Cambodian News

On a recent Monday, Mat Haval, a 56-year-old Cambodian Muslim, prepared to leave for Saudi Arabi, to participate in the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. She was content spending $3,550 for the trip, money she had saved since 1993, for a 40-day trip that is one of the pillars of the Muslim faith.

“Everyone has sins,” said the woman, a fish vendor on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. “Until now, we can’t say we have no sins, so I’m going there to get rid of them.”

The Hajj, which is held once a year in the holy city of Mecca, is the fifth obligation to be carried out by Muslims. It must be fulfilled at least once in their lifetime, so long as they can afford it.

The largest Islamic annual ritual, the Hajj creates solidarity among Muslims around the world and is meant as a show of admission to Allah. Read the rest…

The UNHCR has not received any official requests from the Chinese government regarding reported asylum seekers from the Uighur minority, an official said Thursday.

China’s foreign ministry is investigating reports that 22 members of the Muslim Uighur community are seeking asylum in Cambodia, Reuters reported Tuesday.

The Uighurs have reportedly entered Cambodia and sought asylum through the UN’s refugee office in Phnom Penh, following unrest in their home province of Xinjiang in July.

“We have a good cooperative relationship with Cambodia on every level,” Reuters quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu as saying in Beijing. Read the rest…

The Khmer Rouge tribunal must ensure it is giving clear information to the public, to avoid upsetting Cambodians who have waited years for justice, an official from the Documentation Center of Cambodia said Thursday.

“People have been waiting for the court to happen for 30 years, so when people hear unclear or inadequate information, it makes them irritated,” said Vathan Poeu Dara, deputy chief of the Documentation Center, which has spent years collecting evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities. “So the court should give clear information to all the people.”

The public remains confused over the UN-backed court’s first trial, for Kaing Kek Iev, the prison chief better known as Duch, and other proceedings, he said. Read the rest…

King Norodom Sihamoni issued a royal pardon on Friday for a Thai citizen sentenced to seven years in prison for alleged espionage, a government spokesman said Monday.

The pardon of Siwarak Chothipong, a 31-year-old Thai engineer, came after an official request from the Pheu Thai Party, which is affiliated with former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the spokesman, Khieu Kanharith, said.

Siwarak was arrested in November after allegedly revealing flight information related to Thaksin, who was entering Cambodia as an economic adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen in the midst of a diplomatic crisis. Read the rest…

Events of recent weeks have called into question what observers say are the necessary components for success at the Khmer Rouge tribunal: independence of the court and the full cooperation of the government.

The UN-backed court has stumbled over the issue of five additional indictments, while six government officials within the ruling Cambodian People’s Party have refused to appear as summoned by an investigating judge.

Investigating judges are examining the tribunal’s second case, of leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, following a wrap-up last month of the atrocity crimes trial for Kaing Kek Iev, or Duch.

“If the Cambodian government refuses to cooperate with the court, the UN side will have no other choice than to withdraw from the trial, or lose face and credibility,” said Peter Maguire, author of the 2005 book, “Facing Death in Cambodia.” Read the rest…

Some 5,000 human rights activists and supporters marched through Phnom Penh on Thursday, as Cambodia marked International Human Rights Day.

The group marched from Wat Phnom in the north of the city, to the central Wat Botum Vadei. City and police officials allowed the march, the largest such gathering since national political campaigning in July 2008. No incidents were reported.

“We still have concerns about serious rights violence related to the slow pace of judiciary reform and continued impunity,” Thun Saray, president of the rights group Adhoc, told the marchers.

Land grabs, forced evictions and threats to human rights advocates and government critics remained problems, he said, while freedom of expression was under threat.

Human trafficking remains a concern, he said, as well as the theft of ethnic minority land in Ratanakkiri province by “powerful men conspiring with companies.”

The march came the same week that 1,700 families were evicted from land in Kampong Thom province, in a three-year land dispute with a Vietnamese rubber plantation. Seven people were jailed after villagers torched three bulldozers and a company generator in protest of an eviction order.

Rights advocates also pointed to recent attacks on the opposition and other government critics, citing criminal cases and the suspension of parliamentary immunity for three Sam Rainsy Party lawmakers, including the opposition leader himself.

Of concern, too, was the sentencing of Hang Chakra, an opposition newspaper editor, to a year in jail after he published articles alleging corruption in the powerful Council of Ministers.

“You can be sure that you are not alone here today,” the European Commission Charge d’Affaire, Rafael Dochao Moreno, told participants Thursday. “You have all Europeans with you.” Read the rest…

Confusion and hesitation over a new law on property taxes have shocked the country’s real estate market, which has yet to recover from the global economic downturn, financial analysts say.

According to the law, passed by the National Assembly earlier this month, taxes will be levied on land, houses and buildings worth more than 100 million real, or $25,000, but experts worry misunderstandings over the law will interrupt the recovery of the stagnant real estate market.

Chan Sophal, president of the Association of Cambodian Economists, said the new tax law had confused people who worry they have to pay a lot of money.

“Educating people about the tax is really important right now, or it will give a negative impact on real estate, as people take a step back or sell their property at a low price,” he said. Read the rest…

Government officials are increasing tax policies but continuing with irregular expenditures at a time when they should focus on dampening the effects of the global economic downturn, an opposition official said Monday.

The passage of the 2010 national budget earlier this month includes taxes that will make difficulties for people already struggling in the depressed economy, said Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the Sam Rainsy Party, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

“In our view, the burden on people by levies should be avoided at this time,” Yim Sovann said.

Taxes have been doubled for car owners, while a 0.1 percent tax on properties worth more than $25,000 has been put in place. Read the rest…

Amnesty International has called on prosecutors at the Khmer Rouge tribunal to expand their strategy and reveal their decision publicly, following the appointment of a new UN-appointed prosecutor to the court.

“Three years into the work of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the prosecution has identified only ten suspects as being ‘senior leaders’ or ‘most responsible’ for massive human rights violations that took place between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979,” the group said in a Dec. 4 statement, referring to the tribunal by its official name. “Unless more cases are investigated and prosecuted, it is highly questionable whether the current caseload would fulfill the mandate of the tribunal.”

The statement follows the appointment of British attorney Andrew Cayley as the UN’s international prosecutor and a ruling by tribunal judges to investigate five more suspects beyond five currently in detention. Read the rest…

The National Assembly on Tuesday passed the draft law for the 2010 budget, with overall spending reaching nearly $2 billion.

Defense and security spending increased by more than $50 million, while health and education spending rose nearly 20 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

The overall budget of $1.99 billion was an increase of more than $100 million from the year before.

Defense and security received $276 million, the Ministry of Health $144 million, the Ministry of Education $198 million, the Ministry of Agriculture $20 million, and the Ministry of Water Resources $8.8 million.

Finance Minister Keat Chhon thanked the National Assembly for passage of the new budget and said Cambodia was on track to reduce poverty by 1 percent in 2010. Read the rest…