TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2014 Successful People Read The Post 4000 RIEL

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Cant ght,
forced to
take ight
Chhay Channyda and Alice Cuddy
THE residents of Por Sen Chey dis-
tricts Prey Chisak village could do
nothing but stand and stare.
Early yesterday, representatives of
Green Goal, a private company tasked
with measuring and marking sought-
after property for Phnom Penhs air-
port expansion, arrived in the village
and started to measure the land many
have lived on their whole lives.
Phoung Yom held tightly to her
certificate of residence as she
watched the men measure out a
vacant area in front of her home,
where a village clinic had been
planned. The company is also
responsible for relocation.
I heard they will give us money, but
I dont know how much. How are we
supposed to find a new place to live
when we dont have money? Compen-
sation is never paid to evictees,
she said.
At 75 years old, Yom said she had
looked forward to spending her final
years in the place she had called
home for her entire life. Now, that
Continues on page 4
Continues on page 4
Fuelling dissatisfaction
Furnishing a bad habit
Daniel Pye
E
NDANGERED Siamese rose-
wood has been logged to the
brink of extinction in the Me-
kong region, including in the
remote forests of Cambodia, fuelled
by Chinas demand for faux antique
furniture, according to a report re-
leased yesterday by an environmen-
tal monitoring group.
The report by the Environmental
Investigation Agency (EIA), which
is the culmination of a decadelong
undercover investigation, describes
how the desire for luxury Ming and
Qing dynasty reproductions and art-
work, known as hongmu, has left a
bloody trail of death, violence and
corruption in its wake.
Siamese rosewood has become so
rare and valuable that the practice of
logging it is now more akin to wildlife
poaching, the report says.
The rosewood is logged in remote
jungles, such as those in Cambodias
Ratanakkiri, Stung Treng and Preah
Vihear provinces, and funnelled
through a host of laundering opera-
tions in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam
operated by a web of traders, mid-
dlemen and corrupt ofcials [who]
make their fortunes by channeling
rosewood . . . to the glitzy furniture
showrooms of China.
Faith Doherty, EIAs forest cam-
paign team leader, said in an email
yesterday that the demand for the
highly prized timber perpetuated il-
legal logging.
The rosewood industry is extreme-
ly lucrative millions and millions of
dollars are earned plus the more
difcult Siam[ese] rosewood is to get,
the higher the price, the more valu-
able Siam[ese] rosewood becomes,
she said.
Doherty added that the numerous
deaths of Cambodian loggers at the
hands of Thai security forces were di-
rectly linked to the Chinese trade.
In Cambodia, Siamese rosewood
is protected under the 2002 Forestry
Law. But a combination of weak en-
forcement and corruption, coupled
with soaring Chinese demand, has
turned forests into conict zones,
according to the report.
Under the cover of darkness, log-
gers ood into Thailands national
parks across Cambodias porous bor-
der, carrying the tools of the trade:
chainsaws, guns and even rocket-
propelled grenade launchers.
When loggers are confronted by
enforcement ofcers, violence of-
ten ensues, the report, titled Routes
of Extinction, says. Methamphet-
amines are regularly used as a
stimulant to overcome fatigue and as
a form of payment for loggers from
Kingdom slakes China thirst for rosewood
STORY > 3
NATIONAL [PAGE 2]
IN DEBT, OUTOFWORK
WORLD [PAGE 12]
HEART OF DARKNESS
LIFESTYLE [PAGE 17]
CAGES TORN OPEN
Recruitment agencies with
dubious reputations exploit-
ing thousands of Cambodians
Boko Haram releases video
allegedly showing the missing
Nigerian schoolgirls
New Meta House exhibit fea-
tures artist with an important
environmental message
Striking Caltex employees hold placards in front of a Caltex service station yesterday in Phnom Penh to demand an increase to their wages. VIREAK MAI
Laignee Barron and Phak Seangly
T
HEY save for months,
borrowing from fam-
ily and friends, even
taking out loans, to
pour as much as a years worth
of earnings into the hands of
recruiters that may have no in-
tention and certainly have no
guarantee of procuring over-
seas employment.
Recruitment agencies, sev-
eral of which have already
earned the industry a dubious
reputation for engaging in hu-
man trafcking, forced labour
and other human rights viola-
tions, have found another way
to exploit the thousands of
Cambodians desperate to cash
in on neighbouring Thailands
labour shortage. The rms,
only some of which operate
under a legal licence, charge
workers fees of up to $750, al-
legedly to arrange travel docu-
ments and transportation, and
then tell the workers to wait as
a placement is arranged.
They wait one month, six
months and then 12 months.
The company says just be pa-
tient; we are waiting also. But
later, when the workers call,
they have switched off their
phone. When they try to visit,
the company has moved, said
Moeun Tola, head of the la-
bour program at the Commu-
nity Legal Education Center.
He said the centre has logged
a dozen complaints this year,
and believes the sham is in-
creasingly common a sus-
picion conrmed by several
other organisations noting the
same trend.
Chhoun Vanndy, 23, was
one of many to get caught in
the scam. After returning from
harsh conditions as a domestic
worker in Malaysia, she heard
a radio announcement so-
liciting workers for Thailand.
She borrowed $630 to pay for
passports for herself, her hus-
band and her cousin, and was
promised a job match within
three months.
The agency promised to
pay us each 300 baht ($10) per
day . . . Now, about a year later,
were still waiting for the agen-
cy to send us, Vanndy said.
Meanwhile, she owes $20 a
month in interest, money she
says she doesnt have.
Sometimes workers arent
sent because the rm has tak-
en on more workers than the
overseas client needs; some-
times there really is no job.
They never return the mon-
ey. The agencies never say its
about prot. They say it was
used for documents or some-
thing else, but who knows?
They arent asked to prove it,
said Mom Sokchar, program
ofcer at Legal Support for
Women and Children.
But the industry is protable
enough: in 2009, there were
just 19 registered overseas job
recruiters; now, there are 49.
With more and more sher-
men lured by the promise of
more lucrative waters abroad,
those who cannot nd the
means to pay agencies seek
out the services of a broker
who promises no fee for an il-
legal border crossing and work
on the other side. But just as
often those brokers sell their
clients into forced labour, en-
slaving them with debts for
making the arrangements.
At least if they go through a
recruitment agency and have
a problem, theres a record and
we can coordinate with the
rm, which under their [mem-
orandum of understanding]
says they have to resolve
problems, said Chan Saron,
project manager at NGO Chab
Dai. But with the brokers . . .
theyre even more vulnerable
to trafcking.
Ministry of Labour spokes-
man Heng Sour said the minis-
try is aware of agencies charg-
ing hefty fees and not delivering
employment but could not do
anything unless complaints
are led with the name of the
accused company. ADDITIONAL
REPORTING BY MOM KUNTHEAR
National
2 THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
In debt, out of work
Migrant labourers sort sh on a boat in Thailands Rayong province. A growing number of Cambodians
seeking such opportunities are being taken advantage of by recruiters who fail to deliver. AFP
Bag snatchings jump: EU
Court rules in tycoons favour
Vong Sokheng and Joe Freeman
AFTER being presented with
statistics showing a more than
100 per cent rise in petty crime
against foreigners, Minister of
Interior Sar Kheng yesterday
called on police officials to
look into whats causing
the problem.
We will continue to investi-
gate and find the reasons for the
allegations of pickpocketing,
Kheng said, alluding to a rash
of bag snatchings in which for-
eign tourists and expatriates
have been targeted. He added
that European Union repre-
sentatives had complained.
Nicolas Baudouin, a spokes-
man for the French Embassy,
confirmed that a meeting
between Kheng and a group of
ambassadors and charg
daffaires of EU embassies in
Cambodia took place last week.
The diplomatic representa-
tives were there to convey our
concerns regarding the
increase of petty crimes, typi-
cally bag snatching against
European citizens either visit-
ing or residing in Cambodia,
Baudouin said.
The figures compiled by EU
member states are based on
reports of stolen passports fol-
lowing thefts. They show an
increase from 139 stolen pass-
ports in 2011 to 190 in 2012 then
a dramatic leap to 332 last year.
Petty thefts are largely non-
violent, but they sometimes
spiral out of control. Last
month, police say a man look-
ing to steal a bicycle from a
home in Tonle Bassac com-
mune was confronted by UN-
Habitat consultant Daphna
Beerdsen, whose partner was
out of town at the time. Beerd-
sen was stabbed to death and
her toddler also suffered fatal
head wounds.
Kheng said that his prelimi-
nary conclusion for the spike
in low-level crime was a lack of
resources, as forces were redi-
rected to maintain order at
opposition Cambodia National
Rescue Party rallies. He also
said that some foreigners may
be pretending to lose passports
in order to avoid paying invalid
visa fees.
Yim Sovann, an opposition
spokesman, dismissed Khengs
first theory.
I would like to confirm that
many police are good, but a
small number of police allow
the crime to occur and later
extort money [from thieves or
robbers] because of a small sal-
ary, he said.
Tom Abrahamsson, head of
the administrative and consu-
lar section at Swedens embassy,
said that Swedish nationals
were among those affected by
the spree.
This has been an upward
trend over the past two to three
years and especially significant
this year, Abrahamsson said.
In addition to EU concerns,
the US Embassy has reported
an anecdotal rise in petty theft,
according to spokesman Sean
McIntosh.
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
PHNOM Penh Municipal Court
yesterday ruled in favour of a
mining tycoon and convicted a
Chinese-Cambodian widow of
defaming the oknha during an
embittered land dispute.
Sok Neang Gek, 46, an inter-
preter at a garment factory in
the capital, was fined $1,000
and ordered to compensate
Nim Meng, deputy command-
er of the prime ministers body-
guard unit and a personal
assistant to Hun Sen, $5,000.
The court has found that Sok
Neang Gek is not guilty of pro-
viding fake proof of owning
about 10 hectares of land, pre-
siding judge Kim Dany said.
But the court has found that
she is guilty of defaming Oknha
Nim Mengs honour.
Mengs defence lawyer, Bun
Kong, said his client sued after
Neang Gek made accusations
in the Koh Santepheap news-
paper that the tycoon grabbed
10 hectares of her Sihanoukville
property in 2011.
She has also reported this to
[Hun Sens wife] . . . and asked
[her] to tell it to Samdech Hun
Sen, Kong said.
Meng allegedly purchased 46
hectares in Otres commune, in
Preah Sihanouks Stung Hav dis-
trict, in 2005. But Neang Geks
late husband owned a suppos-
edly overlapping plot of land in
Otres, purchased in 1998.
In 2009, after her husband
passed away, Neang Gek had
the plot measured and the title
was put in her name.
But when my client, the pro-
vincial prosecutor and other
relevant authorities came to
implement the provincial
courts decision at the site,
many armed forces, who were
General Nim Mengs soldiers
and also Prime Minister Hun
Sens bodyguards, blocked
them from entering, defence
lawyer Kea Chhay said.
According to the provincial
cadastral department, Mengs
46 hectares are not registered
on the cadastral list.
I think that this courts deci-
sion was not justice for my
niece. We will appeal it, said
Taing Kea, Neang Geks uncle
who represented her in the
court hearings, which she did
not attend.
CORRECTION
In yesterdays article, PM
pushes Thai statement, Kao
Kim Hourn, minister del-
egate attached to the prime
minister, was incorrectly
referred to as the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs secretary
of state.
National
3
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
THE governor of Phnom Penhs
Russey Keo district has been
summonsed to court for ques-
tioning on allegations that he
and his wife cheated a former
secretary of state at the Minis-
try of Rural Development out
of $730,000 through a fraudu-
lent sale of state land and loans
that were never paid back.
District Governor Khlaing
Huot, 43, and his wife, Uong
Sophalla, 41, have been sum-
monsed to appear at Phnom
Penh Municipal Court on May
21 after Lon Phon, now with
the opposition Cambodia Na-
tional Rescue Party, led a law-
suit against them.
According to the courts two
separate summonses, issued
by deputy prosecutor Hean
Sopheak on April 29, Huot has
been accused of being an ac-
complice to fraud, while his
wife, who acted as the land
broker, is accused of fraud.
The allegations rest on claims
that in 2006 the couple sold
Phons family a 1-hectare piece
of land in Russey Keos Phnom
Penh Thmey commune that
they purportedly owned for
$300,000 but the land was
later seized by the government
as state land.
Phon has also accused
Sophalla and Huot of borrow-
ing $430,000 from his family at
an interest rate of 3 per cent,
but claims none of the money
or interest was paid back.
To pay for damages, I am de-
manding Mr Khlaing Huot and
his wife pay me the $730,000
and $100,000 in compensation.
And I ask the court to strongly
punish them through the law,
he said yesterday.
Copies of documents related
to both the land sale and the
loans appear to show that Huot
and his wife did sell the land
in question to Phon and his
wife, Tes Sopha, and did take
numerous large loans starting
from December 2007.
But Huot yesterday denied
the allegations.
Please see my curriculum
vitae and my familys history.
I have been working as the
governor for two districts in
Phnom Penh already. I have
never cheated a cent of mon-
ey from any person. I did not
commit any such accusation
that he has raised, he said.
I think that what he has
sued me for is false and has
seriously affected my honour
and reputation.
I will sue him back in court
for defamation soon.
Russey Keo governor
summonsed to court
Caltex staff walk off the job
Phak Seangly
D
RY-TANKING customers pull-
ing into Caltex petrol stations
in Phnom Penh yesterday
were greeted by uniformed
employees holding banners demanding
pay raises and an annual bonus.
All Caltex branches in the capital shut
their doors yesterday when employees
walked off the job after several failed
rounds of wage negotiations, said Ou
Tep Phallin, deputy president of the
Cambodian Food and Service Workers
Federation (CFSWF).
Union members voted and decided
to strike until the company comes to an
agreement with workers, he said.
About 300 of approximately 530 em-
ployees across the country went on
strike, demanding a minimum monthly
wage of $160 and an annual $160 bonus,
he added.
Phnom Penh is home to 17 of Caltexs
26 stations in the Kingdom, according to
Phallin. The companys website, which
last updated the total in April 2013, says
there are 24 stations in Cambodia, 18 of
them in the capital.
Caltex is marketed by Chevron (Cam-
bodia) Limited a subsidiary of United
States-based Chevron.
Our salary does not meet our expens-
es, said Luk Bonavatey, 21, as she and
about 40 other employees stood outside
a station in Chamkarmon district in pro-
test yesterday.
Cashiers now earn $130, service staff
$110 and cleaners $100, Bonavatey said.
Workers led a complaint with Caltexs
board of directors two months ago, but
to no avail, 39-year-old employee Chou
Sovanna said.
Union ofcials met with Caltex brass
four times this year; however, they have
only succeeded in raising cleaners
monthly salary from $90 to $100, Phal-
lin said.
Even though Caltex offers annual
health care subsidies to employees, the
amounts and structuring are unaccept-
able, said Hang Huot, a 45-year-old vet-
eran service staff member. Although the
strike is for wages, not health care, he
complained that service workers receive
the least.
People who work in the air-condi-
tioned room get $200 to $300 [in health
care subsidies] per year, but the lling
staff, who face the most health prob-
lems, get $100, Huot said, pointing out
that inhaling petrol fumes can cause
many complications. We should at least
get a similar health payout.
Chan Lek, a Caltex communications
ofcer, did not immediately respond to
requests for comment.
A Caltex petrol station is quiet as the petrol bowsers are shut off yesterday during a strike for
better pay in Phnom Penhs Chamkarmon district. HENG CHIVOAN
National
4
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
May Titthara and Stuart White
A
FORESTRY official
with the Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries (MAFF)
who is usually tight-lipped ac-
knowledged last week that his
agency has struggled to com-
bat illegal logging, blaming a
shortage of manpower and
entrenched opportunistic log-
ging by villagers explanations
that were laughed off in some
quarters yesterday.
In an interview last Tuesday
at the Forests Asia Summit,
organised by the Center for In-
ternational Forestry Research
in Jakarta, MAFF Secretary of
State Ty Sokhun also played
down accusations that au-
thorities are slow to respond to
and are even the targets of
complaints of illegal logging,
The real difculty in ghting
logging, he continued, was that
the forests simply covered too
much ground for his roughly
1,000 forest experts to patrol.
How many hectares does the
forest span and where are [the
loggers]? Sokhun asked. We
cannot deploy forces to protect
one tree around the clock.
Sokhun maintained that
measures to help villagers
make money from forests
would encourage them to turn
from logging to conservation,
but Ouch Leng, director of the
Cambodian Human Rights
Task Force, said that it was ac-
tually the villagers who were
leading the ght against ille-
gal loggers in spite of govern-
ment inaction.
I think that the forestry of-
cials should re their staffs
and let villagers do the work,
he said.
Opposition lawmaker-elect
Son Chhay was quick to agree,
blaming mass logging on large-
scale operations, and calling
Sokhuns assertion that of-
cials were quick to respond to
reports of illegal logging com-
pletely rubbish.
Chhay also questioned why
Sokhun hadnt publicly sought
more resources if he was un-
dermanned, and noted that
when Sokhun was director of
the Forestry Administration a
position he was red from in
2010 for his ineffectiveness
he was himself accused of be-
ing complicit in illegal logging.
Indeed, a 2007 report from
Global Witness said that Sok-
huns father-in-law, Khun
Thong, was a major player in
the Kingdoms top logging
syndicate, and that the FA un-
der Sokhun played a key role
in facilitating the syndicates
activities.
Logging a resource
issue, says ofcial
China drives rosewood boom: report
Villagers forced to take ight
Continued from page 1
border communities blighted by drug
addiction, it adds.
At least 69 Cambodians were shot dead
by Thai security forces last year. In a single
day in March this year, 12 illegal loggers
were reported to have been shot dead by
Thai forces near the border with Preah
Vihear province. Thailand denied the kill-
ings took place.
In one example of the cross-border trade,
undercover EIA investigators posing as
buyers met Thai trader Promphan Sut-
tisaragorn, a representative of a company
claiming to source Siamese rosewood from
high-level officials in Cambodia.
He told the investigators that rosewood
logged in Thailand was often smuggled into
Cambodia and re-exported into Thailand
to obscure its origin.
The cost of rosewood has spiked in recent
years, the report notes, with traders often
warehousing timber until prices rise. Sut-
tisaragorn, whose company the Post could
not reach yesterday, allegedly offered to
sell the EIA team 10,000 cubic metres for
$50 million.
Logging tycoons with links to high-rank-
ing officials are plundering Cambodias
natural resources at an alarming rate, Neil
Loughlin, technical adviser at rights group
Adhoc, said yesterday. Cambodias rich
natural resources, lax enforcement and cul-
ture of corruption means it is ideal for
exploitation to fuel Chinas voracious appe-
tite for luxury timber.
Thon Sarath, chief of administration at
the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries, said the government was coop-
erating with neighbouring countries to try
to end the flow of rosewood to China.
He added that if evidence of connections
between high-level officials and illegal log-
ging syndicates were discovered, they
should be reported to the authorities.
We tried to do a lot of things already to act
against the [illegal] timber trade, he said.
Forestry Administration director Chheng
Kimsun and Ung Samath, its deputy direc-
tor, could not be reached.
A spokesman at the Chinese Embassy did
not respond to requests for comment.
Chinese government efforts to curb the
border trade since the species was listed as
protected last year have led to prices as high
as $80,000 per tonne for logs cut from the
33 species China defines as suitable for
hongmu, the report says.
The Chinese government has also pro-
vided considerable financial incentives to
promote the hongmu industry. The rationale
behind investment and state backing for an
industry which is systematically destroying
its own supply chain is unclear, it adds.
But wealthy elites in China continue to
drive the trade and expand into new species
as old ones are depleted, while a venerable
cultural tradition serves as a cover for ram-
pant speculation.
As species deplete, the industry will want
to expand their definition and . . . deplete
their own supply chain. This is not an indus-
try that looks long term, but at what they
can get now, EIAs Doherty said. ADDITIONAL
REPORTING BY MAY TITTHARA
Continued from page 1
future looks uncertain.
It has been a village since our
parents and grandparents, she
said, explaining that the airport
expansion would not only be
destroying bricks and water but
tearing a community apart.
With their days numbered
and compensation still elusive,
the soon-to-be-ousted airport
communities fear they will be
tossed onto the streets.
At the end of last month, doz-
ens of houses near Phnom Penh
International Airport began to
be marked for demolition and
partial destruction to make way
for a buffer zone, which
authorities say is needed to
bring the site in line with inter-
national standards.
Now, next to the red spray-
painted markings, slips of paper
are pinned to walls noting,
among other things, whether
buildings are houses or busi-
nesses and the names of trees
growing on the land.
Tem Sareivouth, general
manager at Green Goal, told the
Post that the project his com-
pany is undertaking will
ensure adequate compensa-
tion for the residents.
Its involuntary resettlement,
its not eviction, he said. Right
now, were just completing a
census . . . which will help to
make sure they have full entitle-
ment for their loss.
But, he said, many are still
concerned by their presence.
People still do not believe
in this process . . . but if they
have complaints, they can file
them after we have finished,
he said.
Hundreds of families in four
communities surrounding the
airport will either have their
homes completely destroyed or
partially demolished.
In Sokchea, whose plot of
land in Prey Chisak stands to
be cut back by five metres,
according to the red markings
sprayed onto the wall of his
rear garden two weeks ago,
said he is worried he will not be
fairly compensated.
While his own home will avoid
total destruction, his daughters
house, which is located in a
separate building at the back of
the property, will be razed.
We are worried we will
become the next Boeung Kak or
Borei Keila, he said.
Just minutes down the road,
houses that are just 6 to 7
metres wide are also marked
to be cut back by 5 metres, a
reality that means their dem-
olition.
It has been agreed that we
will just lose the whole thing,
said one of the properties
owners, 72-year-old Yin Mao.
They have sprayed my house,
but I dont know where I have
to go, he said.
According to villagers, Maos
is one of 100 homes in Prey Chi-
sak that will be completely
erased by the expansion. Anoth-
er 32 homes will lose 5 metres.
Elsewhere, in Thma Kul vil-
lage, 182 families will see 5
metres chopped from their
homes. And 61 more in Trapa-
ing Lvea.
But some residents said they
had been kept in the dark about
the plans.
Phan Khunanry, whose home
bears the mark for complete
destruction, said that she has
only been informed that she will
lose some of her property.
They came to say that they
will have to cut part of my
house down . . . It seems some
years ago now. It has been
quiet until now.
In July 2012, scores of families
were told their homes would be
demolished to make way for the
buffer zone. In protest of the
forced evictions, some of the
affected families welcomed US
President Barack Obama to
Cambodia by painting SOS on
their roofs.
This time around, residents
say they fear the demolition
which they have been told will
happen this year is just the
beginning.
While residents maintain
they live on the land legally,
City Hall says they have built
their houses outside the law. As
part of their negotiations, resi-
dents are demanding that they
receive land titles that ensure
this will not happen again in
the future.
But many believe that despite
their best efforts, the writing is
on the wall.
I just dont know what to do,
Yom said.
Thai security personnel patrol a section of forest near the Cambodian border last year in an
effort to reduce illegal logging in the area. EIA
Motorists in Phnom Penhs Por Sen Chey district yesterday drive past a property that has been marked with
spray paint for destruction. VIREAK MAI
Representatives of Green Goal measure land near Phnom Penh International Airport in Prey Chisak village
yesterday. VIREAK MAI
Its involuntary resettlement,
its not eviction. Right
now, were just completing
a census
National
5
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Fatal crash
Members of
band killed
in collision
T
HREE young women and a
man were killed on Tuesday
after the truck carrying
12 members of their pop band
collided with another truck travel-
ling in the opposition direction in
Kampong Cham province.
According to Lem Sothy,
deputy police chief of Chamkar
Leu district, Sun Dina, the bands
27-year-old manager and driver,
and singers Srey Yan, 25, and
Srey Hin, 28, all died at the site of
the crash.
Another female band member,
whom police did not name, died
later in hospital, he said. The
crash left eight others injured.
They drove carelessly. After
examining the crash site, we can
conclude that the two parties
were driving very fast and the
drivers were blinded by [each
others] headlights, Sothy said.
The crash occurred in the early
hours of Tuesday on National Road
71. The driver of the other truck,
which carried no passengers, suf-
fered serious injuries. KIMSAROM
Labour leaders decry bail payment and nine arrests
Sean Teehan and
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
LABOUR union leaders denounced
the government yesterday, alleging
unfair treatment in the wake of nine
union worker arrests last week and a
hefty bail payment by a union presi-
dent yesterday.
Ath Thorn, president of the Coali-
tion of Cambodian Apparel Workers
Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), yes-
terday paid $25,000 in bail to Phnom
Penh Municipal Court.
Now weve paid, but were not
happy with that and we will continue
with the appeal, Thorn said.
Thorn and another C.CAWDU
member were charged with incite-
ment last month after a security guard
at SL Garment filed a complaint alleg-
ing they provoked violence that
injured him. Thorn has appealed the
terms of his bail, which state he may
not host any public gatherings.
In a separate case, three union rep-
resentatives arrested in front of Kan-
dal provinces Quint Major Indus-
trial garment factory now face
incitement charges in provincial
court following their arrest last Fri-
day, Kandal provincial police chief
Eav Chamroeun said.
They were protesting to demand
workers receive a base wage of $160
and better working conditions, Sok
Ravuth, president of the Free Union
Federation of Khmer Labour said.
They are being temporarily detained
in jail.
Ravuth called the charges unjust.
Defendants whom Ravuth identi-
fied as Div Mannorin, 27, Mouk Manj,
27, and Sok Vichra, 26 were arrested
after officials from Quint filed a com-
plaint that they were inflaming the
strike, Chamroeun said.
About 4,000 Quint workers left their
posts on April 22, Ravuth said.
Workers had previously stayed at
home, but recently a group of about
300 began demonstrating in front of
the factory.
The arrest came out of a joint effort
between the provincial court, police
and authorities from the Ministry of
Interiors light criminal bureau,
Chamroeun said.
A woman who identified herself as
a merchandiser at Quint declined to
comment yesterday because the case
is still being processed.
Another six union workers were
arrested last Tuesday during a strike
at Wing Star Shoe factory in Kampong
Speu province.
Union leader Ath Thorn talks to media outside Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday
after posting bail. HENG CHIVOAN
Beaten journo
preps lawsuit
Meas Sokchea

A
JOURNALIST with
Voice of Democ-
racy (VOD) who
was badly beaten by
security forces at the site of
a planned demonstration in
the capital earlier this month
left for Thailand yesterday for
an operation, and plans to le
suit against his attackers next
week, he said.
VOD reporter Lay Samean,
27, was one of several people
including a female journal-
ist and a photographer at-
tacked by unprovoked Daun
Penh district security guards
who had begun targeting
and accosting observers and
members of the press as they
waited for an opposition rally
near Freedom Park on May 2.
Samean was badly beaten
on the head, and said yes-
terday that he was suffering
from persistent symptoms
and a problem with a molar
stemming from the attack.
I can walk normally, but my
head seems like its nodding; I
feel dizzy, Samean said before
leaving for Thailand.
Kaing Tong Ngy, a communi-
cations ofcer with the Cam-
bodian Center for Indepen-
dent Media, which is helping
Samean with his complaint,
called on those responsible to
be held accountable.
Were suing in order to have
those who committed [the
beating] take responsibility
before the law, Tong Ngy said.
Whether the court rules for
[us in] this case or not, we will
nd other ways to nd justice
for [Samean].
Tong Ngy did not say what
charges would be led, or
against whom, and said CCIM
was still consulting with legal
experts. He also maintained
that Samean was displaying
his proper press credentials at
the time of the attack.
Phnom Penh Municipal
Hall spokesman Long Di-
manche said yesterday that
citizens had the right to le
complaints, and that authori-
ties had the right to enforce
the law.
It is his right, Dimanche
said. We are the ofcials
who enforce the law. If peo-
ple are not happy they must
le [a complaint] to the court
like this.
Dimanche did not specify
which law the untrained
Daun Penh security guards
were enforcing.
Cambodias Press Law makes
no mention of a ban on taking
photos of public employees in
public spaces, and just days af-
ter the beatings, the Ministry of
Information condemned the
attacks as a serious violation
of press freedom.
Baton-wielding security guards beat a civilian near Phnom Penhs Freedom Park earlier this month. A Voice
of Democracy journalist was also targeted and beaten by the same security forces near Freedom Park this
month. DANIEL QUINLAN
National
6
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Wreck just too gritty
for driver of sand truck
IN 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 blood
A 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 flee
A 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 repertoire
PAILIN 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
POLICE
BLOTTER
Thin line between love
and getting stuck up
A CARELESS playboy found
himself in trouble early yester-
day when his attempts to find a
prostitute ended in robbery. The
man, 23, rode his motorbike to a
known pickup spot where he
casually parked and engaged in
a bit of friendly flirtation. As he
haggled on the price of a guest-
house, a few men emerged
from the shadows, armed with
guns and stones. The man sub-
sequently lost his motorbike,
while the women, accused of
being in cahoots with the thugs,
lost a customer. KOHSANTEPHEAP
Once again, moto gets
in the way of friendship
ITS ALMOST safer these days
to leave your motorbike key with
a complete stranger than with a
friend. In the latest case of its
kind, a 17-year-old was arrested
on Sunday for making off with
his pals moto in Phnom Penhs
Prampi Makara district. Police
said the owner trusted his friend
to take his moto to his sisters
house while he visited his sick
mother. Instead, the friend
went joy-riding indefinitely. After
a month at large, the owner
spotted him and threw a bear
hug around him until police
arrived. Alas, the moto was
already long sold. KOHSANTEPHEAP
Construction workers
fall out over $20 debt
A CONSTRUCTION worker
spent his days building things
up only for a co-worker to hack
him down on Sunday. The
32-year-old had borrowed $20
from his friend, 25, on the condi-
tion he would repay it all in a
week. The consequences of
missing the date proved bloody
for the builder, whose friend
became enraged at not getting
all of his money back and fol-
lowed him home. Backed into a
corner, the builder was hacked
with a sharp object and left to be
sent to hospital. The suspect is
on the run. KOH SANTEPHEAP
Suspected drug dealer
not bothered by barter
A MAN caught dealing drugs in
Banteay Meanchey was able to
call friends to tell them he had
been arrested after accepting
mobiles rather than cash in
exchange for hits. Police were
alerted to the mans illicit ways
at a market and pounced at
night time his business hours
of choice. He was found with
several packages of drugs and
boasted that he was a dealer for
rich or poor he had collected
four phones from customers
unable to pay. NOKORWAT
Neighbours help official
catch robbery suspects
TWO burglars found them-
selves in the interior of a home
owned by an Ministry of Interior
officer on Sunday. Police said
the men scaled a fence into the
property, before breaking a win-
dow to gain access to the home
in Kandals Takhmao town. The
duo could have picked an easier
target the alert officer heard
their presence and enlisted his
neighbours to help catch them
before police back-up arrived
on the scene. NOKORWAT
Translated by Phak Seangly
Evictees
return to
capital
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
V
ILLAGERS represent-
ing hundreds of fami-
lies embroiled in a
land dispute in Kra-
ties Snoul district returned to
Phnom Penh yesterday to seek
a resolution from a number of
national government offices.
The same villagers handed
over a petition to the prime min-
isters Cabinet on May 3 after 200
houses were allegedly razed by
Kratie provincial police.
On May 7, the authorities
banned the families from
returning to their Ksem com-
mune homes because they have
been living in a protected forest
area, village representative
Nguon Vibol said. We were
threatened with jail for between
five and eight years, he said.
More than 400 impoverished
families living in the area since
2008 say that Bin Pheurk, a Viet-
namese rubber firm, began
clearing their farmland in 2012.
Kratie Deputy Governor Khan
Chamnan said yesterday that
104 families had already been
granted new land nearby and
that a social land concession
had been earmarked for others
in a different district.
A blessed century
Lors Lay is bathed and blessed to celebrate his 100th birthday yesterday afternoon at Sansam Kosal pagoda in Phnom Penh. He was surrounded
by fellow senior monks at the ceremony, which was also attended by a number of top ofcials. PHA LINA
7 THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Business
Thailand not immune to virtual currencys allure
DESPITE warnings against the bitcoin virtual
currency from financial regulators worldwide,
including the Bank of Thailand, some entrepre-
neurs, investors and users are ready to take risks
and jump on the cash-spinning bandwagon.
Steve Beauregard, chief executive of GoCoin,
a Singapore-based international payment ena-
bling merchants to accept bitcoin and litecoin
payments, said at the Asian Financial Service
Congress 2014 the adoption of digital currency
is gaining ground and it is the future of money
in the global economy because existing cur-
rency systems have led to financial uncertainties
such as US dollar volatility and hyperinflation.
Moreover, existing conventional online pay-
ment systems charge higher transaction fees
than digital currencies including bitcoin.
Some 12 million bitcoins are believed to be in
circulation, and 25 new bitcoins can be gener-
ated every 10 minutes. The system is designed
to generate fewer than 21 million bitcoins, which
is why their value continues to increase.
The adoption of bitcoins would enable mer-
chants to increase their business opportunities
and reduce financial transaction fees from the
current banking system. For instance, the web-
site tigerdaily.com received $500,000 worth of
orders in its first week of accepting bitcoins.
Beauregard suggests the Bank of Thailand and
other policymakers embrace this technological
phenomenon through issuing licences for those
involved with bitcoin as financial service provid-
ers. Regulators can govern these providers via
existing policy mandates, particularly Anti-
Money Laundering and Know Your Customer
policies, which have become key tools to prevent
identity theft, fraud and money laundering.
David Barnes, managing director of Bitcoin Co,
a virtual currency exchange in Bangkok, said the
bitcoin market in Thailand remains minuscule,
but there has been a slight increase in locals ask-
ing about using bitcoins to purchase computer
games or web-hosting services, instead of using
the currency purely as a form of investment.
Bitcoin has huge potential to revolutionise
the financial industry and I think everyone
should have a small portion of their portfolio
held in bitcoins, Barnes said, but added that
bitcoin is still exposed to a very high-risk invest-
ment grade and users should only invest money
in bitcoin that they can afford to lose.
Don Sambandaraksa, a tech writer who start-
ed mining bitcoins as a hobby, said the idea of
a virtual currency as a completely decentralised,
peer-to-peer crypto-currency is gaining momen-
tum in the tech community. BANGKOK POST
Mercedes
makes its
move into
Myanmar
GERMAN automaker Mer-
cedes-Benz has opened a new
showroom in Yangon, as com-
petition in Myanmars vehicle
market heats up.
Customers will be able to
purchase vehicles from the
firm as well as receive service,
with the E-Class models being
the first on offer, said company
officials at the launch.
Customers in Myanmar can
enjoy the same service as our
international customers, said
Chin Kee Min, from the firms
local distributor Cycle and Car-
riage Automobile Myanmar.
We are importing Mercedes-
Benz at the same quality as
imports in other countries.
Myanmars restrictions on
importing vehicles have been
eased since 2011, with many
recently introduced interna-
tional brands like Ford, BMW
and Mercedes vying for market
share against traditionally pop-
ular used Japanese vehicles.
Yangon Regional Govern-
ment chief minister Myint Swe
said loosening restrictions gov-
erning imports benefits car
consumers. Because of allow-
ing car importing, everybody
who has enough money can
buy cars, he said.
Mercedes international
standard-showroom displays
about 15 different vehicles,
with prices starting at $72,000
and running to $348,000 at the
top end.
Minister of Commerce Win
Myint said at the launch he
supported the relaxed car
import rules introduced by the
government in 2011.
Although some say there are
too many cars on Yangons
road, Win Myint said that the
number is low, with only about
seven out of 1,000 Myanmar
people currently able to afford
importing personal cars.
This deficit means the mar-
ket is wide open for carmakers
to get an early foothold as the
countrys moneyed class grows,
experts say. THE MYANMAR TIMES
Trade strong despite unrest
Hor Kimsay
E
CONOMIC ties be-
tween Cambodia and
Thailand will contin-
ue their upward trend
despite the prospect of more
leadership changes in Bang-
kok, ofcials from both coun-
tries said yesterday.
Jiranun Wongmongkol,
minister counselor for the
Thai Embassy in Cambodia,
said that she was condent
bilateral trade would keep up
around its current pace even if
there were a change of power
in Thailand.
Business relations among
business partners of the
two nations are still good,
she said.
Wongmongkols statement
comes as Thailands political
crisis reaches fever pitch, with
anti-government protesters
calling for the installation of
an unelected prime minister
after Yingluck Shinawatra was
ordered to stand down as pre-
mier by the Thai Constitution-
al Court for abuses of power
last week.
Yingluck and her brother
Thaksin, who was also pre-
viously ousted as Thailands
leader, are both known to have
enjoyed good relations with
Cambodia through close ties
to Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Seemingly unaffected by
the ongoing political turmoil
in Thailand, bilateral trade
between the nieghbouring
countries reached $852 mil-
lion during the rst quarter
this year, up 18 per cent from
the same period last year.
The relationship between
Cambodia and Thailand will
remain the same, nothing
will change even if there is a
change of Thai government,
Wongmongkol said.
There is, however, an emerg-
ing shift being brought on by
Thailands turmoil.
Wongmongkol said that some
Thai businesses were look-
ing to relocate over the border,
citing garment factories and
rice millers that had recently
opened in Koh Kong and Ban-
teay Meanchey provinces.
Ly Utny, president of Banteay
Meanchey Chamber of Com-
merce and who acts as the rst
point of contact for business
delegates from Thailand, said
he had welcomed 10 potential
investors since January. Dur-
ing their visits, the delegates
had all expressed frustration
over the difculty of doing
business in their home coun-
try due to the unrest.
In previous years, Thai
businesses seemed less inter-
ested to come to our country,
but this year many have come
to explore business opportu-
nities, Utny said.
While trade and investment
are weathering the political
storm, Thai visitor numbers to
Cambodia have taken a slight
dip recently.
After three years of increas-
ing arrivals from Thailand
which observers have attribut-
ed in part to greater diplomatic
relations with Cambodia after
Yingluck took power in 2011
numbers declined by 13 per
cent during the rst quarter of
2014, compared with the same
time last year.
While Thailands unrest has
had a slight impact on the
number of Thai arrivals here,
the number of foreign tour-
ists entering via Thailand has
been unaffected Cambodian
Minister of Tourism Thong
Khon said yesterday.
When people face political
uncertainty in their country,
they stay at home and reduce
the amount of time they trav-
el, he said.
Khon said he didnt expect
any future changes to the
shape of the Thai government
would have any impact on ar-
rivals to Cambodia.
Thai pro-government red shirt protesters attend a rally in Bangkok on Sunday. AFP
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4,025
Kanoko Matsuyama and Jungah Lee
SAMSUNG Group transformed its elec-
tronics unit into the worlds largest smart-
phone maker by outselling Apple Inc. Now
its setting sights on the drug industry.
South Koreas biggest company is invest-
ing at least $2 billion in biopharmaceuti-
cals, including the growing segment of
biosimilars, which are cheaper versions of
brand-name biotechnology drugs that
have lost patent protection.
Samsung, with $327 billion annual rev-
enue, aims to become a major force in bio-
technology, an industry expected to gener-
ate sales of more than $220 billion in five
years. With the electronics market reaching
saturation, billionaire chairman Lee Kun-
hee has been investing in new areas that
might shore up growth for the family-con-
trolled company.
We are in an infancy still, Christopher
Hansung Ko, chief executive officer at the
Samsung Bioepis unit, said in an interview.
We are a Samsung company. Our man-
date is to become No. 1 in everything we
enter into, so our long-term goal is to
become a leading pharmaceutical com-
pany in the world.
At the heart of those plans are biosimi-
lars. Samsung plans to sell its first biosim-
ilar version of Amgen Incs arthritis therapy
Enbrel in 2016 in Europe and a version of
Johnson & Johnsons Remicade treatment
for autoimmune diseases in 2017, accord-
ing to Ko. A separate unit called Samsung
Biologics Co has contracts to manufacture
biologic medicines for branded pharma-
ceutical companies.
As it expands in biosimilars, Samsung
faces competitors including Pfizer Inc and
Amgen, regulatory hurdles and an unde-
veloped market. While Europe and Japan
have allowed biosimilars, the US has yet to
set specific guidelines or approve any drugs
in that class.
The industrys sales may expand to $24
billion in 2019 from $1.2 billion last year,
and markets including the US may grow
exponentially after regulations are set,
consulting company Frost & Sullivan said
in January.
Samsung plan to bring a fresh perspec-
tive, be bold and make quick decisions, Ko
said. Its two biologics units together employ
about 800 people, making the group South
Koreas largest biotechnology company.
Lee Jin-woo, a Seoul-based senior fund
manager at KTB Asset Management Co,
isnt convinced the group can succeed in
health care because the industry is highly
specialised and requires deep scientific
knowledge.
Its not something you can do easily just
by speeding up manufacturing with big
cash on hand, he said. BLOOMBERG
CHINA late on Sunday signed
a deal to build a $3.8 billion rail
link between Kenyas Indian
Ocean port of Mombasa and
Nairobi, the first stage of a line
that will eventually link Ugan-
da, Rwanda, Burundi and
South Sudan.
Under the terms of the agree-
ment, Exim Bank of China will
provide 90 per cent of the cost
to build a 609.3-kilometre (379-
mile) link and Kenya the
remaining 10 per cent.
Construction is due to start in
October and take three-and-a-
half years to complete, with
China Communications Con-
struction Co as the main con-
tractor and once the Mombasa-
Nairobi line is completed,
construction would begin to
link East Africas largest econo-
my with Kampala, Kigali,
Bujumbura and Juba.
The deal was signed at State
House in Nairobi and wit-
nessed by Presidents Uhuru
Kenyatta of Kenya, Yoweri
Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kag-
ame of Rwanda and Salva Kiir
of South Sudan.
This project demonstrates
that there is equal cooperation
and mutual benefit between
China and the East African
countries, and the railway is a
very important part of trans-
port infrastructure develop-
ment, Chinese Premier Li
Keqiang said.
Li has been on a four-country
tour of Africa to boost its pres-
ence on the continent to find
new markets.
Kenyatta hailed the booming
relationship with China, calling
it one based on mutual trust.
Museveni also took a swipe at
Western donors who have been
critical of his leadership
including government corrup-
tion and his recent draconian
anti-gay legislation.
We are happy to see that
China is concentrating on the
real issues of development,
Museveni said.
They dont give lectures on
how to run local governments
and other issues I dont want to
mention, he said. AFP
N
ISSAN said yester-
day its full-year net
prot jumped 14
per cent, driven by
a recovery in major markets,
cost-cutting efforts and the
weaker yen, and forecast fur-
ther marginal improvement
this year.
Japans second-biggest
automaker said that it had
earned 389 billion ($3.8
billion) for the scal year to
March, after sales shot up by
20 per cent on the previous
year to 10.48 trillion.
The prot and sales gains
were mainly due to a re-
verse of the yens apprecia-
tion against the dollar, reduc-
tions of purchasing costs and
growing sales, Nissan said in
a statement.
Nissan, maker of the Al-
tima sedan and luxury Inniti
brand, said sales in Japan rose
11.1 per cent in units for the
scal year, while those in Chi-
na jumped 17.2 per cent.
Nissans sales in North
America gained 12.4 per cent
with a 2.4 per cent increase in
Europe, but its sales in other
regions declined 8.5 per cent.
The gures come after major
rival Toyota last week posted
a record annual net prot of
1.82 trillion over the scal
year to March, nearly doubling
the gure from a year earlier.
Japanese car companies
have been big winners over the
past year as a sharp drop in the
yen inated their repatriated
prots, while sales accelerated
in key markets including the
US and China.
Japanese automakers sales
in China fell off a sharp cliff
in late 2012 and continued
into last year as a Tokyo-Bei-
jing row over disputed islands
sparked a consumer boycott
of Japanese brands in the
worlds biggest vehicle mar-
ket. Relations remain tense,
but Japanese manufacturers
have reported sales are re-
turning to pre-spat levels.
Although our performance
was impacted by the island
dispute in the rst half, de-
mand has since signicantly
improved, the companys
chief executive Carlos Ghosn
told a news conference.
For the current scal year,
Nissan forecast slight gains in
both prot and sales, project-
ing a 405 billion net prot
and sales of 10.79 trillion in
the year to March 2015.
This is a satisfactory out-
come reecting solid growth
in several key markets, but
these results . . . do not yet re-
ect Nissans actual potential,
Ghosn said.
Nissans 14 per cent net prof-
it gain compares with Toyotas
90 per cent surge and a 56 per
cent jump posted by their ri-
val Honda Motor for the scal
year. AFP
Nissan revs up profit by 14 pct
Nissan has reported a jump in prots driven by internal cost-cutting efforts and a weaker yen. BLOOMBERG
Business
8
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Samsung to get in on pharma market
Beijing inks mega rail deal with Africa
Employees serve customers on a train to Guangzhou in China. China
has signed a deal to develop a rail link to East Africa. BLOOMBERG
After two years in red,
Sharp is back in black
STRUGGLING Japanese elec-
tronics maker Sharp said yes-
terday it had swung back to
profit for the full year to March
after two years of huge losses,
thanks to stronger sales and
cost-cutting.
The Osaka-based company
booked a 11.56 billion ($114
million) net profit in the
12-month period, reversing an
eye-watering net loss of 545.35
billion a year earlier.
Sales jumped 18.1 per cent to
2.93 trillion on the back of
brisk demand for panels,
including its popular IGZO
displays for smartphones.
We have produced unique
devices and products while we
have strengthened sales activi-
ties including 4K high-defini-
tion television sets and solar
cells, Sharp said.
In addition, we implement-
ed comprehensive operational
improvement measures such
as cutting inventory and curb-
ing investment.
At the operating level, it also
achieved a profit of 108.56 bil-
lion, compared with an operat-
ing loss of 146.27 billion the
previous year.
Sharp has been undergoing
a huge restructuring process to
pare losses largely tied to its ail-
ing electronics business.
That resulted in a 146.3 bil-
lion saving in reduced fixed
costs and asset sales, while a
108.6 billion boost to sales
contributed to the return to
operating profit, it said.
For the current year to March
2015, Sharp now forecasts 30
billion net profit and 100 bil-
lion operating profit on 3 tril-
lion in sales.
Japanese electronics makers
have struggled in recent years,
largely because of huge losses
in their television units, but a
sharply weaker yen over the
past year has helped to boost
their bottom lines.
Sharps bigger rival Pana-
sonic said last month it had
booked its first annual net
profit in three years and
reversed a huge loss suffered
in the previous 12 months as
it presses on with sweeping
restructuring.
Panasonic reported that net
profit hit 120.44 billion in its
fiscal year to March, after suf-
fering a loss of 754.25 billion
a year earlier, while revenue
ticked up to 7.74 trillion from
7.30 trillion.
Panasonic credited the weak-
er yen for its healthier results,
and pointed to an uptick in its
auto-related businesses on the
back of a global recovery. AFP
Markets
9
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Business
FOREIGN investors took ad-
vantage of Vietnams biggest
stock-market retreat since
2001 to boost their holdings in
a bet that losses spurred by es-
calating tensions with China
will prove short-lived.
Overseas investors pur-
chased a net $11.5 million of
securities on the Ho Chi Minh
City Stock Exchange on the
nal day of trading last week,
the most in ve weeks, as the
benchmark VN Index sank 5.9
per cent to a four-month low.
Alan Richardson, whose Sam-
sung Asean Equity Fund beat
96 per cent of peers tracked
by Bloomberg in the past ve
years, said in an interview yes-
terday hes been buying.
Foreign investors seem to
be more condent than local
ones who are getting panicked
and sold, Hoang Thach Lan,
the Ho Chi Minh City-based
brokerage unit head at MHB
Securities Co, said.
The index for Vietnams $49
billion equity market tumbled
13 per cent from this years
peak on March 24 through last
week amid growing tension
with China over disputed wa-
ters. While each country says
its vessels were rammed by
those from the other nation,
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister
Cheng Guoping has said ten-
sions wont get worse.
Concern over the dispute
may not fade quickly, accord-
ing to Marc Djandji, a partner
at ASEAN Strategy Group. Ten-
sions are escalating as Asian
neighbours push back against
Chinese moves to assert con-
trol over the resources of dis-
puted maritime areas.
This row between China
and Vietnam has put cold wa-
ter on the market, Djandji
said. This is a serious thing.
Its not something that is re-
solved in a day.
Foreign investors have consis-
tently shown more condence
in Vietnam than locals, CIMB
Securities Ltd analyst Michael
Kokalari said. BLOOMBERG
Vietnam stock selloff
lures foreign investors
Rush-hour ban jams Manila docks
Myanmar appears to push back foreign bank entry
CARGO containers filled with
goods from toys to electronics
are piling up on Manilas docks
as a rush-hour truck ban threat-
ens to dent growth in the Phil-
ippines, Southeast Asias fast-
est-expanding economy.
Incoming cargo boxes have
lingered at International Con-
tainer Terminal Services Incs
100-hectare port facility an
average of 10 days up from
the usual six since Mayor
Joseph Estrada declared the
ban in February, Christian
Gonzalez, the companys
regional head, said in an inter-
view. The port, which cant be
accessed without going through
Manilas roads, handles more
than half of the nations over-
seas freight.
While the ban was intended
to ease chronic gridlock in the
heart of a region of almost 23
million people, the shipping
backlogs have become so
severe they are being called a
drag on the countrys growth.
The former American colony
saw its debt rating raised to
investment grade last year after
decades of corruption, political
upheaval and lacklustre growth
that led to it once being dubbed
the sick man of Asia.
Youre effectively closing the
tap on growth, Gonzalez said
of the truck ban. People need
to start realising this is a long-
term issue for the economy.
Estrada yesterday said he
would suspend the ban for
eight days, starting on Wednes-
day and ending at noon May 20.
The national government
requested the moratorium
because the Port of Manila
needs to be cleared of [the]
heavy volume of containers in
time for the World Economic
Forum, according to a state-
ment posted on the City of
Manilas official website. The
Geneva-based economic policy
organisation is hosting an East
Asia summit in the capital
region from May 21 to May 23.
Citigroup Inc estimated in a
note dated March 7 that delays
could lead to an annual loss of
61 billion pesos ($1.4 billion) to
320 billion pesos, or as much
as 2.9 per cent of gross domes-
tic product in Southeast Asias
second-most populous nation.
That would dwarf a potential
annual gain of roughly 30 bil-
lion pesos from having less-
congested roads in the capital,
said Jun Trinidad, a Citigroup
economist based in Manila.
Estrada enacted the truck
ban on February 24 in an
attempt to ease traffic in a place
notorious for daily commutes
of five hours or more. Eight-
wheeled trucks and vehicles
weighing more than 4,500 kilo-
grams are prohibited from
Manila roads from 5am to
10am and 3pm to 9pm, Mon-
day to Saturday.
Some quarters are still push-
ing for a few more revisions to
the truck ban, said Abigail
Valte, spokeswoman for Presi-
dent Benigno Aquino. We leave
it to the local government to act
on these requests. BLOOMBERG
CENTRAL Bank of Myanmar vice governor Set
Aung appeared to back off a previously discussed
timetable to allow foreign banks in to operate in
Myanmar, declining to confirm plans to allow
foreign banks to begin operations this year.
Foreign banks will be allowed to offer services
in Myanmar eventually, but the timeline is still
being considered, he said at a Union of Myan-
mar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (MFCCI) press conference last week.
The time when foreign banks will be allowed
to begin [operating] is still being processed, so
at this time I cannot say anything for sure about
that, he said in response to a direct question on
whether foreign banks could begin operations
in 2014.
About 35 foreign banks including heavy-
weights such as Standard Charter, ANZ and
Bangkok Bank have established representative
offices in Myanmar, though the offices are
allowed to engage in only a limited number
of activities.
At the end of 2013, central bank officials had
said between five and 10 foreign banks would
be permitted to operate in Myanmar in 2014.
Set Aung said the central bank is keen to ensure
local banks are not simply outcompeted by for-
eign banks. The Central Bank of Myanmar will
only allow restricted licences for foreign banks,
meaning foreign banks will not be allowed to offer
retail services, he said. Foreign banks may also
be restricted to a small number of branches, which
is a regionally accepted practice, he added.
Still, foreign banks will help improve a weak
sector of the Myanmar economy, according to
Set Aung.
Some local bankers lauded the central banks
caution towards allowing foreign competition.
CB Bank managing director Pe Myint said he
is not too concerned about foreign banks as they
will be prevented from participating in many
parts of the retail business, and will instead focus
on international banking.
Still, some Myanmar businesspeople said
foreign banks would on the whole benefit
Myanmar, seeing the introduction of foreign
banks as an avenue to improve access to capi-
tal. THE MYANMAR TIMES
Bottlenecks risk dragging down the Philippine economy. BLOOMBERG
Thailand businesses on high alert
E
NERGY companies,
retailers and hotels
are on high alert dur-
ing the anti-govern-
ment street protests to pre-
vent unexpected incidents,
especially violent attacks and
power outages.
Sarun Rungkasiri, chief
operating ofcer for down-
stream business at PTT Plc,
said the energy giant told all
fuel dealers, cooking gas re-
tailers and operators of oil
and gas depots to closely
monitor the situation and
prepare security measures in
case of emergency.
Customers and visitors will
be strictly screened and must
show their ID cards at arrival
and departure. Extra security
staff will be in place at oil and
gas depots to prevent terror-
ism. The sale of fuel in bottles
is banned by most retailers
because protesters used them
as weapons during the 2009-
10 political unrest.
Mostly government-owned
Bangchak Petroleum Plc
(BCP) is also deploying top se-
curity measures, meaning all
staff, equipment and systems
must be in functional order.
BCP president Vichien Usa-
nachote said security ofcers
will be updated on the situ-
ation every morning. Petrol
stations near protest sites
may open only for nonfuel
services such as toilets, ATMs
and minimarts.
Somchai Roadrungwa-
sinkul, governor of the Metro-
politan Electricity Authority,
said the MEA has heightened
security at its surveillance
centre and all 18 service
branches in Bangkok, Non-
thaburi and Samut Prakan to
ensure adequate stafng in
case of an emergency at the
power grid.
If an accident or attack
happens at the power grid,
we will know very quickly and
tackle it immediately, Som-
chai said.
The Electricity Generating
Authority of Thailand is also
on alert at its power plants in
Bangkok and Ayutthaya.
Phaibul Kanokwatanawan,
chief exec of The Mall Group,
said his company is beeng
up security measures and will
hire police dogs to patrol areas
surrounding the groups de-
partment stores in Bangkok.
The mall operator has ar-
ranged for security guards in-
house and from private rms
to stand by at each store.
Suwit Kingkaew, senior vice
president of CP All Plc, the
operator of 7-Eleven conve-
nience stores, said manage-
ment has told personnel near
the protest areas of Silom,
Lumpini, Ratchadamnoen,
Ratchaprasong and Aksa
roads to keep a close eye on
their premises.
The rm also has CCTV cam-
eras installed and plainclothes
police ofcers on motorcycles
monitoring the situation for
staff and customer safety.
At Grand Hyatt Erawan
Bangkok, security check-
points stand at every entrance
and exit. A security team pa-
trols the hotel 24 hours a day.
Hotel management is
monitoring the situation
closely and will update guests
on the situation as it unfolds,
said marketing communica-
tions director Patty Lerdwit-
tayaskul. BANGKOK POST
Passengers pass a Thai soldier on guard in an area of the Siam BTS Skytrain station in Bangkok. AFP
PROPERTY GIANT TO DELAY
IPO AS STALEMATE DRAGS ON
T
HAILANDS ongoing
political turmoil has
claimed another victim, with
property developer Krungthep
Land Plc set to delay its initial
public offering until next year.
We planned to list and offer
our shares to the public by the
first half of this year, but we
have to reconsider the plans
and look at the overall market
carefully given the current
market environment,
Chawintorn Kunakorn-
poramut, director for business
development, said. KLand
announced earlier it would
float 620 million shares on the
Stock Exchange of Thailand in
a move to raise funds for its
expansion in 2014 with a focus
on the mid-range and high-
end housing segments. KLand
is one of the biggest players in
Thailands real estate
development sector. Last year
the firm reported revenue of
3.17 billion baht ($97 million),
up by 37.56 per cent from
2012. Profit was 300 million
baht, up 98.68 per cent.
BANGKOK POST
Business
10
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Rupert Neate
MORE than $60 billion has
been illegally siphoned out of
Uganda, Ghana, Mozambique,
Kenya and Tanzania over the
past 10 years, with most of it
squirrelled away in tax havens,
according to a report by trans-
parency campaigners.
Washington-based group
Global Financial Integrity
(GFI) said the enormous
amounts of money drained
out of the countries equates to
more than double the interna-
tional aid money they receive
and is stymieing efforts to lift
millions out of poverty.
GFIs report, published on
Saturday, said most of the
funds are lost through multi-
national companies illegally
misinvoicing the value of im-
ported or exported goods. It
means that importers pretend
to pay more for goods then
and the extra money is slipped
into offshore accounts. In one
notable case an American
company invoiced for plastic
buckets at $972 each.
We are talking about a
huge drainage out of these
countries, GFI president
Raymond Baker said. People
are making millions and mil-
lions at the expenses of the
worlds poorest people.
Baker said virtually all
household name companies
dealing in Africa have used the
scheme, which he said is ef-
fectively stealing from African
governments.
He said trade misinvoicing
takes place all over the world,
but Africa is particularly sus-
ceptible as local ofcials are
more likely to be corruptible.
Baker said some government
ofcials have also siphoned
off large chunks of cash. The
report, commissioned by the
Danish government, com-
pares the ofcial prices paid
for goods to the global market
price for the same items.
It said: A global shadow
nancial system provides
measures of opacity to dis-
guise and move illicit money
throughout the world, includ-
ing dozens of secrecy juris-
dictions and multiple layers
of confusing and concealed
ownership structures. These
outows, and the shadow
nancial system in which
they thrive, represent one of
the most damaging condi-
tions undermining econom-
ic growth and development,
governance, and human
rights in Africa and around
the world.
Mogens Jensen, Denmarks
trade minister, said he com-
missioned the study because
he was concerned the shady
trade transactions are hold-
ing back Africas development.
I am convinced that in-
creased trade and foreign
investments are the way for-
ward in the ght against pov-
erty, he said.
But it must take place in
line with responsible busi-
ness conduct and prevail-
ing laws and regulations so
developing countries are
not cheated of revenue that
could have been used to fund
much-needed public ser-
vices such as schools, roads
and hospitals, Jensen said.
THE GUARDIAN
MOSCOW yesterday ruled out
holding new negotiations
with Ukraine over the price
it pays for Russias natural
gas until Kiev has covered its
outstanding debts.
The announcement in-
creases the possibility of
Russia following through on
its threat to cut off deliveries
to Ukraine next month in a
move that would endanger
the supplies of at least 18 Eu-
ropean Union nations.
We are saying that in or-
der to discuss any sort of
compromise, the debts must
be paid rst, news agen-
cies quoted Russias Deputy
Energy Minister Anatoly
Yanovsky as saying.
Pay the debts and then we
can agree on something.
Ukraine has refused to
cover its obligations put at
$3.51 billion by the Russian
energy ministry in protest
over Moscows decision to
nearly double the price it
charges its neighbour for gas
imports following the Febru-
ary overthrow of Kievs Krem-
lin-backed regime and the
subsequent political fallout
that followed.
Russia announced on
Thursday that it will require
Ukraine to pay upfront for
all the natural gas it imports
starting on June 1.
Ukrainian and Russian of-
cials were due to meet be-
hind closed doors with Eu-
ropean Union counterparts
in Brussels on Sunday to
discuss the possibility of ar-
ranging a ministerial meet-
ing between the three sides
on the gas dispute later this
month in an attempt to nd
a diplomatic solution.
The rst round of nego-
tiations conducted in War-
saw last week resulted in an
agreement that Russia would
not scale back its gas exports
while the talks continued.
Nearly 15 per cent of all gas
consumed in Europe is deliv-
ered from Russia via Ukraine.
The danger for the EU is that
Ukraine its state coffers ef-
fectively empty and almost
completely reliant on $17 bil-
lion promised by the Interna-
tional Monetary Fund will
not cover its debt and instead
start taking the gas Russia
had earmarked for its Euro-
pean clients.
The nation of 46 million
began dipping into supplies
meant for Europe when it was
cut off from Russian gas dur-
ing previous price disputes in
2006 and 2009. AFP
African invoice fraud
cramps development
Russia rules out further
gas talks with Ukraine
ECB stimulus even as economy grows
Stefan Riecher
THE euro areas fastest eco-
nomic growth in three years
probably wont be enough to
stop Mario Draghi from easing
monetary policy.
Even with data this week pre-
dicted to show the expansion
accelerated in the first quarter,
the European Central Bank
president looks set to push
ahead with measures that
could range from rate cuts to
liquidity injections. Inflation
stuck at less than half the ECBs
goal points to a revival that is
still too slow, according to
economists from UniCredit
SpA to UBS AG.
A slightly stronger economy
isnt going to change much,
said Marco Valli, chief euro-
area economist at UniCredit in
Milan, who expects the ECB to
cut both the benchmark and
the deposit rate in June. The
ECB is becoming increasingly
intolerant of low inflation.
Draghi is fighting to prevent
a prolonged period of subdued
price gains from derailing the
recovery in the 18-nation cur-
rency bloc before it becomes
entrenched. His declaration
last week that officials are
comfortable with taking
action in June suggests a new
policy response is imminent.
Three-quarters of respond-
ents in the latest Bloomberg
Markets Global Investor Poll,
which surveys traders, bankers
and money managers who sub-
scribe to the Bloomberg Profes-
sional service, said deflation is
a greater threat to the euro area
than inflation.
Gross domestic product in
the euro area probably climbed
0.4 per cent in the three months
through March, according to
the median of 40 estimates in
a Bloomberg News survey. That
would be twice as fast as the
prior quarter and the highest
rate since the beginning of
2011. The region exited its long-
est-ever recession in the sec-
ond quarter of last year.
Growth in Germany, the
regions largest economy, will
accelerate to 0.7 per cent, and
Italy and France will post their
second straight quarterly
expansions, according to sepa-
rate Bloomberg surveys.
The recovery is proceeding,
but its proceeding at a slow
pace and it still remains fairly
modest, Draghi said last week
in Brussels after the ECB left its
benchmark interest rate at a
record low of 0.25 per cent and
its deposit rate at zero. There
is consensus about being dis-
satisfied with the projected
path of inflation.
Even with the economy
recovering and surveys show-
ing a pickup in countries such
as Spain and Ireland, which
both exited bailout programs
in the past six months, unem-
ployment in the euro area is
only gradually declining from
a record. That signals the
expansion has yet to find its
way through to the regions
job markets, damping aggre-
gate demand.
Draghi said after Aprils rate
decision that his biggest fear
is a protracted stagnation that
leads to high unemployment
becoming structural.
The recovery may also strug-
gle to gain traction because of
the strength of the euro, which
Draghi said is a cause for seri-
ous concern. The single cur-
rency has climbed nearly 8 per
cent against the dollar since
July, curbing the price of
imported goods and under-
mining the competitiveness
of euro-area companies. It
was little changed at $1.3769
at 12:17pm Frankfurt time
yesterday.
The central bank is keeping
an eye on the euro, ECB Vice
President Vitor Constancio said
in Vienna yesterday. It has a
material impact, he said, add-
ing that its too early to specu-
late about ECB action in June.
First-quarter GDP will only
matter if it surprises upward
significantly, said Laurence
Boone, chief European econo-
mist at Bank of America Merrill
Lynch in London. Unless the
euro weakens, inflation sur-
prises on the upside, or data
appear a notch stronger, the
scenario of action is more like-
ly than not. BLOOMBERG
Skys European ambition
Ruth David, Aaron Kirchfeld and
Kristen Schweizer
R
UPERT Murdoch is
pursuing a deal that
would transform Brit-
ish Sky Broadcasting
Group Plc into a European sat-
ellite-TV giant while also leav-
ing his US-based 21st Century
Fox Inc focused on entertain-
ment programming.
BSkyB, 39 per cent owned
by Fox, said yesterday its in
talks to buy the Italian and
German pay-TV assets of Fox.
Such a deal, for control of sat-
ellite carriers Sky Italia and
Sky Deutschland AG, would
be valued at about 10 bil-
lion ($14 billion), people with
knowledge of the matter told
Bloomberg News, which re-
ported the talks on May 9. Fox
has about 57 per cent of Sky
Deutschland and 100 per cent
of Sky Italia.
A deal would give BSkyB,
which is already the biggest
pay-TV provider in the UK,
oversight of companies that
sell satellite programming to
8.5 million homes across Ger-
many and Italy.
By shedding the pay-TV
units, Fox would be left with
cable and broadcast networks
plus movie and TV studios,
making it more attractive to
investors who want to bet
solely on video production
not distribution.
Sky Deutschland shares
jumped as much as 7.8 per
cent and added 7.3 per cent to
6.80 at 9:18am in Frankfurt.
They had fallen 21 per cent
this year through May 9. BSkyB
fell 2.4 per cent to 869 pence in
London, giving the company
a market value of 13.6 billion
($23 billion).
Over the years weve had
numerous internal discus-
sions regarding the organisa-
tional and ownership structure
of the European Sky-branded
satellite platforms, New York-
based Fox said in a separate
statement. From time to time
these conversations have in-
cluded BSkyB, however no
agreement between the par-
ties has ever been reached.
The companies have been
locked in talks for months, and
a deal could be announced
this summer.
Murdochs Fox had previ-
ously sought to take full con-
trol of BSkyB. Fox was forced
to abandon its pursuit of full
ownership of the company in
2011 amid political opposition
after allegations that journal-
ists at UK newspapers Mur-
doch controlled had hacked
into celebrities phones and
bribed police.
Foxs Sky Deutschland stake
is valued at 3 billion at market
price, and the Sky Italia hold-
ing is valued at about 5 bil-
lion, the people familiar with
the matter said. BSkyB plans
to offer a premium that could
take the sale value to 10 bil-
lion, they said.
In Germany, a successful
acquisition of Foxs stake in
Sky Deutschland would force
BSkyB to make a takeover offer
to the public minority of the
German company. BSkyB said
it would make the bid without
a premium.
The UK broadcaster had
15 million customers at the
end of March, up 2.7 per
cent from a year earlier. Sky
Deutschland had 3.73 million
subscribers, while Sky Italia
had 4.75 million. In Germany
and the UK, cable operators
owned by billionaire John
Malones Liberty Global Plc
are the closest competitors
for pay-TV users, according
to Bloomberg Industries.
BSkyBs nine-month sales
rose 6.6 per cent to 5.67 bil-
lion pounds, as the company
signed up more customers
for TV products. Its shares are
down about 8 per cent from a
12-year high reached in Octo-
ber, before former phone com-
pany BT Group Plc agreed to
spend $1.4 billion to shut Sky
out of the UEFAs Champions
League and Europa League
soccer games.
Many investors own Sky
for either cash returns or for a
possible bid, not for Sky buy-
ing expensive European pay-
TV assets, Bank of America
Merrill Lynch analyst Daniel
Kerven wrote in a note. A pos-
sible deal makes sense for Fox
but not BSkyB minorities.
Assuming Fox maintains its
39 per cent BSkyB stake, the
potential deal would be an
opportunity for Fox to reduce
its net exposure to incumbent
pay-TV, which is losing value
to new competition, content,
connectively & the consumer,
he wrote.
Fox gets about one-fth of
its revenue from its satellite
investments, with the rest
coming from its cable and
broadcast networks and lm
and TV studios. BLOOMBERG
The British Sky Broadcasting headquarters in west London in September 2012. BSkyB is looking to buy the
Italian and German assets of Fox to become a European TV giant. AFP
Markets
11
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Business
International commodities
Energy
Agriculture
Markets
800
875
950
1025
1100
500
550
600
650
700
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
1500
1600
1700
1800
1900
18000
19750
21500
23250
25000
2000
2250
2500
2750
3000
14000
14500
15000
15500
16000
7000
7500
8000
8500
9000
Thailand Vietnam
Singapore Malaysia
Hong Kong China
Japan Taiwan
Thai Set 50 Index, May 9
FTSE Straits Times Index, May 9 FTSE BursaMalaysiaKLCI, May 9
Hang Seng Index, May 9 CSI 300 Index, May 9
Nikkei 225, May 9 Taiwan Taiex Index, May 9
Ho Chi Minh Stock Index, May 9
14,163.78
2,135.50 21,837.12
1,861.53 3,244.10
527.09 939.88
8,930.90
1600
1725
1850
1975
2100
5500
5875
6250
6625
7000
900
1050
1200
1350
1500
3500
3875
4250
4625
5000
19000
20000
21000
22000
23000
28000
28500
29000
29500
30000
4500
4750
5000
5250
5500
4500
4750
5000
5250
5500
South Korea Philippines
Laos Indonesia
India Pakistan
Australia New Zealand
KOSPI Index, May 9 PSEI - Philippine Se Idx, May 9
Laos Composite Index, May 9 Jakarta Composite Index, May 9
BSE Sensex 30 Index, May 9 Karachi 100 Index, May 9
S&P/ASX 200 Index, May 9 NZX 50 Index, May 9
5,476.77
28,373.09 22,317.69
4,868.43 1,311.13
6,765.21 1,950.60
5,161.41
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 equipment
Item 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. 100.27 0.51 0.51% 3:45:58
Crude Oil (Brent) USD/bbl. 108.72 0.13 0.12% 3:45:35
NYMEX Natural Gas USD/MMBtu 4.68 0.01 0.11% 3:46:07
RBOBGasoline USd/gal. 294.83 0.38 0.13% 3:46:04
NYMEX Heating Oil USd/gal. 292.68 0.45 0.15% 3:46:49
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Angry Birds creator using
fun to promote learning
Michael Alison Chandler

T
HE Finnish company that
created Angry Birds is mar-
keting a childhood curricu-
lum around the world that is
meant to make learning fun.
Rovio Entertainment is hoping to
combine the popularity of the game
one of the nations best-known
exports with more than two billion
downloads with the global prestige
of the nations education system for
its early childhood learning program,
called Angry Birds Playground.
The program is based on the Finn-
ish national curriculum for children
ages 3 to 6, which is largely based
on free play and physical exercise. It
builds in more technological tools, a
recongured learning environment
and some of the popular Angry Birds
characters to maximise learning
through engagement. The company
also has worked music and games
into the program and is partnering
with publishers to create activity
books and other learning materials.
Rovio is now training some teach-
ers in China to use the new curricu-
lum, and the company hopes to ex-
pand its reach in all directions.
At an event at the Finnish Embassy
in Washington last week, company
executives talked about the poten-
tial for using interactive games and
tools to inspire more students, and
the danger of squelching creativity
through too much testing.
Company executives shared what
they believe are the seven core in-
gredients of fun learning. Learn-
ing is fun, they said, when: you love
what you do, you can choose how
you learn, you feel safe, it becomes a
healthy addiction, you are appreciat-
ed for who you are, the environment
is inspiring and it is fun to fail.
Learning can be one of the most
pleasurable things you can do, they
said, and its not incompatible with
working hard and being persistent.
Rovios founders developed 51 other
games before they designed the
smash hit Angry Birds.
Sanna Lukander, Rovios vice presi-
dent of learning and book publish-
ing, said fun and creative learning
environments can produce better
outcomes than settings where stu-
dents and teachers are depressed
and pressured and tested.
Finland has an interest in corner-
ing the global market on fun learn-
ing. Unlike some other top-scoring
countries on international tests, such
as South Korea and Japan, Finland is
not known for drill-and-kill strate-
gies and endless school days.
Compulsory education in Finland
doesnt start until age 7 (though that
is poised to move up by a year), and
the school day is shorter than in
many other countries. There are no
national tests, so students dont have
to prepare for them, and teachers
careers dont rely on the results.
And Finland prides itself on rank-
ing high on international scales
measuring innovation and creativity
in the workforce. The small country,
with 5.3 million people, grew from
poverty to afuence after World War
II by building a knowledgeable work-
force through strong public schools.
Even so, the government has
launched a reform of its education
system, hoping to improve on its
strengths and make lessons more
engaging. Finnish Education Minis-
ter Krista Kiuru said the government
must work harder to provide equal-
quality schools amid growing social
inequality. There is also a concern
that students are less motivated.
We have to wake them up in a dif-
ferent way, she said, adding that it
will be important to use technology
more effectively. The environment
has to be different. We dont want
schools to be like airlines: Please turn
off all your digital devices. Then after
seven hours, you can get them back
again. THE WASHINGTON POST
Angry Birds Playground is based on the Finnish national curriculum for children ages
3 to 6. BLOOMBERG
UNFPA is seeking qualied offers to review of Emergency Obstetric and
Newborn Care (EmONC) Improvement Plan 2010-2015. You are kindly
invited to submit your best technical and nancial offer for the requested
services. Your bid could form the basis for a contract between your rm/
institution and the UNFPA.
UNFPA posts all bids notices, clarications and results in www.ungm.org
and http://countryofce.unfpa.org/cambodia. To enable you to submit a
bid, please read the following documents carefully:
Instructions to Bidders (Annex I)
Terms of Reference (Annex II)
Bid Submission Form (Annex III)
Bidders Identication Form (Annex IV)
Format of Bidders Previous Experience and Clients (Annex V)
Technical Bid (Annex VI)
Price Schedule Form (Annex VII)
UNFPA General Terms and Conditions (Annex VIII)
Proposals should be developed based on the detailed Terms of
Reference which is available in the Annex III). The technical bid
containing the technical information shall be submitted separately from
the nancial bid.
Your proposals shall be submitted according with the Instruction to
Bidder (Annex I) to UNFPA Country Ofce: 225, Street Pasteur, Boeng
Keng Kang I, Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Deadline for
receiving proposal is 09 June 2014, 17.00 Hours, local time.
Request for Proposal
Review of Emergency Obstetric and
Newborn Care
UNFPA/KHM/14/001
UNFPA is seeking qualied offers for operational research on consumer
perceptions towards implants as a long term family planning method.
You are kindly invited to submit your best technical and nancial offer
for the requested services. Your bid could form the basis for a contract
between your rm/institution and the UNFPA.
UNFPA posts all bids notices, clarications and results in http://
countryofce.unfpa.org/cambodia. To enable you to submit a bid,
please read the following documents carefully:
Instructions to Bidders (Annex I)
Terms of Reference (Annex II)
Bid Submission Form (Annex III)
Bidders Identication Form (Annex IV)
Format of Bidders Previous Experience and Clients (Annex V)
Technical Bid (Annex VI)
Price Schedule Form (Annex VII)
UNFPA General Terms and Conditions (Annex VIII)
Proposals should be developed based on the detailed Terms of
Reference which is available in the Annex III). The technical bid
containing the technical information shall be submitted separately from
the nancial bid.
Your proposals shall be submitted according with the Instruction to
Bidder (Annex I) to UNFPA Country Ofce: 225, Street Pasteur, Boeng
Keng Kang I, Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Deadline for
receiving proposal is 06 June 2014, 17.00 Hours, local time.
Request for Proposal
Operational Research on Implants
UNFPA/KHM/14/002
12 THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
World
New sanctions as Russia says it respects rebel vote
RUSSIA raised the stakes in the
Ukraine crisis yesterday by saying it
respected what rebels claimed was a
resounding vote in favour of self-rule
in the east of the country.
But the Kremlin also called for dia-
logue between authorities in Kiev and
rebel leaders, as the European Union
ramped up sanctions over the Ukraine
crisis, adding two Crimean firms and
13 people to an existing blacklist.
Details werent immediately availa-
ble, but sources said the targets, agreed
by EU foreign ministers, included two
Crimean firms expropriated after the
much-condemned annexation of the
peninsula by Russia in March.
The EU so far has targeted Russians
and Ukrainians blamed for undermin-
ing the countrys integrity, stopping
short of agreeing wider economic
sanctions on banks or the energy sec-
tor that would also hurt many coun-
tries in Europe.
The Kremlin said yesterday it respect-
ed the vote on self-rule in two Ukrain-
ian regions and called for the results to
be implemented through dialogue
between Kiev and separatist leaders.
The head of the influential East-West
OSCE security organisation said that
Russia had expressed respect but not
recognition of the separatist vote.
Denounced by the central govern-
ment in Kiev and the West as a farce,
the contentious vote was hastily
organised and held with no interna-
tional observers.
It deepened a crisis that has brought
Russias relations with the West to their
lowest point since the Cold War.
Separatist officials in Donetsk prov-
ince said 89 per cent of voters backed
breaking away from Ukraine in the poll.
Roughly similar results were expected
later yesterday from Lugansk, the other
separatist province that voted.
The US and other Western countries
have said they will not recognise the
outcome of the vote, which comes
some two months after Moscow
annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula.
Isolated violence flared during vot-
ing in some parts of eastern Ukraine,
where troops have been waging an
offensive against well-armed rebels in
control of several towns.
Pro-Kiev armed men were seen fir-
ing into a crowd of pro-Russians.
According to a freelance photogra-
pher working for AFP, two people were
seen lying motionless on the ground
but it was not clear if they were dead.
Sporadic explosions and gunfire
could be heard yesterday in the
flashpoint town of Slavyansk, as
Ukraines military pressed its siege
of the rebel-held town.
The head of the insurgents self-styled
electoral commission in Donetsk,
Roman Lyagin, said turnout was 75 per
cent in the vote. There was no way to
independently verify the vote results.
The rebels prevented foreign media
from observing ballot counting and
voting took place with no neutral
monitors, incomplete electoral rolls
and a haphazard registration proce-
dure that did nothing to prevent mul-
tiple voting.
The two industrial regions are home
to seven million people of Ukraines
total population of 46 million.
The farce that terrorist separatists
call a referendum is nothing more than
propaganda to cover up murders, kid-
nappings, violence and other serious
crimes, Ukraine interim president
Oleksandr Turchynov told parliament.
But he repeated his desire to continue
dialogue with those in the east of
Ukraine who have no blood on their
hands and who are ready to defend
their goals in a legitimate way.
Germanys foreign minister was
scheduled to travel to Ukraine today
to support OSCE efforts to mediate a
national dialogue between the gov-
ernment and pro-Russian groups, his
ministry said. AFP
Screengrabs from a video
released yesterday by Nigerian
Islamist extremist group Boko
Haram show girls in full-length
hijabs holding ags reading
There is no god, but Allah and
Mohammed is Allahs prophet
and a man claiming to be the
groups leader, Abubakar
Shekau. AFP
Video shows Nigerian schoolgirls
Phil Hazlewood
B
OKO Haram released
a new video yester-
day claiming to show
the missing Nigerian
schoolgirls and alleging the
teenagers had converted to Is-
lam and would not be released
until all militant prisoners
were freed.
The groups leader, Abubakar
Shekau, speaks on the video
obtained by AFP for 17 min-
utes before showing what he
said were the girls, in Muslim
dress and praying in an undis-
closed rural location.
A total of 276 girls were ab-
ducted on April 14 from the
northeastern town of Chibok,
in Borno state, which has a
sizeable Christian community.
Police say 223 are still missing.
The footage shows about
130 girls in black and grey
full-length hijabs sitting on
scrubland near trees, recit-
ing the rst chapter of the
Muslim holy book, the Koran,
and holding their palms up-
wards in prayer. Three of the
girls are interviewed. Two say
they were Christian and had
converted while one said she
was Muslim.
All three pronounce their be-
lief in Islam dispassionately to
the camera, sometimes look-
ing down at the ground and
apparently under duress.
Most of the group behind
them were seated cross-legged
on the ground. The girls ap-
peared calm and one said that
they had not been harmed.
There was no indication of
when the video was taken,
although the quality is better
than on previous occasions
and at one point an armed
man is seen in shot with a
hand-held video camera.
Boko Haram has been wag-
ing an increasingly deadly in-
surgency in Nigerias mainly
Muslim north since 2009, at-
tacking schools teaching a
Western curriculum, church-
es and government targets.
Civilians, though, have
borne the brunt of recent vio-
lence, with more than 1,500
killed this year alone while
tens of thousands have been
displaced after their homes
and businesses were razed.
Nigerias government has
been criticised for its lack of
immediate response to the
kidnapping that triggered in-
ternational outrage. It acted
after mounting global con-
demnation at Shekaus threats
to sell the girls as slaves.
President Goodluck Jona-
than has now accepted help
from the US, Britain, France,
China and Israel, which have
sent specialist teams to help in
the search effort.
In the video, Shekau appears
in front of a lime green canvas
backdrop wearing combat
fatigues and carrying an au-
tomatic weapon. Shekau does
not appear in the same shot
as the girls at any point during
the 27-minute video.
Speaking in his native Hausa
language as well as Arabic, he
restates his claim of responsi-
bility made in a video released
last Monday and said the girls
had converted to Islam while
others had not.
These girls, these girls you
occupy yourselves with . . . we
have indeed liberated them.
These girls have become Mus-
lims, he said. There are still
others who have not converted
and are holding on to your be-
lief. There are many of them.
You are making so much
noise about Chibok, Chibok,
Chibok. Only Allah knows how
many women we are holding,
the indels who Allah com-
mands us to hold.
The militant leader said that
Boko Harams brothers in arms
had been held in prison for up
to ve years and suggested that
the girls would be released if
the ghters were freed.
We will never release them
[the girls] until after you re-
lease our brethren, he said.
Boko Haram has used the
kidnapping of women and
young girls in the past and
Shekau indicated that more
were being held.
Eleven girls were abducted
from the Gwoza area of Borno
state on May 4.
There was no immediate
response to the Boko Haram
video from Nigerias govern-
ment but President Jonathan
has previously said that he be-
lieved the girls were still in Ni-
geria and would be freed soon.
There have been fears that
the girls may have been taken
into neighbouring Chad or
Cameroon, from where Boko
Haram is said to have launched
attacks in the northeast and
may have camps.
Nigerias army is currently
concentrating its efforts on the
Sambisa forest of Borno state
while international assistance
involves specialist surveillance
and intelligence teams.
Washington said on Sunday
that US troops would not be
used in a rescue mission. AFP
Iron Lady to face leftist
in Lithuania runoff vote
LITHUANIAS incumbent Iron
Lady Dalia Grybauskaite took
pole position in a presidential
race on Sunday marked by her
hard line against a resurgent
Russia amid the Ukraine crisis,
but will face a leftist in round
two. The karate black belt
scored 45.8 per cent of the vote
compared with 13.7 per cent for
Social Democrat MEP
Zigmantas Balcytis, with 97.7
per cent of votes counted,
triggering a final face off on
May 25. Dubbed the Iron Lady
for her Thatcheresque resolve,
Grybauskaite topped the poll as
many see her as their best
chance to fend off unwanted
Russian advances. AFP
Greece neo-Nazi party
gets OK to join election
GREECES Supreme Court
has allowed neo-Nazi party
Golden Dawn to participate in
coming European parliament
elections, a party lawyer said
on Sunday. We expected this
decision. We have faith in
Greek justice, lawyer Pavlos
Sarakis said. The authorisa-
tion came despite an ongoing
criminal probe against the
party. Six of its lawmakers are
in prison awaiting trial and
nearly all its 18 lawmakers
are being investigated over
serious crimes allegedly
committed by the once-fringe
party. AFP
World
13 THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Ugandas anti-gay law
led to rise in attacks
UGANDA has suffered an
alarming rise in attacks on gay
and lesbian people since it
passed an anti-homosexuality
law late last year, new research
has found.
The report, compiled by Sex-
ual Minorities Uganda, details
an attempted lynching, mob
violence, homes burned down,
blackmail, lost jobs, arrests,
evictions and suicides. The
number of recorded incidents
had increased tenfold, the group
said. At least 25 people were
reported to have fled Uganda,
seeking asylum in neighbouring
Kenya and Rwanda.
In many cases tabloid news-
papers published stories iden-
tifying men or women who were
subsequently disowned by their
family or assaulted in the street.
Several are facing prosecution.
The anti-homosexuality act
(AHA) was ratified by the Ugan-
dan parliament on December
20 last year and signed into
force, in the face of internation-
al protests, by President Yoweri
Museveni in late February.
Consensual sex between
same-sex adults had been ille-
gal since British colonial rule.
The new law, however, created
additional crimes such as
aggravated homosexuality,
where a couple living in a com-
mitted same-sex relationship
face a life sentence; promo-
tion of homosexuality, which
carries a five-year sentence;
and aiding and abetting
homosexuality, with a maxi-
mum sentence of seven years.
The passing of AHA has given
permission to a culture of
extreme and violent homopho-
bia whereby both state and non-
state actors are free to persecute
Ugandas LGBTI people with
impunity, the report states.
The survey recorded 162 inci-
dents since the legislation was
passed by parliament. By com-
parison, Sexual Minorities
Uganda recorded only eight
incidents in the rest of 2013 and
19 in the whole of 2012.
[ This] represents an
increase of between 750% and
1,900% on previous years, the
report notes.
In four cases, men accused of
being gay were reported to
have been kidnapped and tor-
tured. There were 29 incidents
where the media outed indi-
viduals who were later sub-
jected to further persecution.
A 17-year-old boy killed
himself by swallowing rat poi-
son and pills on April 3
because he felt his life had no
further value, according to the
report. THE GUARDIAN
S Sudan pact shatters
Waakhe Simon Wudu
S
OUTH Sudanese rebels
and government troops
waged fresh battles
yesterday, breaking a
new ceasere deal and dash-
ing hopes to a swift end to ve
months of brutal civil war.
Fighting raged in the oil-pro-
ducing state of Upper Nile, De-
fence Minister Kuol Manyang
told AFP, adding that govern-
ment troops had been ordered
not to go and attack, but only
to ght in self defence.
Since President Salva Kiir
and rebel leader Riek Machar
signed a deal Friday to halt
ghting, both sides have ac-
cused each other of launching
ground attacks and artillery
barrages against each other.
Machar was not in con-
trol of his forces and heavily
armed militia troops known
as the White Army who
smear themselves in wood
ash to ward off mosquitoes
and as war-paint had at-
tacked government troops,
Manyang said.
These are irregular forces,
the White Army is armed ci-
vilians, and they do not know
about the cessation of hos-
tilities agreement that was
signed, he added.
They are the ones that at-
tacked, because they think the
war is still going on.
Army spokesman Philip
Aguer said monitors from re-
gional bloc IGAD were being
sent to the ashpoint town of
Bentiu, capital of the north-
ern oil-producing Unity state,
which has swapped hands re-
peatedly in the conict.
We are working on their
deployment, so that they can
observe the situation on the
ground, Aguer said.
Kiir has insisted he wanted
peace, telling crowds in Juba
on Sunday that we have or-
dered our forces not to lift a
foot from where they are to at-
tack rebels.
The two sides had agreed to
a ceasere in January, but that
deal quickly fell apart and un-
leashed a new round of erce
ghting. Observers have said
both sides will face challenges
in implementing a truce, with
the rebels made up of a loose
coalition of army defectors
and ethnic rebels.
Each side accuses the other
of using mercenaries and reb-
el forces from neighbouring
Sudan. AFP
A boy holds a South Sudanese ag as a crowd waits for the president
at the Juba airport on Saturday, a day after signing a peace deal with
rebels in Addis Ababa a treaty that has already been shattered. AFP
1 body, 2 faces
Aussie mum
gives birth
to rare twins

A
N AUSTRALIAN couple
have welcomed the
birth of conjoined twins
who have separate brains and
identical faces but share a
body, describing their girls as
little Aussie fighters, a report
said yesterday.
Sydney couple Renee Young
and Simon Howie learned at a
19-week ultrasound that their
babies would be born with a
rare condition called diproso-
pus, a magazine reported.
Even though there is only
one body, we call them our
twins, Howie told the maga-
zine. To us, they are our girls
and we love them.
Young gave birth last Thurs-
day by emergency caesarean,
some six weeks early.
Named Hope and Faith, the
girls share one unusually
shaped skull with duplicated
facial features and separate
brains joined at the stem. They
have one set of limbs and organs.
They are in intensive care at
the Westmead Childrens Hos-
pital in Sydneys west where
they have impressed doctors
with their progress.
They are breathing perfectly
on their own and feeding,
Howie said, adding that they
had their first bath on Sunday
night. AFP
World
14
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
S Korea declares three
ferry tragedy martyrs
SOUTH Korea yesterday
recognised three people who
died saving others in last
months ferry capsize as
national martyrs lending a
heroic chapter to a disaster
narrative dominated by
accusations of cowardice,
corruption and incompetence.
The move came as the
government revoked the
operating licence of the
owners of the ferry that sank
with the loss of around 300
lives, citing safety violations by
the company and crew. The
three part-time crew
members hailed as martyrs
included an engaged couple
Kim Ki-woong and Jung Hyun-
seon who could have
escaped the sinking vessel but
stayed to help trapped
passengers. AFP
Mixed marks for LGBT
attitudes in Philippines
GAYS are increasingly tolerated
in Philippine society but dis-
crimination persists and they
remain vulnerable to hate
crimes, according to a United
Nations-backed study released
yesterday. Sexual activity is not
a crime but same-sex marriage
is not allowed and gay couples
cannot adopt children, said the
study funded by the UN
Development Program and the
US Agency for International
Development. Cultural and
social attitudes towards LGBT
people are complex, with signs
of acceptance, particularly
among the young, the study
said. Several large cities have
passed ordinances banning
LGBT discrimination, but efforts
to pass a national law have
foundered amid opposition from
the Catholic church. AFP
Two Koreas hurl drone insults
T
HE two Koreas en-
gaged in an escalat-
ing war of words yes-
terday, with Seouls
Defence Ministry spokesman
saying it would be best if North
Korea simply vanished.
The heated exchange over
the origin of some spy drones
that crashed in South Ko-
rea fuelled tensions at a time
when Pyongyang is believed
to be preparing a nuclear test.
South Koreas Defence Min-
istry said last week that an in-
vestigation into three crashed
drones had provided smok-
ing gun proof that they were
all own from North Korea.
Pyongyangs denials drew
an unusually outspoken re-
sponse yesterday from minis-
try spokesman Kim Min-seok.
Arguing that North Korea
barely deserved to be regard-
ed as a proper country, Kim
said it existed purely to serve
the pleasure of leader Kim
Jong-un.
He went on to suggest in a
remark that is likely to draw a
heated response from Pyong-
yang that it would be best if
North Korea simply vanished
as soon as possible.
South Korea usually cedes
the rhetorical turf to the
North when it comes to verbal
threats, but Kims comments
suggested its patience might
be wearing thin after a recent
series of vicious personal at-
tacks from Pyongyang.
As well as repeated sex-
ist swipes at South Korean
President Park Geun-hye, it
recently launched a racist di-
atribe aimed at US President
Barack Obama.
In a statement earlier yester-
day carried by the Norths of-
cial news agency, a military
spokesman called the ndings
of the Souths probe into the
crashed drones a provocative
charade for confrontation.
Labelling Park a disgrace-
ful political prostitute, the
unidentied spokesman ac-
cused Seoul of trying to use the
drone conspiracy to whip up
anti-North sentiment with its
military protector, the US.
If Washington pays heed
only to what its stooges trum-
pet, it is bound to be accused
of being a senile grandfather
trying to stop a child from cry-
ing, he said.
The drones were recovered
in three different locations
in the South near the inter-
Korean land and sea bor-
ders between March 24 and
April 6. AFP
A crashed drone found in South Korea on March 31 that Seoul claims came from the North. AFP
New Thai PM open to talks with protesters
THE new Thai prime minister yesterday
offered talks with protesters trying to
topple the government, as his political
rivals pushed for the appointment of an
unelected leader to take power.
We are open for dialogue, said
Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan, who
took the helm last week after a contro-
versial court ruling removed Yingluck
Shinawatra and nine of her ministers
from office.
Lets talk. But lets talk realistically,
he told foreign reporters, playing down
fears that the country is teetering on
the brink.
I dont think there will be a civil war.
It has been six months and we manage
to run the country quite well, Niwat-
tumrong said.
Opposition demonstrators are threat-
ening to step up their six-month cam-
paign to overthrow the government.
But the governments red shirt sup-
porters say they will not tolerate any
move to hand power to an unelected
regime, warning that it could lead to
civil war. The opposition protesters
want the Senate almost half of whose
members are unelected to remove the
weakened cabinet, but it is unclear
whether such a move is possible under
the constitution.
The country has not had a functioning
lower house since Yingluck dissolved
parliament in December for elections
that were later voided because of dis-
ruption by protesters.
Some members of the Senate held a
meeting yesterday to seek a solution to
the crisis.
Paiboon Nittitawan, an appointed
senator and prominent government
critic, urged the upper house to choose
a new prime minister immediately, for
the sake of security and the economy.
We cannot allow the crisis to drag
on, he said.
Senate speaker-elect Surachai Liang-
boonlertchai told reporters before the
talks that he would draft a road map
out of the crisis as soon as possible but
did not reveal his plan. Fewer than 90
senators, out of a total of 150, attended
the meeting amid questions about
whether the upper house is entitled to
hold a debate on the crisis in the present
circumstances.
Also yesterday, a source said military
leaders are against an attempt to set up an
interim government. All armed forces
commanders on Saturday discussed the
plan for an interim government under
Section 7 of the constitution pushed by
the anti-government protesters.
They said the option was not appro-
priate as it could disturb His Majesty,
who is King for all Thais, the source said.
AFP/BANGKOK POST
BEIJING launched armed
police patrols yesterday to
handle violent incidents in the
capital, city authorities said,
three weeks ahead of the 25th
anniversary of the Tiananmen
crackdown and after a series
of attacks on civilians.
The armed division, which
has 150 vehicles, aims to
strike on terrorist and violent
crimes in a rapid and effective
way, the Beijing Municipal
Public Security Bureau said on
its Weibo account. The patrols
were being deployed in the
face of the current severe and
complicated situation of anti-
terrorism, it said.
The Chinese government is
on alert after a series of dra-
matic attacks it blames on
militants from far western
Xinjiang, home to the mainly
Muslim Uighur minority.
A ery vehicle crash in Bei-
jings Tiananmen Square the
symbolic heart of the Chinese
state last October was fol-
lowed by a horric knife assault
in March at a rail station in the
southern city Kunming, which
left 29 dead and 143 wounded.
Two weeks ago, assailants
with knives and explosives at-
tached to their bodies attacked
a train station in Xinjiangs
capital, leaving three dead.
The Beijing PSB said each
patrol vehicle will have an
armed team of at least two po-
lice ofcers and one auxiliary
on every shift, who will arrive
on the scene within three
minutes of a report.
They will park at main roads,
crowded venues and unspeci-
ed key areas possibly a
reference to politically sensi-
tive sites such as Tiananmen
Square and set up check-
points, it said. AFP
PHILIPPINE prosecutors said
yesterday that they would
charge nine Chinese sher-
men arrested in disputed
South China Sea waters with
environmental crimes, de-
spite Beijings warning of a
dire effect on relations.
The decision, announced by
prosecutors in Puerto Princ-
esa on Palawan Island, is set to
further stoke the territorial dis-
pute in the South China Sea.
Prosecutor Allan Ross Rodri-
guez said he was to le charges
in court later yesterday, reject-
ing the appeals of two Chinese
diplomats who met him ear-
lier in the day about the case.
It is clear: there was a sh-
ing vessel, Chinese shermen,
a catch of [protected] sea tur-
tles. It is clear from what the
apprehending ofcers said,
Rodriguez said.
Chinese Embassy ofcials in
Manila could not be contacted
for comment.
Filipino police seized the
Chinese-agged vessel and
detained its 11 crew members
last week off disputed Half
Moon Shoal. AFP
Armed police deployed
in Tiananmen lead-up
Charges for
Chinese
poachers,
Manila says
Taliban start spring offensive
THE Taliban began their annu-
al spring offensive yesterday
with a series of attacks across
Afghanistan, including a sui-
cide strike on government
offices in Jalalabad and rockets
fired at two airports.
At least two suicide bombers
entered the provincial justice
department in Jalalabad, offi-
cials said, triggering a stand-off
with security forces in the east-
ern city which has been hit by
regular insurgent attacks.
It was not immediately clear
whether the pair had detonated
their explosives. Two rockets
exploded near Kabul airport at
5am, the exact time that the
insurgents had vowed to start
a nationwide operation against
US-led foreign forces and
Afghan government facilities.
There were no confirmed
casualties in either attack. But
three people, including one
police officer, were killed in
Ghazni province southwest of
Kabul when Taliban insur-
gents targeted several police
checkpoints.
Three people have been
killed, one policeman and two
women, Ghazni deputy gover-
nor Mohammad Ali Ahmadis
aid. Two police and six civil-
ians [were wounded].
Four rockets were also fired at
Bagram airport, the biggest
NATO military base in Afghani-
stan, which lies north of Kabul.
NATOs International Secu-
rity Assistance Force confirmed
it was investigating the attack.
A vacant building and some
equipment were damaged, a
spokesman said.
Taliban leaders said last week
that the offensive, which would
be the last before NATO com-
bat troops withdraw from
Afghanistan, would cleanse
the filth of the infidels from
the country. Sediq Sediqqi, the
interior ministry spokesman,
confirmed that two rockets fell
outside Kabul airport but
caused no casualties.
Afghanistans fighting season
traditionally begins in April or
May as snow recedes from the
mountains, and the Taliban
mark the occasion with an
annual declaration to attack
foreign forces and unseat the
Kabul government. AFP
An injured boy cries after a Ghazni
province attack yesterday. AFP
15
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
World
Modi seeks crowning
win as vote climaxes
Roberto Schmidt

V
OTERS headed to
the polls yesterday in
the climax of Indias
marathon election,
with front-runner Narendra
Modi seeking a crowning vic-
tory in the holy city of Varanasi
for his right-wing Bharatiya
Janata Party.
Modi is standing in the
famed pilgrimage site on the
banks of the Ganges River in
the nal phase of the worlds
biggest election, a contest
that has been marred by reli-
gious divisions and a vitriolic
campaign.
The 63-year-old, expected to
become prime minister if the
Hindu nationalist BJP and its
allies secure a majority when
results are announced on Fri-
day, urged residents to turn
out in record numbers.
Anti-corruption champion
Arvind Kejriwal from the up-
start Aam Aadmi (Common
Man) Party is also standing
and hoping to upset Modi,
who has spent little time in the
city as he campaigned across
the country.
I have voted for the about-
to-be prime minister of India,
Narendra Modi, 35-year-old
Setupati Tripathi said after
casting his ballot in Varanasi.
With him winning the Vara-
nasi seat, I am also condent
about the development of this
millennia-old city as a tourist
destination, he added.
The rst voters led into
polling stations at 7am, with
early queues indicating en-
thusiasm for the most high-
prole contest of the ve
weeks of voting.
The vote is rich in religious
symbolism, with Modis deci-
sion to stand here seen as re-
inforcing his Hindu nationalist
credentials during a campaign
when he has steered clear of the
hard-line rhetoric for which he
was previously known.
The four-time chief minis-
ter of western Gujarat state
has campaigned on a pledge
of development, investment
and jobs to revive the agging
economy after 10 years of left-
ist rule by the Congress Party.
But he remains a deeply po-
larising gure over allegations
that he failed to swiftly curb
deadly 2002 anti-Muslim ri-
ots in Gujarat that left at least
1,000 people dead shortly after
he came to power there.
Varanasi, a sacred city
around 680 kilometres east
of Delhi where Hindus are
cremated on the river banks,
counts a large Muslim popu-
lation that would be expected
to vote against Modi.
The way things have been
shaping up in the last three
days, everybody is saying
Modi is losing, Kejriwal, who
has focused on a grassroots
campaign, said yesterday.
More than 66 million voters
were eligible to cast their bal-
lots yesterday in three elector-
ally critical states in the nal
phase of the election, which
began on April 7.
Counting takes place on Fri-
day and results are expected
on the same day.
Opinion polls show voters
have turned against Congress,
which has dominated Indian
politics since independence,
over massive graft scandals,
spiralling ination and a sharp
economic slowdown.
The BJP is forecast to win the
most seats in the 543-member
parliament, but it will likely fall
short of an outright majority,
meaning it will need to forge
its own coalition with smaller
and regional parties.
Indias opinion polls have
proved wrong in the past and
can be unreliable given the size
and remoteness of sections of
the country, which has 814 mil-
lion eligible voters, the biggest
electorate in history. AFP
SIX years after a huge earth-
quake killed tens of thousands
of people in China, questions
over poor building work and
corruption were still being
asked on yesterdays anni-
versary, as online posters re-
membered the dead.
More than 80,000 were
left dead or missing when a
magnitude-8.0 quake struck
Sichuan on the afternoon of
May 12, 2008, including 5,335
school pupils.
The disaster provoked
widespread grief in China but
also outrage after it emerged
that 7,000 schools were badly
damaged in the southwestern
province, triggering accusa-
tions of shoddy construc-
tion, corner-cutting and pos-
sible corruption, especially as
many other buildings nearby
held rm.
The aftermath of the earth-
quake saw the rise to promi-
nence as a government critic
of artist Ai Weiwei, who or-
ganised a citizens probe into
the school collapses.
The campaign led to him
being badly beaten by pub-
lic security ofcers when he
tried to testify in support of
an activist who had investi-
gated the issue.
The earthquake was a
natural disaster, but we still
have to call into question,
wasnt the death of more than
5,000 students in relation to a
man-made disaster? said Liu
Xiaoyuan, Ais lawyer, in an
online posting yesterday.
Many campaigners and par-
ents are still seeking answers
about how the earthquake
destroyed so many schools
when it struck during after-
noon classes.
They have become known
as tofu schools in China,
likening their structural in-
stability to the popular soft
bean curd dish.
Apart from the ofcials
and experts who dont believe
that the school buildings had
problems, how many others
would believe the collapse of
the buildings was unrelated
to tofu construction? Liu
added on his veried account
on Sina Weibo, a Chinese ver-
sion of Twitter.
Elsewhere on the hugely
popular forum, many posted
messages remembering the
casualties of the disaster.
May the dead rest in peace,
and the living remain strong,
one post said.
We should continue to
grieve, but also ensure that
help is provided to those who
continue to be affected, said
another. AFP
Six years on, questions
hang over China quake
Assad omnipresent in Damascus
SYRIAS presidential election
campaign, launched at the
weekend, has transformed the
streets of Damascus into a glo-
rication of incumbent Bashar
al-Assad, who is expected to
easily win the June 3 vote.
On the streets, parks and
buildings of the city, barely
a wall can be seen without a
picture of the president, who
is running for a third seven-
year term as his troops battle
rebels trying to oust him.
For the rst time, Assad
faces an election rather than
a referendum for the post, but
with the two other candidates
virtually unknown, the com-
petition appears more like a
one-horse race.
In the Syrian capital, resi-
dents profess ignorance when
asked about his rivals, Maher
al-Hajjar and Hassan al-Nuri.
Nuri, whos this one? asked
a student near the Univer-
sity of Damascus in the citys
Baramkeh neighbourhood,
pointing at a small sign on
which the businessman calls
for a free economy.
In a country where the cult
of personality surrounding
Bashar and his father and pre-
decessor Hafez has been built
up for nearly 50 years, Syrians
are used to towering posters of
the Assads.
Their portraits have long
appeared on billboards, in
shop windows and stuck to
electricity poles. Busts of the
father and son even watch
over the entrances to pub-
lic parks. And although the
election will be the countrys
rst multi-candidate presi-
dential vote in 50 years, and
a term seen on many of the
posters is mubayaa a word
meaning to chose a leader by
pledging allegiance.
Syrias opposition and West-
ern countries have lambasted
the election as a farce.
But the government sees the
vote, coupled with recent suc-
cesses on the battleeld, as an
opportunity to portray itself
as the victor in the countrys
devastating three-year war.
Alongside the slogan As-
sads Syria, other posters in
the city announce that the
president is the only choice
for the ballot, which will only
take place in areas controlled
by government troops.
The president appears in
some of the posters smiling,
and in others he wears a pair
of sunglasses as he throws
a salute.
Our Bashar, we do not ac-
cept any other president than
you, some of the posters read.
Others proclaim simply: We
love you.
One sign near Damascuss
opera house announces that
Assad has become not only
the choice of journalists and
intellectuals, but also for in-
vestors and entrepreneurs.
Syria will remain the den
of lions, another poster adds,
in a play on the name Assad,
which means lion in Arabic.
Yes to the one who pre-
served Syrias pride, is embla-
zoned on banners that hang
across busy roads.
Interviewed in public, few
Syrians express plans to vote
for anyone but Assad.
For us, its not even an elec-
tion, its a referendum, we
want him to stay, said Maher,
in his clothing shop in the Sal-
hiyeh commercial district.
Mayada, a 55-year-old
housewife who lives out in the
Baramkeh neighbourhood, is
equally adamant.
Those outside must under-
stand that . . . we dont want
anyone but him, she said.
Its those abroad who are
the cause of our problems.
Assad is campaigning un-
der the slogan Together,
and has launched an online
presence, with a Facebook
page that had over 109,000
likes by yesterday morning,
and a Twitter account with
1,200 followers. AFP
Pictures of President Bashar al-Assad, his late father and predecessor
Hafez al-Assad and Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah are
for sale at a street stall in Damascus on the weekend. AFP
Deadly
ooding
Citizens pour oodwater
onto a street in Shenzhen,
south Chinas Guangdong
province on Sunday. Three
people have been killed
and thousands evacu-
ated in several days of
rainstorms in southern
China, ooding major cities
and affecting air and rail
transport, authorities said
yesterday. AFP
Narendra Modi
Frontrunner in the race to
become Indias next premier
63 years old
Born to low-caste
parents from
western Gujarat
state
Has campaigned on a platform
of good governance and economic
revival
Was seen as a business-friendly
administrator during 13 years
as chief minister in Gujarat
The failure of his administration
to control anti-Muslim violence
in Gujarat that left more than
1,000 dead in 2002 has left a
legacy of distrust
Hardline Hindu nationalist leading
the opposition Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP)
Opinion
16
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
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Loyalty cannot
be bought
Dear Editor,
It was interesting to read the Posts
article on May 9 regarding staff poach-
ing in the banking industry.
It is fair to mention that it has
been happening in all sectors,
not just banking, as Cambodia
has a limited labour supply. As a
Cambodian citizen, I welcome the
collective fund initiative which will
ultimately contribute to the devel-
opment of banking skills for the
country if it is really brought into
existence one day.
The reality is that no one can turn
50 years old without starting their life
on day one. When a new organisation
is set up, a number of others will
be affected.
I remember a number of years ago,
when my application to a relatively
new nancial institution was success-
ful, my line manager at my previous
employer mentioned to me at the end
of the exit interview that she hoped
this entity would stop poaching her
staff. I did not agree on her poaching
term because I applied to a job adver-
tisement; I had not been approached
by anyone.
I understood that a former staff
member of that organisation had
joined that same institution before.
When working at the new company, a
colleague told a group of people that
one day when he was in his ofce at
his previous employer, he was called
by a headhunter who nally brought
him to where he was. This rm is now
well established and may have expe-
rienced what a number of employers
had encountered years ago.
It is my personal observation that
some local managers rush to move
on by trying to claim their identied
successors are ready. On the ip side
of that coin, some expat managers do
the opposite to enjoy their lifestyle in
Cambodia. Their staff are smart enough
to realise this selsh act. Then we can
guess what unhappy employees will do.
Furthermore, people are reactive
by nature. Some managers try hard
to praise their staff when they resign.
Sorry, it is too late. It is easier to engage
staff every day to earn their loyalty,
which no poacher can buy.
Bin Devin
Phnom Penh
Letter to the editor
Send letters to: newsroom@phnompenhpost.com or PO Box 146, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Post reserves the right to edit letters to a shorter length. The views expressed above are solely the
authors and do not reflect any positions taken by The Phnom Penh Post.
U
S LAWYER and Fox News presenter Greta
Van Susteren did not show tact. Her
insults denigrating Thailand as a whole,
slinging mud at the entire country, were
over the top. But then, they were meant to be. How
else does one generate publicity?
Shes a lawyer and a media personality. Of course
she knows how to tug and pull. In tugging and pull-
ing, shes quite successful. Shes good at it, this tug-
ging and pulling thing.
Personally, I dont mind. It is rather entertaining,
gratifying in a way, to be tugged and pulled. But
underneath the tawdry theatrics, she isnt far off.
The Royal Thai Air Force did take 10 days to come
up with important radar data on the missing
Malaysia Airlines fight. They deserve criticism.
She talked of official incompetence. Well, everyone
in Thailand has horror stories about that to share.
The issue here is that the world complains that Thai-
land just cant get its act together, so much potential
but such a ridiculous level of incompetence.
They may complain tactfully and constructively, or
they may rant and rave like a bipolar, attention-crav-
ing, middle-age person going through a midlife cri-
sis, forgetting to take his or her meds. But they do
because they care, and theres a grain of truth to it.
Thailand is at a strange crossroad. We have a 21st-
century yearning . . . well some of us, anyway. How-
ever, the institution that drives this country is still
very much in the 19th century. Meanwhile, the peo-
ple who thrive in such an institution would probably
also feel much at home even in the 18th century.
Add them all up and incompetence is usually the
sum. The problem lies first not with the individuals,
but with the institution that fosters outdated think-
ing and action.
The term ra-bob racha-karn, or the bureaucratic
system, is well used in Thailand. People utter it in
exasperation and hopelessness when faced with
backward thinking, incompetence or inefficiency
and corruption.
We may examine the structure, and hence nature, of
our institution and see why. The Thai bureaucracy has
a steep hierarchical organisational structure built
upon the ladder of the patronage network. Organisa-
tional relationships are based on seniority, and hence
a heavy reliance is placed on form and ceremony.
This naturally gives much weight to an image and
to what is considered appropriate behaviour. The
primary preoccupation of the institution then is to
maintain the structure. It is rigid, inward looking and
inflexible. Its tribal and feudalistic.
As such, it doesnt excel in forward thinking or
have precision efficiency. We are like a mummy
wrapped in bureaucratic red tape.
The word honour doesnt apply to an honest
days work or a job well done. It signifies the title
held and respect owed. The word duty does not
describe job dedication, but rather obedience and
conformity, personal and tribal loyalty.
If all of this sounds rather familiar it is because
you have experienced typical Thai bureaucracy in
one form or another. Mind you, this isnt just a Thai
problem. We are not that special.
It is worldwide, but especially in developing
countries, and even more especially in developing
countries with strong feudalistic, ritualistic and
superstitious traditions such as Thailand.
Take the military, the police, the various govern-
ment bureaucracies, state enterprises, many public
and private companies, and others.
We can install Wi-Fi and mobile apps, but if insti-
tutionally were still in the 19th century, were out-
dated. What of the capable or brilliant people?
The institution swallows them up and spits them
out. Otherwise, they struggle under the weight of
bureaucracy. So, in Thailand it is as it has always been,
and will continue to be without institutional reform.
Of course there are progressive organisations that
foster the capable and brilliant. At the moment,
however, they are far and few between.
Take a look at social media sites and we find so
many Gretas. People are rather emotional about
Thailand. Were irresistible like that. Were like the
hot girls or cool dudes who just cant fulfil their
potential and too often disappoint. Its frustrating
for the Gretas of the world.
The real Greta may have taken the persona of a
character from the American reality TV show Bad
Girls Club in telling us about it. But the essence of
the content isnt far off.
Thailand shouldnt worry about the cheap shots
but instead be progressive and reform the institu-
tion. Prove them wrong through action, rather than
just throw tantrums or file lawsuits whenever some-
one hits a nerve. The world isnt going to wait for
Thailand, and we have a quite a distance to catch up.
And if Im a bit over the top about Greta, I humbly
apologise. Were just tugging and pulling, friendly-
like. BANGKOK POST
Comment
Voranai Vanijaka
Tactless but close to the truth
Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, a tugging and pulling
extraordinaire. AFP
Voranai Vanijaka is a political commentator for the Bangkok Post.
17
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Lifestyle Lifestyle
In brief
Cyrus makes date rape
joke onstage at gay club
IN A break from an arena tour
full of sexual imagery that
continues to demolish her
former Disney image, Miley
Cyrus again courted contro-
versy when she appeared
onstage at London gay club
GAY this weekend and alluded
to date rape. You know,
everyones a little bit gay, she
told the crowd. Its the truth.
Everyones gay, all it takes is
one cocktail. And if that doesnt
work, sprinkle something in
their drink. Thats what I always
do. During the set she wore a
gold sequinned leotard,
performed with a female dwarf,
and fellated a giant inflatable
penis. THEGUARDIAN
Polish pianist to make
his debut in Thailand
WORLD acclaimed Polish
pianist Tomasz Herbut will give
a Bangkok debut concert held
to commemorate the 91st
birthday anniversary of the late
Princess Galyani Vadhana on
Friday. Organised by the Fund
for Classical Music Promotion,
in collaboration with the
Thailands Department of
Cultural Promotion, Ministry of
Culture, the piano recital will
see Tomasz fill the small hall
of Thailand Cultural Centre on
Ratchadaphisek Road with
Chopins 14 mazurkas and
four polonaises, at 7:30pm.
BANGKOK POST
Washington Monument
to reopen after 3 years
THE Washington Monument,
one of the US capitals most
recognisable sights, was to
reopen yesterday, three years
after sustaining damage
from a rare earthquake. The
popular tourist attraction is
the US capital citys tallest
structure at 170 meters. The
obelisk, built in honour of the
first US president, George
Washington, was closed after
engineers found 150 cracks
in the structure following a
5.8-magnitude earthquake in
the neighboring state of
Virginia in August 2011. The
structure was covered in
scaffolding for months on
end as the landmark under-
went $15 million in repairs,
half of which was funded by a
private citizen. This endur-
ing spirit of public-private
partnerships has made it
possible for visitors to once
again enjoy the Monument
and its unmatched view of
Washington US Secretary of
the Interior Sally Jewell said
in a statement. AFP
In Cages Torn Open, artist
unleashes beastly message
Emily Wight

G
NARLED human
torsos with animal
heads emphasise the
link between man
and beast in artist Dina Chhans
latest exhibition, opening to-
night at Meta House.
The 29-year-old hopes the col-
lection of paintings and sculp-
tures, entitled Cages Torn Open,
will deliver an environmental
message about conservation
and the damage wrought on the
country by deforestation.
The message is, please
dont destroy the forest as it
will kill the animals, she said
at her home studio in Phnom
Penh earlier this week.
Cambodias forest cover fell
from about 72 per cent in 1973
to 46 per cent in 2013, according
to Open Development Cambo-
dia data from December.
If animals live in the forest
and you cut down the trees, it
kills the animals, the artist said.
Chhans sculptures, which
are made from dark brown
clay, are moulded to resemble
the old, knotted wood of trees.
I think brown is the colour of
earth, clay and wood, so its the
colour of nature, she said.
One sculpture, entitled They
Took Everything is in the twist-
ed shape of a woman simulta-
neously displaying a smiling
face and swearing.
This woman is smiling
because she loves to protect
animals, but she also feels an-
gry, shes asking, why did you
kill my animals? Why did you
break my heart? said Chhan.
Another sculpture depicts a
human torso, in a T-shirt, with
a buffalo head. The details
are precise: each line, wrinkle
and spot on the beasts head
is shown around a pair of eyes
made from marbles.
Her brightly coloured paint-
ings show a diverse number of
animals in the Cambodian jun-
gle. One focuses on two lions,
huddling together while hands
reach down towards them from
the top of the painting wheth-
er to care or kill the beasts.
Chhan, who was born and
brought up in Phnom Penh,
said it was on a trip to rural Siem
Reap ve years ago that she was
struck by the abundance of
Cambodias natural beauty.
I saw all these birds and I felt
so impressed that my country
had these animals, she said.
She also added that she op-
poses the consumption of
rare species: Many animals
in Cambodia are endangered.
Something like a crocodile
there arent many left in Cam-
bodia, she said.
Chhan learned to draw, paint
and sculpt when she was 13
after an American neighbour
noticed her making shapes out
of clay in the street. The neigh-
bour, who turned out to be
an artist, told her mother that
Chhan should join his art class.
Chhan said her old teacher
still inspires her today, though
he doesnt exhibit his work.
As a more well-known inspi-
ration, she named Battambang
painter Oeur Sokuntevy.
Its important for us to work
together, so that we can grow
together as Cambodian art-
ists, she said.
Cages Torn Open opens to-
night at Meta House, #37 Sot-
hearos Boulevard at 6pm.
Artist Dina Chhans paintings merge human and animal features. PHOTO SUPPLIED
Getting to know South African wines and regions
IMAGINE for a moment describing all
French wine as French wine. It wouldnt
begin to give you a sense of the diversity of
what the country has to offer. Yet theres still
a tendency to refer to wines from new
world countries as South African, Argen-
tinian and Chilean, as if there were no
regional differences.
Granted, at the most basic level there
arent wines will be sourced from what-
ever fruit is available at a particular price
point but spend a bit more on a bottle
and you will be rewarded by the best of
what the country has to offer. In South
Africa, for example, it pays to be aware of
which regions do what well: Constantia,
Darling and Elgin are the key areas for sau-
vignon blanc, Hemel-en-Aarde for char-
donnay and pinot, Stellenbosch for attrac-
tively supple, bordeaux-style reds, and the
Swartland South Africas wild west for
syrah and chenin blanc.
Elgin is, I think, the most exciting or, as
one winemaker put it, the coolest area
in South Africa, and not just climate-
wise. To begin with, its sauvignons
seemed like a crude attempt to ape the
New Zealand style, with too much aspar-
agus and green pea character. Now,
though, producers are more confident,
letting grapes ripen longer and picking
later to get more complexity. Wines such
as the organic Elgin Ridge 282, which I
ordered recently in a restaurant, have real
elegance and finesse.
The best-known name in the region is
Paul Cluver, who also makes a good, if
slightly less refined sauvignon blanc under
the Ferricrete label and, in the same range,
a pretty, floral, off-dry riesling which works
particularly well with Asian-style salads
and noodle dishes.
I also discovered a gorgeously creamy,
burgundy-style chardonnay, the Ker-
shaw Elgin Chardonnay 2012, which is
made by an English-born master of
wine, Richard Kershaw. Unusually for
Naked Wines, it is worth the full amount,
but I do find the talk of wholesale
prices misleading check on wine-
searcher.com, as the wine may be
cheaper elsewhere. THE GUARDIAN
South Africas Elgin Valley, on the western cape about 70 kilometres from Cape Town,
may be the countrys coolest wine areas. AFP
Travel
18
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Travellers often
pressured to pay
up now or else
Travel businesses are notoriously impatient if a customer is believed to
have caused damage. BLOOMBERG
N
O ONE seems to
know how the TV
in Room 1018 of
the Plaza Resort in
New Orleans ended up with
several long, deep scratches
on the screen that made it
unwatchable. And if they do,
theyre not talking.
But heres what Michael
Chua, who occupied the
room at the time of the al-
leged damage, did know
when he contacted me:
Wyndham wanted him to
pay up immediately.
Chua, who works for a bro-
kerage rm in San Francisco,
had received an email from
Wyndham giving him 24
hours to accept its offer to pay
$300 for the scratches. Other-
wise, the hotel threatened to
charge his credit card double
the amount, which was the
cost of a new TV.
I did not damage their TV,
Chua says, and I will not
pay $300.
Ah, the pressure.
Although travel businesses
have a well-deserved repu-
tation for taking their time
with refunding our pur-
chases, they are less patient
when it comes to us paying
our bills. Car rental com-
panies are the best-known
examples of corporate impa-
tience, although airlines and
hotels are known to press
matters, too. Travellers rem-
edies are limited.
A Wyndham representative
said Chuas case was special
because hed launched a so-
cial-media campaign to per-
suade the company to stop its
collection efforts. Normally,
we give guests more time to
respond to a claim, a Plaza
spokesman said.
If you happen to damage
a rental car, companies are
less willing to wait. Consider
what happened to Robert Ce-
rulli when he rented a vehicle
from Enterprise in Connecti-
cut this year. The car was
covered with ice, dirt, salt and
sand, making it impossible to
see the colour of the vehicle,
let alone any kind of dam-
age, Cerulli says. When he
returned the car, an employ-
ee informed him the bumper
was damaged and handed
him a repair bill for $487.
They told me to pay or it
will go to collections and re-
ect negatively on my credit
report, he says. Cerulli paid
his bill, even though, he in-
sists, he didnt damage it.
Enterprise disputes Cerul-
lis account. Roger Van Horn,
vice president of corporate
loss control, says that its re-
cords show that it rented Ce-
rulli a clean car with no dam-
age, and that it didnt send
him a bill until eight days af-
ter his rental.
In the past, rental car com-
panies have routinely sent let-
ters to customers threatening
to send a bill to a collection
agency or to add the customer
to a do not rent list.
Today, you have to wait
for a damage collection spe-
cialist to go off-script before
receiving such a threat. But
thats exactly what David Til-
leman, a project coordinator
for a database company in
Boston, saw when he cor-
responded with a National
agent recently after the car
rental company tried to send
him a repair bill. When he
pushed back, a representa-
tive suggested he could suf-
fer broader consequences.
The claim could escalate
to the collections department
and you would be at risk to go
on the Do Not Rent list with
us, the employee wrote.
Tillemans company paid
the damage bill.
Neither Cerulli nor Tille-
man purchased damage-
waiver protection at the time
of their rentals. If they had,
neither of these claims would
have ended as they did, of
course. THE WASHINGTON POST
INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT SCHEDULE
FROM PHNOM PENH TO PHNOM PENH
Flighs Days Dep Arrival Flighs Days Dep Arrival
PHNOMPENH- BANGKOK BANGKOK- PHNOMPENH
K6 720 Daily 12:05 01:10 K6 721 Daily 02:25 03:30
PG 938 Daily 06:40 08:15 PG 931 Daily 07:55 09:05
PG 932 Daily 09:55 11:10 TG 580 Daily 07:55 09:05
TG 581 Daily 10:05 11:10 PG 933 Daily 13:30 14:40
PG 934 Daily 15:30 16:40 FD 3616 Daily 15:15 16:20
FD 3617 Daily 17:05 18:15 PG 935 Daily 17:30 18:40
PG 936 Daily 19:30 20:40 TG 584 Daily 18:25 19:40
TG 585 Daily 20:40 21:45 PG 937 Daily 20:15 21:50
PHNOMPENH- BEIJING BEIJING- PHNOMPENH
CZ 324 Daily 08:00 16:05 CZ 323 Daily 14:30 20:50
PHNOMPENH- DOHA( ViaHCMC) DOHA- PHNOMPENH( ViaHCMC)
QR 965 Daily 16:30 23:05 QR 964 Daily 01:00 15:05
PHNOMPENH- GUANGZHOU GUANGZHOU- PHNOMPENH
CZ 324 Daily 08:00 11:40 CZ 6059 2.4.7 12:00 13:45
CZ 6060 2.4.7 14:45 18:10 CZ 323 Daily 19:05 20:50
PHNOMPENH- HANOI HANOI - PHNOMPENH
VN 840 Daily 17:30 20:35 VN 841 Daily 09:40 13:00
PHNOMPENH- HOCHI MINHCITY HOCHI MINHCITY- PHNOMPENH
QR 965 Daily 16:30 17:30 QR 964 Daily 14:05 15:05
VN 841 Daily 14:00 14:45 VN 920 Daily 15:50 16:30
VN 3856 Daily 19:20 20:05 VN 3857 Daily 18:00 18:45
PHNOMPENH- HONGKONG HONGKONG- PHNOMPENH
KA 207 1.2.4.7 11:25 15:05 KA 208 1.2.4.6.7 08:50 10:25
KA 207 6 11:45 22:25 KA 206 3.5.7 14:30 16:05
KA 209 1 18:30 22:05 KA 206 1 15:25 17:00
KA 209 3.5.7 17:25 21:00 KA 206 2 15:50 17:25
KA 205 2 19:00 22:35 - - - -
PHNOMPENH- INCHEON INCHEON- PHNOMPENH
KE 690 Daily 23:40 06:40 KE 689 Daily 18:30 22:20
OZ 740 Daily 23:50 06:50 OZ 739 Daily 19:10 22:50
PHNOMPENH- KUALALUMPUR KUALALUMPUR- PHNOMPENH
AK 1473 Daily 08:35 11:20 AK 1474 Daily 15:15 16:00
MH 755 Daily 11:10 14:00 MH 754 Daily 09:30 10:20
MH 763 Daily 17:10 20:00 MH 762 Daily 3:20 4:10
PHNOMPENH- PARIS PHNOMPENH- PARIS
AF 273 2 20:05 06:05 AF 273 2 20:05 06:05
PHNOMPENH- SHANGHAI SHANGHAI - PHNOMPENH
FM 833 2.3.4.5.7 19:50 23:05 FM 833 2.3.4.5.7 19:30 22:40
PHNOMPENH- SINGAPORE SINGAPORE-PHNOMPENH
MI 601 1.3.5.6.7 09:30 12:30 MI 602 1.3.5.6.7 07:40 08:40
MI 622 2.4 12:20 15:20 MI 622 2.4 08:40 11:25
3K 594 1234..7 15:25 18:20 3K 593 Daily 13:30 14:40
3K 594 ....56. 15:25 18:10 - - - -
MI 607 Daily 18:10 21:10 MI 608 Daily 16:20 17:15
2817 1.3 16:40 19:40 2816 1.3 15:00 15:50
2817 2.4.5 09:10 12:00 2816 2.4.5 07:20 08:10
2817 6 14:50 17:50 2816 6 13:00 14:00
2817 7 13:20 16:10 2816 7 11:30 12:30
PHNOMPENH-TAIPEI TAIPEI - PHNOMPENH
BR 266 Daily 12:45 17:05 BR 265 Daily 09:10 11:35
PHNOMPENH- VIENTIANE VIENTIANE- PHNOMPENH
VN 840 Daily 17:30 18:50 VN 841 Daily 11:30 13:00
QV 920 Daily 17:50 19:10 QV 921 Daily 11:45 13:15
PHNOMPENH- YANGON YANGON- SIEMREAP
8M 402 1.3.6 13:30 14:55 8M 401 1.3.6 08:20 10:45
SIEMREAP- PHNOMPENH
8M 401 1.3.6 11:45 12:30
SIEMREAP- BANGKOK BANGKOK- SIEMREAP
Flighs Days Dep Arrival Flighs Days Dep Arrival
K6 700 Daily 12:50 2:00 K6 701 Daily 02:55 04:05
PG 924 Daily 09:45 11:10 PG 903 Daily 08:00 09:00
PG 906 Daily 13:15 14:40 PG 905 Daily 11:35 12:45
PG 914 Daily 15:20 16:45 PG 913 Daily 13:35 14:35
PG 908 Daily 18:50 20:15 PG 907 Daily 17:00 18:10
PG 910 Daily 20:30 21:55 PG 909 Daily 18:45 19:55
SIEMREAP- GUANGZHOU GUANGZHOU- SIEMREAP
CZ 3054 2.4.6 11:25 15:35 CZ 3053 2.4.6 08:45 10:30
CZ 3054 1.3.5.7 19:25 23:20 CZ 3053 1.3.5.7 16:35 18:30
SIEMREAP-HANOI HANOI - SIEMREAP
K6 850 Daily 06:50 08:30 K6 851 Daily 19:30 21:15
VN 868 1.2.3.5.6 12:40 15:35 VN 843 Daily 15:25 17:10
VN 842 Daily 18:05 19:45 VN 845 Daily 17:05 18:50
VN 844 Daily 19:45 21:25 VN 845 Daily 17:45 19:30
VN 800 Daily 21:00 22:40 VN 801 Daily 18:20 20:00
SIEMREAP-HOCHI MINHCITY HOCHI MINHCITY-SIEMREAP
VN 3818 Daily 11:10 12:30 VN 3809 Daily 09:15 10:35
VN 826 Daily 13:30 14:40 VN 827 Daily 11:35 12:35
VN 3820 Daily 17:45 18:45 VN 3821 Daily 15:55 16:55
VN 828 Daily 18:20 19:20 VN 829 Daily 16:20 17:40
VN 3822 Daily 21:35 22:35 VN 3823 Daily 19:45 20:45
SIEMREAP- INCHEON INCHEON- SIEMREAP
KE 688 Daily 23:15 06:10 KE 687 Daily 18:30 22:15
OZ 738 Daily 23:40 07:10 OZ 737 Daily 19:20 22:40
SIEMREAP- KUALALUMPUR KUALALUMPUR- SIEMREAP
AK 281 Daily 08:35 11:35 AK 280 Daily 06:50 07:50
MH 765 3.5.7 14:15 17:25 MH 764 3.5.7 12:10 13:15
SIEMREAP- MANILA MANILA- SIEMREAP
FLY DIRECT TOMYANMARMONDAY, WEDNESDAY &SATURDAY
YANGON- PHNOMPENH PHNOM PENH - YANGON
FLY DIRECT TOSIEMREAPMONDAY, WEDNESDAY &SATURDAY
SIEMREAP- YANGON YANGON - SIEM REAP
#90+92+94Eo, St. 217, Sk. Orussey4, Kh. 7 Makara, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Tel 023 881 178 | Fax 023 886 677 | www.maiair.com
REGULAR SHIPPING LINES SCHEDULES
CALLING PORT ROTATION
LINE CALLING SCHEDULES FREEQUENCY ROTATIONPORTS
RCL
(12calls/moth)
1 Wed, 08:00 - Thu 16:00 1 Call/week SIN-SHV-SGZ-SIN
2 Thu, 14:00 - Fri 22:00 1 Call/week
HKG-SHV-SGZ-HKG
(HPH-TXGKEL)
3 Fri, 20:00 - Sat 23:59 1 Call/week SIN-SHV-SGZ-SIN
MEARSK (MCC)
(4 calls/moth)
1 Th, 08:00 - 20:00 1 Call/week
SGN-SHV-LZP-SGN
- HKG-OSA-TYO-KOB
- BUS-SGH-YAT-SGN
- SIN-SHV-TPP-SIN
2 Fri, 22:00- Sun 00:01 1 Call/week
SITC (BEN LINE
(4 calls/onth)
Sun 09:00-23:00 1 Call/week
HCM-SHV-LZP-HCM-
NBO-SGH-OSA-KOB-
BUS-SGH-HGK-CHM
ITL (ACL)
(4 calls/month)
Sat 06:00 - Sun 08:00 1 Call/week SGZ-SHV-SIN-SGZ
APL
(4 calls/month)
Fri, 08:00 - Sun, 06:00 1 call/week SIN-SHV-SIN
COTS
(2 calls/month)
Irregula 2 calls/month BBK-SHV-BKK-(LZP)
34 call/month
BUS= Busan, Korea
HKG= HongKong
kao=Kaoshiung, Taiwan ROC
Kob= Kebe, Japan
KUN= Kuantan, Malaysia
LZP= Leam Chabang, Thailand
NBO= Ningbo, China
OSA= Osaka, Japan
SGN= Saigon, Vietnam
SGZ= Songkhla, Thailand
SHV= Sihanoukville Port Cambodia
SIN= Singapore
TPP= TanjungPelapas, Malaysia
TYO= Tokyo, Japan
TXG= Taichung, Taiwan
YAT= Yantian, China
YOK= Yokohama, Japan
AIRLINES
Air Asia (AK)
Room T6, PP International
Airport. Tel: 023 6666 555
Fax: 023 890 071
www.airasia.com
Cambodia Angkor Air (K6)
PP Ofce, #90+92+94Eo,
St.217, Sk.Orussey4, Kh.
7Makara, 023 881 178 /77-
718-333. Fax:+855 23-886-677
www.cambodiaangkorair.com
E: mai@royalaviationexpert.com
Qatar Airways (Newaddress)
VattanacCapital Tower, Level7,
No.66, PreahMonivongBlvd,
Sangkat what Phnom, Khan
DaunPenh. PP, P: (023) 963800.
E: pnhres@kh.qatarairway.com
MyanmarAirwaysInternational
#90+92+94Eo, St. 217,
Sk. Orussey4, Kh. 7 Makara,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
T:023 881 178 | F:023 886 677
www.maiair.com
Dragon Air (KA)
#168, Monireth, PP
Tel: 023 424 300
Fax: 023 424 304
www.dragonair.com/kh
Tiger airways
G. oor, Regency square,
Suare, Suite #68/79, St.205,
Sk Chamkarmorn, PP
Tel: (855) 95 969 888
(855) 23 5515 888/5525888
E: info@cambodiaairlines.net


Koreanair (KE)
Room.F3-R03, Intelligent Ofce
Center, Monivong Blvd,PP
Tel: (855) 23 224 047-9
www.koreanair.com
Cebu Pacic (5J)
Phnom Penh: No. 333B
Monivong Blvd. Tel: 023 219161
SiemReap: No. 50,Sivatha Blvd.
Tel: 063 965487
E-mail: cebuair@ptm-travel.com
www.cebupacicair.com
SilkAir (MI)
Regency C,Unit 2-4, Tumnorb
Teuk, Chamkarmorn
Phnom Penh
Tel:023 988 629
www.silkair.com
AIRLINES CODE COLOUR CODE
2817 - 16 Tigerairways KA - Dragon Air 1 Monday
5J - CEBU Airways. MH - Malaysia Airlines 2 Tuesday
AK - Air Asia MI - SilkAir 3 Wednesday
BR - EVA Airways OZ - Asiana Airlines 4 Thursday
CI - China Airlines PG - Bangkok Airways 5 Friday
CZ - China Southern QR - Qatar Airways 6 Saturday
FD - Thai Air Asia QV - Lao Airlines 7 Sunday
FM - Shanghai Air SQ - Singapore Airlines
K6- Cambodia Angkor Air TG - Thai Airways | VN - Vietnam Airlines
This ight schedule information is updated about once a month. Further information,
please contact direct to airline or a travel agent for ight schedule information.
5J 258 2.4.7 22:30 02:11 5J 257 2.4.7 19:45 21:30
SIEMREAP- SINGAPORE SINGAPORE- SIEMREAP
MI 633 1, 6, 7 16:35 22:15 MI 633 1, 6, 7 14:35 15:45
MI 622 2.4 10:40 15:20 MI 622 2.4 08:40 09:50
MI 630 5 12:25 15:40 MI 616 7 10:40 11:50
MI 615 7 12:45 16:05 MI 636 3, 2 13:55 17:40
MI 636 3, 2 18:30 21:35 MI 630 5 07:55 11:35
MI 617 5 18:35 21:55 MI 618 5 16:35 17:45
3K 598 .2....7 15:35 18:40 3K 597 .2....7 13:45 14:50
3K 598 ...4... 15:35 18:30 3K 597 ...4... 13:45 14:50
SIEMREAP- VIENTIANE VIENTIANE- SIEMREAP
QV 522 2.4.5.7 10:05 13:00 QV 512 2.4.5.7 06:30 09:25
SIEMREAP- YANGON YANGON- SIEMREAP
8M 402 1. 5 20:15 21:25 8M 401 1. 5 17:05 19:15
PREAHSIHANOUK- SIEMREAP SIEMREAP- PREAHSIHANOUK
Flighs Days Dep Arrival Flighs Days Dep Arrival
K6 130 1-3-5 12:55 13:55 K6 131 1-3-5 11:20 12:20
TV PICKS

12:30pm - WRECK-IT-RALPH: A video game villain wants
to be a hero and sets out to fulfl his dream, but his quest
brings havoc to the whole arcade where he lives. FOX
MOVIES
2:15pm - UPSIDE DOWN: Adam and Eden fell in love as
teens despite the fact that they live on twinned worlds
with gravites that pull in opposite directons. Ten years
afer a forced separaton, Adam sets out on a dangerous
quest to reconnect with his love. FOX MOVIES
4:05pm - TWISTER: Bill and Jo Harding, advanced storm
chasers on the brink of divorce, must join together to
create an advanced weather alert system by putng
themselves in the cross-hairs of extremely violent
tornadoes. FOX MOVIES
6pm - THE INTERNSHIP: Two salesmen whose careers
have been torpedoed by the digital age fnd their way
into a coveted internship at Google, where they must
compete with a group of young, tech-savvy geniuses
for a shot at employment. Stars Vince Vaughn, Owen
Wilson, Rose Byrne. FOX MOVIES
Entertainment
19 THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Thinking caps Thinking caps
ACROSS
1 Lost ones lap
6 Team letters?
10 Dotted-line instruction
14 Welsh canine
15 Its played in chukkers
16 Seabird
17 Beat swords into plowshares
18 Lodes output
19 Come back to earth
20 Disappearing booth contents
22 Small cosmetics case
23 Albanian money unit
24 Still on the auction block
26 Bridal wear
30 Something to talk about
32 Fit of chills and fever
33 Go no farther!
35 Military stations
39 Geological ledge
41 Broke a fast
42 Show mercy toward
43 Public boulevard
44 Copper-colored coin
46 Canal with a mule, in song
47 Acceleration sound
49 Give, as a job
51 Where it originally was
54 Everything
55 Wire service output
56 Type of Fender guitar
63 Bangkok citizen
64 One on a high horse
65 One of the strings
66 ___ go bragh
67 Homely citrus fruit
68 Samantha of the silver screen
69 Ladder segment
70 Dolls, mini-racers, etc.
71 Lake Geneva interrupts it
DOWN
1 Short, erect tail
2 Healthy muscle condition
3 Kind of history
4 Cruel person
5 Engaging smile feature
6 Frighten, as horses
7 Hardly new-looking
8 Away from the breeze
9 Hard-to-make decision
10 Gazing needs
11 The lovely, to Hesiod
12 Declare legally void
13 Altered completely
21 Terrycloth term
25 Bites lightly
26 Sound of fright
27 Turkish honorific (Var.)
28 Feels regret over
29 Airing on boob tubes
30 Carved pole
31 Accessible to everyone
34 Mexican lunch food
36 Draped Indian garment
37 High-school math course, briefly
38 As ___ on TV!
40 Bragg, for one
45 Chalky mineral
48 Production in general
50 Amistad, e.g.
51 Part of ICBM
52 Gandhi role
53 Country gallant
54 Zeus shield
57 Start of a conclusion
58 Easter symbol
59 Wistful exhalation
60 And miles ___ before I sleep
61 Lively spirit
62 Steak order
COMMON STARTER
Mondays solution Mondays solution

LEGEND CINEMA
BAD NEIGHBOURS
A couple with a newborn baby face unexpected
difficulties after they are forced to live next to a
fraternity house.
City Mall: 4:10pm, 8:15pm, 10:10pm
Tuol Kork: 11:35am, 3:35pm, 7:55pm, 10:10pm
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in
the modern world and battles a new threat
from old history: the Soviet agent Winter
Soldier.
Tuol Kork: 9:35am
RIO 2
Its a jungle out there for Blu, Jewel and their
three kids after theyre hurtled from Rio de
Janeiro to the wilds of the Amazon. As Blu tries
to fit in, he goes beak-to-beak with the vengeful
Nigel, and meets the most fearsome adversary
of all: his father-in-law.
City Mall: 9:15am
Tuol Kork: 5:30pm
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2
Peter Parker runs the gauntlet as the mysterious
company Oscorp sends up a slew of supervil-
lains against him, impacting on his life. With
Emma Stone.
City Mall: 9:25am, 11:15am, 1:55pm, 4:20pm,
7pm, 9:25pm
CINEPLEX CINEMA
BAD NEIGHBOURS
(See above.)
8:30pm
WALK OF SHAME
A reporters dream of becoming a news anchor
is compromised after a one-night stand leaves
her stranded in downtown LA without a phone,
car, ID or money - and only eight hours to make
it to the most important job interview of her
life. Stars Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, Gil-
lian Jacobs.
6:30pm
Cages Torn Open @ Meta
Ocial opening of the Cambodian Pride
Week Film Festival. The launch will
feature a video documentary of last
years event, as well as some short
lms about LGBT issues from
Indonesia, Malaysia, Denmark, Sweden,
Spain and Brazil.
Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard.
8pm.
Classes by a professional pilates
instuctor specialising in matwork,
small apparatus and studio. He
trained and taught for eight years in
Australia before moving to Cambodia.
Samata Spa, #54, Street 306. 5:30pm
and 6:45pm
NOW SHOWING
Head to Meta House tonight for the launch of the Cambodian Pride Week Film Festival. BLOOMBERG
Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn star as salesmen in
The Internship. BLOOMBERG
Pride Week opening
@ Meta House
Pilates @ Samata Spa
Tunes @ Riverhouse
The opening of a new exhibition by
artist Dina Chhan. The paintings and
sculptures reveal their Cambodian
creators interest in the relationship
between humans, animals and the
natural environment.
Meta House, #37 Sothearos Boulevard.
6pm
Resident DJs play popular dance tracks.
Special buy two, get one free deal for
cocktails and mixed drinks all night.
Riverhouse Lounge, corner of Sisowath
Quay and Street 110. 4pm
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13 , 2014 20
023 966878
Valuation
Investment Sales
Property Agency
Research & Consultancy
Project Marketing
Property Management

16B, 16
th
Floor Canadia Tower
315 Ang Duong Street, Sangkat Wat
Phnom, Khan Daun Penh, Phnom Penh,
Kingdom of Cambodia
Tel: +855 (0) 23 966 878
E-mail: enquiry@kh.knightfrank.com
www.knightfrank.com.kh

The worlds leading independent
real estate consultancy
ELEGANT FURNISHED 1BR
Apartment for rent : 1BR:$500/m,
locatedonst456near Russianmarket,
nice bedroom,big Living room, big
western kitchen, big gym room
Tel:089 36 32 06,
Email:Yim@sunnyresidentrealty.com
BRAND NEW FURNISHED 1BR
Apartment for rent1BR:$500-$550/
m,2BR:800/m,3BR:$1700/mlocated
near Russian marketserviced
include :wi,cable TV, Gym,cleaning
servies,parkingTel:089 36 32 06,
Email:Yim@sunnyresidentrealty.com
WWW.Sunnyresidentrealty.com
NICE HUGE GARDEN BALCONY
furnished 1Br Apartment for rent:
$400/m free wi,cleaning service, TV
laundry,car parking,security guard
24h Tel:089 36 32 06,
Email:Yim@sunnyresidentrealty.com
WWW.Sunnyresidentrealty.com
FURNISHED 2BR APARTMENT
for rent near Royal Palace,free wi
,cable tV,garbage collection security
guard 24h,1Bath,1 living room,1
kitchen Tel:089 36 32 06,
Email:Yim@sunnyresidentrealty.com
WWW.Sunnyresidentrealty.com
NICE FURNISHED 2BR
Apartment for rent located in Toul
Kork,free wi,TV security guard 24h
,car parking,cleaning 1kitchen,1
living room,2ba Tel:089 36 32 06,
Email:Yim@sunnyresidentrealty.com
WWW.Sunnyresidentrealty.com
MODERN FURNISHED
Apartment for rent Located near
Russian market,1BR:$550/m,
2BR:$800/m,1living room,1kitchen,
open Balcony Tel:089 36 32 06,
Email:Yim@sunnyresidentrealty.com
NICE HUGE BALCONY 1BR
Apartment for rent:$300/m free
wi,TV garbage collection ,on st 288
near Lucky Super market
Tel:089 36 32 06,
Email:Yim@sunnyresidentrealty.com
SWIMMING POOL APARTMENT
Rent Good Located in Daun Penh
Area - $900/M, 1Bedroom, 1Bath
- $1100/Month, 2Bedroom, 2Bath
- $1400/Month, 3Bedroom, 2Bath
Big Living room, Western Kitchen
New Full Furniture, 1Car Parking
Tel: 077 777 697 or 012 939 958
1/2BEDROOM APARTMENT
Rent near Independent Monument
Free Internet, TV Cable, Parking
- $500/month 1Bedroom, 1Bath
- $800/month 2Bedroom, 2Bath
Fully Furnished, and Balcony
Tel: 077 777 697 or 012 939 958
4BEDROOM NICE VILLA FOR
Rent $1800/M Tonle Basac Area
1Living room, 4Bedroom, 4Bath
Fully Furnished, Very good Place
for Resident and Quiet Place
Tel: 077 777 697 or 012 939 958

5BEDROOM NICE VILLA FOR
Rent $4500/M Located BKK1 Area
1Living room, 6Bedroom, 7Bath
Some Furniture, Very Good Place
Ofce or Resident, Quiet Place
Tel: 077 777 697 or 012 939 958
SERVICES APARTMENT FOR
Rent Brand New, Swimming Pool,
Gym Located 10 minute from BKK1
Ar -$750/m 1Bedroom, 1Bath
-$1050/month 2Bedroom, 2Bath
Big Living room, Western Kitchen
Tel: 077 777 697 or 012 939 958
RIVERSIDE APARTMENT FOR
Rent $600/M: Riverside & Palace
1Living room, 1Bedrooms, 1Bath
Western Style, Motor Parking
Fully Furnished and Big Balcony
Tel: 077 777 697 or 012 939 958
777 697
1BEDROOM APARTMENT FOR
Rent near Independent Monument
$500/Month 1Bedroom, 2Bath
1Living room and Nice Kitchen
Big Balcony and Fully Furnished
Tel: 012 939 958 or 077 777 697
VTRUST APARTMENT
Building 1 For RENT at monthly
price $275-$700, fully furnished,
24-hour receptionists, security
guards, backup power, elevator,
safe environment and security
camera Location: #37, ST. 111,
Boeung Brolit. 012 569 832
|012 944 191 | 012 912 651
VTRUST APARTMENT
Building 2 For RENT at monthly
price $620-$900, Fully furnished
1&2 bedrooms, living room,kitchen,
dining room, elevator, balcony & free
entrance to Sokhah Fitness Club.
Location: #31, ST. 113, Boeung
Brolit. 012 569 832 |
012 944 191 | 012 912 651
VTRUST APARTMENT
Building 3 For RENT, a fully
furnished 1 bedroom, nice river
view from your balcony, monthly
price $500 with free cleaning, inter-
net, water, cable TV, maintenance
Location: #112, St. Tonle Sap
(peninsular) 012 569 832
| 012 944 191 | 012 912 651
VTRUST APARTMENT
Building 4 For RENT, a luxurious
2bedrooms, living room, kitchen,
dining room, monthly price 1,040$,
free for internet, cleaning, water
& Entrance to Sokhah Fitness Club.
Location: #247, ST.51 St. 360,
BKK1 012 569 832| 012 944 191
| 012 912 651
NICE BIG TERRACE
apartment for rent spacious 3
beds - en-suit, available in BKKI
area, fully furnished big balcony,
huge balcony, western kitchen.
Price : $ 1300 per month.
Tel: 012 503 356
WESTERN APARTMENT FOR
rent 01-02 bed with bath, furnished,
clean, western kitchen, big living
room, big parking, brand new, and
safe Rent: $500-800 /m Location:
Near Russian Market
Tel: 012 503 356
BRAND NEW APARTMENT FOR
rent 01-02-3bedwithbath, furnished,
clean, western kitchen, big living
room, big parking, and safe Rent:
$1200-2000-4000 /m Location: BKKI
Tel: 012 879 231
NICE VILLA IN BKKI FOR RENT
07 bed with bath located in BKKI,
Basic furnished, clean, western
kitchen, big living room, big
balcony on the top.
Rent: $3500 /m
Tel: 012 879 231
WESTERN APARTMENT
for rent
01-02 bed with bath, furnished,
clean, western kitchen, big living
room, big parking, and safe
Rent: $900-1300 /m Location:
BKKI Tel: 012 503 356
LARGE APARTMENT FOR RENT
Beautiful 3 spacious bedrooms
located in BKKI area, big living
room open to the large balcony,
airyandplentyof light, fullyfurnished.
Price : 2000/m. 012 879 231
BRAND NEW ROOF TOP
swimmingApartment for rent located
in Toul Kork, 1-2-3BR:$$550-$700-
$800-$1200/m Tel:089 36 32 06,
Email:yim.chyvorn@yahoo.com
5BEDROOM NICE VILLA FOR
Rent $2500/Month in BKK3 Area
1Living room, 5Bed, 5Bath Fully
Furnished,
Tel: 077 777 697 or 012 939 958
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13 , 2014 21
WESTERN ROOFTOP POOL
Apartment for Rent LocatedinBKKI,
01&02&03bed, roof toppool andgym,
openlivingroom, fully andmodern
furnished, westernkitchen, nicebalcony,
safety area, goodconditionfor living.
Price: US1,200-US$1,800-$2,000/m
Tel: 092232623/081230000
www.towncityrealestate.com
MODERN APARTMENT FOR
Rent Located in BKKI, 01-02
bedrooms, Large living room, fully
and modern furnished, modern
kitchen, nice balcony, roof top gym,
very good condition for living
Price: US$1,200-US$1,400/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
WESTERN ROOFTOP POOL
Apartment for Rent Located in
BKKI, 02 bed, roof top pool & gym,
open living room, fully and modern
furnished, western kitchen, nice
balcony, wooden oor, very safety
area, very good for living .
Price: US1,000/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00

MODERN DESIGN APARTMENT
for Rent LocatedinRoseCondo, 12th
oor, 03 bed, open & large living
room, fully and modern furnished,
modern kitchen, lots of light, nice
balcony, nice pool & gym, very
good condition for living. $1,800 /m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00
BRAND NEW MODERN
Apartment for Rent Tonle Basac
01-02beds&Penthouse, real modern
interior designed, large living room,
very light, fully & modern furniture,
modernKitchen, roof toppool &gym,
Price: $1,200 2,000 and 3,500/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
MODERN APARTMENT FOR
Rent Located in south of Russian
Market, 01-02 bedrooms, large
living room, fully and modern
furnished, modern kitchen, lots of
light, nice balcony, very good condi-
tion for living, big parking.
Price: US$600-US$850/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00
WESTERN APARTMENT FOR
Rent Located in BKKI, 1-2-3
bedrooms, large living room, fully
and modern furnished, western
kitchen, very big balcony, very
quite and safety area, big parking
lots, good condition for living .
Price: $800-US$1,200-$2,000/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00
WESTERN SWIMMING POOL
Apartment for Rent Located in Wat
Phnom, 01&02&03 beds, very big
pool and gym, open living room,
fully and modern furnished,
western kitchen, nice balcony, very
safety area, very good condition for
living .Price: 900-$1,200-1,800/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00
COLONIAL STYLE APARTMENT
for Rent Located a long riverside,
02 bed, elevator, open living room,
fully and classic furnished, nice
kitchen, nice and big balcony, river
view, very safety area, very good
condition for living.Price: 1,800/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00

MODERN APARTMENT FOR
Rent Locatednear independent
monument, 02bedrooms, openliving
roomandkitchen, fully andmodern
furnished, very safety area, very quiet,
very goodconditionfor living.
Price: USD770/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00

RENOVATED-MODERN DESIGN
Apt For Rent On the riverside, 01
bed, large living room, fully &
modern furnished, western kitchen,
river view and on the high oor,
165sqm, very safe, the best location
for residence.Price: US$1,350/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com


MODERN DESIGN APT FOR
Rent North of Olumpic Market, 02
bedrooms, large living room, fully
and modern furnished, western
kitchen, very safe and quiet, the
best location for residence.
Price: US$450/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
MODERN DESIGN APT FOR
Rent Near Russian Market, 01-02
bedrooms, open living room, fully
and modern furnished, western
kitchen, very safe and quiet, the
best location for residence.
Price: US$600-US$1,050/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
BRAND NEW MODERN VILLA
For Rent In Bassak Garden City, 05
bed, large living room, very modern
designed, some furniture, western
kitchen, nice balcony, big parking
& playground,very safety, The best
location for residence. $4,500/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
WESTERN VILLA FOR RENT
In BKKI area, 03 bedrooms, large
living room, very clean, fully &
modern furnished, western kitchen,
very nice balcony, big parking, very
quiet & safe. The best location for
residence or ofce.Price: $3,500/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
MODERN SWIMMING POOL
Villa For Rent InNorthbridgearea, 05
bedroomsplus01officeroom, large
livingroom, very nicedesign, fully and
modernfurnished, very nicepool and
garden, westernkitchen, nicebalcony,
bigparkingandplayground, quiet &
safe. Price: US$3,000/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
TRADITIONAL WOODEN HOUSE
For Rent At Chhroy Changeva area,
river view, ground oor, 03bed-
rooms, fully furnished, very lights,
western kitchen, very safety and
quite, very nice garden, very good
condition for living.Price: $1,700/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
TRADITIONAL WOODEN HOUSE
for Rent In Tonle Bassak area, 2 bed
, real wooden design, very big and
open living room, western kitchen,
very nice garden, big parking
and play ground, very good for
residence and ofce, very quiet and
safety area. Price: US$2,200/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00

MODERN SWIMMING POOL
Villa for Rent Located in Toulkork
area, 05bed, large living room, very
nicedesign,fullyandmodernfurnished,
very big pool & garden, western
kitchen, nice balcony, big parking
and playground, quiet & safe.
Price: $3,500/m Tel: 092 23 26 23
MODERN VILLA FOR RENT
In Bassak Garden City, 04 bed,
large living room, very nice design,
fully & modern furnished, western
kitchen, nice balcony, parking &
playground, quiet & safe. the best
location for residence. $3,500/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
SMALL VILLA FOR RENT
In Tonle Bassak area, 04 bedrooms,
large living room, traditional
design, somefurnished, nicekitchen,
big parking and playground, quiet
& safe. The best location for
residence. Price: US$1,500/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
MODERN VILLA FOR RENT
In BKK3 area, 07 bedrooms, large
living room, modern design, some
furnished, western kitchen, big
parking and playground, quiet &
safe. The best location for
residence and ofce.Price: $2,800/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
MODERN LINK HOUSE FOR
Rent In Bassak Garden City, 03
bedrooms, large living room, very
nice design, fully and modern fur-
nished, nice kitchen, quiet & safe.
the best location for residence.
Price: US$1,600/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
2ND FLOOR VILLA FOR RENT
Located in Daun Penh area (close
to Independent Monument), 02 bed
, large living room, very nice design,
some furnished, nice kitchen, quiet
& safe. balcony &trees,
Price: $1,000/m per sqm.
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00

WESTERN STYLE VILLA FOR
Rent In Beoung Keng Kang I (BKKI)
, 04 bed, large living room, fully fur-
nished, western kitchen, garden &
trees, big parking and playground,
very safe, the best location for
residence.Price: $4,500/m
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00

TRADITIONAL VILLA FOR RENT
In Beoung Keng Kang I (BKKI), 05
bedrooms, large living room, some
furnished, western kitchen, garden
and trees, big parking and play-
ground, very safe, the best location
for residence and residence.
Price: US$3,300/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00

TRADITIONAL VILLA FOR RENT
In Beoung Keng Kang I (BKKI), 04
bedrooms, large living room, some
furnished, western kitchen, trees,
playground, very safe, the best
location for residence.
Price: US$2,000/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
BRAND NEW FACTORY FOR ]
Rent Phnom Penh Thmey area
(on main street), Size: 1500 - 2500
sqm, electricity and water are
connected, very standard quality,
good environment, very easy to nd
workers... Price: US$4/sqm
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
OFFICE BUILDING FOR RENT
Located a long Norodom Blvd, 100
to 1700 sqm, big parking lot, big
elevator, big staircase, 24h security
and many facilities around.
Price: US$10 - $14/m per sqm.
Tel: 092 23 26 23/ 081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
OFFICE BUILDING FOR RENT
LocatedalongNorodomBlvd, 400
sqm, parkinglot, bigelevator, big
staircase, 24hsecurity andmany
facilitiesaround.
Price: US$15/monthper sqm.
Tel: 092232623/ 081230000
www.towncityrealestate.com

BRAND NEW FACTORY FOR
Rent Near Prey Sor Area (Factory
zone), Size: 4800sqm, electricity
and water are connected, very big
land, possible for trucks access,
very easy to nd workers...
Price: US$1.8/sqm
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com

WHOLE BUILDING FOR RENT
Located a long Monivong Blvd, 05
stories ,building size: 12m x 28m,
very good for Bank, ofce, school,
hospital, showroom...
Price: US $15,000/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/
081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
BRAND NEW FACTORY FOR
Rent Near Prey Sor Area (Factory
zone), Size: 4800sqm, electricity
and water are connected, very big
land, possible for trucks access,
very easy to nd workers...
Price: US$1.8/sqm
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
BRAND NEW FACTORY FOR
Rent A long road No 03 (Factory
zone), Size: 5600 sqm, electricity
and water are connected, very
standard quality, very easy to nd
workers... Price: US$1.7/sqm
Tel: 092 23 26 23/081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
GROUND FLOOR SPACE FOR
Rent In BKKI (Near Brown Coffee),
very good for ofce, showroom and
other business purpose.
Price: US$1,200/month
Tel: 092 23 26 23/
081 23 00 00
www.towncityrealestate.com
22 THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Sport
Sville volleyballers set
for Leo Cup finals stage
HUN Sen Smach High School I
smashed their way to victory in
the Sihanoukville qualifiers of
the 2014 Leo Cup of volleyball
on Sunday after blitzing Trapang
Lapov High School 3-0 in the
final played at the Sea Dragon
Club. Both sides will progress to
the finals stage of the third
edition of the competition, at a
Phnom Penh venue and date to
be confirmed. The Sihanoukville
leg was the second in series of
five preliminaries that next head
to Kampong Cham for games
on June 3-8. Battambang (June
17-22) and Siem Reap (July
15-20) events will conclude the
provincial phase. As winners on
Sunday, Hun Sen Smach I
collected a $450 cash prize
while runners-up Trapang
Lapov went away with $250.
Kampot Club claimed third for
$200 while Two Lions Club
made $100 for fourth. CHHORN
NORN, TRANSLATEDBY CHENGSERYRITH
Birthday boy Kittel
savours Giro double
GERMANYS Marcel Kittel
celebrated his 26th birthday
with his second successive Giro
dItalia stage win on the final
day of the race in Ireland on
Sunday. The Giant-Shimano
rider had to come from a long
way back to pip British rider
Ben Swift of Team Sky after the
187m third stage from Armagh
to Dublin. In a sprint finish for
the line Italys Elia Viviani
crossed third after 4hr 28min
43sec in the saddle. We tried
to do the sprint preparation
pretty early today [Sunday],
said Kittel, who collapsed to the
road just beyond the finish,
exhausted after an effort he
described as more like an
attack than a sprint. AFP
St Louis shines on
Mothers Day game
AN EMOTIONAL Martin St
Louis scored a goal and was
chosen first star as the New
York Rangers beat Pittsburgh
3-1 on Sunday to force game
seven in their NHL playoff
series. Right-winger St. Louis
and Carl Hagelin scored within
a three-minute span early in
the game, while Henrik
Lundqvist made 36 saves, as
the Rangers levelled the
second round series with the
Penguins at 3-3. St Louis was
playing with a heavy heart on
Mothers Day as his mom,
France, passed away last
Thursday. He flew his father
and sister from their home in
Montreal to New York to watch
Sundays game at Madison
Square Garden. AFP
Pacers rally to put
Wizards on the brink
PAUL George and Roy Hibbert
combined for 43 second half
points as the Indiana Pacers put
the Washington Wizards on the
brink of elimination with a 95-92
win on Sunday. The Wizards led
by 19 points in the third quarter
and appeared to be en route to
levelling the best-of-seven NBA
playoff series when the wheels
fell off in the second half. George
tallied 28 second-half points for
the Pacers, who lead the
Eastern Conference series 3-1.
Meanwhile, Darren Collison
scored 12 of 18 points in the
fourth quarter as the Los
Angeles Clippers rallied for a
101-99 win over Oklahoma City
to knot their series at 2-2. AFP
Sterling says
hes sorry for
racist remarks
L
OS Angeles Clippers owner
Donald Sterling has offered his
rst public apology for racist
remarks that saw him banned
for life from the NBA.
Two weeks after the NBA banned
him from all league activities, ned
him $2.5 million and began proceed-
ings to strip him of his team, the 80-
year-old real estate billionaire insisted
hes not a racist.
Im not a racist, Sterling told CNNs
Anderson Cooper in an interview aired
yesterday. I made a terrible mistake.
Im here to apologise.
The interview, excerpts of which
were posted on CNNs website, marks
Sterlings rst public comments on the
scandal since celebrity gossip website
TMZ posted a 10-minute audio record-
ing of him that sparked a restorm in
the league and beyond.
In the recording, Sterling is heard
chastising his girlfriend for associating
with black people and bringing black
people to Clippers games.
The response was swift and erce in
the NBA, a league in which the major-
ity of players are black.
The affair resonated outside of sports
in a country that continues to grapple
with racial issues.
Almost 20 sponsors severed or sus-
pended ties with the team, and NBA
commissioner Adam Silver was widely
applauded for his tough stance.
On Friday, the NBA named Richard
Parsons, the former chairman of me-
dia giant Time Warner and Citigroup,
as interim chief executive of the Clip-
pers as the league pursues efforts to
oust Sterling.
Such a move would require the ap-
proval of 75 per cent of the other 29
team owners.
Although its thought the Clippers
would sell for upwards of $600 million,
Sterlings past history of litigation has
prompted speculation that he would
resist selling in what could be a bitter
legal battle.
In his interview with CNN, Sterling
did not take a combative stance, but
the longest-tenured owner in the NBA
he bought the Clippers for $12 mil-
lion in 1981 made it clear he wants to
stay in the league.
Im a good member who made a
mistake and Im apologising and Im
asking for forgiveness, Sterling said.
Am I entitled to one mistake, am I
after 35 years? I mean, I love my league,
I love my partners. Am I entitled to one
mistake? Its a terrible mistake, and Ill
never do it again.
However, the scandal has prompted
scrutiny of past accusations that Ster-
ling discriminated against black, His-
panic and Korean tenants at some of
his rental properties.
Sterlings estranged wife, Shelly
Sterling, was a co-defendant in two
lawsuits that alleged discrimination,
and the future of the Clippers is fur-
ther clouded by her stated determina-
tion to maintain her ownership stake
in the team.
In an interview with ABC News Bar-
bara Walters airing on Sunday night,
Shelly Sterling says she will absolute-
ly ght to keep her stake in the team.
However, NBA spokesman Mike Bass
responded with a statement outlining
the leagues position that her owner-
ship interest would be terminated
along with her husbands.
Under the NBA Constitution, if a
controlling owners interest is termi-
nated by a 3/4 vote, all other team
owners interests are automatically
terminated as well, Bass said.
It doesnt matter whether the own-
ers are related as is the case here.
These are the rules to which all NBA
owners agreed to as a condition of
owning their team.
Clippers coach Glenn Doc Riv-
ers is just one NBA figure who has
said it would be better if neither of
the Sterlings have an ownership role
with the team.
Hall of Famer Earvin Magic John-
son, attending the Clippers home
playoff game against Oklahoma City,
said players wouldnt play for Shelly
Sterling.
The players denitely wouldnt
like it, everybody would boycott,
Johnson told an ABC television inter-
viewer. AFP
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling said he had made a terrible mistake in issu-
ing racist insults to his girlfriend, while Dick Parsons has been named as interim CEO. AFP
Martin Kaymer wins Players Championship
MARTIN Kaymer survived a
late double-bogey to win the
US PGA Tours prestigious
Players Championship at
Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida
on Sunday by one stroke over
Jim Furyk.
Kaymer notched his first
title worldwide since he won
the Nedbank Golf Challenge
in South Africa on December
2, 2012, coming up with three
clutch pars to close out a one-
under par 71 for a 13-under
total of 275.
Its always difficult to come
back after a little break, but
obviously you see the leader-
board, you see where you are,
but I played really, really well
the first 14 holes, Kaymer
stated.
I made a couple wrong
decisions [after the weather
delay]. On 16, I should have
chipped it. It was not the right
decision, but that was a big
putt on 17.
The victory in the $10 mil-
lion tournament was just the
second of Kaymers career on
the US PGA Tour to go with
his major triumph at the 2010
PGA Championship.
The former world number
one from Germany had a
three-shot lead and was lining
up a putt at the 14th when
players were called off the
course because of lightning in
the area.
When play resumed, with
officials hoping to get the
tournament finished before
darkness f el l , Kaymer
promptly found himself in
trouble with a double-bogey
six at the 15th.
Furyk, meanwhile, came
back from the break to wrap
up a six-under 66 for a 12-un-
der total of 276.
With his lead down to one-
shot lead, Kaymer was unable
to birdie the par-five 16th, but
he kept his nose in front with
a 28-foot breaking putt to save
par at the par-three 17th and
parred 18 in near darkness for
the win.
Sergio Garcia, the 2008
champion, closed with a
2-under 70 to grab third
place on 11-under-par 277
on the Stadium Course at
TPC Sawgrass.
Reigning US Open cham-
pion Justin Rose of England
carded a three-under 69 to
gain a share of fourth place at
10-under.
He was tied with rising US
star Jordan Spieth, who went
into the final round tied with
Kaymer for the lead by posted
a two-over 74 in the final round
to join Rose on 278.
I feel like Im hitting decent
putts and theyre not going,
Spieth said. All that I can
attest that too is maybe not
focusing as much on making
it and focusing more on where
Im at.
So thats something Ill have
to sit back and look at. I just
didnt have the magic with the
short game.
Before the round was over
one thing was already decided
Tiger Woods will still be world
number one next week.
Woods was unable to
defend his title at TPC Saw-
grass as he continues to
recover from surgery to ease
a pinched nerve.
In his absence, Australias
world number two Adam
Scott, number three Henrik
Stenson of Sweden, Masters
champion Bubba Watson and
fellow American Matt Kuchar
all had a mathematical chance
of toppling Woods, but none
got that job done.
Scott had the best chance,
needing a top-16 finish, but
he fell well short and his final-
round 73 saw him tied for 38th
when he completed his
round.
However, Scott is still pro-
jected to move to number one
in the coming weeks.
Its weird, Scott said. You
want to do it playing well and
getting good results, but its
just the way our system is.
But its also not the biggest
focus for me at the moment.
Im trying to play some good
golf and get myself ready to
play the next big event. AFP
Martin Kaymer of Germany celebrates after making a long par putt on
the 17th green during the nal round of the Players Championship. AFP
Football
THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
23
Draws leave Atletico,
Barca set for final battle
ATLETICO Madrid wasted the
chance to seal their first title in
18 years at home but will travel
to face Barcelona next weekend
with La Liga title on the line
after both sides were held to
draws on Sunday. Barcelona
could only draw 0-0 at Elche and
Atletico were held 1-1 at home
by Malaga, so Barca still trail
Diego Simeones side by three
points with a game to go. The
Catalans will be champions with
a win next Sunday thanks to a
better head-to-head record.
Meanwhile, Real Madrids
challenge is over, though, as
they were beaten 2-0 away to
Celta Vigo. Their sole focus now
is the Champions League final
against Atletico in Lisbon on
May 24. AFP
Randy Lerner puts
Aston Villa up for sale
ASTON Villas American owner
Randy Lerner intends to sell
the club, he said yesterday.
Lerner took control of the
English Premier League side
in 2006 after a 62.6 million
takeover ($105.7 million) that
saw him buy out the
Birmingham teams
longstanding former owner,
Doug Ellis. I owe it to Villa to
move on, and look for fresh,
invigorated leadership, if in my
heart I feel I can no longer do
the job, Lerner said in a
statement. Villa struggled in
the 2013-14 season, finishing
15th in the Premier League,
just five points above the
relegation places. AFP
Leaving Cole out was a
hard call, says Hodgson
ROY Hodgson has described
leaving Ashley Cole out of his
World Cup squad as one of the
hardest decisions of my career,
after breaking the news in a
telephone call that prompted
the defender to announce his
retirement from international
football. Cole informed the
England manager he had no
intention of going on the standby
list after losing his place to the
18-year-old Luke Shaw in a
23-man squad that will also
feature Ross Barkley instead of
Michael Carrick, placing a heavy
emphasis on younger players.
Coles 107 caps put him fifth in
Englands all-time appearances
list, but Hodgson told the
33-year-old he was preparing a
squad that also had the 2016
European Championship in
mind and planned to use
Leighton Baines as his first-
choice left-back, with Shaw in
reserve because of his
outstanding performances for
Southampton. THEGUARDIAN
Liverpool slips allow City to
succeed United as champs
M
ANCHESTER Uniteds
dramatic disintegration
during the 2013-14 Pre-
mier League season cre-
ated a power vacuum that produced
one of the most fascinating English
title races in recent memory.
While United toiled under Alex
Fergusons ill-fated successor David
Moyes, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool
took it in turns to lead the table, before
Manchester City galloped up on the
rails to outank them all.
Playing tribute to his side, who also
won the League Cup, City manager
Manuel Pellegrini said: They always
believed what I told them about how I
wanted to play and how I think football
should be.
The title was just reward for a team
whose cavalier attack plundered
102 goals and dealt crushing defeats
to United, Arsenal and Tottenham
Hotspur among others but it took
Liverpool to collapse for City to tri-
umph. With three games remaining,
Liverpool led the table and had a rst
title since 1990 in their sights, after a
scintillating run of 11 straight wins that
captured the imagination of the coun-
trys football fans.
Liverpools spring surge coincided
with the 25th anniversary of the Hills-
borough stadium disaster, in which 96
of the clubs supporters died. But the
tide of emotion could only carry them
so far.
Instead, an untimely slip by captain
Steven Gerrard enabled Demba Ba to
score the opening goal for Chelsea in a
2-0 win at Aneld and when Liverpool
then blew a 3-0 lead in a 3-3 draw at
Crystal Palace, the game was up.
It was a bitter blow for 33-year-old
Gerrard, who, with cruel irony, had
been caught on camera rallying his
teammates after their 3-2 win over
City in April by crying: This does not
slip now!
For all manager Brendan Rodgerss
protestations that it was a mistake
that can happen to anyone, the sight
of Gerrard vainly scrambling to his feet
as Ba raced away from him will be the
image that denes the season.
Chelseas victory at Aneld con-
rmed that manager Jos Mourinho
remains the games arch tactical coun-
ter-puncher, but he had to settle for a
third-place nish in his rst season
back at Stamford Bridge.
Arsenal, meanwhile, qualied for the
Champions League for the 17th sea-
son running and can end a nine-year
trophy drought by beating Hull City in
Saturdays FA Cup nal.
The rst half of the season had
promised even more, however, as a
side stimulated by the club-record ac-
quisition of Mesut Ozil and inspired
by the sensational form of Aaron
Ramsey surged to the top of the table,
only to fall away.
Only three points separated fth-
place Everton and sixth-place Tot-
tenham Hotspur at the seasons end,
but their supporters emotions were
worlds apart.
While Everton won plaudits for the
exuberance of their football under new
coach Roberto Martinez, Spurs failed
to challenge for a top-four place de-
spite spending over 100 million ($169
million) on new players.
Andre Villas-Boas was sacked as
Spurs manager in December after a
5-0 home defeat by Liverpool and his
successor Tim Sherwood nished the
campaign harbouring grave doubts
about his own job security.
But nowhere was there more tur-
moil than at Old Trafford, where the
post-Ferguson era proved to be one of
acute trauma.
Beaten 12 times in the league seven
times at home defending champions
United nished the season in seventh
place, which was their lowest placing
since 1990 and means that they will
not play in Europe next term.
After bucking with tradition by
sacking Moyes in late April, they are
now expected to ask experienced
Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal to
steady the ship.
There were surprise success sto-
ries elsewhere, with Southampton
and Stoke City overachieving, while
Tony Pulis masterminded a startling
transformation at struggling Crystal
Palace, who nished the season in
11th place.
Sunderland also enjoyed the fruits
of a mid-season managerial change,
as Gus Poyet led the club to safety
from the foot of the table, but other
trigger-happy club owners had less
luck. Cardiff City, Fulham and Nor-
wich City all succumbed to relega-
tion after ring their managers, with
Fulham going through no fewer than
three head coaches in Martin Jol,
Rene Meulensteen and Felix Magath.
While 31-goal Liverpool striker Luis
Suarez put a troubled previous cam-
paign behind him to become the
seasons outstanding player, Nicolas
Anelka and Alan Pardew emerged as
the villains of 2013-14.
Troublesome French striker Anelka
left West Bromwich Albion after being
banned for ve matches for perform-
ing the quenelle a gesture associated
with anti-Semitism while Newcastle
manager Pardew was hit with a seven-
game ban for headbutting Hull mid-
elder David Meyler. AFP
Sundays Results
Cardiff 1 Chelsea 2
Fulham 2 Crystal Palace 2
Hull 0 Everton 2
Liverpool 2 Newcastle 1
Man City 2 West Ham 0
Norwich 0 Arsenal 2
Southampton 1 Man United 1
Sunderland 1 Swansea 3
Tottenham 3 Aston Villa 0
West Brom 1 Stoke 2
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany (centre) lifts the Premiership trophy as his teammates celebrate winning the league on Sunday. AFP
Why always me? asks Fantasy League winner
Dan Riley
THE Premier League roller-
coaster has finally come to rest
after another thrilling season
of ups and downs, with Man-
chester City cruising to a sec-
ond title in three years.
Liverpool were metaphori-
cally left kicking themselves
for letting things slip in the
closing games, but few can
deny the cool composure of
Pellegrinis Sky Blues when it
really mattered.
In the dramatic battle for
overall supremacy of the Cell-
card Fantasy League, Sabina
Lawreniuk and her team Why
always me? on 2,483 points did
enough to see off the unremit-
ting challenge of Matt Culiss
PPFC by a mere six points.
Paul Sts Kamplerng Thom
produced a late surge to claim
third with 2,441 points.
Ms Lawreniuk becomes the
second female manager to tri-
umph from the five editions of
our annual competition run to
date, following Brenda Wades
win in 2012, when City also last
topped the league.
Along with the undeniable
bragging rights over her fellow
fantasy managers, Sabina also
scoops the top prize of a 3.5G
iPad, SIM card and T-shirt
from sponsors Cellcard.
Sabina played it safe in the
final week, sticking with a cap-
tain of Luiz Suarez for just 4
points but also fielding Man
Citys Samir Nasri for 11
points.
As expected, Suarez was the
campaigns biggest points
scorer with an incredible total
of 295, in main part due to his
30 league goals and 25
assists.
Yaya Toure of Man City was
another leading light on 241
points, while Liverpools Ste-
ven Gerrard and Chelseas
Eden Hazard grabbed 202
points a piece to signify their
fine form throughout.
Gameweek 38 threw up
some more moments to
savour, with Arsenal defender
Carl Jenkinson being the sur-
prise leaders of the Dream
team with 15 points thanks to
his goal and clean sheet at
relegation-bound Norwich.
Yen Maos team Pa-Lee_Mey
was thrust to the summit of
the weekly chart with a total of
86 points. However, his occu-
pation as a TV sports present-
er at CTN means he is ineligi-
ble to claim the spoils.
They therefore fall to Yong
Monghak with his team
Hakchester United on 81
points. Yaya Toure as skipper
for 12 points and other selec-
tions such as Gerrard (11),
Man Citys Vincent Kompany
(13) and Swanseas Wilfried
Bony (12) were enough to
secure the win for Monghak,
and its rewards of a $20
phone voucher and T-shirt
from Cellcard.
All that is left to do now is
enjoy the summers FIFA
World Cup tournament and
see what superstars emerge
for consideration in next sea-
sons Cel l card Fantasy
League.
Spanish La Liga
Athletic Bilbao 1
Real Sociedad 1
Espanyol 1 Osasuna 1
Getafe 1 Sevilla 0
Granada 0 Almera 2
Real Betis 4 Real Valladolid 3
Italian Serie A
Atalanta 2 AC Milan 1
Bologna 1 Catania 2
Cagliari 0 Chievo 1
Livorno 0 Fiorentina 1
Sampdoria 2 Napoli 5
Sassuolo 4 Genoa 2
Torino 1 Parma 1
Roma 0 Juventus 1
SUNDAYS RESULTS
International Friendly
Germany v Poland 1: 45am
TONIGHTS FIXTURE
24 THE PHNOM PENH POST MAY 13, 2014
Sport
Hamilton holds off Rosberg
Paul Weaver

L
EWIS Hamilton has been
anointed the 2014 Formula
One world champion by Niki
Lauda, after the British driv-
ers victory in the Spanish Grand Prix.
And Lauda, the Mercedes teams
nonexecutive chairman, said he is
happy to see warfare between Ham-
ilton and his teammate Nico Rosberg
but only after the constructors
championship has been secured.
Hamiltons fourth straight victory
on Sunday, after he fended off a late
charge from Rosberg, put him ahead
in the world championship for the
rst time since 2012. He leads Ros-
berg by three points, after four wins
out of ve.
If Rosberg looked dejected after
once again nishing second best to
Hamilton, he probably felt worse a
short time afterwards. First, he lis-
tened to Hamilton as he explained
how he was struggling, and losing
time, and how he would have to nd
it in Monaco. Then the three-times
world champion Lauda said: I would
not know anybody today who could
beat Lewis in the same car, because
hes unbelievable.
Lewis Hamilton is unbeatable.
Its very simple to say. Because hes
getting better and better every race,
he makes no bloody mistake what-
soever and hes very focused. You
cant beat the guy.
Nico tried every trick today to
get him. And he did a good job, but
he couldnt pass him. Lewis is out-
standing at this moment.
But wouldnt Rosberg nd this as-
sessment a little discouraging, Lauda
was asked? No, he said. Nico is
aware at what level Lewis is driving at
because they both drive the same car.
And Nico will continue to bite, which
for me is most important. Because
if Nico keeps on pushing himself to
beat Lewis, both cars will go quicker.
Nico was pushing like crazy to
save the tyres in the middle section
of the race to be ready for the attack
at the end. He did a very clever way
of driving, but the race stopped two
or three laps too early. He would
have got him, but not when the race
was nished.
It must have felt a little like Bahrain
for Rosberg, who was placing Hamil-
ton under increasing pressure when
the chequered ag was waved. The
two drivers were on different strate-
gies, with Rosberg on the faster tyre
for the closing stages of the race.
It was a close thing in the last cou-
ple of laps, when Rosberg cut Hamil-
tons lead to less than a second, get-
ting within DRS range. But Rosberg
made a small mistake on turn 10
and Hamilton, despite complaining
about graining, held on.
Lauda then explained his view
about the highly competitive racing
between his two drivers. My strategy
is very simple. We let them drive from
the beginning to the end. So far, noth-
ing happens. I wish that this contin-
ues to a point in the championship
where there is no third guy [no other
competitor for the championship].
Then Im completely relaxed.
Then they can drive over each
other, and whoever is surviving is
the world champion. This is my
dream. I want them to throw ev-
erybody off and then there is no
enemy. And then its really going to
be warfare. Hamilton went danger-
ously close to condescension when
he said: Nico did a fantastic job. He
was very quick. I struggled to keep
him behind and was grateful I was
able to. I think I have a bit of work to
do over the next few weeks.
Rosberg was left to contemplate
the poor starts that have plagued
his recent runs. He said: The start
was unfortunately poor. It is a bit of
a weakness I have at the moment.
Three bad starts in a row and that
has cost me. It is not good and we
need to work on that. I wasnt close
enough but with one more lap I
would have been. Im a bit gutted.
Hamiltons rst victory in Barcelo-
na, his 26th in all, places him along-
side four other British drivers Jim
Clark, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill
and Jenson Button who all won
four in a row.
Third-placed Daniel Ricciardo was
almost 50 seconds behind Hamilton,
a measure of the work facing Red
Bull, though Sebastian Vettel did
well to get up from 15th to fourth.
Red Bulls team principal, Chris-
tian Horner, tried to seek out the
positives.
The 49-second gap is a little ar-
ticial because we lost a lot of time
behind Williams and it is about
managing tyres to the end of the
race, he said.
When we had clear air, we de-
nitely moved closer. There is some
way to go, but we are denitely a bit
closer. It is a signicant gap to over-
come, but we have taken a step ahead
of the Ferraris and the rest.
There were no positives for McLar-
en. After winning two podium places
in the rst race in Australia, they have
now failed to score a point for three
races in a row, and that has not hap-
pened for ve years. THE GUARDIAN
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton (left) wins as teammate Nico Rosberg crosses the nish line at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday. AFP
Nadal looks for Rome lift-off after Madrid mastery
RAFAEL Nadal will continue
his Roland Garros prepara-
tions with a final major tune-
up at the Rome Masters this
week, an event where he has
been champion in four of the
past five years.
The Spanish world number
one proved that his game is
heading back to its lethal best
as won the Madrid title when
Japans Kei Nishikori quit trail-
ing 2-6, 6-4, 3-0 with back pain
on Sunday.
After surprise quarterfinal
defeats on his favoured clay this
spring in Monte Carlo and Bar-
celona, Nadal will be pleased to
travel to Italy as a winner.
He comes to the Foro Italico
with a yearning to make more
history by claiming a ninth tro-
phy at the French Open start-
ing May 25.
Nadal begins play in Rome
against either Frenchman
Gilles Simon or Italian Filippo
Volandri.
Nadal did himself a favour
with his Madrid success,
ensuring that he will hang on
to the top ranking for another
week heading into Paris. The
Spaniard will begin his 32nd
week in a row at number one
and 134th overall.
He is making his 10th straight
Rome appearance, winning a
record seven titles from eight
finals for a 41-2 career record at
the venue.
He is also more optimistic
about his chances over the rest
of the season.
I am 28 in a few weeks time.
How many years have I been on
the tour? 12? Thats a lot. But Im
where I am. Im competing for
tournaments and I feel well
physically, said Nadal.
Im feeling better and better
physically, better than a year
ago. This is the most important
thing. I still feel fortunate for
doing what Im doing.
Novak Djokovic, who with-
drew from Madrid to let a
right wrist injury properly
heal, returned to Rome with
new coach Boris Becker in tow
and immediately hit the prac-
tice courts.
The second-seeded Serb
opens against Czech veteran
Radek Stepanek in his opener.
Two-time champion Djoko-
vic lifted the Rome title in 2008
and 2011 while losing finals in
2009 and 2012 to Nadal.
Australian Open and Monte
Carl o winner Stanisl as
Wawrinka takes the third
seeding and will work to come
good after his opening loss in
Madrid a year after playing
Nadal in that final.
New father of twins Roger
Federer, seeded fourth, is due
to make a late decision on his
participation.
If he starts, the Swiss will
begin in the second round
against Jeremy Chardy, who
defeated Robin Haase 6-4, 6-4.
Madrid semifinalist David
Ferrer is seeded fifth, ahead of
Tomas Berdych, number seven
Andy Murray and Canadian
Milos Raonic, a first-round
loser a year ago who stand 0-3
on the Roman clay.
The top of the womens draw
remains a question mark, with
top seed and holder Serena Wil-
liams hoping to be fit after with-
drawing from the Madrid quar-
terfinals due to a left thigh
injury that required a heavy
strapping all week in Spain.
I am planning to play in
Rome. Fortunately, I have a
bye next week so will have an
extra day of rest, said Wil-
liams. I will take it one day at
a time and take advantage of
some extra rest.
The American would open
against either Swiss Romina
Oprandi or Germanys Andrea
Petkovic in the second round.
Seeded second in a duplicate
of the Madrid lineup is Chinas
Li Na, a 2012 losing finalist to
Sharapova.
Polands Agnieszka Radwan-
ska takes the third seeding
ahead of Romanian Simona
Halep, the runner-up to Shara-
pova in Madrid. Czech Petra
Kvitova is seeded fifth ahead of
Serb Jelena Jankovic.
Sharapova has become a
major force on clay after win-
ning Madrid to follow up her
Stuttgart title from last month
and remains an undefeated
11-0 on the surface this
spring. AFP
Spains Rafael Nadal celebrates after winning a point during his Madrid
Masters mens singles nal match against Japans Kei Nishikori. AFP