King Faces Test of Political Power: Analysts

King Norodom Sihamoni is facing the greatest challenge of his rule so far and should work to create a compromise between rival politicians, as a ceremony to begin the new government approaches, independent political analysts say.

King Sihamoni is facing pressure from the Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties, who want to boycott a Sept. 24 swearing-in ceremony, as well as exiled Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who is seeking a royal pardon so that he may return to Cambodia without serving an 18-month prison sentence.

The political pressure on King Sihamoni is the heaviest since he was crowned just four years ago, following the abdication of his father, Norodom Sihanouk, who was famous for his mercurial statecraft and an ability to reconcile parties.

Under these two kings alone, Cambodia has seen colonialism, independence, a coup, a republic, a communist takeover, a Vietnamese occupation and finally a democratic constitutional monarchy.

Lao Monghay, a senior researcher for the Asian Human Rights Committee, said King Sihamoni should first try to get all parties at the same swearing-in ceremony, in order to save Cambodia’s national image.

“It may be hard, but it is also a chance for His Majesty to try,” Lao Monghay said. “A success would increase his influence and image. His Majesty should test the waters, calling them one by one, to see if he can mediate when these political parties cannot find a compromise.”

Meanwhile, parties should also work to save the national image while the king is working on reconciliation, Lao Monghay said.

The king has less power than he has been afforded the constitution, he added.

Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay agreed that a compromise over the swearing-in ceremony must take place, or the king may not join.

“In 2003, we saw the king father [Sihanouk] didn’t go when he foresaw that some lawmakers wouldn’t make the first day of the meeting,” Son Chhay said.

Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha said without more compromise his party will continue its boycott.

“We want His Majesty to exercise his powers as stated in the constitution,” Kem Sokha said, including to provide stability and mediate.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said there was little danger of anyone losing face except lawmakers who boycotted the ceremony and sought to come into the government through the back door.

Lawmakers elected in July have a duty to join the ceremony and subsequent first meeting of the National Assembly, and not use the occasion to pressure the ruling party, he said.

The Cambodian People’s Party has said that even as the opposition threatened a boycott they asked for positions in the National Assembly.

“They deny the election results but they take seats,” Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech last week. “They didn’t take only Assembly seats. Let me tell you”—and he whispered into the microphone—“they requested a deputy of National Assembly position and four committees.

“They sent the request to me after 3 pm and said they would go abroad at 7:30 pm,” he said. “Do you know what they said? They said if Samdech agrees, they won’t need to go abroad. Wow. Threatening Hun Sen with their trips abroad. So I responded by telling them, ‘Go for your plan.’”

Chea Vannath, founder of the Center for Social Development, said there should be a compromise from the king, but first there must be a green light from the winning parties, including the CPP.

“His Majesty could broker a compromise that only all parties share, especially the CPP,” she said. “His Majesty would lose his image if he makes a proposal and they deny it.”

Oum Daravuth, the personal advisor to King Sihamoni, said the king has never been in the political arena and lacks the political experience of his father, who served as a prime minister and reined as a monarch twice.

“His Majesty is a constitutional monarch, so he can’t do anything other than follow the constitution and law,” Oum Daravuth said. “The political crisis in 2003 was solved by the king father, before His Majesty took over. This is the first crisis for him, so it’s kind of hard for him.”

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Guide writer earns local cred

Arriving as a location scout for Tomb Raider – the movie that put Angkor back on the tourist map – Lonely Planet's Nick Ray knows his Siem Reap

TRACEY SHELTON

While travel-book writer Nick Ray doesn’t live in Siem Reap, he’s become a foremost expert on the area.

THE Siem Reap-Angkor complex has notched up another world first this month, becoming the first of three regional centres, and the first non-coastal attraction, to be featured in Lonely Planet's new Encounter books, aimed at short-term travellers.
The series was launched in May last year, initially as city guides to locations such as London, Paris and Barcelona.

The publishers decided to expand the concept to regional centres and this month released three books: one each on Phuket, Ko Samui and Siem Reap-Angkor.

"Despite the headlining act that is Angkor, Lonely Planet says Siem Reap has its newfound status as Asia's historic hotspot," the publisher stated. "And in recent times, the town has undergone a metamorphosis from a quaint village to a centre for the international jet set."

Blow-in from the big smoke
The book is compiled by Nick Ray, a familiar name to Lonely Planet aficionados as he's authored a host of guide books. With this publication, he emerges as the world's foremost expert on Siem Reap, despite not being a resident.

Ray lives in Phnom Penh, and some mutterings have emerged that it's a bloody disgrace that the world's foremost expert on Siem Reap is a blow-in from the big smoke down south.

But, as Ray asserts, he packs plenty of Siem Reap cred. While he has never called Siem Reap home, he's been a regular visitor for many years.

"I've spent a lot of time in Siem Reap on projects," he declared. "When I worked on Tomb Raider I lived there for about four months, and I tend to go there at least ten times a year."

Ray was a location and logistics guide for the Tomb Raider movie and, if one accepts the notion that the movie helped put Angkor on the international tourist map, he deserves honorary Siem Reap residency for his role in the location being chosen for the movie.

To recap Hollywood-meets-Siem-Reap history, Tomb Raider, the first Hollywood movie filmed in Cambodia since Peter O'Toole's 1964 Lord Jim, was originally slated to be a Chinese-located movie based around the Terracotta Army coming to life. But that concept was pulled when a Chinese movie featured the army.

Cambodia was next on the list because in early 2000, Cambodian expat personality and prominent blogger, Andy Brouwer, was in Gloucester, England. Read more!

Entrepreneurs Find Chances in New Economy

A Cambodian maxim holds that, "If you want to be rich, trade in rice; if you want to be poor, trade in old cars." But in Cambodia's current economic climate, that isn't exactly true. Entrepreneurs have found openings in the expanding economy, founding sound businesses with little start-up or experience.

Soeng Bunna is among them. An orphan from Kampong Speu province whose parents were executed by the Khmer Rouge, the 33-year-old businessman started his Bunna Realty Group in 1999 with $250, but has seen it grow to a staff of 100 people working across most of the provinces.

He lived in pagodas and with friends in Phnom Penh following the war, and after a job as a cook at Lucky Burger, he began driving around on an "old, cheap motorcycle," he said in a recent interview, passing out contact details, trying to convince people he could find them places to rent or buy.

"I made copies of my phone number, covered them in plastic, and stuck them to public walls or on someone's door, or the trunk of coconut and mango trees on side streets," he said.

Now his business, a yellow-painted building on Street 51, sustains him and his wife and three children. The yellow represents power, success and luck, he said.

"I believed in God and angels to judge my fate," he said. "My wife and I had only $80 after marriage." He chuckled. "Sometimes we had only 10,000 riel."

Kang Chandararoth, an economist and head of the Cambodia Institute for Study and Development, said that successful entrepreneurs have several qualities in common: good thought, an awareness of areas where the economy is growing, and the growth of the economy itself.

"Trade in rice" no longer applies, he said, as small-business owners can quickly make money, especially in buying land or trading in real estate.

Those aren't the only ways to build a successful business, however.

Another entrepreneur, Leng Soklay, 51, supports her five children and husband with a clothing manufacturing company that has, like Soeung Bunna's business, thrived in the current economic environment.

She built her business with a $1,600 loan from Acleda Bank in 1993 and two sewing machines, growing until she had repaid the loan and eventually employed 20 workers. Her small factory puts out 200 items of clothing per day, and she recently estimated her assets at around $400,000.

"I think it is partly because of merit and my luck from the past," she said. "It is unbelievable that I can be like this now. A lot of people made businesses too but they didn't have luck."

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Govt warns of milk powder dump threat

No tainted Chinese powdered-milk products have been detected yet, but officials fear banned stocks from abroad could end up in markets

Tracey Shelton

Five-month-old Chivi stares at a display of milk powder in Phnom Penh’s Orussei Market. Officials have expressed concern the country will be targeted by those looking to dump contaminated Chinese milk products.

AS the toll of sick children from China's tainted milk scandal topped 50,000 Monday, government officials expressed concerns Cambodia could become a target for the dumping of suspect Chinese baby formula pulled from the shelves in other regional countries.

Phnom Penh's municipal health director, Veng Thai, said that although there were no reports of Cambodian children falling ill from the banned goods, the government remains vigilant over their possible importation.

"I am very concerned about the Chinese formula arriving in Cambodia, because I heard the news that Chinese babies were killed and poisoned," he said. "We don't have this kind of formula in Cambodia now, but we have to use all measures to prevent illegal imports."

On September 13, the Chinese government ordered a recall of Sanlu brand milk powder after it was found to be laced with the industrial chemical melamine, resulting in as many as four deaths and 52,857 cases of poisoning. It has since recalled two other brands, while many countries, including Cambodia, have barred imports of Chinese milk products altogether.

Pan Sorasak, secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce, said the Cambodia Import-Export Inspection and Fraud Suppression Department (Camcontrol) has enforced a strict ban on all Chinese milk products since Friday.

"We don't have this milk product in the market yet, but Camcontrol officials are still checking at markets and supermarkets," he said. "[They] will confiscate this type of milk if it is found in the market."

Got milk powder?
Ban or no, Phnom Penh retailers told the Post that Chinese milk powder has not been available in Cambodia for many years. Koun Leang, 50, who runs a dry-goods stall in Central Market, said she knew about the tainted milk, but did not know of anyone who was selling it.

"I have worked here since 1989 and never sold any milk powder from China," she said, adding that most brands were from Thailand, Malaysia, France, Holland and the United States. "Most customers are not interested in Chinese products, and I have never seen any advertisements or marketing for Chinese milk powder."

Yo Sopheap, a vendor at Phsar Kabko, said that she had also never sold Chinese milk products. "I have sold here for more than 20 years and never sold Chinese milk powder, since no clients ask for Chinese brands," she said.

Mary Chea, coordinator of the Ministry of Health's young child feeding program, said she had immediately scoured local shops for the tainted powder upon receiving warnings from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"I went directly to check some supermarkets in Phnom Penh as well as markets in Kampong Thom to find out if they have that kind of formula, but I didn't see any Chinese products. The Ministry of Health and the WHO are very concerned about this problem," she said. Read more!

Doctor Explains Treatments for Gout

The most important test to diagnose gouty arthritis is joint aspiration, a procedure whereby a sterile needle and syringe are used to drain joint fluid from the joint, a doctor said Thursday.

The fluid is examined to see if there are gout crystals or bacterial infection present, said Dr. Taing Tek Hong, as a guest on "Hello VOA."

"Your doctor may obtain a blood sample to look at your cell counts [and] uric acid levels," he said.

Gout may be treated with Ibuprofen, Advil, Aleve and Prednisone, he said, by decreasing uric acid in the joints.

A common side effect, stomach pain, can be alleviated by taking the medication with meals, he said.

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American Charged With Child Prostitution

Cambodia has worked to clean up its image as a destination for pedophiles, through new laws and information campaigns.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday charged an American man with the purchase of a child for prostitution, for alleged sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl.

Jason Baumbach, 40, is accused of paying school fees for the girl in exchange for sex, a crime that carries up to 15 years in prison under a new law.

Deputy Prosecutor Sok Kalyan said Friday Baumbach was charged under Article 34 of the "Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation," which prohibits sexual conduct with a minor while promising or providing money or anything of value to a minor or guardians.

Baumbach was arrested at his Tuol Kork home on Tuesday.

Cambodia has been working to improve a tarnished image as a haven for pedophiles and sexual predators, and a US State Department trafficking report issued earlier this year said authorities had made some progress toward combating the crime.

At the home of the girl, in a rundown apartment building in Prampi Makara district, parents declined to be interviewed Friday, but they showed reporter a picture of their daughter, who is now under the protective custody of a non-governmental organization.

Teng Manet, the lawyer of the family, alleged Friday the girl would visit Baumbach to receive money for school and would be invited into his room, where she was raped.

Brig. Gen. Bith Kimhong, head of the Ministry of Interior's anti-trafficking and juvenile protection department, said Friday that police have arrested seven foreigners and 13 Cambodians since January on suspicion of pedophilia.

Of the foreigners, three were American and arrested in Phnom Penh and four were from other countries and arrested in the beach resort town of Sihanoukville.

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