KHMER INTELLIGENCE

Khmer Intelligence (KI) is a non-government organisation whose objective is to collect sensitive information from non-easily accessible sources to help Khmer and foreign observers better follow and understand the situation in Cambodia. KI finds out what is behind the latest news and news to come. For security reasons KI must preserve anonymity for its informants. Information is classified according to five levels of reliability: Official or Semi-Official (1), Very Reliable (2), Reliable (3), Insistent/Credible Rumour (4), Rumour (5).

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18 June 2006 

Workers to testify about inhuman treatment (1)
A press conference will be organized in Phnom Penh on 20th June to allow workers from a remote rubber plantation in Cambodia to testify about human rights violations by their employer.
Excerpts from a report published earlier this week: “A worker who is accused of selling some pieces of dry rubber outside the plantation to supplement his/her meager salary, is severely punished: he/she is arrested by the plantation guards and beaten; he/she can then be tortured with electricity and confined half naked (an even greater humiliation for women) for several days in an iron cage. If he/she does not answer quickly enough when summoned by the guards, he/she is shot dead (...). Since the beginning of this year, two workers have been shot dead and another has been seriously injured by a bullet. No sanction was given to the guards (...). Another act of violence took place this year in the same Chamcar Andaung plantation: on 10th January, two women “caught stealing food” were assassinated.”
The plantation manager, Oknha (Lord) Lim Sun Leang is a relative of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s.
Full report at http://tinyurl.com/s8hok

Theng Bunma is dead (3)
Theng Bunma, the controversial Sino-Thai-Cambodian tycoon and former president of Cambodia’s chamber of commerce, who has not been seen in public for many years, reportedly died a few months ago in Thailand. The news of his death has been kept secret in order to allow his children to quietly settle problems related to inheritance.

16 June 2006 

Government will repay $7.6 million to the World Bank (2)
The ongoing corruption scandal related to World Bank loans could have devastating consequences on the Cambodian government in that any serious investigation into the irregularities will expose the systematic manner in which funds are diverted. In particular, it will show how misprocurements are systematically organized with the participation of high ranking government officials, including ministers who act through family members working in their ministries under different family names. The misprocurements entail the participation in systematically manipulated biddings of companies that are fronts for powerful political figures and their close relatives.
Because he absolutely wants to avoid a thorough investigation Prime Minister Hun Sen has only two options: either to expel the World Bank from Cambodia (with the risk that many other donors will also cut their assistance) or to repay any amount of money the World Bank will ask for ($7.6 million is a negligible amount compared to the hundreds of millions involved in government corruption).

Unemployment rate exceeds 50 percent (2)
Confirming assessments made by independent economists who challenge obviously inaccurate government statistics, China’s news agency Xinhua on 12 June 2006 confirmed that unemployment rate in Cambodia exceeded 50 percent in 2005.
According to Xinhua, “about 3.31 million Cambodians had jobs in 2005, 27,500 more than in 2004.”
Cambodia has a population of about 14 million, of which 7 million are over 18 year-old and are either working or seeking a job. Therefore, the jobless rate was 52.7 percent in 2005, compared to a government figure of only 4.0 percent.
On 16 June 2006 the Phnom Penh Post wrote: “According to the World Bank, roughly 300,000 people are added to Cambodia's labor force every year. The Economic Institute of Cambodia estimates that the country's economic growth generates only between 20,000 and 30,000 new jobs each year.” Therefore, unemployement keeps increasing markedly every year.
For more details click at http://tinyurl.com/l96k9
See also Phnom Penh Post articles at http://tinyurl.com/jcguk and http://tinyurl.com/k2skr

16 May 2006 

External trade irregularities inflate GDP growth (2)
According to the IMF, Cambodia recorded an astonishing GDP growth of 13.5 percent in 2005, thus beating by far the world’s fastest growing and best managed economies such as China, India and Vietnam.
On top of errors made when compiling data from agriculture, tourism and expenditures related to international assistance, the IMF overlooked irregularities in imports and exports, which contributed to amplify on paper the contribution of external trade to economic growth.
- Imports: The IMF failed to take smuggling into account. For instance, 80 percent of gasoline actually used in Cambodia is methodically smuggled into the country by powerful people.
- Exports: Garments represent 99 percent of Cambodia’s exports, amounting to $ 2 billion or half of the country’s GDP. The IMF failed to take into account the fact that a significant portion of those exports are fake because corrupt officials at the Ministry of Commerce fraudulently sell “Certificates of Origin” to foreign companies based outside Cambodia. Those companies succeed however in selling their foreign-produced garments to the USA and Europe under the label “Made in Cambodia”. Cambodia’s total “exports” as registered as “imports from Cambodia” by American and European Customs, largely exceed this country’s production capacity.  
See also KI, 21 December 2003: “How the Finance Ministry fools the IMF”. 

Ranariddh’s lawsuit against L’Express (2)
The French court (Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris) will pronounce its judgment on Prince Norodom Ranariddh’s defamation lawsuit against the French magazine L’Express on May 19. On March 28, 2005 L’Express published a biting article exposing Ranariddh’s corruption.
See article at http://www.khmerintelligence.org/express2.pdf

Sam Rainsy in Austria (2)
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy will be this weekend in Austria where he will attend a ceremony to celebrate the creation of a SRP chapter in Linz. Over 2,000 Cambodians, political refugees and former students in Central Europe, reside in Austria.

11 May 2006 

CPP acknowledges possibility of losing next elections (2)
In its today’s editorial titled “Land issues may affect [our] party’s popularity”, CPP mouthpiece Rasmei Kampuchea evokes the possibility that prime minister Hun Sen’s party may lose the 2007 commune council elections and the 2008 legislative elections to the opposition SRP because of the increasing number of land grabs all over the country that are affecting millions of poor farmers. The editorial says that the growing popular discontent could lead to a massive “vote for change”.
Editorial in Khmer at http://tinyurl.com/hfzx8

05 May 2006 

Conscription and patriotism (2)
Three million young Cambodians -- males aged between 18 and 30 -- will be conscripted into the army for a period of 18 months, in the next few years starting from 2007. A government-initiated draft law on military service is being currently examined by the National Assembly’s Committee on the Armed Forces. Conscription will help the government address the issue of unemployment. Each year, some 300,000 Cambodians -- out of a population of 14 million -- reach the age of 18, and over 90 percent of them cannot find a job. 

Religion and patriotism (2)
The opposition SRP is organizing this weekend (6-7 May) a religious ceremony and procession (“Bon Phka”) to financially help a derelict pagoda and destitute farmers in Daung village, Daung commune, Romeas Hek district, Svay Rieng province. A large number of Cambodian villagers in Svay Rieng province, which borders Vietnam, have accused the Vietnamese authorities of seizing their rice fields, thus infringing on Cambodia’s territory. Daung village has become a symbol for those who care about Cambodia’s territorial integrity.
For more information go to http://tinyurl.com/m4fhg

03 May 2006 

CPP coup in Funcinpec-led commune (1)
In relation to the appointment of village chiefs (KI, 28 April 2006: “First villages under the control of the opposition”), the CPP succeeded in keeping the control of all villages in Kompong Reap commune, Prey Kobas district, Takeo province following a controversial vote by the commune council on 27 April. Kompong Reap commune is theoretically under the control of Funcinpec, which has three councilors out of five, with the two other councilors belonging to the CPP. However, at last week’s surprising election, one Funcinpec councilor sold his vote to the CPP, allowing the latter to appoint a village chief for each of the commune’s seven villages. The commune chief is still from Funcinpec.

Ranariddh’s return has been postponed indefinitely (3)
According to today’s edition of pro-Funcinpec newspaper “The Voice of Khmer Youth”, Prince Norodom Ranariddh has infinitely postponed his return to Cambodia because he is afraid to be caught in an illegal situation following an imminent law proposal from the CPP to forbid polygamy.

28 April 2006 

First villages under the control of  the opposition (1)
For the first time in Cambodia’s history, some villages went today under the control of the democratic opposition. Contrary to some predictions (KI, 27 April 2006: “CPP to control 99 percent of Cambodia’s villages”), the Sam Rainsy Party got the control of two villages, out of five, in Boeng Tumpun commune in the capital city of Phnom Penh. The 9 elected councilors in that commune (5 from the SRP, 4 from the CPP, 2 from Funcinpec) unanimously voted for the following allocation of villages among the three political parties: 2 to the SRP, 2 to the CPP, and 1 to Funcinpec, reflecting a system of proportional representation. For grassroots citizens, the village chief is the most powerful figure for their everyday’s lives (relations with higher authorities, security, food supply, allotment of water, public services, etc).

27 April 2006

CPP to control 99 percent of Cambodia’s villages (2)
Commune councils will soon select village chiefs in line with recent instructions from the Ministry of Interior. The ruling CPP, which collected 47 percent of the popular votes at the most recent elections, could manage to control 99 percent of Cambodia’s 13,000 villages. This is due to the fact that, at the commune council elections held in 2002, the CPP emerged as the first party -- ahead of the SRP and Funcinpec -- in 1,598 communes out of 1,621. The opposition has called for the respect of the rights of the minority.
More information at http://ki-media.blogspot.com

Division within the royal family (3)
Because Nhiek Bun Chhay has hijacked Funcinpec and intends to further sideline him, Prince Norodom Ranariddh is considering forming a new (and truly) royalist party whose name would be “Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh Party.” However, two prominent royal politicians, Princess Norodom Vacheara and her brother Prince Norodom Sirivudh, would not join the new party because they are not happy with Ranariddh’s incompetence and corruption.
More information at http://tinyurl.com/zwxs4

Prominent parliamentarians visiting Cambodia (1)
A number of prominent parliamentarians from several countries are attending this week an international conference on Public Accountability in Official Development Assistance. The conference, which is taking place in Siemreap on April 26-29, is organized by the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) and is hosted by the Sam Rainsy Party. Among the participants, there are Geert van der Linden (Vice President of the Asian Development Bank), Friedrich Hamburger (Ambassador of the European Commission to Thailand, Burma, Laos and Cambodia), Martin Lee (Legislative Councilor of Hong Kong), Lord Alderdice (Member of the House of Lords, United Kingdom), Ignasi Guardans Cambo (Member of the European Parliament) and Members of Parliament from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Japan and the Philippines.          

25 April 2006

Hun Sen still needs Funcinpec (2)
By firing a large number of Funcinpec-affiliated officials from the government and public administration, the ruling CPP is continuously weakening its royalist coalition partner while strengthening its own grip on the country. However, Prime Minister Hun Sen must preserve Funcinpec as a political party since he absolutely needs the current 26 Funcinpec-affiliated National Assembly members in order to prevent a major political crisis before the next legislative elections scheduled for 2008. To retain their seats, Cambodian parliamentarians must remain affiliated to the party under the banner of which they were originally elected. If anyone of them resigns, he/she must be replaced by a candidate from the same party. If Funcinpec stops existing as a political party, the 26 Funcinpec Assembly members would lose their seats and cannot be replaced. The current 123-member Assembly would have to be dissolved since, according to article 76 of the Constitution, “the Assembly consists of at least 120 members”.
Hun Sen’s current strategy consists in sidelining Funcinpec members who are loyal to Prince Norodom Ranariddh and promoting those who are actually working for the CPP. 

German adviser to Cambodian politician (2)
Kem Sokha, the president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), remains voluntarily ambiguous about his intention to launch a political party in the near future. He is closely following the advice of his guru Wilfried Hermann, a German expert from the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung (FNS) which is one of CCHR’s financial supporters. Hermann, a former officer of the Bundeswehr, has advised Kem Sokha to cultivate “unpredictability” in his political strategy and public relations. “Unpredictability” is a point elaborated in Clausewitz’s war strategy book. But for someone who aspires to be a nation’s political leader and needs to win the trust of the people, unpredictability may also mean duplicity and unreliability.
For more information go to http://tinyurl.com/h42ut

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