoeness after he has served his prison sentence. The 62-year-old resigned as both Bayern president and chairman of the clubs supervisory board on Friday and was a noticeable absentee for Saturdays 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen. He stepped down less than 24 hours after being sentenced to three and a half years in jail by Munich regional court having cheated the state out of 28.5 million (US$39.5 million) in unpaid taxes. He admitted to hiding his wealth in secret Swiss bank accounts while obsessively gambling on stock and currency markets for years. AFP
National Police Commissary captain Say Piseth receives the Samdech Hun Sen Cup trophy from Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong (left) after his team beat Build Bright United in the nal on Saturday at Olympic Stadium. SRENG MENG SRUN

Mystified Chelsea manager Mourinho awaits red-card fate

day with both teams having never managed to go this far in any major domestic competition. Neither side lost that sense of great occasion nor did the huge captive audience that included former Chelsea manager Avram Grant, whose presence in the stands diverted for a while the attention of several lensmen away from the action on the pitch. When the teams got over the initial awe and nerves, it was evident that the Police would be the one with more aggressive intent. But what came as a mild surprise was the speed with which the Police grabbed the lead and the side had to be thankful to some sloppy BBU defending which forced goalkeeper Sos Prohim to make a panic save at the cost of a corner. That resulting set piece from Ol

Ravy and Noun Boreys immaculate header very quickly pinned BBU down, the kind of choke the side never could get out of, that despite several counter attacks of their own. The Police spent the half-time break in a much lighter mood than their rivals with that slender lead behind them. Though BBU showed greater urgency in the second session and progressively got bolder in attack, they just could not get a breakthrough. Captain Prom Puthsethy, Pich Sina and Hong Sokly were all denied a goal by one means or another. At times that crucial slice of luck deserted them. When not, the Police somehow managed to scramble the ball to safety, such as a standout goalline clearance by Ol Ravy off a BBU free kick. Even as BBUs tale of

National Police Commissarys Tith Dina leaps over a challenge from Build Bright United defender Phin Pheara during their Samdech Hun Sen Cup nal at Olympic Stadium on Saturday. SRENG MENG SRUN

near misses continued amid a couple of substitutions, the Police were more than happy to close up shop at the back and keep punching the breeze for more attacking options. Tith Dina, who has had an outstanding Cup campaign, was one of the prime mideld movers. Ol Ravy caught the eye with some deft passing and wing runs capping a highly satisfying day for him on the pitch with that injury time goal, a simple tap in job after BBU goalkeeper had been caught in a x. In general, the Police asserted themselves much more than BBU could or did and the trophy was seemingly in their bag the moment Noun Boreys thinking head put the team on the path to victory. Apart from team honours, two Police players also scooped up individual awards. Prak Phirun was declared the tournaments best goalkeeper and collected one million riel (US$250.63) as its reward. Tith Dina was named the player of the tournament and he could literally ride home with that honour on a brand new Yamaha motorbike. Boeung Ket Rubber Field striker Khuon Laboravy emerged as the top scorer with 12 goals, an effort which made him richer by one million riel. As winners of the 2014 edition, the Police collected a cash prize of 80 million Riel, with runners-up BBU banking 40 million riel and third placed Boeung Ket taking home 20 million riel. The road to the nal had been littered with a clutch of fallen favourites including holders Naga Corp, whose controversial stance to forfeit the third place play-off last Wednesday to Boeung Ket is currently being probed by the Football Federation of Cambodias disciplinary committee. According to FFC Spokesman May Tola, the Committee will look into the video footage of the stoppage time handball incident and the referees report on it before taking a nal decision on possible punitive action against Naga for refusing to complete their game. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BYCHHORN NORN, TRANSLATION BY CHENG SERYRITH

CHElsEa manager Jose Mourinho is mystified as to why he was sent off in his sides shock 1-0 loss to Aston Villa and says he is eagerly waiting on the referees report to discover if he faces any further disciplinary action. Mourinho found himself at the centre of a storm of controversy as his side surrendered the initiative to Manchester City in the Premier League title race. Fabian Delphs 82nd-minute goal either side of dismissals for Chelsea duo Willian and Ramires inflicted a damaging defeat on the Blues. AFP

SaTURDaYs ResUlTs
English Premier League
Hull 0 Man City 2 Everton 2 Cardiff 1 Fulham 1 Newcastle 0 Southampton 4 Norwich 2 Stoke 3 West Ham 1 Sunderland 0 Crystal Palace 0 Swansea 1 West Brom 2

Spanish La Liga

Levante 0 Celta de Vigo 1 Rayo Vallecano 3 Almeria 1 Malaga 0 Real Madrid 1 Atletico Madrid 1 Espanyol 0 On Friday Getafe 3 Granada 3 Hoffenheim 2 Mainz 4 Bor Dortmund 1 Bor Mgladbach 2 E Braunschweig 1 Wolfsburg 1 Hertha Berlin 0 Hannover 3 Werder Bremen 1 Stuttgart 1 On Friday Augsburg 1 Schalke 2

German Bundesliga

Italian Serie A

Verona 0 Inter Milan 2

Lille 0 Nantes 0 Ajaccio 1 Guingamp 2 Evian TG 0 Valenciennes 1 Nice 2 Bastia 0 Rennes 2 Toulouse 3 Sochaux 2 Lorient 0 On Friday Reims 1 Marseille 1

French Ligue 1

TONighTs fiXTURes
Spanish La Liga Italian Serie A
Villarreal v Athletic Bilbao 4am Torino v Napoli 1am Roma v Udinese 3am

28

THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 17, 2014

Sport

The car of Caterham-Renault driver Kamui Kobayashi of Japan veers off the track during an accident at the start of the Formula One Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne yesterday.

AFP

Rosberg storms to Aussie GP victory in F1 season opener

ICO Rosberg has proved that Mercedes are the class of the eld in the early stages of the new Formula One world championship with a runaway victory in yesterdays Australian Grand Prix. It was the fourth win of his career. But there was an early setback for preseason favourite and pole sitter Lewis Hamilton who left the race after completing just two laps after a loss of power. It was a memorable race for home hero and Red Bull debutant Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen, who initially both achieved podium places. However, Ricciardo lost his second-place nish in for breaching the rules on fuel usage, the sports governing body FIA said. Jenson Button made it a surprisingly positive afternoon for McLaren by nishing fourth later promoted to third after the Ricciardo ruling. With three wins here, this is one of Buttons favourite tracks.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg shouts in celebration on the podium after winning the F1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne yesterday.

AFP

It means that McLaren are leading the embryonic 2014 championship. Its nothing to do with me, said Ron Dennis, who is very much back in charge at the Woking factory. I was just here to watch. It was a good podium for a great young driver. There was also a magnicent drive from the Williams of Valtteri Bottas. Pushed back ve places on the grid to 15th place because of a gearbox penalty, he clawed his way up the eld to sixth before making an unforced error and hitting the wall. He dropped back to 16th after coming in to replace his lost tyre but then pushed up to fth again at the end. And there was yet another nish for Max Chilton who nished every race last year even though his car was at a standstill when the rest of the cars started their formation lap. But the day belonged to Rosberg and Mercedes. The German started in third place but after darting through on the inside of Hamilton he

never looked back and pulled away steadily from the rest of the team. The race got off to a chaotic start on the rst corner when Caterhams Kamui Kobayashi crashed out and took the much fancied Willliams of Felipe Massa with him. An angry Massa later called for the Japanese driver to be dealt with severely by the stewards. But soon there were bigger casualties taking their leave of the race. Hamilton managed just one completed lap before he was hit by a power shortage because of a misring cylinder and was forced to retire. Hamilton must have been desperately disappointed but he sounded surprisingly upbeat when he said later: We knew reliability could be an issue but of course it surprises you when it happens, but its early stages and theres a long way to go so I will remain positive and focus on the next race. I felt like I didnt have power. I kept going as long as I could, but there was no point. As soon as I left the lane I had a lot less power than I

usually have. They asked me to come in, but I said no, no, I can keep going, but I then had to come in. I think of all the work that has gone in from the guys in the factory and all the days and nights stressing. We looked so strong but to then have a hiccup is tough for everyone, but we will bounce back. But soon after that was the biggest casualty of all, with the retirement of Vettel, the champion of the last four years, because of a mechanical problem. However it was still the German anthem that blasted over Albert Park at the end of the race. Ricciardo, prior to being stripped of his second-place nish, was delighted with his success in front of his home crowd. Two or three weeks ago, I would have bet pretty much everything I had that I wouldnt be standing up here, he said, referring to troubled preseason testing on his Red Bull Racing. To the Aussie fans, wow completely, completely overwhelming. THE GUARDIAN