Combodia-Post

SVAY Rieng provincial court has issued arrest warrants for three villagers who uprooted temporary markers near the Vietnamese border in October, after they disobeyed a summons to appear in court on December 24.

The warrants, copies of which have been obtained by the Post, accuse the three local villagers of “purposely destroy[ing] Cambodia-Vietnam border marker Post 185”.

“This orders the arrest of the accused … and for them to be sent to court, which should take legal action,” state the warrants, issued December 25 under the signature of Investigating Judge Long Kesphyrom.

The three named in the warrants – Prak Chea, 28, Neang Phally, 39, and Prak Koeun, 38 – joined with opposition leader Sam Rainsy in uprooting the posts during a Buddhist ceremony in Chantrea district on October 25, claiming they were placed on their land by Vietnamese authorities.

Pov Pheap, deputy chief of Samrong commune, said Sunday that Svay Rieng provincial Governor Cheang Am spoke with villagers in Chantrea district’s Samrong commune that morning, reassuring them that the three people would not be arrested if they returned home.

“Excellency Cheang Am said that the people who fled should not fear to come back home … There will be no arrest. He said it openly like this,” Pov Pheap said.

Fear of retribution
The three fled after provincial authorities arrested their fellow villagers Meas Srey, 39, and Prom Chea, 41, at the court when they appeared for questioning on December 23. All five received the same summons to appear at court.

Sam Rainsy, who is currently abroad in Europe, also faces arrest over the incident after failing to appear in court on December 28. He is charged with incitement and the destruction of private property.

Cheang Am and Long Kesphyrom could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

Yim Sovann, spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, declined to comment on the case in detail, but said that since the first two villagers were jailed, the other three would have likely faced the same fate if they obeyed their court summons.

“We have concerns about the safety of these three people,” he said.

“The two villagers were jailed on the same such citation, so the fate of the three people will not be different.”

Asia is leading the world out of global recession, but the financial crisis may yet have a dangerous sting in the tail -- the risk of social unrest as unemployment and inequality rise even as economies recover.

Fears of widespread unrest last year failed to materialise, and most Asian economies are now posting impressive growth. But unemployment is a lagging indicator, and many political risk consultancies are warning that 2010 may hold nasty surprises.

"Although we maintain that the crisis has already inflicted its deepest wounds, its impact will continue to be felt throughout 2010," the Economist Intelligence Unit said in a report.

The main downside risks to economic stability this year include asset price bubbles, deflationary pressures, and the danger of "an increase in the frequency and intensity of social and political unrest, given increased unemployment, weak growth and impending fiscal austerity measures in many countries," the EIU said.

Much of the risk is concentrated in Asia.

The EIU rates China in the "high risk" category for social unrest in 2010, upgraded from "moderate" risk in 2009. Also in the high risk category are Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Bangladesh and North Korea.

But unrest does not necessarily lead to market meltdown. The key question is whether violence is widespread enough to threaten major political upheaval or to significantly disrupt economic activity. Viewed in these terms, China is less of a risk, but Thailand and the Korean peninsula could be flashpoints for 2010.

China: Unrest without upheaval

The single most worrying political risk for investors in Asia is that an eruption of unrest in China destabilises the country and undermines its crucial role as an engine of global economic growth. This would not only cause a major sell-off of Chinese assets, it would undermine markets worldwide.

But most analysts rate this risk as extremely low in the coming year.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences last month said China had seen unprecedented levels of social conflict in 2009.

But crucially, unrest has almost always been fueled by local grievances and directed at local officials, rather than challenging the legitimacy of the central government. And ethnic unrest in Xinjiang and Tibet never reached a level where it was a major threat to national cohesiveness and a worry for investors.

There is little doubt that 2010 will see multiple outbreaks of mass unrest in China. Tens of thousands of "mass incidents" are reported annually and the trend was moving sharply upwards even before the economic slowdown.

Unemployment in China, though officially at 4.3 percent for urban jobless, is estimated by analysts to be much higher given the tens of millions of migrant workers.

Income inequality is also growing -- the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences expects the income of urban residents to grow 10 percent in 2010 versus just 6 percent for the rural poor.

The government is clearly worried about the dangers of a mass movement emerging -- last month it jailed its most prominent dissident, Liu Xiaobo, to 11 years in jail for campaigning for political freedoms. But so far there is no evidence of widespread popular anger towards the government.

While protests remain localised, investors need not worry unduly about China unrest.

Focus on Thailand, Korea, India

Elsewhere in Asia, unrest is a greater concern for markets.

Thailand is a particular worry. It was mired in an intractable political conflict, broadly between urban elites and the impoverished rural poor, even before the global financial crisis battered the country's economy.

"Thailand is least comfortable politically," Standard Chartered strategists wrote in their 2010 outlook for Asia.

"The combination of a weak, effectively unelected government facing sometimes violent street protests and a troublesome former premier hovering nearby is a recipe for major uncertainty.

"Should the health of the revered king worsen again, the situation could become even more tense and threaten the sovereign rating. Confidence would suffer, foreign direct investment inflows could be deterred, and existing high levels of excess capacity would increase, dragging growth lower."

North Korea is a wild card. Kim Jong-il's regime has for years been defying analysts' predictions of its imminent demise.

Information is scarce but the North's economy is widely believed to be going from bad to worse. Although Pyongyang's announcement it will return to nuclear disarmament talks should get more aid flowing, there are increasing signs of strain.

A sudden currency redenomination late last year added to the hardship of many North Koreans, and there were reports of rare public protests following the move. With Kim's health also in doubt, the risk of sudden major upheaval cannot be discounted.

An implosion of the regime is a key political risk for the region -- not just because it would increase the danger that an unstable North Korea could launch an attack on its neighbours, but also because political collapse could lead to the sudden reunification of the peninsula, with heavy economic costs.

Analysts say that North Korea political risk is so difficult to quantify that it is unlikely to be properly priced in, meaning South Korean markets could dive if the Pyongyang regime wobbles.

A final unrest risk is India. As with China, outbreaks of violence are common in Asia's other emerging superpower, and generally are not of major concern to investors.

But Indian asset prices rallied sharply in 2009 on hopes that the surprisingly strong mandate won by the Congress party in last year's election would allow it to power ahead with economic reforms. Progress has been considerably slower than many investors had expected, and their optimistic forecasts may have to be revised.

In November, tens of thousands of farmers protesting about low state sugarcane prices blockaded India's parliament and forced the postponement of the winter legislative session.

And in December, moves to split a large southern state caused an uproar and revived calls to split other states as well.

While major upheaval is not expected in India in 2010, social pressures may well be a drag on reform, and on its markets.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 (Bernama) -- Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) plans to open one more branch in Cambodia by end of its current financial year ending June 30, 2010.

Its head of international, Abdul Farid Alias, said the bank recently added the seventh branch to its network in Cambodia, located at the Toul Kork District in Phnom Penh.

"This latest branch completes the four new branches we had planned to open this year," Abdul Farid said in a statement Monday.

"We are pleased to be able to expand our network to provide to the growing community in the capital city, including the local as well as Malaysian and Singaporean companies with operations in Cambodia," he said.

"We are targeting for Maybank Toul Kork to turn around in the second year of operation. The branch will meet the banking needs of the community in the vicinity, focusing on the commercial and retail sectors," Abdul Farid said.

He said with the seven branches and improving economic conditions in Cambodia as well as in the region, Maybank remained optimistic of the country's growth prospects.

The new branch provides retail and commercial banking services, including deposit and placement, trade finance, remittances, foreign exchange and mortgage.

It offers a range of financial services to the district consisting of affluent residences, government ministries, universities and commercial businesses.

Maybank opened its first branch in Cambodia in 1993 located at Kramoun Sar Phnom Penh and Maybank Toul Kork is the sixth branch located in Phnom Penh.

Its other branches in Phnom Penh are Maybank Kramoun Sar, its main branch, Maybank Teukthla, Maybank Mao Tse Toung, Maybank Chabar Ampov and Maybank Olympic. The bank also has a branch in Siem Reap.

The latest branch expands Maybank's international network to over 1,750 offices located in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Brunei, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, Bahrain, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Uzbekistan, and financial centres in New York and London.

"UNHCR wanted to turn over the refugee process here to the government ... and now, as a result, you have 20 people who risk losing their lives." - Sara Colm, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher on Cambodia.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Two days after Cambodia repatriated 20 Uighur asylum-seekers fleeing China, the two countries signed trade agreements worth more than $1 billion, bringing significant investment, loans and grants to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation. Both countries deny a deal was struck, but China's growing ability to leverage its economic power in the region combined with Cambodia's weak rule of law have observers believing otherwise.

China insisted the Uighurs were outlaws, saying they participated in deadly protests earlier this year, while Cambodia contended it was merely following its immigration laws by deporting them. Rights advocates, however, said the refugees fled China after witnessing police violence against other members of their ethnic group.

Uighurs are a Turkic, Sunni Muslim minority native to China's far-western Xinjiang province. Xinjiang has been buffeted by bombings, attacks and riots in recent years that Beijing has blamed on Uighur separatists demanding autonomy. Violent confrontations erupted in July between Uighurs and Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China, whose increased migration to the region has heightened ethnic tensions. Nearly 200 people were killed and another 1,600 wounded, according to media reports.

Rights groups anticipate that the Uighurs deported from Cambodia are unlikely to get a fair trial in China and face torture, lengthy prison sentences or even the death penalty. Seventeen Uighurs have already been condemned to death for their role in the protests.

The deportation coincided with a visit to Cambodia by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who signed 14 pacts worth $1.2 billion related to infrastructure, construction, grants and loans. China has become Cambodia's leading foreign investor and one of the country's leading donors, stepping up its presence with projects for roads, dams, mines, irrigation and telecommunications. Cambodia's recent offshore oil prospects have made it an even more enticing trade partner.

Amnesty International's Cambodia researcher, Brittis Edman, said the Uighurs were traded as a "commodity" and that the move was an ominous sign of Cambodia's attitude towards refugee protection. Joshua Kurlantzick, a Southeast Asia expert at the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington and author of "Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power is Transforming the World," said that in exchange for its investment, China wants Cambodia to support its stance on its most sensitive diplomatic issues -- including Taiwan, Tibet and dissenting minorities like the Uighurs.

While analysts were interpreting the deportation as a sign of China's growing diplomatic audacity, the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) was left picking up the pieces of Cambodia's failed refugee program. "It's a grave breach of Cambodia's obligations," said Kitty McKinsey, spokeswoman for the UNHCR in Asia. "As a signatory of the 1951 convention, Cambodia was obligated to commit to non-refoulement, which means no refugees should be returned to face persecution." McKinsey said the UNHCR took extraordinary efforts to intervene in Cambodia's decision, having its top official, Antonio Gutierrez, attempt to speak with Prime Minister Hun Sen directly and offering to evacuate the Uighurs to a third country.

But local observers wonder if the UNHCR lost the leverage it needed to manage such a politically laden case by divesting itself of authority in recent years. The Uighurs -- who had been in Cambodia a few weeks before news of their arrival surfaced through media reports -- had first sought asylum through the UNHCR. But the agency has phased down its role in handling asylum applications. Cambodia is one of just two Southeast Asian signatories of the 1951 international Refugee Convention, and for the past two years, it has been the focus of the UNHCR's effort to create a locally managed refugee office to serve as a model for the region.

In a press release from October 2008 titled "Cambodia on track to become refugee model for Southeast Asia," UNHCR's then-representative in Cambodia, Thamrongsak Meechubot, was quoted as praising Cambodia's progress. "Things are moving since the government agreed in June that it was prepared to take responsibility for refugee status determination itself," he said.

But there were signs that Cambodia wasn't ready, and diplomats in Phnom Penh privately expressed reservations to the UNHCR about its faith in a government that had in the past directly deported, or been implicated in the covert extradition of, Chinese and Vietnamese nationals fleeing persecution. According to a report from Human Rights Watch, the government has even aided and abetted the Vietnamese government in keeping tabs on political refugees who have fled to Cambodia.

After the deportation, the government highlighted its own compromised position by criticizing the UNHCR for not taking control of the case and evacuating the Uighurs to a third country. "We wanted to deal with it quietly without harming our relationship with China," said Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, who added that Western diplomats and rights workers put Cambodia in an impossible position with China by leaking news about the Uighurs presence to the press. Just a day after the Uighurs were rounded up by police, the government pushed through a bill giving it complete control over asylum applications in the future. The takeover had been in the pipeline, but the timing raised eyebrows.

"The whole system failed," said Sara Colm, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher on Cambodia. "UNHCR wanted to turn over the refugee process here to the government ... and now, as a result, you have 20 people who risk losing their lives."

Brendan Brady is a journalist based in Cambodia, who writes for the Los Angeles Times, CBC, Global Post and IRIN, among other publications. His main subjects of interest in Cambodia are the Khmer Rouge tribunal, human rights abuses, diplomatic disputes and religious tensions.

A group of 24 ethnic Khmer Krom deported from Thailand in December has resolved to continue seeking government assistance despite being denied refugee status by the UN refugee agency.

Below is an article published by the Phnom Penhn Post

Amid fears that the government may seek to deport 24 ethnic Khmer Krom to Vietnam, a rights group advocating on their behalf said Wednesday.

The group, which has said it fled to Thailand because of persecution and religious repression in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region, was deported to Cambodia on December 5. They arrived Monday at the offices of the local office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees seeking refugee status and assistance with food and housing.

A UNHCR spokesman confirmed Wednesday that they were unable to help because of a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on December 17 that made issues related to asylum seekers the sole responsibility of the government.

Ang Chanrith, executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organisation, said the group will continue to write letters to the government and commune chiefs in a bid to garner a response.

“The group now knows the UNHCR’s position,” he said. “They will wait to see if the response letter is negative or positive. If it is positive, they can live [here]. If it is negative, they can take the letter back to the UNHCR and say, ‘Look, we have nowhere to stay.’”

Ang Chanrith added that the NGOs currently providing shelter for the group could not continue to do so indefinitely, but could only do so “for another one to two months”.

Thach Soong, 49, a Khmer Krom representative for the group, said Wednesday that the group still fears being sent back to Vietnam.

“We need safety. I am afraid the government has a secret plan to deport us.”

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak said Wednesday that no such plan exists.

“They have enough rights,” he said, adding that as ethnic Khmer Krom, they possess the same general rights as anyone of Khmer ethnicity.

“The government cannot find land and shelter for them because many other citizens do not have land or shelter either. The asylum seekers must realise that the right for asylum is no longer under the authority of the UNHCR,” Khieu Sopheak said.

Cambodia opened its first biomass “charbriquette” factory in Phnom Penh last month, an enterprise that will produce fuel for stoves from waste biomass material.

The factory, a venture backed by Geres and For a Child’s Smile, two French organizations active in Cambodia’s development community, aims to reduce demand for wood and charcoal that 80 percent of Cambodians use every day to cook and boil water.

“Climate change and global warming are serious issues these days,” said Yohanes Iwan Baskoro, Cambodia country director for Geres. The factory, Mr. Baskoro said, “will save about 1,600 tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere” every year.

The number of households projected to use charcoal as an energy source here will rise to more than one million in 2015 from about 500,000 now, according to a 2008 study conducted jointly by Cambodia’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, the United Nations Development Program and Geres.

The projected increase has raised concerns among environmentalists, who say that charcoal production entails the removal of vast quantities of woodland, often in naturally growing forests.

According to Geres, Phnom Penh consumes 90,000 tons of charcoal every year, a market believed to be worth about $25 million.

At the new factory, called the Sustainable Green Fuel Enterprise, waste biomass like coconut husks and shells will be burned for an hour in brick kilns, or until the material is carbonized. The heat from the burning process is then recaptured in a funnel and used to dry the waste biomass so that the burning process becomes more energy efficient.

The end-product, known as char, is crushed and mixed with water and cassava residue to form individual briquettes of fuel.

Mr Baskoro said that the biomass used to make the briquettes would otherwise decompose on the capital’s streets, releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in the form of methane and carbon dioxide.

Moreover, there will be less dependence on producing charcoal from wood, most of which comes from naturally growing forests.

The briquettes, Mr. Baskoro said, “will preserve Cambodia’s natural forests by having a cleaner and safer alternative to wood and charcoal. He added that the briquettes produce less smoke and pose less of a threat to human health and the environment.

And while the briquettes will cost nearly three times that of charcoal sold on the streets of Phnom Penh, they will burn for nearly twice as long, according to Ly Mathheat, the executive director of the Sustainable Green Fuel Enterprise.

A member of the Cambodian opposition Sam Rainsy Party says the party's leader will not return to the country while charges remain against him. Sam Rainsy has been charged with inciting racial hatred and destruction of property. An arrest warrant was issued after he failed to appear in court to hear the charges, which he has described as politically motivated.

Presenter: Bo Hill
Speakers: Hing Yoeun, member, Sam rainsy Party Steering Committee

HILL: The charges Sam Rainsy faces relate to an incident on the Cambodia-Vietnam border in October. He's alleged to have incited racial hatred and destroyed property after border markers were removed. Sam Rainsy party member, Hing Yoeun says the opposition leader was doing nothing wrong.

HING YOUEN: On 25 October 2009, the people in the village run to him and complain to him that the Vietnamese side plan to make a border at their rice fields.

HILL: Sam Rainsy claims he was simply helping the villages in Cok Bahn to save their rice fields, and Hing Yoeun says the party and its leader believe the charges are politically motivated.

HING YOEUN: The judicial system in Cambodia is not justice, it's is only the tool of the government and the ruling party.

HILL: Sam Rainsy is currently in France, having left Cambodia before the court appearance order was issued. He's told Reuters news agency he will let the court prosecute him in absentia because the verdict was already decided. Hing Yoeun says Sam Rainsy will pursue the case through diplomatic means from abroad, rather than through the Cambodia court system. But the incident is already a diplomatic issue. A long-running Cambodia-Vietnam border dispute was laid to rest three years ago when the border was official marked, but there are still localised concerns. Hing Yoeun says Cambodian authorities moved against the opposition leader because of pressure from Vietnam, whose investment dollars Cambodia has tried hard to attract.

HING YOEUN: Yes of course because the prime minister of Vietnam said that Cambodia have to avoid the similar action caused by Sam Rainsy in the future.

HILL: Hing Yoeun has hinted that Sam Rainsy, who was educated in France, will remain in Paris for the foreseeable future, and may seek political asylum there. He also said two locals from Cok Bahn village involved in the border marker incident have been arrested, and warrants have been issued for three others.