ក្រសួងទេសចរណ៍ចង់អោយអាជ្ញាធរក្រុងភ្នំពេញយកផ្លូវមាត់ទន្លេមុខវាំងជាផ្លូវថ្មើរជើង

រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងទេសចរណ៍ លោក ថោង ខុនចង់អោយអាជ្ញាធររាជធានីភ្នំពេញ រៀបចំផ្លូវមាត់ទន្លេពីមុខព្រះបរមរាជវាំង ដល់ប៉ុស្តិ៍ប្រៃសណីយ៍ម្តុំរមណីដ្ឋានវត្តភ្នំ ជាផ្លូវថ្មើរជើងសម្រាប់ភ្ញៀវទេសចរដើរកំសាន្ត។  លោកថោងខុន អោយអាស៊ីសេរីដឹងនៅថ្ងៃទី២៧តុលាថាជំហានដំបូងសាលាក្រុងគួរតែរៀបចំអោយមាននៅចុងសប្តាហ៍គឺថ្ងៃសៅរិ៍និងអាទិត្យមុននឹងរៀបចំអោយមានជារៀងរាល់ថ្ងៃ ដូចនៅខេត្តសៀមរាប ក្នុងតំបន់ផ្សារចាស់ ផាប់ស្រ្ទីត (Pub Street)។   លោកបន្តថា ផ្លូវថ្មើរជើងសម្រាប់ទេសចរណ៍នេះគឺលោកចង់អោយមាននៅគ្រប់រាជធានី ខេត្តតែម្តង ដើម្បីបម្រើការកំសាន្តដល់ភ្ញៀវទេសចរពីគ្រប់មជ្ឈដ្ឋាន ជាពិសេសខេត្តទេសចរធំៗ ដូចជាខេត្តព្រះសីហនុជាដើម។ ឆ្លើយតបនឹងការចង់បាននេះ នាយករដ្ឋបាលសាលារាជធានីភ្នំពេញ លោក មាន ចាន់យ៉ាដា អោយអាស៊ីសេរីដឹងថា នេះជាសំណើរល្អ ហើយអាជ្ញាធរនឹងរៀបចំជាជំហានៗ ដើម្បីរៀបចំផ្លូវសម្រាប់ថ្មើរជើងនេះនៅពេលខាងមុខ ក្រោយពីមានសំណើរផ្លូវពីក្រសួងទេសចរណ៍។ លោកមាន ចាន់យ៉ាដា បន្តថា បច្ចុប្បន្នតាមបណ្តោយផ្លូវមាត់ទន្លេចាប់ពីមុខព្រះបរមរាជវាំងដល់ម្តុំប៉ុស្តិ៍ប្រៃសណីយ៍នេះ អាជ្ញាធរបានយកចិត្តទុកដាក់រៀបចំអោយមានសោភ័ណភាពល្អប្រសើរហើយ។ប៉ុន្តែយ៉ាងណាក៏ដោយ លោកបញ្ជាក់ថា អ្វីដែលត្រូវការចាំបាច់នោះ គឺទីតាំងចំណតយានយន្ត៕

រាជរដ្ឋាភិបាលថៃស្នើសុំអោយបញ្ជូនជនជាតិថៃ៣នាក់ដែលប្រមាថស្តេចត្រឡប់ទៅថៃវិញ

រាជរដ្ឋាភិបាលថៃ ស្នើសុំអោយប្រទេសកម្ពុជាបញ្ជូនជនជាតិថៃ៣នាក់ ត្រឡប់ទៅប្រទេសថៃវិញ ដែលអាជ្ញាធរថៃ ចាត់ទុកថាជាជនប្រមាថព្រះចេស្តាមហាក្សត្រថៃ។មេប៉ូលីសជាតិថៃលោក ចាក់ធីប ចៃចិន្តា(Chakthip  Chaijinda) ត្រូវបានកាសែតបាងកកប៉ុស្តិ៍(Bangkok Post) ស្រង់សម្តីថា ប៉ូលីសថៃកំពុងធ្វើការជាមួយប៉ូលីសអន្តរជាតិ អោយចាត់វិធានការច្បាប់ចំពោះអ្នកប្រមាថព្រះចេស្តាមហាក្សត្រ ហើយកំពុងជ្រកកោននៅឯបរទេស។  ប៉ូលីសថៃកំពុងស្វែងរកជនសង្ស័យប្រមាថព្រះចេស្តាមហាក្សត្រចំនួន១៨នាក់ ដែលកំពុងរត់ទៅជ្រកកោនក្រៅប្រទេសចំនួន៧នាក់ក្នុងនោះមានប្រទេសកម្ពុជាមួយផងដែរ។ អាស៊ីសេរីមិនអាចទាក់ទងអ្នកនាំពាក្យក្រសួងការបរទេស ដើម្បីបញ្ជាក់អំពីជំហររបស់កម្ពុជា បានទេនៅថ្ងៃទី២៧តុលា។ ជនដែលប៉ូលីសថៃ កំពុងតាមរកអោយបញ្ជូនទៅប្រទេសថៃវិញនោះ គឺអ្នកដែលសរសេរប្រមាថព្រះចេស្តាមហាក្សត្រ ហើយបង្ហោះតាមអ៊ីនធឺណិតពីក្រៅប្រទេស ដែលជាបទល្មើសមានចែងក្នុងមាត្រា១១២នៃច្បាប់ព្រហ្មទណ្ឌថៃ៕

ក្រុមគីរីវង់បញ្ជាក់ពីការខ្ចីជើងយុវជនភ្នំពេញក្រោនពីររូបក្លឹបបាល់ទាត់គីរីវង់សុខសែនជ័យបានខ្ចីជើងកីឡាករយុវជនភ្នំពេញពីរនាក់គឺវ៉ាត់សំណាងនិងឈុតសេងទៀងដើម្បីត្រៀមប្រជែងតំណែងជើងឯកលីគទីពីរក្នុងគោលបំណងឆ្ពោះមកលេងលីគកំពូលកម្ពុជាវិញ

លោកឌុកវាសនាប្រធានគីរីវង់សុខសែនជ័យបានអោយដឹងថាកីឡាករទាំងពីរនាក់ខាងលើជាយុវជនមានអាយុស្របតាមការកំណត់របស់សហព័ន្ធ។មិនត្រឹមតែប៉ុណ្ណោះពួកគេជាកីឡាករមានបទពិសោធន៍និងធ្លាប់លេងក្នុងក្រុមយុវជនជម្រើសជាតិ។ លោកបន្ថែមថាមូលហេតុចម្បងក្នុងការនាំយកកីឡាករទាំងពីរនេះគឺ ចង់ធ្វើយ៉ាងណាដណ្តើមជើងឯកលីគទី២និងអាចឈានទៅលេងលីគកំពូលកម្ពុជាវិញ។មួយវិញទៀតលោករំពឹងថាពួកគេនឹងអាចបំពេញចន្លោះប្រហោងនៅតំបន់ការពារនិងប្រយុទ្ធដែលពួកគេអាចលេងក្នុងតួនាទីនេះស្រាប់។ កីឡាករទាំងពីរមានវ័យ១៨ឆ្នាំបានចូលរួមជាមួយក្លឹបភ្នំពេញក្រោនតាំងពីក្រុមយុវជនរបស់ក្លឹបចាប់ផ្តើមដំបូងនៅឆ្នាំ២០១១។ខ្សែការពារកណ្តាលសំណាងក៏ស្ថិតនៅក្នុងក្រុមយុវជនអាយុក្រោម១៩ឆ្នាំជម្រើសជាតិកម្ពុជាទៅលេងនៅវៀតណាមកាលពីពេលថ្មីៗនេះ។ស្របពេលដែលកីឡាករ សេងទៀង ជាខ្សែប្រយុទ្ធធ្លាប់លេងអោយក្រុមយុវជនជម្រើសជាតិកម្ពុជាក្រោមអាយុ១៤និង១៦ឆ្នាំ៕

Push for border use of local currencies

Push for border use of local currencies

Business leaders from the Lower Mekong region are urging their respective governments to use local currencies for trading in border regions instead of the US dollar, arguing that this would facilitate business transactions and reduce exchange costs, a Thai newspaper reported yesterday.

Sanan Angubolkul, president of the Thailand-Vietnam Business Council, said the use of local currencies for trade in border areas would benefit business operators in a number of ways, shortening the trade process while reducing the risks and costs of volatile exchange rates against the US dollar. This would result in more trade, he told the Bangkok Post.

He added that business leaders in Thailand and the Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar (CMLV) region were planning to propose the local currency plan to their governments yesterday during the 7th Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy Summit (ACMECS-7) in Hanoi.

However, a Cambodian trade official who joined the ACMECS-7 meeting yesterday could not confirm that the proposal had been discussed.

“I did not hear anything regarding this plan,” said Sim Sokheng, director-general of international trade at the Ministry of Commerce.

Economist Chan Sophal said the acceptance of local currencies along border regions would facilitate both business and tourism. He said Cambodian traders were already accepting Thai, Vietnamese and Lao currencies in border areas, but the riel was not readily accepted outside the country.

“Our country is free and flexible in using foreign currencies, and we already accept various currencies near our borders,” he said. “But whether we can use our riel banknotes on their side of the border is a question.”

He said the use of riel currency in neighbouring countries would involve the “leaking of money” into these countries, which carries a slight monetary risk to the National Bank of Cambodia, but when spent the currency’s value would be recovered as products and services.

Software for cleaner money

Software for cleaner money

Tess International, a Malaysia-based provider of software solutions for the financial sector, signed a distributor agreement yesterday with Cambodian management consulting and business technology firm IdeaLink Consulting to provide software to Cambodian banks and microfinance institutions that helps them combat financial crimes.

Chhor Sophanak, managing director of IdeaLink, said Cambodia’s booming financial and property sectors have resulted in a sharp increase in the number of financial transactions, as well as the amount of money transferred into and out of the country each year.

This creates opportunities for money laundering, where illicitly gained proceeds, or “dirty money”, are made to appear legal, typically through transactions involving offshore banks or legitimate businesses.

He said the increasing risk of financial crimes in Cambodia requires banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to be more careful in handling transactions, and is driving demand for professional automated solutions.

“Money laundering is coming from everywhere around the world and it’s difficult to identify its sources, so it requires caution,” he said.

Sophanak said Tess International was providing software solutions that help financial institutions implement anti-money laundering (AML) measures, protecting them from financial fraud. Through their new distribution agreement, the two companies plan to extend sales into the developing financial sectors of Laos and Myanmar as well.

“Tess International has data on blacklisted individuals with a history of involvement in money laundering activities, so when a person on that list is involved in any activity related to a financial transaction, the system will alert financial institutions so that they can follow up and check more effectively,” he explained.

He said that two major banks in Cambodia – namely Canadia Bank and Vattanac Bank – had already installed the company’s AML software on their servers. However, he declined to disclose the cost of the software, explaining that it varies from one institution to the next according to its actual operation.

Cambodia has a notoriously poor international reputation as a potential haven for money launderers and terrorism financiers. The 2016 Basel Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Index, an annual ranking by the Switzerland-based Basel Institute on Governance, named Cambodia as the worst country in ASEAN for susceptibility to money laundering and terrorism financing, and the sixth-worst globally behind Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uganda and Guinea-Bissau.

Liew Boon Yen, CEO of Tess International, said his company has supplied financial crime solutions to financial institutions in many ASEAN countries, including Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, which he credited with improving their AML scores. He expressed confidence that his company’s software could help boost Cambodia’s ranking as well.

“We will share the success story of Thailand and Vietnam in fighting financial crimes,” he said. “First we have to get financial institutions to comply [with AML measures,] and then we can move to other sectors, such as insurance, remittance, leasing companies or casinos.”

Tess International’s software is one of many third-party AML solutions on the market that are helping Cambodian banks and MFIs meet their international obligations to monitor, prevent and report suspected money-laundering and terrorism financing activities.

So Phonnary, vice president of Acleda Bank, Cambodia’s largest bank by assets, said the bank recently installed AML software developed by US-based financial services technology provider Fiserv Inc. Previously, the bank used its own proprietary AML software.

“We have thousands of [financial] transactions every day so we needed expertise to develop a system for us that fights any action related to money laundering,” she said. “The automated system is very helpful for us, as it gives us detailed information for analysis.”

Study examines Khmer Rouge rationale

The mass killings that took place under the reign of the Khmer Rouge were justified by an ideology that identified dissidents as “toxic”, but such a mentality was not at the root of why lower-level cadre slaughtered their fellow Cambodians, a new report argues.

The report, which appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Terrorism and Political Violence earlier this month, posed the question “Why were so many killed?”, and interviewed 58 former Khmer Rouge cadre to determine if “toxification” propaganda motivated individuals to commit atrocious crimes.

“Toxification”, the report explains, is a genocidal ideology that sees certain individuals as lethal to the perpetrator group and its ideal society, and often dehumanises the group with quasi-medical terms, like “viruses”, “microbes” or “cancers”.

Such a mentality “depicts systematic killing as permissible and necessary,” the report states.

But Timothy Williams, one of the report’s authors from the Centre for Conflict Studies at the University of Marburg in Germany, said although such an ideology was rife in Khmer Rouge propaganda, it wasn’t the core motivation for killing.

Those reasons are more nuanced, he said, and included obedience to the all-seeing Angkar, gaining status, being coerced, ensuring their own survival, or even opportunistic personal conflicts. “[Lower-level cadre] were not committed to a communist utopia at all,” he said via email.

“They had joined the regime not out of dedication to communism but often in support of Sihanouk, or in order to gain a better life or more security for themselves. And they certainly did not kill for this communist utopia.”

But toxification provided the killers with a rationale for such widespread killings.

“Without moral justification, the individuals would be in a constant quandary,” the report read.

For Dr Ly Sok Kheang, director of DC-Cam’s Anlong Veng Peace Centre, the report’s conclusions confirmed what he already knew from his own constant questioning.

“The Khmer Rouge trained their cadre how to follow steadfastly the Khmer Rouge policies,” he said. “That’s why the people just followed without question, or because of the brutality or because of the pressure.”

“Some cadre tried to please their superiors by going beyond the policy.”

He added the leaders kept tight control at all levels and enacted widespread, systematic purges to maintain that grip on power.

Dr Sotheara Chhim, executive director at the Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation, said the Khmer Rouge also fostered an atmosphere of baksbat – “broken courage” – which led individuals to fear for their lives if they disobeyed orders.

“When they fear, they become submissive, they give in and are more obedient,” he said in an email.

“Thus they do things based on emotion, not based on cognition.”

Doing business ranking falls: World Bank

Cambodia had another poor showing in the World Bank’s annual Doing Business report. The Kingdom ranks 131 out of 190 countries this year, dropping four places in the index in what economists said was an indication that the country was struggling to keep up with the pace of reforms in more advanced economies.

New Zealand and Singapore occupied the top two spots of the global ranking report released yesterday, which measures the business regulatory environment worldwide. Malaysia and Thailand ranked 23 and 46 respectively, while Laos came in slightly lower than Cambodia at 139, and Myanmar occupied the last spot in the region at 170.

The data show that starting a business remains a challenge in Cambodia, with the Kingdom ranking 180 – the worst in the region – in the category due to onerous startup procedures. The report said the average time to complete all the steps necessary to start a legal business had grown to 99 days on average, 12 more than needed a year ago.

“Cambodia made starting a business more difficult by increasing the time required to register and by requiring companies to submit evidence of capital deposit after registration,” the report said.



The low ranking in the category comes as a blow, given former commerce minister Sun Chanthol’s boast late last year that recent reforms, such as the roll out of online business registration, could rocket the Kingdom’s ranking in this year’s World Bank index to 21, provided other countries do not make any progress.

The report’s authors noted yesterday that this new online registration system had actually made it more cumbersome for companies to register, which resulted in a lower ranking this year.

“With the new legislation that was passed in 2015 requiring all companies to register through the online portal already registered companies have to go through a new process,” said Joanna Nasr, one of the report’s leading researchers. “This adds a lot of congestion to the registration process, so we can see an increase in the time it takes to go through the registration procedure.”

Laura Diniz, another researcher for the report, pointed out that this congestion was not uncommon for new systems and likely temporary.

“These types of reforms can take a while to be effectively implemented and will require time before we can see the results in practice,” she said.

Cambodia’s lowest score in this year’s index was in the dealing with construction permits category, where it ranked a lowly 183, down two spots compared to last year. The report showed that building a mid-sized warehouse in Cambodia from start to finish requires 652 days on average and involves 20 regulatory procedures. The regional average is 134 days.

The one category where the Kingdom appeared to shine was access to credit, where it secured seventh place worldwide and the top ranking for the region. The high score was attributed in part to work done by Cambodia’s independent credit bureau to improve credit reporting.

“In Cambodia, the credit bureau started to provide credit scores to banks and financial institutions, improving access to credit information,” a press release for the report read. “This makes it more likely for small businesses in Cambodia with a good financial history to get credit.”

In Channy, CEO of Acleda Bank, emphasised that access to credit was crucial for economic growth, noting that despite the country’s small market size, its citizens had access to a large selection of financial services from dozens of banks and microfinance institutions.

“Easy access to credit allows for businesses to expand and increase their income when they start a business and it is a key factor for economic development,” he said.

World Bank researchers stressed yesterday that rankings were relative to all the countries included in the report and that despite worsening rankings, regulatory improvements in places like Cambodia still take place.

In Cambodia’s case, they noted a slight improvement in its distance to frontier (DTF) score, which measures how far a country lags behind the best performance among all economies over time.

Hiroshi Suzuki, CEO of the Business Research Institute for Cambodia (BRIC), said the annual World Bank index demonstrates the high level of competition that exists among rival economies, and the challenge in attracting new investment.

“It is challenging for many developing countries to improve its ranking drastically . . . [as] now many countries are improving their procedures to attract FDI,” he said. “It is essential for Cambodia to continue the effort to improve its investment environment through good communication with private sector.”

However, he expressed confidence that reforms, including online business registration, would result in a better showing in next year’s index.

Adhoc, NEC Officials Detention Extended

Adhoc, NEC Officials Detention Extended

Lawyers representing a National Election Committee (NEC) member and four officials from rights group Adhoc will submit a complaint to the Appeal Court next week after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court decided to prolong their clients’ detention yesterday.

Investigating judge Theam Chan Piseth decided to continue the detention of the four Adhoc officials – Ny Sokha, Nay Vanda, Yi Soksan and Lim Mony – and NEC deputy secretary-general Ny Chakrya despite them having been detained in prison beyond the legal six-month maximum.

Ly Sophanna, a spokesman for the court’s prosecutors, said the judges were working on procedures related to continuing the detention of the suspects, who are accused of either attempting to bribe a witness or conspiracy to bribe a witness in a case related to acting opposition leader Kem Sokha and his alleged mistress.

Each person is facing between five and 10 years in prison, according to article 547 of the Criminal Code.



While leaving the court yesterday, defense lawyer Sam Sokong said that judge Chan Piseth had extended the detention of his clients beyond the legal limit.

“I think this delay has a serious effect on the rights of the accused. They have the right to get a trial without delay, to make it quick. During the six-month time frame, the judges didn’t make any effort to investigate and now their detention gets extended instead,” he said.

Mr. Sokong added that over the past six months, the judge had asked for inculpatory and exculpatory evidence, but as apparently none had been found they should drop the charges and release his clients.

“According to the law, six months’ detention is enough to investigate. We will appeal the court’s decision to prolong detention,” he said.

He said the decision to continue the detention was to search for additional evidence as some witnesses had yet to testify, the testimony of some witnesses was unclear and the court may decide to summon more witnesses.

Before returning to prison, Adhoc official Mr. Sokha questioned the independence of the court.

“If the court was independent, we would no longer be detained,” he said.