Domestic energy boost reduces reliance on imports

Cambodia's domestic electricity production grew significantly in 2015, helping to reduce the Kingdom’s reliance on imported energy, the national electricity regulator said in its newly released annual report.

According to the Electricity Authority of Cambodia (EAC), the Kingdom’s energy generation increased by 46.79 percent in 2015 compared to the previous year, with local energy production accounting for nearly 75 percent of the country’s total supply.

Energy imports from Vietnam decreased by 5 percent, reducing its contribution to the Kingdom’s electricity supply to just under 20 percent, compared to 26 percent in 2014, the EAC report’s figures showed. Imports from Thailand fell by 41 percent last year, reducing its total energy contribution to 5.11 percent, compared to almost 11 percent in 2014.

Demand for electricity continues to grow. The total number of electricity consumers in the country increased by 30 percent compared to the previous year, reaching 1.8 million in 2015, as efforts to expand access to the grid increased electricity coverage to 68 percent of the country’s villages last year, the report added.

Hydropower provided 48 percent of the country’s energy and coal provided another 47 percent, according to the data. The figures differ slightly from those released last week by the Mines and Energy, which show coal electricity generation surpassed that of hydropower in 2015.                                                                                                                                                                                According to the EAC annual report, relative to Cambodia’s increased capacity, coal’s contribution to energy production went from 28 percent in 2014 to 47 percent in 2015. At the same time, hydropower’s share of generation went down from 60 percent to 48 percent in 2015, with Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) figures showing hydropower still being the largest source in the country.

Total installed energy capacity in Cambodia reached 1,657,274 kilowatts in 2015. Within that, coal showed the highest increased capacity by percentage, going from almost 18 percent of total capacity in 2014 to 24 percent of capacity in 2015, while hydropower’s installed capacity remained virtually unchanged.

Mey Kalyan, a senior adviser to the Supreme National Economic Council, said expanding the country’s industrial activity depended largely on the Kingdom’s efforts to continue developing its energy sector. However, he said there was a need “to not only to focus on energy availability, but also on affordability”.

Despite increased production, the report did not highlight any major price decreases, a fact that may be tied to Cambodia’s economy of scale when it comes to energy production.

“Overall the price is gradually facing a downwards trend, but Cambodia often faces economy of scale issues, so it cannot cut prices to levels of Thailand or Vietnam,” he said.

“Coal is a traditional approach to address energy needs and in the Cambodian context, it can provide energy relatively quickly,” he added. “However, we also need more renewable energy, but it needs to be done gradually because shifting to renewables all at once is not realistic to fulfil the country’s energy demand.”

Kem Ley’s final farewell

Kem Ley’s final farewell

Thousands of people yesterday joined the funeral procession marking 100 days since political analyst Kem Ley was shot dead in Phnom Penh, with hundreds more lining the streets along the route to pay their respects.

Yesterday’s procession, markedly different from Ley’s solemn funeral procession in July, was more a celebration of the government critic, with thousands – on motorcycles and piling into cars, tuk-tuks and open trucks – making their way from Chroy Changvar peninsula’s Wat Chas pagoda to Ley’s home in Takeo province.

Hundreds lined the streets in Phnom Penh chanting prayers and waving at the procession, with a few unable to hold back tears as supporters made their way through the city.

The cavalcade centred on a truck carrying a life-size statue of Ley made by Kampong Speu sculptor Sien Kamangdang, which was later placed at Ley’s gravesite. Flanking the vehicle, were other trucks with giant portraits of Ley emblazoned with his now-famous slogan – “Wipe your tears and continue the journey”.

As the procession passed the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Phe Pheany jumped at the sight of Ley’s statue, saying she was there to pay respect to her “instructor”.

“He educated the youth, and his words told us to only love our country,” said Pheany, a recent graduate from Cambodian Mekong University.

City Hall spokesman Mean Chanyada said the funeral committee largely adhered to the agreement between to the two parties, and pegged yesterday’s attendance at 600 people. However, committee member Sao Kosal estimated 50,000 people participated in yesterday’s event. Actual attendance was probably closer to 5,000, according to a Post reporter present.

Monks stand in front of a truck carrying a Kem Ley statue yesterday morning at Chroy Changvar’s Wat Chas pagoda.



Once the procession passed the Choam Chao roundabout near the airport, it picked up speed and reached Tram Kak district’s Leay Bor commune just before 3pm.There, Ley’s statue was placed near the site of a planned stupa, with supporters flocking to partake in the religious ceremonies.

Conspicuous in their absence were Ley’s immediate family, who fled the country last month citing fears for their safety. Ley’s wife, Bou Rachana, gave birth to the activist’s fifth son abroad earlier this month and tasked his funeral committee with yesterday’s procession.

“It is sad that Kem Ley’s wife and children could not be here, but it is better for their safety if they stay outside the country,” said Sok Khunheang.

On seeing the large crowd, Ley’s 78-year-old mother Phok Se said that she was overwhelmed at the outpouring of love for her son, and only wished his wife and children had been present to witness it.

CNRP lawmaker Ou Chanrath, who helped bankroll the statue and made multiple requests to place it at Freedom Park, said he hadn’t given up hope of bringing Ley’s statue back to Phnom Penh.

“I still keep my stand to request that Kem Ley’s statue to be located in Phnom Penh,” he said. “I believe if the political circumstances change and the two parties go back to normal [it can happen].”

Authorities have been tight-lipped on the progress of the investigation into Ley’s murder, prompting many to wonder whether it is being pursued in earnest, and with yesterday’s procession bringing an end to the activist’s funeral ceremonies, social analyst Meas Ny said it was possible that the people’s anger at Ley’s death will begin to fade.

However, Ny said civil society groups will not let the “Kem Ley movement” die out, and will continue to engage citizens in the activist’s teachings. “It will be an ongoing movement. We cannot let Kem Ley’s case to be thrown in the water.”

Boeung Kak activists fail to land meeting with rapporteur

About 50 Boeung Kak lake activists attempted to meet UN envoy Rhona Smith on Friday seeking her intervention in the release of a fellow activist, as well as a quick resolution to their long-standing land dispute.

The activists, who wanted to meet the special rapporteur at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, were only able to meet another staffer at the UN office, according to Boeung Kak resident Bov Sophea.

The group also submitted a petition asking for the release of prominent land activist Tep Vanny, who was convicted last month for her role in a 2011 scuffle with security personnel outside City Hall.

“We could only meet her colleagues. The UN officials said Rhona Smith had followed all the information about Boeung Kak activists and raised the issue in Geneva,” she said.                           

Timber trader charged in Phnom Penh

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court charged accused timber trader Heng Samnieng yesterday in connection with multiple luxury timber-trafficking offences committed over the past three months.

Sous Vechearandy, deputy administrator at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said Samnieng was charged with illegally gathering luxury timber and obstructing public authorities with aggravating circumstances.

Samnieng, also known by the alias Grandma Proeung, was arrested on Thursday by Stung Treng provincial authorities before being transferred to Phnom Penh the following day.

Police raided Samnieng’s warehouse in August, confiscating more than 1,000 logs of luxury timber, though Samnieng managed to escape. This past Thursday, she was apprehended while trying to steal back her confiscated timber with the help of seven employees.

“The court issued an order to detain her for illegally gathering forest products and attempting to obstruct public officials by stealing,” Vechearandy said.

Sun Yoeurth, spokesman for the Stung Treng Provincial Court, confirmed that the case had been sent to Phnom Penh on Friday per a request from the Ministry of Justice, although she did not know why the case was transferred.                                                                                               Chin Malin, spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, said he also did not know why Samnieng was transferred, but maintained it was within the bounds of normal procedure.

“In principle, there is no problem with transferring the case from one court to another, even though the crime occurred in Stung Treng.”

He also speculated that the transfer could be a result of a “conflict of interest with court officers”.

Trucks rerouted from flooded Nat’l Road 4

Kampong Speu provincial authorities yesterday issued an order banning heavy trucks from using National Road 4 in Phnom Sruoch district’s Maha Saing commune in response to heavy flooding in the area.

Hong Chansokha, provincial director of the Public Works and Transport Department, yesterday rerouted vehicles travelling on National Road 4 – which connects the capital to Preah Sihanouk province – directing drivers to National Road 3 instead.

“People who wish to travel via National Road 4 . . . unless necessary, please use National Road 3 instead, especially heavy trucks,” Chansokha said.

The flood – which has completely engulfed Street 143 and 1,000 metres of concrete road linking Svay Kravan commune’s Kravan village to Tras Sala village – was exacerbated by the collapse of a dam in Samrong Tong district’s Thommada Or commune, he said.                                  In Kong Pisei district, another of the four flooded districts in Kampong Speu, Provincial Governor Vi Samnang said authorities were working to repair four leaking dams.

“We are now filling the soil to repair them in order to prevent the houses in 18 villages [accounting for 2,577 families living near the dam] from being flooded,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Banteay Meanchey province, Mongol Borei District Governor Long Pun said four communes in the district – Chamnoam, Soeu, Rahat Teuk, and Bot Trang – face extensive damage from flooding.

A tale of two kings and the lost sax

King Norodom Sihanouk ascended to Cambodia’s throne in April 1941 at age 18, almost exactly five years before King Bhumibol Adulyadej ascended to Thailand’s in June 1946, also at the age of 18.

Both were fluent French and English speakers and shared a deep appreciation for jazz, making names for themselves as saxophonists. Sihanouk died in October 2012 aged 89 and – almost four years to the day – Bhumibol followed last week, at the age of 88.

As towering figures in the modern histories of their neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, the two kings’ lives and interests intersected like those of few others through history – but that did not mean the two were always so close to each other.

“It might have been expected that Sihanouk and Bhumibol, both French-speakers of similar age and predicament, would become soul mates,” Paul Handley noted in his 2006 The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand’s Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Instead, Handley noted, Bhumibol came to consider his Cambodian counterpart “a nuisance, in part because in 1954 Sihanouk apparently borrowed a gold-plated saxophone of the king’s and didn’t return it”.

Little else has been written about their six-decade relationship – during which Sihanouk abdicated, was overthrown as a civilian leader, led an armed resistance and was then crowned king once more, and it is one of the few windows into their time together.

Yet the claims Sihanouk took the saxophone were always disputed by the man himself, said Julio Jeldres, a research fellow at Monash University’s Asia Institute in Australia, who was Sihanouk’s official biographer before the king’s death four years ago.                                                 “I have seen no record of King Sihanouk meeting King Bhumibol on this occasion, but it appears that the Thai King in a friendly gesture loaned to him a gold-plated saxophone, which Sihanouk could use while in Bangkok,” Jeldres said in an email.

“Later on, the former US Ambassador to Thailand, Alexis U. Johnson, wrote that Sihanouk had taken the gold-plated saxophone with him,” he said.

Jeldres said he believed the incident in fact occurred after an ill-fated 1953 trip, and not during 1954 as noted by Handley, and that Sihanouk always maintained he left the saxophone behind in his hotel room in a huff after failing to secure Thai support for Cambodia’s drive for independence from France.

“The late King Father was very offended by this story and told me in 1988 that the saxophone had been left behind at the hotel in Bangkok after he suddenly decided to leave because of the cold reception he had received and the lack of Thai support.”

It’s an explanation accepted by Prince Sisowath Thomico, a nephew and adopted son of Sihanouk, who said he did not believe the king would have taken something that was not his – or done anything else to harm relations with another king.

“I am very suspicious about that. It was not in King Sihanouk’s personality not to return something, and he always kept very courteous relations with King Bhumibol,” Thomico said, noting that Sihanouk had once demoted a minister for criticising Bhumibol. “King Sihanouk always expected the royal government to respect a king – even though we did not have very good relations with the Thais then.”

Yet it was not only the disputed fate of the golden saxophone that made the 1953 trip so important for the future of relations of Sihanouk and Bhumibol – there were also the circumstances of the trip. In fact, Sihanouk had decided to pay a visit to Thailand on a whim, without giving notification, while driving near the Cambodian-Thai border, according to French historian and author Henri Locard.

While in a convoy between Siem Reap and Battambang, explained Locard, Sihanouk simply announced that he wished to cross at the Poipet-Aranyaprathet checkpoint to seek support from the Thais for his struggle for independence.

“When in Svay Sisophon, the King suddenly decided to split the procession: Penn Nouth, the nominal prime minister and followers were asked to continue to Battambang, while Sihanouk and his court proceeded straight west to Poipet,” Locard said.

“Neither the Cambodian delegation nor – worse – the Thais themselves had been forewarned of the new plans,” he continued. “He came totally uninvited and the Thais gave him a cold reception. They refused to support his campaign for independence.”

Jeldres said an official state visit the next year – after Cambodia gained its independence – fared better, with Sihanouk being “received at the airport by King Bhumibol and given a warm welcome” and also stressing to the Thais that he bore no grudges.

However, it was the only official state visit Sihanouk would ever pay to Thailand as king, and in the 1980s – when he led the coalition of Thai-backed resistance forces fighting Prime Minister Hun Sen’s regime – he would again come to have complaints.

“During the 1980s, he complained that every time he visited Thailand as President of the Cambodian Coalition Government, he would be made to wait outside King Bhumibol’s office for half an hour or so before seeing the Thai monarch,” Jeldres said. “Once he became King again in 1993, he paid State visits to all of Cambodia’s neighbours, including Malaysia and Singapore, but excluding Thailand.

“Lastly, many Cambodians were deeply disappointed that the Thai Royal Family did not send any representative to the funeral of the late King Father, as the Japanese and Lao Royal Families did,” he said.

Ultimately, though, according to Thomico, the relationship between the two kings – even with their similar backgrounds – could only ever have been constrained by their positions, as their nations followed vastly different paths last century.

“The word ‘friend’ could not be used between the two of them, because their relations were filled with protocol, but there was mutual respect,” he said. “And I never heard him criticise King Bhumibol.”

រួមជាតិដោះស្រាយនិងគោរពបុណ្យ១០០ថ្អៃលោកកែមឡីនៅប៉ារីស