20140311

Kevin Ponniah and Cheang Sokha

WHILE it remains unclear whether the two passengers who boarded Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on Saturday on stolen passports have any connection to the planes myste-rious disappearance, the fact they made it on board at all has brought the failures of governments world-wide to carry out adequate border security checks sharply into focus.

But amid growing concerns, Cam-bodian officials claimed yesterday that security protocols that would have flagged the passports were in place here.

In a highly critical statement on Sunday, Interpol said that the two sto-len passports used on MH370 one Austrian and one Italian were listed in its Stolen and Lost Travel Docu-ments (SLTD) database soon after they were stolen in Thailand in 2012 and 2013, but that Malaysian author-ities had failed to cross-check them.

Malaysia is hardly an exception, with more than 1 billion passengers world-wide having been allowed to board planes last year without having their passports checked against Interpols database of 40 million entries, the international police organisation said, lamenting that only a handful of countries were actively utilising the system as part of security processes.

Cambodia is one of those countries, top immigration and local Interpol offi-cials said yesterday, though they disa-greed on how long the Kingdom had been systematically checking the data-base and how often hits were made.

Major General Keo Vanthan, director of the Interpol National Central Bureau at the Ministry of Interior, said that Cambodias international airport has been connected to the SLTD database, along with seven other international border checkpoints, since 2007.

We type the passport number in by hand, one-by-one, and it checks the lost and stolen travel document data-base. If there is a hit, we contact the

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

Daniel de CarteretKampong Speu province

HUNDREDS of trucks haul-ing sugar cane queue up along the dusty roads that cut a path through a plan-

tation in Kampong Speu province. Their destination: Cambodias most advanced sugar refinery.

Its owners say the landmark project, run by the Phnom Penh Sugar Com-pany and its president, ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat, is a boon for Cambodias poor and a pathway to

greater prosperity. Rights groups, however, say the outfit produces blood sugar, a commodity whose profits serve Cambodias elite at the expense of locals and their land.

As this dispute and the industry that its part of face increased global scru-tiny, the firms opening of its doors to the media last week offered a rare glimpse inside one of its most well-known but least understood ventures.

It is harvesting season, so about

3,000 people are working in the plan-tation. In the factory, there are about 1,000 workers turning the cane into refined sugar and raw sugar, said Seng Nhak, Phnom Penh Sugar Com-panys managing director, looking out over the firms 8,343 hectares in Thpong district.

The trucks along the road are load-ed with stalks freshly chopped down by workers. Once at the factory, which sits surrounded by cane fields, the

vehicles back into hydraulic lifts that tilt them skywards, sending the cane falling into a holding area. From there, it is scraped into a pit and sent on a conveyor belt to a processor, which crushes the stalks into liquid that is then crystallised using high temperatures.

A centrifuge much like a giant washing machine spins and dries it into raw sugar, some of which is fur-ther processed into the refined sugar used for coffee and tea. The next

A refined approach?Sugar firm opens its doors

Continues on page 9Continues on page 2

Malaysian passport failure not a risk here

Cambodia helps as MH370 hunt grows

National2 THE PHNOM PENH POST march 11, 2014

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JOB ANNOUNMENT

Officials doing their best to assist searchEddie Morton

camBODIaS avia-tion authority has increased staff levels and is in constant

communication with their Viet-namese counterparts in an ef-fort to contribute to the search for malaysia airlines flight 370, officials said yesterday.

maS flight 370, which was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and carrying 239 passengers and crew, has yet to be found after going miss-ing early on Saturday morning within Vietnamese air space south of Phu Quoc island.

chhun Sivorn, director of air Navigation and Standards at the State Secretariat of civil aviation, said the area in ques-tion is more than 300 kilome-tres south of the Phnom Penh air traffic control station, not far outside cambodian air-space.

Sivorn confirmed the SSca had immediately coordinated radar and satellite monitoring efforts with Vietnam after be-ing made aware of the missing airplane on march 8.

he said they had also in-creased the number of per-

sonnel monitoring cambodi-an airspace and scanning the Gulf of Thailand for distress beacons from their Phnom Penh International airport and Norodom Boulevard con-trol stations.

We have put more staff on 24 hours a day monitor-ing our satellite imaging and radar systems, he said.

The latest announcement from malaysia airlines, pub-lished on its website yesterday at 10am 48 hours after the plane went missing thanked search and rescue teams from australia, china, Thailand, In-donesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines and the US for as-sisting in the search.

Despite the search zone be-ing close to the cambodia-Vietnam air space border, Sivorn said the Kingdom sim-ply does not have the resourc-es to join the on-sea effort.

So we are doing the very

best to help with what we do have, he said.

all aircraft have an emer-gency transmitter installed. If the vessel went down inside cambodian air space, or with-in range of our satellite and radar systems, we will hope-fully pick it up, he said.

But it may be too late.Greg Waldron, asia manag-

ing editor at trade publica-tion, Flightglobal, said the chance now of locating the missing maS Boeing 777 air-plane by radar, satellite or even infrared is slim.

The search is down to the naked eye, he said, adding that the large number of fish-ing boats and pieces of trash floating around the Gulf of Thailand could cause false alarms for radar operators.

Waldron predicts the search could continue for more than a week despite the interna-tional search party.

cigarette thieves smoked out

Passport failure not a risk here

Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

TWO foreign nationals were sent to Phnom Penhs Prey Sar prison yesterday after attempt-ing to high-tail it away from Paragon supermar-ket with 17 cartons of cigarettes last week.

The suspects Dutch national Johan Becker, 59, and american national Jeffery alan adams, 51 were charged at Phnom Penh municipal court yesterday before being remanded into custody.

Becker was seen on Friday putting the ciga-rettes into a bag while the men walked around the supermarket before handing it to adams who walked out of the store, according to a local official. adams made his getaway on a waiting

moto, while Paragon security detained Johan.The following day, police arrested adams at

his rented apartment in Phsar Kandal I com-mune.

Prum Yan, a clerk at Phnom Penh municipal court, said that the two men were charged with stealing 170 boxes of cigarettes from the supermarket in Daun Penh Districts chey chumneash commune.

They both were charged this morning by the municipal courts prosecutor with stealing and their case now has already been transferred to an investigative judge for further investigation and a verdict, he said.

attempts to reach the two men were unsuc-cessful yesterday.

Continued from page 1

relevant [Interpol country office] to confirm that the pass-port is in the database and if they confirm we take action, he said, adding that only a handful of hits are made each month.

I think most of the countries in the aSEaN region are equipped with this system but malaysia doesnt have such a system yet. This is the problem. The system which is set up at the border crossings checks all foreign travellers coming in or out of cambodia.

But major General Pin Piseth, director of the Department of Immigration, said that immi-gration officers had only been using a system that checks all passports against the Interpol database since 2012.

he added that, contrary to Vanthans comments, no pass-ports had been flagged during cross-checks with the Interpol database thus far by immigra-tion officers.

We make a lot of arrests of people using a fake passport or [using someone elses passport] but not from Interpol. This is from the work of our immigra-tion officials; this is why we train them.

Explaining the difference between their accounts of screening processes, Interpols Vanthan said that his officers checked passports independ-ently of immigration officials.

Piseth, on the other hand, said they worked together.

We provide them with infor-mation, but I cannot tell you the details of our procedure.

Just weeks before flight mh370 went missing with 239 passengers and crew onboard, Interpol warned that not enough countries were taking advantage of its easy-to-access database, creating a major gap in our global security appara-tus that is left vulnerable to exploitation by criminals and terrorists.

malaysian authorities have launched a review of airport security screening, the austral-ian Broadcasting corporation has reported.

I am still perturbed. cant these immigration officials think? Italian and austrian but with asian faces, home minister ahmad Zahid hamidi was quoted as saying by malaysian state media after he revealed that the two Euro-pean passports had been used by passengers of asian

appearance, the aBc said. Launched in the wake of the

9/11 terrorist attacks in 2002, Interpols SLTD database was searched more than 800 million times last year. about 420 mil-lion of those searches were by its top three users: the United States, United Kingdom and the United arab Emirates.

cambodia welcomed 4.2 mil-lion international tourists in 2013, according to the ministry of Tourism.

With increased tourism, pet-ty theft, usually in the form of bag snatchings, has been on the rise in major cities in recent years, a number of foreign embassies have noted.

although the common petty theft that occurs almost weekly against US citizens in cambo-dia is related to stealing purses and handbags, passports are included in that mix, US embassy spokesman Sean mcIntosh said.

The US embassy could not provide recent figures for the number of passports stolen from its citizens in cambodia before press time.

according to the British embassy, 90 British nationals reported their passports stolen in 2013.

A Malaysian policewoman (centre) smiles as she inspects a passengers passport at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, on Sunday. AFp

If the vessel went down . . . within range of our satellite and radar systems, we will

hopefully pick it up

National3THE PHNOM PENH POST march 11, 2014

Talks ongoing, still no accordMeas Sokchea

a ThrEE-hOUr meet-ing yesterday of a joint election reform committee made up

of representatives from the rul-ing cambodian Peoples Party and the opposition cambodia National rescue Party dis-cussed the reform of electoral institutions but failed to reach any accord, officials said.

The first meeting of the com-mittee, part of efforts to bring an end to the cNrPs boycott of parliament, last monday result-ed in a joint statement pledging unspecified voter list reform and that a law on political party finance would be created.

The joint commission has decided that we will continue the talks [next monday]. This morning it is impossible to announce any result. There are still other points which we want to [discuss], what points we will [use] for reforms. So we have decided not to issue any joint document, opposi-tion whip Son chhay, head of his partys delegation, said.

any issues left outstanding by the committee would be addressed during future talks between the parties, he added.

We want an electoral institu-tion that has the confidence of

all parties contesting the elec-tion and has the confidence from people. The fulfillment of work [by the National Election committee] should be inde-pendent, unbiased and not be-holden to political parties.

The cNrP said in a statement yesterday that it wanted NEc members to require approval by a two-thirds majority in parlia-

ment, rather than the absolute majority currently required.

Deputy Prime minister Bin chhin, head of the cPP delega-tion, said his party had raised issues relating to the neutrality of civil society groups involved in election monitoring.

The government has dis-missed a lengthy post-election report prepared by a number

of prominent election watch-dogs as being manipulated.

chhin added that the talks were slowgoing, but necessary.

We must do the work clearly. It takes a long time, but we are able to talk clearly. We will not take risks, he said, adding that while the parties had disagreed on points, their vision for re-form was not so different.

Son Chhay, head of the Cambodia National Rescue Partys negotiation commission, talks to the media after a joint election reform committee meeting yesterday at Phnom Penhs Senate building. hENG ChIVOAN

Mom Kunthear

a STaY-aT-hOmE garment strike scheduled for tomorrow is in doubt after a number of workers and unionists urged that it be postponed until after the Khmer New Year, a union leader said yesterday.

Pav Sina, president of the collective Union of movement of Workers, said some workers feared the strike would leave

them without money for the holiday period.

Leaders of the 18 union groups involved in the strike will meet today to decide whether to proceed, he added.

We want to continue plan-ning this strike, but we have re-ceived the suggestion from our members and workers to sus-pend it until after the Khmer New Year next month, he said.

For weeks, the unions have been threatening that a stay-at-home strike will begin to-morrow and run until at least march 19.

The unions and workers be-hind it want a $160 minimum monthly garment wage and the release of 21 workers and unionists arrested at the height of a strike in early January.

The unions efforts to hold a forum in Freedom Park last Saturday International Womens Day were thwarted by authorities who blockaded the area.

If we do go ahead with the strike, we will announce to all workers to stay home to avoid any problems with police or military police, Sina said.

But rong chhun, president of the cambodian confedera-tion of Unions, said the strike would go ahead, even if he was the only union leader involved.

I will not abandon my plans for a strike this Wednesday, even if other union leaders de-cide to postpone it until next month, he said.

Ear Lim, 25, a garment worker at the canadia Indus-trial Park near where secu-rity forces shot dead at least four people on January 3 is one worker who shares these sentiments.

I am really scared, but we need a higher wage and more benefits. I will join the strike, she said.

Strike may be shifted to post-holiday date

We have received the suggestion from our members . . . to suspend [the strike]

until after Khmer New Year

Sen David

SOME 200 ethnic Kuoy minor-ity villagers in Preah Vihears Chheb district blocked tractors belonging to a Chinese com-pany from bulldozing their rice crops yesterday, the same day that district authorities received a letter from the Interior Minis-try instructing them to broker an agreement between villagers and nearby concessionaires.

In a letter dated February 17 but received by district authorities yesterday, accord-ing to district governor Ung Vuthy Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak told authorities from the pro-vincial level on down to find a just solution to the land dis-pute between local villagers and Chinese concessionaires Rui Feng International and Lan Feng company.

The Ministry suggests the authorities examine this case, and report to the Ministry of Interior, Sopheak wrote.

Meanwhile, villagers gathered yesterday to block two tractors owned by Rui Feng that were intent on clearing villagers land despite not having notified vil-lagers, according to community representative Da Ry, 44.

They never told or informed the residents about clearing the land, he said. They can-

not do this to our farm without resolution.

Fellow villager Doung Sokhem, 41, said that villagers had inhabited the land since 1979 and had not committed any violence against the tractor operators.

Lor Chan, a provincial coordi-nator with Adhoc, said that when the rights groups representatives arrived on the scene, the com-pany had told villagers that they would resolve to the problem after clearing the land.

When I heard that, I wanted to laugh, because no one ever clears the land and then finds

a solution afterward, he said. In the law, the company has

to study the effect [of its activi-ties] and find a solution com-pletely so they can clear the land, [or] it will have a dispute if there is still no solution.

Contact details for Rui Feng were not immediately availa-ble, and an employee at Lan Feng said that she was unable to answer questions about what kind of resolution might be offered. District governor Vuthy confirmed receiving the ministrys order to investigate, but declined to comment on potential resolution.

National4 THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCh 11, 2014

Save the Children is the worlds leading independent organisation for children. We work in around 120 countries to achieve breakthroughs in the way the world treats children. Save the Children has been working in Cambodia since 1970. We focus on Education, Child Protection, Health, Child Rights Governance and Disaster Risk Reduction as well as Emergency work. We work with government partners and local NGOs to improve childrens live especially marginalized and disadvantaged children. Save the Children is looking for a qualied and motivated candidate to ll in the position of Director Support Services based in Phnom Penh with occasional travel to the eld. This is an exciting opportunity to be involved in Save the Childrens work in Cambodia as we are growing our portfolio to reach more children and improve childrens lives.

The Purpose of the RoleAs a permanent member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in Cambodia, the Director of Support Services shares in the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Country Ofce (CO). The Director of Support Services in his/her capacity will be accountable to the Country Director for the provision of effective Finance, HR, Logistics, IT, Administration and Safety/Security services in both emergencies and development programming contexts. The Director of Support Services is expected to build the capacity of the Finance Manager and HR/Admin Manager and their teams to ensure compliance with evolving SCI global standards, policies and practices. The position also plays a key role in effectively supporting program implementation activities in line with the annual and country strategic plans.

QualicationsRecommended a minimum of 5 (not, however, a requirement) management experience in a corporate or an NGO environment, including experience in the development of strategic and operational support services plans and their implementation in a professional work environment over a sustained period of timeAbility to plan and organise a substantial workload that includes complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities in both development and emergency contextsWillingness and ability to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergenciesDemonstrated credibility with colleagues and stakeholders at all levels of an organizationExcellent oral and written communication skills in English Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to demonstrate skills in leading a multi- disciplined team through a period of changeLeadership skills, including the ability to supervise and motivate qualied professional staff with strong personal value systemsAnalytical, decision making and strategic planning skills and the ability to handle multiple prioritiesAbility to coach, mentor, delegate appropriately and provide developmental guidance to supervised staffTeam building skills Competent level skills in core IT applications, particularly MS Ofce A commitment to the values and principles of SC Experience of exposure to developing countries High level of commitment to the principles of development and to the organizational and programmatic goals of Save the Children

How to applyA detailed job description is available from our website or at the address below. Please submit a CV and cover letter by email or post to the Human Resources Team at Save the Children no later than 17.00 on 21st March 2014.

Save the Children is an equal opportunity employer. Electronic submission via email or our website is strongly encouraged. Qualied women and disable people candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Only short listed candidates will be notied and called for interviews. Application and CVs will not be returned.

Vacancy AnnouncementDirector Support Services

Save the Children: P.O. Box 34, Villa 5, Street 242, Sangkat Chaktomouk, Khan Daun Penh, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Phone: (855) 12 777 482,(855) 23 223 403/4/5/6, CCC Box 59,

Email: [email protected] / website: http://cambodia.savethechildren.net

Judicial draft laws still unseen: rights groupsStuart White

TWO civil society or-ganisations are call-ing on Prime Minister hun Sen to publish

three long-gestating draft laws on judicial reform to allow am-ple time for genuine, inclusive and meaningful participation in the drafting process.

hun Sen said in a speech last Wednesday that the three laws the Law on the Organization and Functioning of the Courts, the Law on the Amendment of the Supreme Council of Mag-istracy and the Law on the Status of Judges and Prosecu-tors were in the final stages of drafting, and would hopefully be implemented by mid-year.

however, the Ministry of Justice has been tight-lipped on the specifics of those laws, and the Cambodian Center for human Rights and the NGO umbrella group Cam-bodian human Rights Action Committee said in an open letter, dated March 7 and re-leased yesterday, that they are seriously concerned by the opacity surrounding the draft legislations.

Requests to view the laws were rebuffed by the Justice Ministry, as the laws were still just drafts, the letter says.

however, it is crucial that the draft legislations are made public immediately to allow for relevant stakeholders . . . to give feedback and make comments, it continues. If only a final version of the leg-islation is made public, this would give no opportunity for the Ministry of Justice and the Parliament to analyse the recommendations made by the different stakeholders, and to incorporate them into the final version.

CChR president Ou Virak said yesterday that while it would be extremely difficult for the rule of law to get any worse, without outside input, the new laws might nonethe-less fall short of ensuring badly needed judicial independence.

It could be that theyre passing it, and it doesnt make any change on the ground. I think thats the real concern, he said.

All these laws need to make sure, for example, that the Su-preme Council of Magistracy

is completely independent from the executive [branch], he added.

But according to legal ex-pert Sok Sam Oeun who said he read a leaked draft of the law on the organisation of the courts and had the law on the Supreme Council of Mag-istracy described to him the new legislation might do just the opposite.

If we look at the law on the Supreme Council of Magis-tracy, the Minister of Justice has more power than before. Why? Because another two members are from the Minis-try of Justice, so it means the [ministry] has three voices, re-ally, he said. Thats why Im concerned about interference from the Ministry of Justice, which is a political body.

Ministry official Sam Prachea Manith would only say yester-day that the laws are related to the reform of the judicial system, but noted that media would be given one hours ac-cess to a two-day meeting on the law on judges and pros-ecutors slated to begin on Wednesday. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHHAY CHANNYDA

Ethnic Kuoy villagers gather at a forest camp site in Preah Vihear ear-lier this year in an effort to stop community land from being cleared for development. HENG CHIVOAN

Kuoy villagers block firms

WWF unveils bid to help Rkiri forests

Locals seeking justice after broken deal

Amelia Woodside

IN the latest bid to protect Mon-dulkiris ravaged forests, World Wildlife Fund is rolling out a new project designed to give locals financial incentives to help preserve Mondulkiri Pro-tected Forest and Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary.

Cultivating small-scale, community-run businesses such as resin tree tapping and beekeeping is how WWF-Cam-bodia hopes to develop a sus-tainable model of land man-agement in Mondulkiri by 2017, WWF-Cambodia conser-vation manager Thibault Ledecq said yesterday.

WWF is already working with 10 community entrepreneurs that sell and harvest honey, resin and bamboo as a way of promot-ing sustainable resource use by locals, many of them being eth-nic minorities, he said.

Pairing private businesses with community vendors is key to sustaining a long-term win-win situation for the people reliant on the protected forest areas and conserva-

tionist groups, Ledecq added.Local forest-based commu-

nities have to be seen as both a challenge and an opportu-nity. They tend to put pressure on forest resources if they have no incentives to protect and sustainably manage them, he said.

But within the right frame-works and with strong bene-fits in place, villagers can be very effective guardians of their forests.

Connecting government institutions, civil society groups and the private sector will be vital to protecting the future of

the provinces forests, according to Chhith Sam Ath, WWF-Cam-bodias country director.

Through this project, WWF is confident that biodiversity and natural capital will be seen as an asset and not as an obsta-cle to socio-economic develop-ment, Sam Ath said.

Pech Chreada district chief Keounh Ratha said that linking money-making and sustainable land management was an important step.

The community really wants to see sustainable manage-ment of the forests and their livelihoods improved through farming and resin processing, Ratha said.

If their livelihoods are improved, they will use the for-ests sustainably, which will help conservation efforts. Local development is needed to pro-vide the community with oppor-tunities for income, he said.

Local authorities will assist WWF-Cambodia with the project, which is funded by the European Union, said Choeng Sochantha, a provincial admin-istration director.

Phak Seangly

VILLAGERS in Ratanakkiris OChum dis-trict are demanding their land back, claim-ing buyers from a local company failed to uphold a 2007 deal.

The 66 ethnic Kreung families filed a com-plaint on Friday after workers from a nearby rubber plantation started to slash and burn the 400 hectares of disputed land.

According to the complaint, villagers had farmed the land since 1979. But in 2007, Seng Visith and his wife, Sek Sopheak Soeur Monea, who together owned a majority

share of the now bankrupt VKM Company, promised them $20,000 and to build bridg-es, roads, schools and a village hall.

Seng Viseth and his wife produced a fake document with our thumb prints in order to grab our land and transfer [it] to another person, Ly Sok Ngim, the com-plaint says.

Chhay Thy, Ratanakkiri provincial coor-dinator for rights group Adhoc, said he investigated the claim, and on Sunday found that Seng Visith and his wife were in debt to plantation owner Ly Sok Ngim. A court ruling just over two weeks ago trans-

ferred five properties including the 400 disputed hectares to Sok Ngim.

The villagers knew nothing about this case . . . [and] have not received any mon-ey, Chhay Thy said.

Adhoc is preparing to file for an appeal of the courts verdict.

Sak Sun, OChum district governor, said that authorities had already visited the vil-lage and determined that the Kreung families sold off the land in 2007. It is an old case, he said.

Seng Visith, his wife and Ly Sok Ngim could not be reached for comment.

A woman sells honey to customers at her community-run business in Mondulkiris Pech Chreada district. PHOTO SUPPLIED

National5THE PHNOM PENH POST march 11, 2014

Stay alivefor the NewYear: PmChhay Channyda

WITh Khmer New Year approaching next month, Prime minister hun Sen yes-terday called upon cambodi-ans to practise safe driving habits.

Do not die before welcom-ing the New Year god or just welcome the [New Year] god for only an hour and then get killed, the prime minister said during a speech at a public inauguration for a stretch of national road threading from Battambang to the cambodia-Thailand border.

Now at least five people die in a traffic accident every day, and the death [toll] will climb to 50 or 60 in 10 days.

But irresponsible driving isnt the only reason why the Kingdoms roads are plagued by a high number of traffic accidents and deaths, said Ear chariya, a road safety program manager for handicap Inter-national.

The key issues leading to road crashes in cambodia are a lack of enforcement [and] knowledge of road [rules] and [the need for] safer road design, chariya said.

National testing could widenLaignee Barron

camBoDIa may soon have new stan-dardised exams to hold its students,

teachers and education sys-tem accountable.

Everyone agrees that the improved enrolment rates in primary school is an accom-plishment, at the same time, ev-eryone also calls for quality con-trol improvement . . . [which] means better testing, said Jan Noorlander, program coordina-tor at carE cambodia.

Now, cambodia lacks the na-tional standardised test frenzy endemic in other asia-Pacific countries like Korea, Japan and Singapore. Learning outcomes are measured by teacher-cre-ated monthly tests and end of semester exams, a process that stakeholders say has little to no oversight and is riddled with cheating, discrimination and inconsistencies.

National, ministry-issued exams take place only in grades 9 and 12, when stu-dents can attain diplomas for lower and upper secondary school completion.

But minister of Education hang chhuon Naron is intent on expanding learning achieve-

ment accountability. Last fall, the ministry issued its first na-tionwide assessment to a repre-sentative sample of students in grades 1, 2 and 5, testing their knowledge of Khmer literature and mathematics.

Before, there have only been small-scale studies by develop-ment partners, he said. But we want to be able to take pol-

icy measures and then monitor if learning is improving or not.

The ministry is discussing how to expand the national testing to the secondary school level, with eyes on repeating the assess-ment every three to five years.

The ministry isnt the only one interested in evaluating learning outcomes education donors have long argued that

proxies in lieu of national as-sessment, such as UNEScos use of primary school survival rate, offer extremely limited pictures of education quality.

We are advocating for an ef-fective assessment of learning achievements to strengthen the evidence base that learn-ing is indeed taking place, said Santosh Khatri, UNESco

cambodia education program specialist.

The argument for monitor-ing education quality extends to better oversight of the class-room testing teachers use to assess and promote students as well.

Its completely up to teach-ers to determine who passes and who fails, said San chey, coordinator for Social ac-countability in East asia and the Pacifc. Standardised tests would help avoid discrimina-tion and nepotism, as well as bribery, with some students buying a passing grade.

Though school-based techni-cal working groups are meant to monitor test quality, teachers say there is no oversight to en-sure equal standards between schools, districts or provinces.

It doesnt matter if you give monthly tests or not, said hak chamroeun, who teaches grade 12 English language in Battambang.

But chamroeun advocates that standardising all tests wont offer a cure-all.

It would be good to have benchmarks or input from the ministry, but teachers are the ones who know their students abilities and should be the ones writing the tests, he said.

Students exit Bak Touk High School in Phnom Penh last year during the nation-wide exam period. hoNG MENEA

Violent attack

Mans hand chopped off in assault

A MACHETE was used to cut off a mans left hand during a dispute on Friday night in Kampong Chhnangs Samaki Meanchey district, police said yesterday.

Sorn Thy, a district police official, said six people were arrested over the attack on Lay Bunthear, 26, who had been riding his motorbike home from work when he got into an argument with the six.

Thy said the suspects, on two motorbikes, followed Bunthear towards his house after the argument.

One of them drew a machete and tried to stab Bunthear with it. Thy said that the victims hand was hacked off when he raised it to defend himself. Because of his se-rious injuries, the victim was taken to [a hospital in] Phnom Penh, Thy said.

The perpetrators escaped but authorities were able to find and arrest them based on statements from witnesses.

Doch Chamreoun, chief of the provincial major crime office, said the suspects were still being questioned as of yesterday evening. LIENG SARITH

National6 THE PHNOM PENH POST march 11, 2014

Wreck just too gritty for driver of sand truckIN A hit and run on Friday, it wasnt the drunken moto driv-er who fled. According to police in Kampong Thoms Stung Sen town, a 32-year old speeding, drunk driver crashed into the back of a truck transporting sand. The man damaged his motorcycle and sustained serious injuries to both his head and body. The moto driver was taken to hos-pital, while the truck driver fled, abandoning his load of sand, which will remain in police custody until claimed. KAmpucHEA THmEy

Blood thicker than water, but money trumps bloodA WOmAN in phnom penhs Sen Sok district got a rude introduction to the old adage neither a borrower nor a lender be on Friday. The woman, 22, did her relative a favour, lending him her motor-bike to visit a friend. According to police, the male relative, 25, pawned the bike for $250 and spent all the money, hoping his relative wouldnt need her wheels back. The woman turned her fibbing relation over to the police when she spotted him walking near his home. KAmpucHEA THmEy

Lazy man executes lazy scam, too lazy to fleeA 27-yEAR-OLD Dangkor dis-trict con artist took the money, but forgot to run last week. A construction company driver, the man delivered materials to customers who paid him $2,000. On returning to the company, the driver reported that he hadnt received pay-ment, but his suspicious boss uncovered the botched ploy with a few phone calls. On Fri-day, police nabbed the suspect who said hed already spent all the money. KAmpucHEA THmEy

Man masters jealousy, adds wrath to repertoirepAILIN town police are on the lookout for a 34-year-old con-struction worker who allegedly beat his wife to the point of unconsciousness on Friday. police said the man was jeal-ous after spotting his wife with another man in the village. The husband got drunk at a wedding, and on returning home, beat his wife with a belt and wooden stick badly injuring her head, shoulder, eye, thigh and back before fleeing. NOKORWAT

Stab-happy lover picks funny way of apologising A 25-yEAR-OLD man was apprehended in Kampong Speus Oral district Saturday after stabbing his girlfriend. The woman, 18, lived with her boyfriend in phnom penh, but went to stay with her parents in Kampong Speu after the couple had an argument. A week later, the man followed her, begging her to return to phnom penh. When the wom-an refused, the man grabbed a knife and stabbed her in the back, armpit and arm. She was hospitalised, and her par-ents prevented the man from escaping arrest. NOKORWAT

Translated by Phak Seangly

PolicebloTTerEmployee just a wolf in mechanics clothingA SHORT con drove one phnom penh car owner into a spot of bother on Saturday. The unsuspecting 30-year-old had stopped at a garage in chamkarmon district to have his vehicle serviced, leaving the keys with a helpful employee. After visiting a nearby barbers for a cut, he returned to the shop to pick up his car, only to find it miss-ing. After exchanging a few heated words with the garage owner, it transpired that the helpful employee was just a passing thief who saw a prime opportunity. DEum AmpIL

Speak now or forever hold your swords . . .ONE couples big day turned into a scene more closely resembling Kill Bill than Four Weddings in phnom penhs Russey Keo district on Satur-day. Two groups of young men at the do got into an argument and two of the men drew samurai swords on the others, scattering the frightened guests. police nabbed one wannabe ronin while another suspect escaped. Two of the men were seriously injured in the attack. KAmpucHEA THmEy

Dance faux pas leads to damaged forepawA cASE of two left feet has left one Kampong chhnang town man with a sore hand. The 26-year-old victim and his friend were out at a nightclub in the town when one of the men complained that his friend kept treading on his feet while they danced. The victim did not relent, leading to an argument as they left the club in a huff. The victims friend then stabbed him in the hand before police arrived. He has since been sent to court. KOH SANTEpHEAp

Poipet town gamblers arrest was in the cardsFIVE illegal gamblers in Banteay meancheys poipet district got caught counting cards by the roadside on Sat-urday. police patrolling the area noticed a light under a tree and closed in to investi-gate. The five men, all moto-dops, tried to flee, but all were arrested, their money confis-cated and six motos impound-ed. police freed them after they promised to stop the games. KOH SANTEpHEAp

Neither a borrower nor a lender (nor a thief) beIN ANOTHER case of friend-ship and betrayal, a 29-year-old Kratie town woman was arrested by police on Sunday after she allegedly cheated her pal out of a moto. The suspect borrowed her friends moto, but failed to return it as promised. The five-year-long friendship waned when the victim reported the bike sto-len. police arrested the sus-pect after they found she had sold the borrowed ride. KAm-pucHEA THmEy

Translated by Sen David

Sand rises as villagers waitKhouth Sophak chakrya

ThIrTEEN families in Phnom Penhs Oandoung village, who have been locked in a long-run-ning dispute with tycoon Sok

Kongs Sokimex company, say their land is being flooded with sand as they wait for a response to a complaint filed with Prime minister hun Sen earlier this month.

at the end of last month, villagers said, meanchey district governor Kuoch chamreoun told them they had to leave their farms on a 21-hectare stretch of land in Prek Bra commune, which they have farmed for a decade.

If they did not move, they could face military police intervention and admin-istrative measures.

We have not taken [Sokimexs] land as our own property. Why did some officials collude with each other to . . . give our lands to the company without any com-pensation like this? chhay Sothea, a rep-resentative of the 13 families, asked.

Following the announcement, Sothea added, the families filed a petition with hun Sens office, asking him to wade in to resolve the dispute and acknowledge their ownership of the land.

Sok Kong, director of Sokimex, or Sok Kong Import Export company, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

according to the villagers, the conflict arose out of a land dispute between two firms not an uncommon occurrence in cambodia.

Sokimex and another company, Phan Imex, were engaged in a dispute over

about 55 hectares of land. The disagree-ment was resolved in 2010 following the intervention of authorities.

In 2007, the government ordered the 55.4-hectare area of Veal Sbov commune, in Kandal provinces Kean Svay district, and Ta Ngov village, in Phnom Penhs Niroth commune, be measured and di-vided between the companies.

But a February 18, 2008 letter from chuob Sitha, former Prek Bra district gov-ernor, to hun Sen obtained by the Post alleged that the demarcation had been made illegally, granting the villagers land

to Sokimex in a bid to end the dispute. That measurement overlapped onto Prek Bra commune and it affected the le-gal properties belonging to the 13 families in Oandoung village, the letter reads.

Villagers went on to claim that Sitha was sacked from his position as district governor because he refused to sign over the deeds to the land to Sokimex.

Because he wanted to protect our le-gal properties that is why he was fired from his position as the district gover-nor, Sun Sokunthy, another village rep-resentative, said.

Children play in the sand as a man fishes in Meanchey districts Prek Pra commune, where locals have voiced concerns about sand encroaching on their farming land. HENG cHIVOAN

Chan Tien Hin

MALAYSIAN Air-line System Bhd (MAS) fell to an all-time low after

the national carriers Flight 370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Saturday.

The stock sank 4 per cent to 24 sen yesterday for its low-est close on record after fall-ing as much as 18 per cent. It was the most active on Kuala Lumpurs exchange with 385 million shares traded.

The benchmark FTSE Bur-sa Malaysia KLCI Index slid 0.6 per cent and the ringgit slumped 0.8 per cent against the dollar.

Investigators from nine countries are struggling to solve the mystery of the miss-ing Malaysian jet, as Vietnam-ese forces yesterday failed to find the airplane debris they had spotted on Sunday off the countrys southern coast.

The prospect of terrorism arose after Austria and Italy said passports used by two male passengers were stolen from their citizens.

A helicopter late on Sunday spotted what officials sus-pected was a window or door fragment of a plane.

Malaysia still had no infor-mation about the Boeing Co 777-200, which was carrying 239 people, and reports that plane parts were spotted were not confirmed, said Azharud-din Abdul Rahman, director general of the Department of Civil Aviation.

China, Australia and the US are among those helping search for the Malaysian Air-line plane that went missing from radar screens on a flight to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8.

Flight 370 departed the Malaysian capital at about 12:41am local time on March 8 and was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6:30am. Security screening was performed as usual at Kuala Lumpur, Malay-sia Airports Holdings Bhd said.

The twin-engine, wide-body plane carried 227 passengers and 12 crew members.

Chinese travellers account-ed for the largest group by nationality at 153, including an infant, the airline said.

Also aboard were three US citizens, according to the US State Department.

Interpol said in a statement that at least two passports recorded in its database, one Austrian and one Italian, were used by passengers on

the flight after being reported stolen in Thailand.

Two people using stolen Italian and Austrian passports had consecutive ticket num-bers, suggesting the tickets were issued together, Cable News Network reported, cit-ing the Chinese e-ticket veri-fication system Travelsky and other sources.

The missing plane was a code-share service with China Southern Airlines Co, which said it sold seven tick-

ets on the flight, including to people of Austrian and Ital-ian nationality, according to the companys microblog.

Malaysia Airports Holdings shares fell 1.7 per cent, the biggest retreat since Febru-ary 20.

China Southern Airlines dropped 3.9 per cent in Hong Kong trading, the lowest close since February 6.

The Bloomberg World Air-lines Index slipped 0.1 per cent. BLOOMBERG

7THE PHNOM PENH POST MARCH 11, 2014

Business

A Malaysian Airline System aircraft sits on the tarmac at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, on Saturday. AFp

Malaysia carriers shares dip New Thai crossing is in works on borderHor Kimsay

THE Cambodian government is conducting a feasibility study investigating the need for a Thai border crossing at Steng Bort Village in Banteay Meanchey province, four kilo-metres from Poipet.

Kem Borey, general director of public works at the Ministry of Public Works and Transpor-tation, said congestion at the Poipet checkpoint had reached its limit due to large trucks crossing.

It is affecting the arrival of tourists, he said.

Ministry of Tourism figures show the Poipet checkpoint receives about 600,000 interna-tional tourists annually. Cam-bodia and Thailand now share seven international check-points.

Ly Utny, president of the Banteay Meanchey Chamber of Commerce, said the plan to establish a new checkpoint has long been in the works.

CORRECTIONIn the article BreadTalk chain set to open up in the capital published on February 25, the title of an employee at a Tous Les Jours chain was misstated. His name was also misspelled. The correct spelling is Von Vuon, and his title is restaurant manager at the Tous Les Jours Monivong outlet.

USD / JPY

102.92

USD / SGD

1.2637

USD /CNY

6.1138

USD / HKD

7.7603

USD / THB

32.25

AUD / USD

0.9084

NZD / USD

0.8479

EUR / USD

1.3858

GBP / USD

1.6737

Indicative Exchange Rates as of 7/3/2014. Please contact ANZ Royal Global Markets on 023 999 910 for real time rates.

USD / KHR

3,982

Business8 THE PHNOM PENH POST march 11, 2014

A pendant made of jade from Myanmar sits on display at the 2013 Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair. AFp

myanmar jewellers upsetSu Phyo Winand Bridget Di Certo

JEWELLErS in myanmar are calling for the government to privatise their multibillion-dollar a year industry and allow individual traders to export rare commodities directly under a more favourable tariff scheme.

Jewellers said that a limita-tion barring the export of raw and polished precious stones except from sales at govern-ment-run emporiums and selected markets was stran-gling the sector.

We go to the [government-run] exhibitions and only dis-play our products there, but we want to secure bigger contracts for mass production and export, said Daw Thet Thet Khaing, owner of local jeweller Golden Palace and Forever Gems. Our consumers are spreading all over the world, so it would be better to export our jewels to the place where they can easily buy our products.

There is no direct export for any kinds of gemstones raw or polished allowed, she said, adding that other minis-tries are adapting their export policies in order to promote local businesses.

currently, jewellers are only able to sell their wares to myan-mar residents and to foreign citizens who attend govern-ment-sponsored emporiums, which are held no more than three times a year. Buyers at the emporiums are primarily inter-ested in raw stones.

They then do the value-add-ed work in their own countries and sell on the stones for 10 to 100 times the purchase price, Daw Thet Thet Khaing, who is also the chair of Golden Sun cooperative jewellers, said. She added that because access to the marketplace is limited, gem dealers are yielding little profit.

Just selling raw stones at the emporium is like we are taking a risk ourselves because of the little profit [on raw stones], she said.

In 1995 the myanmar Gem-stone Law and bylaw were promulgated, providing for myanmar nationals to exca-vate, produce and sell gem-stones on the local and inter-national market, but stricter regulations were soon put in place in an effort to curb ram-pant smuggling. Nevertheless, experts said that such rules did little to stop the problem, while further exacerbating illegal trade problems by limiting export channels so severely.

Estimates show that myan-mar produces up to 90 per cent of the worlds rubies, with its best quality products, often described as pigeon-blood gems, fetching higher prices than diamonds at some inter-national auctions.

Figures from the 2011-2012 fiscal year recorded 43,185 tons of jade and 13.398 million car-ats of precious stones were recorded through official export channels.

currently, there is a 30 per cent commercial tax on all gem exports payable to the govern-ment and a 10 per cent retail tax at emporiums. While this figure is low compared to other precious natural commodities such as wood, which is taxed at 100 per cent, jewellers say the tax is prohibitive to establish-ing a lucrative export market.

Daw mar Lar myint, general manager of Zeyar arrman, Gems, Jade home craft Produc-tion, said liberalising the export market could help defeat illegal trade of precious stones.

We are in Sagaing region, and it mostly seems that illegal gem trade is occurring on the china-Shweli border, she said. If the government allowed

export, and kept tight restric-tions at the borders, there will not be as much of an illegal gems trade.

The largely unregulated bor-der trade areas are riddled with merchants who smuggle raw jade and gems to countries such as china, Thailand and India, where the stones are refined and sold as finished goods to international markets.

Thailand is very famous for polished rubies and sapphires. china is famous for jade and India is very famous for dia-monds. This success is related to their government policies, Daw Thet Thet Khaing said. Sanctions [on myanmar] are lifted and the market is opening up, but we cant open our door and go outside. Internal barriers are huger than external ones.

She said barriers were not only legislative, but political. a lack of support to develop the sector with increased training and institutions supporting polish-ing and production in-country meant the sector was suffering.

U maung maung San, owner of maung maung San Gems and Jewelry, said local players have repeatedly asked the gov-ernment to revise the regula-tions, but to no avail.

U Win htein, director gen-eral at the Department of mines, said the government has been debating amend-ments to the 1995 myanmar Gemstones Law and associated policies for over a year and wel-comes feedback from jeweller associations, though he did not indicate if and the when rules would be revised. The law mentions that the countrys resources are not allowed to go outside the country and are restricted to production and consumption for myanmar nationals, U Win htein said of the export limitations purpose. THE MYANMAR TIMES

EU, myanmar might sign arbitration dealBill OToole

NE G O T I a T I O N S have begun for a European Union investor protection

agreement with myanmar that would imbed interna-tional arbitration as the pref-erential dispute mechanism, although observers said such a clause could ultimately be detrimental for the country.

The EU commission and the myanmar ministry of Fi-nance began negotiations for the agreement last week a move that could encour-age European investor confi-dence in new myanmar mar-kets, EU ambassador roland Kobia said.

By creating legal certainty and predictability for compa-nies, investment protection will help to attract and main-tain FDI to underpin myan-mars economy. We hope that this bilateral agreement will be swiftly concluded, Kobia said in an email.

The main reason for having an ISDS [investor-state dis-pute settlement] mechanism is because in many countries international agreements are not directly enforceable in domestic courts and therefore an investor cannot find relief in domestic court.

Investor-state dispute set-tlements allow a private cor-poration to sue a state in in-ternational arbitration in the event of a trade agreement breach.

The mechanism is often a trade prerequisite for multi-nationals investing in foreign jurisdictions.

Negotiations for the inves-tor protection agreement come on the back of the EU including myanmar on its

General System of Preferenc-es last year.

The countrys current in-vestment framework leaves some questions unanswered with respect to investor pro-tection, Kobia said.

In addition, some events under previous governments of myanmar (nationalisations, etc) have had a profound negative impact on European companies.

myanmar has already signed seven such agreements with its asian neighbours and ac-ceded to the New York con-vention on international ar-bitration in 2013, said U aung Naing Oo, the director general of the Directorate of Invest-ment and company admin-istration, adding that the government would continue enacting investor protection agreements that allowed in-ternational arbitration.

Pietje Vervest, a fellow at the New York and Netherlands-based social justice NGO Transnational Institute, said the language of such treaties is typically very broad, allow-ing investors the right to sue the government over any and all policy that will be deemed to hurt their profits.

[International arbiters] are usually just a group of three people deciding whats in the public interest, she said, adding the proceedings effec-tively gave a blank check to big business.

Vervest pointed to the on-going case of Uruguay v Philip morris Tobacco, where the cigarette manufacturing giant

launched international arbi-tration proceedings against the South american countrys government over legislation requiring larger health warn-ings on tobacco products.

Likewise, Swedish energy multinational Vattenfall took the German government to international arbitration in 2009 over stricter environ-mental restrictions on coal powered plants.

Both lawsuits were made possible under bilateral trade agreements.

Even if the nations win in these disputes, they still lose, Vervest said, pointing out that arbitration battles of-ten require millions from the public budget.

according to World Bank data, the average cost of an international arbitration suit is $8 million, while the total number of cases have increased 35 per cent since the global financial crisis hit world markets in 2008.

Baker & mcKenzie man-aging partner christopher hughes agreed investor-state disputes could potentially divert much-needed govern-ment resources.

however, on balance, given the confidence that foreign investors will gain from the availability of investor-state dispute mechanism and the lowering political and regula-tion change risks in investing in emerging markets, we think that the benefits to myanmar outweigh the potential dis-advantages associated with such treaties, hughes said by email, adding that such arbi-tration was usually only a last resort for private players.

hence, we do not expect to see a flurry of such disputes. THE MYANMAR TIMES

Drought in Thailand may hurt agriculture economySEVErE drought will probably weaken Thai agri-culture for another year, and the phenomenon could derail growth of the countrys farm econ-omy. The dry spell present in 18 provinces, mainly in the north and northeast, could also drive up prices of farm produce.

The Disaster Prevention and mitigation Department attributed the scarce rains this year to unusual heat. Officials have named 4,105 vil-lages as drought-hit areas. The list of villages is expected to grow as the hot season gets under-way in the next few months.

Lersak Liewtrakulpaibul, deputy agriculture permanent secretary, said water reserves in major reservoirs nationwide remain sound at 47.7 billion cubic metres or 64 per cent of capac-ity, with the amount of available water for use at 23.8 billion cubic metres or 47 per cent.

But the royal Irrigation Department is con-cerned about depletion at four big dams Bhumibol, Sirikit, Khwae Noi and Pasak that supply water for most of the planting in the country.

The department has reported that the water has dropped to 45 per cent of capacity, while water available for use is at just 28 per cent. Lersak said the excessive use of water for plant-ing second-crop rice was another reason for the depleted water reserves.

he called on farmers to refrain from planting second-crop rice, especially in the central plains where water from dams is used.

an agriculture ministry source warned that the drought conditions could cause the farm economy to miss its 3 to 4 per cent growth tar-gets, though this years outlook is better than last years. Thailands farm economy grew by 1.1 per cent last year, compared with 4 per cent the previous year.

The agricultural Economics Office blamed the slowdown on the lengthy drought in many parts of the country since late 2012, with the resulting slashed production of maize, second-crop rice and pineapple. This year, growth is expected to improve with better output of sugar cane, rub-ber, palm and main-crop rice.

The outlook for shrimp farming is positive after local shrimpers discovered methods to eradicate the disease known as early mortality syndrome. Februarys inflation rate was 1.96 per cent as several food items rose in cost.

Prices for vegetables and fruits sold at bargain markets like Talad Thai have risen sharply in recent weeks, most notably for tomatoes, kale and limes.

a bulk of 100 limes cost 600 baht ($18.50) last week, compared with 500 baht in February and 300 baht in January. BANGKOK pOST

We hope that this bilateral agreement

will be swiftly concluded

Markets9THE PHNOM PENH POST march 11, 2014

Business

Phnom Penh Sugar opens its doorsContinued from page 1

step is bagging the sugar and stacking it for distribution.

Up to 14,000 tons of cane is fed in each day, and up to 1,400 tons of sugar comes out. The company says 80 per cent is for domestic supply, and 20 per cent for export.

I think a project like this is very helpful, because this land, before the company came, did not create any economic value at all, Nhak said, referring to the $220 million development.

cambodia is traditionally a net importer of sugar. In 2012, more than $8.5 million was spent on importing nearly 20,000 tons, down from 31,000 tons in 2011, thanks to an in-crease in domestic supply.

Increased domestic produc-tion has also meant increased exports. Under the EUs Every-thing But arms trade scheme, least-developed countries like cambodia enjoy duty-free ac-cess to EU markets.

Sugar exports to the EU more then quadrupled last year, from 15,500 tons in 2012 to close to 65,000 in 2013. rights groups have called on sugar to be revoked from the trade benefit scheme, saying the preferences enable rights

abuses, which normally take the form of land grabs and forced evictions.

Pressure has also been ap-plied from within the EU, with calls for an investigation into who really benefits from trade preferences that are supposed to help the poor.

Though the EU is currently working with the government and sugar producers to find solutions for outstanding land disputes, the legal conditions for an EU investigation into withdrawing EBa preferences is not warranted, the EUs am-bassador to cambodia, Jean-Francois cautain, said in an email on February 19.

Trade preferences in them-selves are not the cause of hu-man rights abuses in cambo-dia, cautain said.

Other foreign interests have raised concerns. One of the worlds largest sugar buyers, coca-cola, has been conduct-ing audits of cambodian sugar producers.

as part of our land rights commitment, we are under-taking a series of third-party social, environmental and human rights assessments, in which we will be reviewing land rights issues that may be impacting the industry and its

workers in the coca-cola sys-tems cane sugar supply chain, Sharolyn choy, group com-munications director at coca-cola Pacifc, said in an email last week. coca-cola doesnt buy directly from cambodian producers, choy added.

Before giving a tour of the factory last week, Phnom Penh Sugar officials held a seminar at their nearby offices in coordi-nation with labour ministry of-ficials and a sustainable schools NGO. They addressed an audi-ence of about 100 subcontrac-

tors, whose job it is to find many of the 3,000 workers to cut sugar cane on the plantation.

many of the workers travel from afar to stay in accommo-dation clusters on the planta-tion. Others once lived within the boundaries of the land concession, and now reside on relocated plots bordering it.

In this same concession last year, Post reporters witnessed children as young as seven working in the fields. The story caused the company to crack down on the practice, as evi-

denced by a No To child La-bour banner at the seminar.

But miscommunications remain. When people in the crowd raised concerns about what to do with children while working, a ministry official cited the labour law, which says that kids as young as 12 can perform light duties under conditions that arent hazardous and dont deprive them of school.

Nhak, the managing director, said immediately afterwards that regardless of local law, no children are allowed to work.

afterwards, Nhak said the company is working on ini-tiatives like a nursery and a school to overcome what he called the cultural issues of workers, many of whom travel from other provinces, bringing their children to the fields.

Since its beginnings in 2010, the concession has been at the centre of land disputes. hun-dreds of families were forced off their land and relocated. arrests were made, which fueled more protests. rights groups say more than 1,000 people have been af-fected by the concession and a neighbouring concession in the name of Ly Yong Phats wife.

People said their lives were totally worse off, said Eang Vuthy, executive director at

Equitable cambodia, which has followed developments in Kampong Speu.

From 2010 to 2013, Phnom Penh Sugar ignored 60 per cent of an audits recommendations on a variety of issues, from monitoring those relocated to worker safety. The companys response to many of the allega-tions is that it is providing jobs, addressing relocation prob-lems, giving those displaced priority job opportunities.

The sugar industry is a re-ally new industry in cambo-dia, and the country is trying to work very hard to address the issue, it is like the baby is just born, so it takes time for the baby to grow up, you can-not expect the baby who is just born to speak politely or speak nicely, it has to be a step by step basis, Nhak said.

Some, though, dont have to the luxury of time. Tat Sivang, 65, was relocated from his farm his 2010 with assurances of a better life. Now, a road gives him better access to a market where he can sell goods, but his land isnt as large or as fertile as it once was: I hope that the promises will come in the future, he said.

But I cannot wait. ADDITION-AL REPORTING BY KOAM CHANRASMEY

AND KEVIN PONNIAH

A Phnom Penh Sugar representative speaks to labour sub-contractors at a child labour forum in Kampong Speu province last week. DANIEL QUINLAN

Japan Display

Screen firm to list at low end of scale

JAPAN Display, the worlds biggest maker of screens for smart-phones and tablets and a key supplier to Apple, said yesterday it had raised $3.2 billion in an initial public of-fering ahead of a listing later this month.

An official filing said its offering would be priced at 900 yen ($8.7) per share, at the low end of expectations, with the stock to start trading in Tokyo on March 19.

Earlier this month, the liquid crystal display maker said it would sell 140 million new shares between 900 yen and 1,100 yen ($10.65), while its major private sharehol-ders would offload 213.9 million shares. Pricing at the low end would suggest investor caution, but the firm said demand was strong.

Japan Display, set up in 2012 through the merger of Hitachi, Toshiba and Sonys money-losing LCD units, is looking to boost production of small and medium-sized screens in the face of tough competition from South Ko-rean and Taiwanese rivals. AFP

Business10 THE PHNOM PENH POST march 11, 2014

china auto sales down over breakchINaS vehicle sales eased in February from a record high in January as the long Lunar New Year holiday affected the market, an industry group said yesterday.

Vehicle sales rose 17.8 per cent last month from a year ago to 1.6 million vehicles, the chi-na association of automobile manufacturers said in a state-ment. In January, sales were a record for any month at 2.16 million units, but year-on-year growth was only 6 per cent.

Under the influence of the Spring Festival, chinas Febru-ary auto production and sales naturally fell compared with January, the group said.

The traditional chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, started on January 31. Businesses typ-ically close for at least a week for the holiday.

Last year, chinas auto sales surged 13.9 per cent to 21.98 million vehicles, as a recovery in Japanese brands previously hurt by a diplomatic row offset the impact of slowing econom-ic growth.

General motors has said it sold 257,770 vehicles in china in February, up 19.9 per cent from a year ago. AFP

Biggest banana firm createdPaul Jarvisand Clementine Fletcher

chIQUITa Brands In-ternational Inc, own-er of the namesake banana label, has

agreed to merge with Fyffes Plc in an all-stock transaction that values the Dublin-based fresh produce distributor at about $526 million.

The deal will create a busi-ness with annual revenue of about $4.6 billion, the compa-nies said yesterday in a state-ment. chiquita shareholders will own about 50.7 per cent of the combined entity, with Fyffes investors owing the rest.

The deal is logical and will be a good fit going forward for both parties, David holohan, analyst at merrion capital in Dublin, said. This is an excel-lent result for Fyffes.

The transaction will create the worlds biggest banana company, which will also pro-duce packaged salads, mel-ons and pineapples. Known as chiquitaFyffes Plc, the new company will target at least $40 million of annual cost sav-ings by the end of 2016 through more efficient purchasing.

Fyffes rose 29 per cent to 1.15 at 8:07 am in Dublin trading yesterday. The trans-

action values each Fyffes share at 1.22, according to the terms of the deal. chiq-uita shares closed down 0.2 per cent at $10.84 in New York on march 7, valuing the com-pany at about $508 million.

chiquita, based in charlotte, North carolina, operates in 70 countries including the US, producing brands including chiquita Bananas and Fresh Express. Fyffes operates in Eu-rope, central and south amer-ica and asia. The companies

plan to complete the transac-tion before the end of the year.

The combined business will target the growing fresh food business and health and well-ness trends, they said.

This is a milestone transac-tion for chiquita and Fyffes that brings together the best of both companies which, we believe, will create significant value for our shareholders and offer immediate benefits for customers and consum-ers worldwide, chiquita chief

exec Ed Lonergan said in the statement. Fyffes shareholders will get 0.1567 chiquitaFyffes shares for each share they own, while chiquita holders will receive one share in the new company for each one they hold. Lonergan will serve as chairman and David mc-cann, Fyffess executive chair-man, will become cEO of the combined company, which will be domiciled in Ireland and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. BLOOMBERG

Chiquita Brands International bananas for sale at a stall in San Francisco in 2013. BLOOMBERG

Markets11the phnoM penh post march 11, 2014

Business

International commoditiesEnergy

Agriculture

Markets

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Thailand Vietnam

Singapore Malaysia

Hong Kong China

Japan Taiwan

Thai Set 50 Index, Mar 7

FTSE Straits Times Index, Mar 7 FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI, Mar 7

Hang Seng Index, Mar 7 CSI 300 Index, Mar 7

Nikkei 225, Mar 7 Taiwan Taiex Index, Mar 7

Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, Mar 7

15,120.14

2,097.7922,264.93

1,824.713,119.03

583.69906.55

8,665.24

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South Korea Philippines

Laos Indonesia

India Pakistan

Australia New Zealand

KOSPI Index, Mar 7 PSEI - Philippine Se Idx, Mar 7

Laos Composite Index, Mar 7 Jakarta Composite Index, Mar 7

BSE Sensex 30 Index, Mar 7 Karachi 100 Index, Mar 7

S&P/ASX 200 Index, Mar 7 NZX 50 Index, Mar 7

5,411.52

27,021.8021,927.80

4,665.301,280.34

6,487.231,954.42

5,117.84

Item Unit Base Average (%)

Gasoline R 5250 5450 3.81 %

Diesel R 5100 5200 1.96 %

Petroleum R 5500 5500 0.00 %

Gas Chi 86000 76000 -11.63 %

Charcoal Baht 1200 1300 8.33 %

Energy

Construction equipmentItem Unit Base Average (%)

Rice 1 R/Kg 2800 2780 -0.71 %Rice 2 R/Kg 2200 2280 3.64 %Paddy R/Kg 1800 1840 2.22 %Peanuts R/Kg 8000 8100 1.25 %Maize 2 R/Kg 2000 2080 4.00 %Cashew nut R/Kg 4000 4220 5.50 %Pepper R/Kg 40000 24000 -40.00 %Beef R/Kg 33000 33600 1.82 %Pork R/Kg 17000 18200 7.06 %Mud Fish R/Kg 12000 12400 3.33 %Chicken R/Kg 18000 20800 15.56 %Duck R/Kg 13000 13100 0.77 %

Item Unit Base Average (%)

Steel 12 R/Kg 3000 3100 3.33 %

Cement R/Sac 19000 19500 2.63 %

Food -Cereals -Vegetables - Fruits

Cambodian commodities(Base rate taken on January 1, 2012)

CommodIty UnIts PrICE ChAngE % ChAngE tImE(Et)

Crude Oil (WTI) USD/bbl. 101.34 -1.24 -1.21% 3:48:20

Crude Oil (Brent) USD/bbl. 108.04 -0.96 -0.88% 3:47:31

NYMEX Natural Gas USD/MMBtu 4.58 -0.04 -0.84% 3:48:48

RBOB Gasoline USd/gal. 294.5 -2.88 -0.97% 3:48:52

NYMEX Heating Oil USd/gal. 298.09 -3.12 -1.04% 3:47:32

ICE Gasoil USD/MT 907.5 -5 -0.55% 3:47:34

CommodIty UnIts PrICE ChAngE % ChAngE tImE(Et)

CBOT Rough Rice USD/cwt 15.31 -0.01 -0.03% 3:17:26

CME Lumber USD/tbf 358.6 2.9 0.82% 18:00:00

mexicos Japanese influxLaurent Thomet

cELaYa, an industrial city in the heart of mexico, now has a Japanese language class where the teacher uses

honorifics, addressing her students as Felipe-san or christian-san.

across town, a hotel installed a special satellite dish on its rooftop to capture a Japanese TV channel while receptionists greet visitors by saying konnichiwa (hello).

a central road is named mexico-Ja-pan avenue, and at the citys entrance a giant billboard reads, celaya is a good choice. Welcome honda.

The sign might as well have been: Welcome, Japan.

celaya and other cities in mexicos Guanajuato state are greeting with open arms the arrival of Japanese car makers honda and mazda, dozens of parts suppliers and legions of expats.

It is changing the face of celaya, Fernando Vera Noble, director of the citys economic development de-partment, said in his office in a glass tower building, on the same floor as a honda subsidiary.

Guanajuato is becoming a major hub for the growing number of for-eign car makers that are flocking to mexico for its benefits such as rela-tively low wages, proximity to the massive US market and free trade deals with numerous nations.

mexico has now become the eighth biggest car producer in the world and the fourth exporter. Guanajuato stands out as a prime destination for Japanese firms.

Japan is Guanajuatos biggest inves-

tor, pouring $4 billion into the state and creating 25,000 jobs in the past seven years, helping to fuel a rising middle class by paying the highest manufacturing wages, according to official figures.

The Japanese company boom was sparked in 2011 with the honda and mazda announcements, said hector Lopez Santillana, the Guana-juato state secretary for economic development.

On February 21, President Enrique Pena Nieto inaugurated the $800 mil-lion honda factory in celaya, a city of half a million people. The company is

also building a $470 million transmis-sions plant. a week later, he returned to Guanajuato to launch mazdas $770 million factory in Salamanca, a half-hour drive west of celaya.

With some 1,500 Japanese citizens now living in Guanajuato, and the state government expecting 5,000 by 2016, many here are trying to learn the ways of their visitors.

Fabiola Gorostieta arevalo opened the Jikokensan Japanese academy along with her sister maria Guada-lupe last September in a three-floor white house filled with pictures of mount Fuji.

They have 25 students, ranging from young children to university students, honda workers and other people interested in Japanese culture or looking to pad their resumes.

Felipe rivera, a 26-year-old honda assembly line worker, said learning the language could help him to move up in his career.

Im interested in learning their way of thinking. at work, you realise that they think differently than Latin americans. maybe by understanding their idiosyncrasies, it can help me work better with them, he said.

The mix of cultures has brought out old cliches about the Japanese obsession with punctuality versus mexican tardiness.

Theres differences between Japan and mexico, said Tomokazu mat-sushita, the 34-year-old manager of subsidiary honda Trading, who moved here seven months ago with his wife and children.

In mexico, how can I say this . . . to buy something and install something, it takes a little bit of time, he said, stressing that he has been too busy working to see much more of mexico.

Lopez Santillana, the Guanajuato state official, said the two cultures are learning from each other.

In mexico, we use terms such as manana (tomorrow) and ahorita (right now). We are getting used to the fact that (for the Japanese) tomorrow means the first work hour of the next day and that ahorita really means right now, he said.

mexicans also have advice for the Japanese. We are teaching them to be flexible, he said. AFP

A car is checked by security at the main entrance to a new honda manufacturing plant in Celaya, mexico, last month. AFP

The desperate search for a Malaysian jet which vanished carrying 239 peo-ple was significantly expanded yes-terday with frustrations mounting over the failure to find any trace of the plane.

The initial zone spread over a 50 nautical miles (92 kilometres) radius around the point where flight Mh370 disappeared over the South China Sea in the early hours of Saturday morning, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Malaysian authorities announced it was doubling the size of the search area to 100 nautical miles.

The area of search has been expanded in the South China Sea, Civil Aviation Department chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told reporters late yesterday.

he also confirmed the search area covers land on the Malaysian penin-sula itself, the waters off its west coast and an area to the north of the Indo-nesian island of Sumatra.

The huge area now being covered reflects authorities bafflement over the disappearance of the flight, with 40 ships and more than 30 planes finding no sign of it.

emotions are running high as Bei-jing blamed Kuala Lumpur for a lack of information, while tearful relatives of the 153 Chinese passengers aboard voiced frustration with all sides of the response effort.

China said Malaysia needed to step up its efforts after authorities admitted they were mystified.

The Malaysian side cannot shirk its responsibilities, the Global

Times newspaper, which is close to the ruling Communist Party, wrote in a scathing editorial. The initial response from Malaysia was not swift enough.

A day of conflicting information deepened relatives anguish, with tests on oil slicks in the South China Sea showing they were not from the Boeing 777 and reports of possible debris from the flight proving to be false alarms.

hong Kongs Civil Aviation Depart-ment said that a pilot on a flight from the southern Chinese city to Kuala Lumpur had reported seeing large debris while flying over Vietnamese waters in the latest sighting to be investigated.

Malaysia has launched a terror probe after at least two of the passen-

gers on board the plane were found to have travelled on stolen passports.

Two european names Christian Kozel, an Austrian, and Luigi Maraldi of Italy were listed on the passenger list, but neither man boarded the aeroplane.

Both had their passports stolen in Thailand in the last two years and questions swirled over how the two passengers using their documents managed to board the flight.

The United States has sent an FBI team to help investigate the passen-gers, but US officials stressed there was as yet no evidence of terrorism.

Malaysias police chief yesterday said one of the passengers travelling with a stolen passport had been iden-tified, but gave no further details.

Azharuddin said the two men were

not of Asian appearance, contrary to previous reports, bizarrely suggesting they looked like black Italian foot-baller Mario Balotelli.

But he had few answers to the burning questions over the missing plane. Asked whether it was possible the plane had been hijacked or dis-integrated mid-air, he said nothing could be ruled out.

We are looking at every aspect of what could have happened, he said. This unprecedented missing aircraft mystery it is mystifying and we are increasing our efforts.

At a Beijing hotel, Malaysian embas-sy officials were processing visa appli-cations for families wanting to take up an offer from MAS to travel to Kuala Lumpur to be closer to the rescue operations. AFP

Shaun Walker

VLADIMIR Putin said last week that there was no suggestion of Russia annex-

ing Crimea, but Moscow put on a warm reception for the regions de facto leaders on Friday and, in a phone call with UK Prime Minister David Cameron and German chan-cellor Angela Merkel on Sun-day, Putin appeared to back the referendum.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin underlined in particu-lar that the steps taken by Crimeas legitimate authorities are based on international law and aimed at guaranteeing the legitimate interests of the peninsulas population, the Kremlin said about the call.

The region is now full of heavily armed pro-Russian militias, backing Russian military actions in the region. But even among the ethnic Russians, who make up more than half of Crimeas resi-dents, there is not a consen-sus on joining with Russia. Many would prefer enhanced

autonomy within Ukraine.At the pro-Ukraine protest,

62-year-old Larisa said she was filled with worry at the prospect of joining Russia.

I am Russian, I was born in the far east of Russia, but I am a Ukrainian patriot. We are pawns in Putins game, who is he to say we need defending?

he has sent in troops to our country on the pretext of pro-tecting us, but from whom?

Other Russians, however, were certain union with Russia was the only thing that could save the peninsula from being attacked by the new govern-ment in Kiev, which is widely described there as fascist.

Our grandfathers fought the Nazis, and now they are in tears looking at these re-volting fascists in Kiev, said Vladimir, a factory worker from the town of Bakhchisa-rai who plans to volunteer for a local self-defence unit. We have had 23 years of Ukraine and the economy has gone

to shit. Russia is a great coun-try; Putin is a great president. Only with Russia can we ex-perience the good life of the Soviet Union again.

In Kiev, there was also a rally near the Taras Shevchenko monument, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the na-tional icons birth.

We face the biggest chal-lenge for our country and nation for the history of mod-ern independent Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraines prime minister, told the crowd. Yatsenyuk will travel to Washington this week and meet Barack Obama at the White house tomorrow.

In Kiev, he insisted that Ukraine would never give up Crimea to Russia. Our fathers and grandfathers have spilled their blood for this land. And we wont budge a single cen-timetre from Ukrainian land. Let Russia and its president know this.

Our army is small, we lack guns, so our only weapon is our spirit, said Iryna Derevytska, a 42-year-old teacher waving a big Ukrainian flag at the rally.

however, it is not clear just how Ukraine intends to de-fend Crimea, and spirit may not be enough. Kievs soldiers on the peninsula are stranded inside bases, under assault from the Russians and lacking direction from the capital.

Russian military control over Crimea is intensifying by the day, with unconfirmed reports that mines have been laid on the isthmus that con-nects the peninsula with the rest of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian army said that at Chongar, on the bor-der, mines had been laid, and there had been a huge build-up of Russian military vehicles in recent days.

Crimean broadcasters also stopped the transmission of Ukrainian channels in the territory and replaced them with Russian channels over the weekend.

Russian media has accused the west of ignoring far-right elements present in the Kiev protests and whitewashing what it describes as a neo-fascist government. The guArdiAn

12 the phnom penh post MARCh 11, 2014

WorldCrimea split amid war of words

Search for Mh370 widens as frustrations grow

A sailor guards a Russian navy ship in the Bay of Sevastopol on Sunday. Even among ethnic Russians in Crimea, who make up more than half its residents, there is not a consensus on joining with Russia. AFP

MalaySia airlineS diSappearance: the poSSible explanationSMid-air disintegrationWhile the search for wreckage continues in the seas between Malaysia and Vietnam, terrorism is the possibility with at least one line of inquiry for investigators to pursue, with suspicions raised by two passengers travelling on fake passports (although both had booked onward flights) and the shadow of recent, if radically different, outrages in China, home to the majority of the 227 passengers. According to some aviation experts, the disappearance of the plane from radar screens just 40 minutes into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in the early hours of Saturday

morning, with the extraordinary lack of any warning or communication from the flight deck, suggests a sudden, catastrophic incident although there is no other evidence to back up the idea a bomb was aboard. Some suggest the fact widespread searches have yet to make any confirmed discovery of wreckage makes it more likely the aircraft disintegrated high in the air, rather than breaking up on impact with water.Technical failureAt cruising altitude in good weather, even total loss of engines would have given time for pilots to make an emergency

call. This particular aircraft had flown more than 53,000 hours without problem bar a collision on the ground in 2012 that damaged a wingtip and had its last maintenance check within the last fortnight, on February 23, a routine appointment that showed nothing unusual. In one obvious respect, technical failures are likely to appear implausible or inexplicable until discovered: issues with potential to bring down a plane are by definition not envisaged. But the model, the Boeing 777-200, has had an impressive safety record for long-haul aircraft over almost two

decades in service: the first fatal crash was only eight months ago when an Asiana plane missed the runway in San Francisco. A British Airways 777 also landed short at Heathrow in 2008. Take off and landing remain easily the biggest sites of aircraft incidents. Safety standards for leading airlines are ever increasing and fatalities for scheduled international air travel are at record lows, according to air transport authorities.Intentional ditchingA further theory is that the plane was deliberately steered into the sea, under duress by a hijacking of the kind seen in the

9/11 attacks, or by the pilot committing suicide. The latter factor has never been formally acknowledged in a major incident, but was widely believed to have been behind the 1999 EgyptAir crash which killed 217 people and a SilkAir crash in Indonesia that claimed 104 lives two years earlier.A combination of eventsThe nature of the incident as understood so far has for many evoked the crash of Air Frances flight 447, which similarly disappeared in the seas, out of radar contact and in the middle of the night, in June 2009. It took days for au