Samdach Hun Sen accepts Kasit’s apology

Thai, Cambodian army officers hold talks after border gunfire [-Thai troops deliberately provoking Cambodian soldiers?]

BANGKOK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Local-level Thai army officers were in the process to hold talk with those of Cambodian army officers after the two sides exchanged gunfire briefly early Friday morning on a disputed border area, Thai army spokesman Colonel Sansern Khaewkamnerd said.The exchange of gunfire occurred after Thai soldiers went to tell around 20 Cambodian soldiers, who were at Tramareu area that Tramareu [Veal Entry in Khmer] belongs to Thailand, so they should not have entered, the Thai army spokesman told Xinhua during a telephone interview.After the two sides separated from their meeting at Tramareu area, it was the Cambodian side that started opening fire, said the Thai army spokesman.After the Thai soldiers did hear the shooting from the Cambodian side, they did fire back, said Colonel Sansern. Meanhwile, Phay Siphan, Cambodian spokesman of the Council of Ministers, said the crossfire occurred around 07:15 local time (0015GMT), after a number of Thai soldiers trespassed on the Eagle Field, a piece of Cambodian soil.According to a report by the website of Thai-language newspaper Thai Rath, the Cambodian soldiers claimed the shooting from their side was the accident.By mid-Friday there was no report of casualty from the two sides.On Thursday a Thai soldier during his patrol task stepped on a landmine and lost a leg at Tramareu area, and it was suspected that the landmine was planted by the Cambodian soldiers, Colonel Sansern said.Tramareu area, which is around one kilometer from Preah Vihear temple, is in Kantalak district of Thailand's northeastern province of Sisaket, according to the Thai army spokesman.In July last year, the tension over the long-disputed territory of the two countries started after the 11th century Preah Vihear temple at the border was granted UNESCO World Heritage status.The two countries' troops clashed in the area in October and four soldiers died. The border dispute has not been resolved during subsequent talks by the two countries.The two neighboring countries have never fully demarcated their disputed border, due partly to landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

Cambodians look to the heavens to explain lightning deaths

Lightning strikes killed 95 Cambodians last year, prompting both scientific and superstitious searches for the cause.The tropical Southeast Asian country of lazy rivers and lakes is particularly prone to cloud formations which generate intense lightning storms, said Long Saravuth, a weather expert at Cambodia's Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology.These formations can hover just 50 metres above the earth and anyone underneath is vulnerable to lightning strike.As the country's rainy season drew to a close, local newspapers seemed to carry reports on new lightning deaths nearly every day."Most of the people killed are farmers who continue to work in rice paddies or herd cattle during rainstorms," said Mr Saravuth."Those people should be highly alert to the problem, but they don't try to find shelter when it rains," he said.Very superstitiousCambodians have searched science and religion to explain the phenomenon, with many of the country's 14 million people believing lightning is connected to supernatural forces."The lightning last year was more fierce than ever before. I'm worried I might be the next victim - but I believe if we do good deeds, we avoid lightning and bad luck," said Cheng Chenda, a housewife in Phnom Penh.In his office at the Buddhist Institute, advisor on mores and customs, Miech Ponn, said many Cambodians believe that people with moles on their calves are susceptible to lightning strikes, as are people who have broken promises.Cambodians also use mystical cures for those who have been struck."To resuscitate a victim, Cambodian villagers drape the person's body with a white cloth, or jump over it three times, or place the victim in a bed and light a fire under the bed," said Miech Ponn, who believes these techniques can work.Miech Ponn said the surge in fatalities caused by lightning was predicted by Cambodia's chief royal astrologer, Kang Ken, and that the country is now prone to more natural disasters."The increase in lightning deaths was caused by deterioration of nature and a religious prophecy that said it was a bad luck year," said Miech Ponn.Hard science gives a slightly different explanation.Over the past two years the country has had particularly heavy rainy seasons from May to November, which might be partly explained by global climate change, said Long Saravuth, the weather expert.Meanwhile, Anthony Del Genio, a scientist at the US space agency NASA, said the incidence of lightning deaths in 2008 did not point to a climate change cause because the timeframe was too short.The best guess was that warmer and drier weather earlier last year had created conditions for more vigorous lightning storms.

Weather: Unusual cold season

The ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology distributed a communiqué on Thursday 15 Jan, indicating the current weather condition in the kingdom. According to this communiqué, because of a persistent high pressure zone and wind blowing from Siberia, a cold weather is settling in during the past few days. This condition will last at least until 19 Jan. The department of meteorology distinguishes 4 zones: in the mountain area, the temperature will hover between 7 and 10 degrees Celsius. In Preah Vihear, Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Stung treng, Oddar Meanchey, Pursat, Battambang and Pailin, temperature will vary between 12 and 15 degrees. In Phnom Penh and the surrounding provinces, i.e. Kandal, Takeo, Kampong Speu, Kampong Thom, Kampong Chhnang, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Kampong Cham and Kratie, the temperature is expected to range between 15 and 18 degrees. Finally, along the coastline areas of Koh Kong, Kampot, Sihanoukville will be less affected by the cold snap, with temperature ranging between 19 and 21 degrees. Set Vannareth, the director of the department of meteorology, announced that “these are not unusual temperatures when compared to the previous year, however, the cold season lasts longer. Cambodians must take care of their health given this weather forecast.”

Khmer Intelligence News - 16 December 2008

16 December 2008

All Korean-conducted land development projects have been stopped (2)

Over the last few years the most grandiose land development projects have been conducted by not-so-well-known companies from South Korea. Because of the fallout from the global financial crisis and a serious downward revision of Cambodia's economic prospects coupled with the sharp fall in land prices, the cash-strapped Korean companies have abandoned all their projects in Cambodia. These include mega projects such as CamKo City in the North of Phnom Penh (only one tranche out of four will be completed), the 42-storey Golden Tower on Monivong Boulevard, and International Financial Complex on Sothearos Boulevard, next to the Russian Embassy. The concerned companies keep denying their decision to leave Cambodia in order to avoid a panic from customers who have "bought" their to-be-built houses or condominiums and made down payments, but works on the spot have practically come to a standstill.

Top managers of Hong Kong-based Tak Fat company are in hiding in Cambodia (2)

In addition to "Garment manufacturer Tack Fat has gone bankrupt" as published by Khmer Intelligence News on 13 October 2008, we have learned that the company's top managers are now in hiding in Cambodia to escape prosecution in Hong Kong. Shareholders have been swindled and the unscrupulous managers have fled to Cambodia with the company's cash. Criminals who can pay bribes, or are financial cronies, to Cambodia's political leaders enjoy impunity in this country. The wife of a powerful man here holds a significant stake in Tak Fat's Cambodian subsidiary, which used to provide the mother company in Hong Kong with fake certificates of origin, with the complicity of the Ministry of Commerce, allowing fraudulent garment exports from China to the USA using the label "Made in Cambodia."

Gasoline price to decrease from 3,200 riels to 2,800 riels per liter (3)

Crude oil price on the international market is now at US$44 per barrel (1 barrel = 159 liters), down 70 percent from a peak of US$147 a barrel on July 11, 2008. At that time, the retail price of gasoline in Cambodia was 5,600 riels per liter. It should now drop to 2,800 riels per liter (- 50 percent from its highest level), instead of 3,200 riels now, if Cambodian gasoline distribution companies were to pass on to consumers the recent decrease in their supply cost as reflected in the fall in international crude oil price. The exchange rate has remained practically unchanged over the last 18 months with US$1 being equivalent to approximately 4,060 riels.

CPP would lose their two-thirds majority with UNTAC formula (1)

Cambodia has implemented a proportional representation system for all elections hold over the last fifteen years. In the UN-organized election in 1993, UNTAC used the greatest-remainder formula. But since 1998, the CPP authorities have arbitrarily and surreptitiously switched to the largest-average formula, which favours large political parties. Minor parties generally fare better under the greatest-remainder formula than under the largest-average formula.If the greatest-remainder formula (known as UNTAC formula in Cambodia) were used for the last July 2008 election, the results in terms of National Assembly seats allocated to each party would be as follows:

- CPP: down from 90 to 76 (minus 14 seats lost to SRP, HRP, FCP and NRP).

- SRP: up from 26 to 29 (3 extra seats won from CPP in Prey Veng, Pursat and Svay Rieng provinces).- HRP: up from 3 to 7 (4 extra seats won from CPP in Phnom Penh and in Kampong Cham, Kampong Speu and Takeo provinces).

- FCP: up from 2 to 6 (4 extra seats won from CPP in Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang and Siem Reap provinces).

- NRP: up from 2 to 5 (3 extra seats won from CPP in Kampong Thom, Kampot and Kandal provinces).The CPP would have been unable to secure their current two-thirds majority (over 82 seats out of 123) in the National Assembly.

Hor Namhong's revelations to the French Court (2)

In relation to the defamation lawsuit he has filed against opposition leader Sam Rainsy before the French Court (details at http://tinyurl.com/6d6an5) Foreign Minister Hor Namhong gave interesting information to French judges at a public hearing in Paris on December 9.Asked why several members of the royal family, including retired King Norodom Sihanouk and former prisoners, have complained about his behaviour as "chief" of the Khmer Rouge Boeng Trabek re-education camp in 1977-1978, he replied this was because of "rivalries" among prisoners. He therefore acknowledged that the situation was more complex than what he first admitted (the "bad" Khmer Rouge on the one hand and the "good" prisoners on the other). He first denied that denunciations by a prisoner of another prisoner could lead to the second one being "taken away" by the Khmer Rouge, but he subsequently admitted that, through denunciations, he could have eliminated all his "rivals", implying he did manage to eliminate at least some of them.Another revelation made by Hor Namhong: all those, especially journalists, who have alleged in Cambodia that he had been involved in any wrongdoings, could get away with the Cambodian Court only by fleeing the country, like American reporter Kelly McEvers from The Cambodia Daily, or by making apologies to him, like McEvers's Cambodian colleague Thet Sambath and opposition journalist Dam Sith. He accused The Cambodia Daily of being "pro-opposition."See also Khmer Intelligence News dated 10 October 2008: "Hor Namhong gave false information about Princess Nanette and Prince Sisowath Methavy."

KHMER INTELLIGENCE NEWS - 10 October 2008

Hor Namhong gave false information about Princess Nanette and Prince Sisowath Methavy (2)

French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche, July 23, 1989, quoted [then Prince now] King Father Norodom Sihanouk as declaring, "Hor Nam Hong, former commander of a Khmer Rouge concentration camp [Boeng Trabek detention camp], is responsible for the death, after atrocious tortures, of many former members of the anti-American Resistance, such as my cousin Prince Sisowath Methavy, and his spouse [Princess Nanette], the elder sister of my wife [now Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk]."Princess Sisowath Nanette arrived at Boeng Trabek camp in October 1977, directly from France, to join her husband Prince Sisowath Methavy who had returned to Cambodia since 1976, only one year after the Khmer Rouge take over. Following a short stay in Chraing Chamres, Prince Methavy was sent to Boeng Trabek camp in February 1977. Princess Nanette actually lived in Boeng Trabek camp for only six months before she and her husband were taken away to be executed in April 1978. This is confirmed by many surviving prisoners from the three sections of Boeng Trabek camp (B30, B31 and B32), who all confirm that they last saw Princess Nanette and her husband around the Cambodian New Year that took place in April 1978.In an interview published in Khmer-language newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea, April 23, 2008, Hor Nam Hong says the Sisowath couple lived with him "until the end of 1978" before being taken away and killed by the Khmer Rouge. However, surviving witnesses say that the Khmer Rouge had stopped taking away and killing Boeng Trabek prisoners since August-September 1978, when living conditions suddenly started to improve as the Pol Pot regime tried to mobilize all Cambodian forces to counter increasing pressure from Vietnamese troops.The late CPP Justice Minister Chem Sgnuon, who was detained at Boeng Trabek camp until Vietnamese troops arrived in January 1979, used to tell many people how cruel Hor Nam Hong was when he was the Khmer Rouge-appointed camp chief. Chem Snguon avoided talking with Hor Nam Hong because of this bitter past.

KHMER INTELLIGENCE NEWS - 13 October 2008

Garment manufacturer Tack Fat has gone bankrupt (1)

The Hong Kong-based daily newspaper South China Morning Post, October 8, 2008, confirmed that Tack Fat Group International, a well-known firm listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the parent company of Tack Fat Garment (Cambodia) Ltd, a major garment manufacturer in this country, has gone bankrupt. The news reads as follows, "Last month [September 2008], banks applied to wind up (…) swimwear maker Tack Fat International Group after [it] defaulted on loans." Tack Fat becomes the second "collapse of a Hong Kong-listed retailer amid the financial meltdown."According to a business analysis, "Tack Fat Group's principal activities are designing and manufacturing of jeans, pants, shorts, swimming apparel and sportswear for men, women and children. Other activity includes investment holding. The Group has three production facilities, one of which is located in Luoding City, Guandong Province, the People's Republic of China and the other two of which are located in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The majority of the Group's products are exported to the North American, European markets and other regions." http://tinyurl.com/3mpvvlA September 16, 2008 statement by the Group's "Provisional Liquidators Appointed" specifies, "The place of incorporation of the Company is in Cayman Islands and the shares [were] suspended for trading since 9:30am, 30 July 2008." http://tinyurl.com/3lgb8aInformation about Tack Fat Garment (Cambodia) Ltd can be obtained at http://tinyurl.com/437q8l