CAMBODIA AS IT IS

Good Food and a Big Hassle

2012-02-17T00:52:00.000-05:00

I needed to go to Vietnam to check on my boat that I had ordered with a Vietnamese company. The deal in Sihanoukville (see post) hadn’t worked out as the partners there had a falling out and broke up. Anyway, we set out from Sihanoukville to Kep where we wanted to spend the night so we could cross into Vietnam at the Prek Chak/Xa Xia checkpoints in the morning and make the trip to An Bien on the coast all the way in the south, west of vast Mekong delta and back in one day.

Since we were passing Bokor we decided to make our way up on that new road. Here is what it looks like now up there.

The old administration building

Entrance to the old royal retreat

The Royal Villa

Old and new administration buildings

Without barrier into the abyss?

The old casino being renovated - no more spooky now

What's this doing there?

The new casino - sure fits into the scenery

The top of Bokor mountain

Kampot from above

Kep as always showed its charming side. There has been a lot of new developments in the area since I was there last about 18 months ago. As opposed to somewhat grungy Sihanoukville Kep looks really nice and clean. Too bad it doesn’t have a sandy beach. We found a new hotel/guesthouse, the Reaksmey KrongKep, at the western end of the beach road. It’s a typical Khmer guesthouse; still clean and right on the ocean. At $25 a good deal.


New Statue at the western end of the beach road

New bungalow hotel - located towards the main market

As everyone knows Kep is famous for its fresh crab and we definitely wanted to sample that. So at dinnertime we did just that. We had grilled fish and a stir-fried crab with different spices. I am not going into a food review here – I am not into that. Let it suffice to say it was excellent. The food came right out of the ocean onto our plate, so to speak. It can’t get any fresher than that.

Keeping the crabs fresh

The crabbers come to your restaurant and sell it right out of their pod.

Fishermen with their fresh catch - right onto your plate.

Good sized squid.

The next morning we started on our way to the border via Kompong Trach. The road from there to the border is supposed to be paved now, but far from it. It’s still a packed dirt road. Actually the reason I am writing this post is to inform people about certain particularities when crossing into Vietnam. Cambodians don’t need a visa. The can enter Vietnam for one month with a valid passport. Now here comes the catch. That passport needs to be valid for another 6 months. This is a rule the Vietnamese immigration authorities introduced a while back. Sure enough, my wife’s passport expires in July 2012 and the Cambodian border police told her, ‘No go.’ So after some longish discussions the Cambodians let her pass to check with the Vietnamese whether they would let her in. She came back after 20 minutes and $10 lighter. So like always, virtually nothing is really impossible in this part of the world. The reasoning behind this rule remains a mystery to me, though. Why do you need a remaining validity of 6 months when are only allowed in for 1 month? Everywhere else, internationally, you need to have 3 months left on your passport – for unforeseen events. The problem, however, was that this haggling set us back more than an hour.

Right in the middle of the no-man’s land a Vietnamese company had built a huge hotel/casino - an ugly structure like you can find them all over Cambodia these days. We had hoped to hire a taxi there but none was around. So off we went on a motodup to Ta Hien. They dropped us off at the bus station. The bus to Rach Gia, near our destination and about 90 km away, was going to take 2 ½ hours. At $10 not exactly a steal when you compare it with the $7 for a ticket from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville in an air-conditioned coach. No air condition in that Vietnamese jalopy. We lost another half hour until we found a taxi. If you thought now that taxi ride was going to be much faster you are in for a disappointment. First, the driver kept saying he cannot go faster than the speed limit, which is 40 in towns and 80 on the highway. Additionally, this is one endless stretch of villages and towns with few cars on the road but even more motorcycles than in Cambodia. He did make it in one hour forty five minutes but we needed to use a ferry to cross one of rivers which took 20 minutes.

The trip back took even longer because when we left the boat yard it was 4 o’clock in the afternoon already. So we were right smack in the rush hour everywhere. At around 6 o’clock and about 50 km from the border our driver sort of in passing informed us that the border closes at 7. We got all jumpy after that piece of news and pushed the driver to step on it. Hey, this is Vietnam and not Cambodia. People seem to be somewhat more disciplined in traffic than here. He never went faster than 70. Also the van was a stick-shift and he shifted into 4th or even 5th at speeds of about 30. You can imagine what kind of acceleration you get this way.

But you won’t believe it. We made it to the border crossing at exactly 6 minutes before seven. The buildings looked suspiciously dark, though, and there was a long line of motorcycles and small trucks waiting. These were the local people that can cross without any documents. We walked up to the barrier and to our dismay found out that the border closes at 6, not at seven. We implored the border officers to just let us through, what’s the big deal. They said, ‘No stamp, no entry.’ Who needs a stamp? Well, the bureaucracy does. So, frustrated, here we were stuck in sight of our car but we couldn’t get across. To his credit, the officer phoned his superior asking whether he could let us pass. Fat chance. So off to a hotel, which surprisingly in this neck of the woods had high-speed internet.

As a former travel professional, of course, these things must happen to me, exactly like the one time when I had forgotten my passport when going on a trip abroad. But then, I was in the travel/hospitality business over 20 years ago.So traveler be informed, all smaller border crossings operate from 8 am to 6 pm. Only Bavet/Moc Bai is open until 8 pm. However, better check again before you go on your trip.

Cambodians Rude?

2012-01-07T03:47:00.001-05:00

I have been meaning to write this post for a while but for lack of time didn’t get around to it. Recently I saw a comment on another board on this subject which reminded me to finally hit the keyboard (funnily enough I wanted to write ‘put pen to paper’; but this is a thing of the past, now, isn’t it?).

Basically, what prompted me to ponder this subject was the traffic in Phnom Penh. Everybody who has ever ridden a motorbike, not to mention a bicycle, or driven a car around town knows what I am talking about. Despite the obvious chaos on the streets, it somehow seems to work nonetheless. People disregard red lights and just barrel across intersections, and make it across alive; cars turn willy-nilly without regard to anybody else on the street. Motorbikes regularly block lanes; cars change lanes never looking in their rear-view mirror, etc. etc. The list is endless. In the West, people would kill if they saw such traffic behavior. In Cambodia, people seem to shrug it off with typical Asian stoicism.

Of course, the whole traffic situation would not be so bad if motorbike riders just observed the most fundamental of traffic rules. I am not talking about the law on the rules of the road, and such, but rather about common sense. When I see these people on their motorbikes, I can’t help but think that many of them must have a death wish, or maybe, a large part of the population has a genetic defect. They can’t wait the additional 30 seconds for the light to change; they must hurry across as if they risked missing a very important appointment, at the same time risking their lives.

Let the other car cross ahead of you? No way, they just stare ahead ignoring everything around them and inch their way across the intersection. Now is this rude? In my mind, it is. I mean, it doesn’t make me mad; I only shake my head in wonderment.

This is the wedding season. Wedding ceremonies usually last three days. I don’t really envy the bride and groom because that ceremony is really hard on them. They start at 5 o’clock in the morning. And how they start. The keep the music blaring and the priest’s chants at high volume on the loudspeakers so nobody can really miss it. People also seem to enjoy shrieking sounds because in many cases the loudspeakers are of such poor quality that the sounds emanating from them make you cringe.

It might be a good wake-up call for people who have to get up early but what about the ones that can sleep to 7 or even 8 o’clock? Never mind, they should know that a daughter or a son in the neighborhood is getting married, right? What did they do before there were loudspeakers?

This does not just happen with weddings. If there is a death in the family, although the prayers are different, the set-up is the same. They put up a tent and the wailing sounds of the priests, mostly recorded, wake up the people at 5 o’clock. I mean you can’t mourn at 10 am, right? The relatives talk about the life of the deceased over those loudspeakers – their form of eulogies; I am sure the neighbors are all interested in that. And this also goes on for three days. But not enough, after 7 days there is another day of open mourning, starting at 5 o’clock in the morning. Thankfully, it is only for one day.

Ok, ok, I know this is the local custom. I also know people do things early in the morning because the day’s heat hasn’t arrived yet. But those loudspeakers, thanks to the invention of tapes, CDs, etc., blast their sounds into the neighborhood throughout the day.

The same applies to parties, whether it’s a house warming, a family-reunion, whatever. Everything has to be so loud so you can hear it miles away.
But there is a good side to all these parties and ceremonies. They usually stop at 10 o’clock at night. Hardly ever have I come across one that lasted longer than that, perhaps 11 o’clock once. Of course, people have to get up at 5 o’clock so they can attend one those ceremonies.

Another feature of modern Cambodian life is Karaoke (thank you Japan). As long as it’s in a KTV parlor, who cares? But many people keep one of those things at home and hold regular Karaoke parties. At full blast, that goes without saying, to make sure the neighbors can hear how they can’t hit the right notes.The more the evening advances the shriller the voices become. A pure joy to listen to.

Way back when I came to Cambodia first I didn’t live in a house but stayed at hotels in the city. The dogs I saw on the streets were all of the mangy stray-dog type. I got the impression that Cambodians don’t really care much for dogs since I also knew that a lot of people eat them.

But now with the newfound affluence of certain segments of Cambodian society they keep pet dogs, sometimes also guard dogs, which in the face of the high rate of burglaries and other crimes is understandable. It appears, though, as if many people just buy a dog, keep it fed, and then just leave the dog to its own devices. The dogs see someone walking by the property – well, that must be a potential burglar and they start barking away. It must be a signal for all the other dogs in the neighborhood because all of a sudden they all start barking and howling. During the day, it’s not so bad as there aren’t a lot of people walking around. But come evening, they engage in a virtual barking concert. In gated communities, the guards make their regular rounds during the night. You should just hear the racket that causes. And wait when there is a full moon!

People also seem to think it’s good to let their pets wander around the neighborhood scavenging from trash bins, knocking them over so the contents spill all across the street. Well, it makes it so much easier for the rats.

And lastly, as I mentioned before, people get up early to avoid the day’s heat for certain things. Some private schools keep really early hours, state schools start at 7. Most private schools run a shuttle service. Sometimes, this leaves the kids with some time while they are waiting for the van to pick them up. Kids being kids, they play a game of some sort, whether it’s kicking the ball, or engage in a running competition or whatever. They are just having fun. Needless to say, they don’t do this quietly. Hey, it’s 5:30, 6 o’clock already. Who’s still in bed at this time? It also seems to be the time when everybody, not only the kids, are in their most communicative mood; they way talk about (what? their dreams?) out on the streets.

Now don’t think it’s any quieter on weekends. Fathers use the early hours to spend some quality time with their little kids on the streets at 6 o’clock in the morning.

Now come 8 o’clock everything is quiet again. Exactly at a time when I usually get up. Sometimes I am thinking maybe I should change my routine and sleep during the day while it is quiet.

Now can all this be called rude? Well, it for sure is a high degree of inconsiderateness, if not outright rudeness. For people who put so much value on saving their face it certainly appears somewhat unbecoming to display this kind of behavior.

On the other hand, Cambodians are traditionally very friendly (to foreigners too), hospitable, helpful, and, yes, courteous. And this is not only to your face but it is part of their nature. So why this inconsiderateness and sometimes outright rudeness? I guess it has to do with their recent past. Culture and civility was eradicated during the Pol Pot years, and the ensuing Communists didn’t pay much heed to civility either. After all, they were a peasant and worker state. So civility which is usually also a sign of a better education still has to take hold in Cambodian society – by and large, at least. In the meantime, personally, I will just have to get away to my countryside retreat more often.

Natural Rubber and the Euro Crisis Revisited

2011-11-28T00:05:00.000-05:00

The Phnom Penh Post reports the PM announced that Cambodia will set up a rubber production and export promotion policy in view of increased global demand of the commodity.

The Mong Retthy group even has 2,000 ha of rubber plantation in Sihanoukville province, an area that has hitherto not been deemed ideal for growing rubber trees. Of course, you can plant rubber trees in many types of soil. You just might have to fertilize more heavily.

Mong Retthy also said that such policy would improve the sector very fast. Currently there are about 182,000 ha of rubber trees, both mature and immature, in Cambodia. The official goal is to increase that area to 300,000 ha by 2020.

Mak Kim Hong, president of Cambodia Rubber Association and owner of Chhub Rubber Plantation in Kampong Cham province, said a rubber export goal could attract more investment.

Those statements Mong Retthy and Mak Kim Hong make absolutely no sense to me. In fact, they are complete nonsense. You can set cultivating and export goals, which in itself is fine. But how these goals would improve the sector is something he would need to explain; and how it could attract more investment is also something that lacks any foundation.

Setting goals may expand the area of rubber plantations, as it has done over the past few years, but whether it improves it is highly doubtful. A look at plantations, both producing and maturing, will sometimes paint a different picture. A country attracts investment, regardless of industry, with favorable investment parameters, e. g. tax breaks, special incentives, etc., that are beneficial for the investor and, more importantly, if the investment will earn a nice return.

People cultivate a crop, e. g. rice, as there is local and international demand for it. You can’t practically go wrong with rice as a basic staple for the majority of the world population, notwithstanding the recent flooding of huge areas of rice paddies. Of course, the same goes for rubber. Cambodia has been a rubber producing country since French colonial days. Along with the avowed emphasis on agriculture as one of the main sectors rubber was once again included in official policy as a major product.

The increase in rubber plantations was immense over the last 3 – 4 years; from about 80,000 ha to about 182,000 ha now. Especially Vietnamese and some Chinese companies came in and obtained huge land concessions for rubber plantations. Local smallholders turned to rubber as well, seeing it was official policy and second it was a profitable undertaking. However, that last part is open to debate.

I refer to my post about the Euro crisis and Rubber Prices below. Since then prices have dropped to $3,400/mt for the equivalent of CSK5L on the Malaysian Rubber exchange. A price level we last saw in March of 2010. The difference then was that prices were on an upswing that culminated in over $5,000/mt whereas now that mark was now hit on the downswing; and there seems to be no end in sight.

Prices for CSK5L on the Malaysian Rubber Exchange for November 2011

It is exactly these wild fluctuations that can make or break an entire sector. All of a sudden, people that have invested in a rubber plantation find themselves in the unenviable position of having no return on their investment. After all, they had to wait for 6 years before they could even produce some cash flow. If the downward spiral of prices continues as in the past month that cash flow will be negative.

The following graph for smaller plantations illustrates this, although I very much doubt many a smallholder, and I am sure even some of the larger operators, will realize this. This is based on an investment of $5,000/ha, a production of 1.3 mt /ha p. a., and expenses including operation, amortization, capital expense, but no owner’s benefit. Values are in US dollars except for price/kg, which is in KHR. Naturally, prices for latex are understood to be average per year.

As we can see the breakeven point is at about KHR 7,000, if prices drop to KHR 4000 per kg the owner is losing big time. And it is not that we didn’t have this before. 2008/9 is still in vivid memory. Then prices dropped even below that KHR 4,000/kg.

If the investment is $10,000/ha because of higher land prices and with a medium production the picture looks like this.

It should be noted, though, that the above examples apply to plantations that were started from scratch, with purchase of land, clearing, planting, etc. The whole scenario is radically different if you look at the purchase of a working plantation or one on concession land.

If the investment is $20,000/ha for a working plantation of a little older trees and higher production the picture looks like this.

I will look at the parameters for concession land in a later post.

Looking at the news coming out of Europe, one is inclined to think that the same thing will happen again. What got the ball rolling was first Ireland, then Portugal, then Spain, and finally the worst case of all that in disturbing clarity – Greece. But now Italy is in the crosshairs, and even France is struggling to keep its stable standing in the financial world. Germany, the European powerhouse, with its stubborn chancellor is unwilling to do more than what has already been decided, which leads to great insecurity in the financial markets. The Hang Seng index hasn’t seen positive territory this entire month, it’s a permanent up and down in all the other major markets. Why? Because the signals coming from the European governments aren’t clear enough to make the markets gain confidence to buy their bonds. US banks got rid of their European exposure at the first sign of trouble there. Nevertheless, an unresolved Euro crisis will have its ramifications in the U. S. economy just as much as in Europe proper, with the Asian economies following as most of the Asian products end up on those markets.

I am asking again, ‘Why would this have any effect on rubber prices?’ On the one hand, it is understandable. If countries cannot finance their debts, austerity measures will have to be even stricter, possibly leading to a recession, which many economists predict will happen anyway. Recession means industry output decreases, and rubber will be affected by this as demand drops off. (This is a somewhat simplified explanation.) On the other hand, although nothing concrete has happened that would signify a decrease in demand, the fear of financial markets nevertheless provokes this rollercoaster ride. After all, China’s economy, the largest buyer of natural rubber, still hums along at over a 9% growth rate. Even Cambodia’s economy is set to grow by more than 5%. (If prices continue to decline the PM might have to correct his estimate.) So why do we rubber plantation owners have to suffer from this? Because we are at the bottom of the food chain. Speculators dictate the prices of stocks and commodities. As these speculators feel uncomfortable with what is going on in Europe, they get out of financial instruments that might threaten their profits. Rubber at this point in time is just a victim of the machinations of the financial markets – collateral damage, so to speak.

What we all, both big and small rubber operators here in Cambodia, can only hope for is a clear signal that the Euro zone will not break apart, that those practically bankrupt countries, e. g. Italy, Spain, and Greece, will be put on a safe footing, however that is accomplished, and that financial markets again gain confidence to buy those European government bonds. This coming week France and Germany will submit a plan of the financial restructuring of the Euro zone. Hopefully, this will send this long awaited signal and lead to some buoyancy in the market and thus at least stop the decline of rubber prices.

All this, however, leaves most Cambodian politicians and plantation owners unfazed. They see a marked increase in rubber plantations, and that’s enough for them to be optimistic. That this could come crashing down any time seems to elude them completely. Even the garment sector, not to mention tourism, would be exposed to this if this were to happen. Plantation owners are completely oblivious to what’s going on in the world. I thought maybe they would now be more amenable to lower their prices. But they still want a hefty $22,000/ha for a plantation that won’t produce for another year or so.

Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do when the cops catch you?

2011-11-26T01:43:00.000-05:00

Rith (name changed), an elderly 65-year-old gentleman, was afflicted by a syndrome that no longer allowed him to drive a car himself. It had gotten so bad that at one point he had an attack of dizziness while driving and had to stop in the middle of the street. He was completely oblivious to the fact that just at that very moment the PM’s motorcade was coming down that street. The bodyguard details immediately suspected some sinister plot and approached the stopped car with drawn guns. Finding no plot to kill the PM, they swiftly moved the car to the curb and the motorcade proceeded. This happened a little over two years ago.

Since his condition didn’t improve, he decided to hire a driver. He owned one of those Mercedes S320ies at the time. The driver seemingly was a professional who had worked for an Okhna as driver/bodyguard. All these two years everything went well. There were no problems with the man, and obviously he thought that when Rith changed his car to a Lexus LX470 that improved his stature as well. (The Mercedes was too prone to breakdowns what with road conditions in Cambodia.)

A month or so ago, Rith decided to sell his Lexus as he just didn’t see why he would have to spend more than $25 a day on gas alone, and that was for driving in the city only. I occasionally used that Lexus with driver myself to drive into the countryside with business associates and easily spent $200 on gas. He decided to go for a smaller more reasonable car and got a 2007, you guessed it, Camry. Mind you, this car is not bad at all and it is the car of choice in Cambodia. At $27,000 it was a bit on the expensive side, but what can you do as long as the Cambodian government thinks high import duties and luxury taxes of a cumulative 115.325% are appropriate.

The driver, though, seemed to think that was beneath him and quit his job claiming he was busy with his family’s farm in the countryside. Rith hired a new driver but being a suspicious person didn’t quite trust him. In the end, he called the original driver and asked him back. After all, he had been reliable and trustworthy the past two years.

So one day recently he sent him to one of those Cambodian car washes. When the driver didn’t come back after some 40 minutes, he tried to call him but couldn’t get through. The phone was turned off. Now being the suspicious man that he is he had had GPS tracking system installed in all his cars; so the Camry had one too. He quickly checked it on his laptop and to his surprise found that the car was nowhere near on its way to him but was going in the direction of the Ministry of the Interior. The next thought was, ‘That guy is stealing my car.’ He called someone of his family who picked him up, followed the car, and drove him there immediately. He arrived just at the moment when a police officer was about to hand over money for the purchase of the car.

‘What are you doing with my car here?’ To which the police officer replied that the driver was selling it to him for $12,000. ‘Hey, this is my car.’ He produced his registration and ID-card. They promptly arrested the driver.

Now here is where the whole story gets a little murky. The police obviously wanted to pay in Khmer currency. So $12,000 is about KHR 48,000,000 and that’s quite a bundle. On top of it, it was fake money.

Rith was wondering whether the police had entrapped the guy by posing as potential buyers. Because there must be something wrong if somebody wants to sell a 2007 Camry for a paltry $12,000 in Cambodia. On the other hand, the police might sure have a way of producing a new set of ownership documents with which they could re-sell the car either here or ship it to Vietnam. From what I hear smuggling cars into Vietnam is still going on as unabated as in the 1990ies. There is no way of knowing what was behind it, or how the driver just happened to contact or know this police officer.

What now followed was the typical Cambodian dance. The police said if you want to bring charges, we need to keep the car. However, if you want to take it home right now, you need to compensate us for time and effort with $3,000. Whaaat???

Rith has family members working at the Ministry of Interior. Infuriated, he told them the story but they said, ‘Uncle Rith, calm down, bargain it down to $1,000, and be done with it. Because if you don’t they will keep the car as evidence, as they have every right, file formal charges against the driver, and it might take weeks before you see that car again.’ At his age, he had seen a lot and knew, of course, that was the way things operate in Cambodia. So he reluctantly started negotiating and they arrived at $1,500 in fees. He declined to file charges against the driver because that would exactly have entailed that interminable legal process.

So, bad boys, even when the police catch you that doesn’t mean you go to jail (although the driver spent one night in police custody). By good fortune or lucky circumstances, you just might go free despite the (attempted) crime.

The next day, when Rith picked up his car and the driver was released, the driver, his wife, and his child prostrated themselves before him and asked for forgiveness. Will he have learned a lesson?

When I heard this story I was flabbergasted. The driver knew the car had a GPS system installed. Although he probably thought that Rith was a frail old man now who wasn’t really agile both mentally and physically any more, he also knew that Rith was not without connections in the higher government hierarchy. Nevertheless, he tried to steal that car. Perhaps he was desperate for money, or in his mind the opportunity was too good to pass up. We won’t know. As for the police, if you aren’t a really big wheel this is how they work. And a big wheel’s driver probably won’t dare steal his car anyway, now will he?

The Proposed Budget Boycott

2011-11-17T04:46:00.000-05:00

After some rather quiet time, the SRP is back in the news. I have been wondering about this, the more so as Sam Rainsy made an announcement in Paris a while back, in which he accused Bun Rany and Hun Sen of murder. Back in 1999, a very popular singer/actress was gunned down in broad daylight. Hun Sen was reputedly having an affair with her and, according to L’Express - a French newsmagazine, his jealous wife hired killers to put an end to the affair. Hun Sen was supposedly complicit in this. It should be noted, however, that there was never any concrete evidence. L’Express published allegations and assumptions, but could not provide any hard proof besides a diary. This latest accusation by Sam Rainsy did not make the headlines in Cambodia. Let sleeping dogs lie?

But now Sam Rainsy made another announcement that drew the PM’s ire. The SRP would boycott the budget deliberations and not even vote on it. It certainly is their right to boycott or not vote on it, but perhaps they should take another lesson in civics. They claim to be the only democratic party in Cambodia but seem to be rather ignorant of the role of an opposition party.

Last time I looked in other truly democratic countries, an opposition party’s function is to make opposite views heard in the forum of a parliament and in the media, put forth alternative solutions and resolutions, introduce laws they think are appropriate, and then vote on it. If they can’t get a majority to pass it, that’s too bad, but those are the rules by which parliaments work. Of course, if you only have 24 seats out of 120 there is practically no chance that you will ever get a majority for any proposal you introduce. But this is also a democratic principle. I can understand that they are pretty frustrated with all this, though.

Again, I grew up and lived in democratic countries, and had intensive civics lessons in school. If a party doesn’t like what’s going to be introduced as a law or in this case the budget, you vote against it. You do not show your displeasure by boycotting it in parliament. This is not a fundamentally democratic action. Either you are an MP or you should just not run or resign. SR wants to make the European parliament aware of the situation in Cambodia, reiterating the government’s mismanagement of funds, the prevailing corruption, and the generally dismal state of affairs in Cambodia. But at the same time, this party has not formulated one viable alternative plan or concept to bring about change in Cambodia. Time and again, they point at corruption at all levels of government as the greatest woe afflicting this country. No doubt it is prevalent, widespread, and probably unabated, never mind the office of the Anti Corruption Unit. Their work is the proverbial drop in the bucket. But boycotting parliament will not stamp out corruption, and trust me, the Europeans along with the U. S. definitely have different worries than looking at Cambodia to see whether the opposition party plays its democratic role or just flails its arms to make wind.

What I don’t understand is that this would provoke a constitutional crisis. Seven SRP MPs have resigned or will resign their seat under a party rotation policy. Parties in other countries have tried that too only to find out that it is not really workable. Given the SRP’s role in Cambodia, it is probably negligent in the great scheme of things. But those seats will be filled with party members from a list. Even if there were to resign at the time of the passage of the national budget, they CPP would still have their majority to pass it. The Assembly still has 120 seats, even if some seats are vacant. At the constituting session of this legislature, it had 120 elected members. If a party does not fill the seat it won at the election, it will just remain vacant.

It also appears somewhat nebulous how Sam Rainsy interprets the constitution. I believe he needs to take a few more civics lessons or at least consult with a competent constitutional attorney before making such, in essence, ridiculous announcements. Of course, thin-skinned Hun Sen as so oftern lost it and lashed out against him before analyzing the situation. It would not have been worth mentioning at all, just like the accusations he leveled at Hun Sen and his wife in Paris. These accusations sealed SR’s political fate in Cambodia once and for all. He is out of it, whether he realizes it or not. He seems to keep his head in the clouds not seeing that besides irritating Hun Sen from time to time, he is no longer a factor in Cambodian politics. Maybe that is why he comes forward with those half-baked pronouncements. Hasn’t he read the U. S. embassy cables dealing with him? You don’t have to be pro-CPP to be against Sam Rainsy and some of his party stalwarts. It is time that the good members leave the party and form their own new party that will have appeal to a broader base, similar to the SRP in its early days. It is time for Md. Mu Sochua to seriously think about this. Her talents are pretty much lost in that party. I am sure there are other intellectuals, emphasis on intellectual not business interests, that would find a home in that new party.

The Euro crisis and Rubber Prices

2011-10-27T07:12:00.003-04:00

Anybody reading world news, especially on the economy, hasn’t seen one day go by without new disturbing headlines about the fate of the Euro, the Euro zone, and the consequences for the world economy.

This has been dubbed the second financial crisis; the first being the bursting of the real estate bubble in the U. S. (As it happens I was a victim of that bust as real estate prices plummeted to a level below the actual value, which came at a time when I was selling my house in Florida. Instead of pocketing a nice profit, I had to make do with just a fraction of that.) Anyway, the second financial crisis, although in part directly connected to the real estate bubble in the U. S., has been brought on by governments in the Euro zone overspending, which led to some countries having more debt than their GDP, e. g. Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and the most notorious of them all – Greece. Ireland’s banks were heavily involved in U. S. real estate. Some of them had to be bailed out by the government. Portugal and Spain had their own real estate bubble that could only burst as well, as all bubbles eventually will. Italy doesn’t know how to manage money to begin with – how can a country that has had 50 governments in 50 years ever properly administer itself? Greece, with no notable industry besides tourism, an overblown bureaucracy, a non-existent tax collection system, no administration to speak of, and where the public sector comprises 80% of the economy, submitted to the seduction of easy money and loaned money left and right to maintain an opulent life-style, as it would be termed for private individuals.

All countries have in common that their governments issued bonds to finance the big holes that had opened up in their economies - Ireland, Portugal, and Spain for bailing out their banks and Italy, which so far has not needed any help yet, for overspending in the public sector. I don’t want to go into any more detail here. If interested you can always find more in the big international newspapers – both off and online.

Now what does all that have to do with rubber prices? Well, what you read in the papers is that the ‘market’, in other words the ‘speculators’, immediately reacts to any news. Over many years, I have been following this with dismay. It had come to such a point that when there was even the slightest hint of a problem in the Middle East oil prices would jump up within a minute. One could even think that the news when some Middle Eastern potentate so much as broke wind the markets would react. It could be the Middle East, it could be China’s impending cooling of its economy; the reasons are as manifold as there are imaginative financial instruments.

Now for the past 18 months it has been the crisis of the Euro zone. Economists fear that when the rich European nations, mainly Germany and France, bail out their ‘poorer’ co-members, they would overextend themselves and cause the failure of their banks with catastrophic consequences not only for their economies but also for the world economy altogether. Adding fuel to the fire are those private, for profit rating agencies that feel called upon to judge the value of bonds, countries, companies, practically everything. They even downgraded the U. S. debt. The U. S., despite its economic woes, still is the world’s largest economy and without doubt will eventually pull out of its recession and its deep debts, however long it takes. Anybody who thinks that they won’t be able to redeem their treasury bills must live on another planet. So what is that downgrading supposed to mean and to achieve – perhaps maximizing profits for short-sellers? Promptly, the announcement had an instantaneous effect on the markets. The Dow Jones plunged 635 points. Ironically, treasury bills rose the next day – now who can understand that? One shouldn’t forget that those same rating agencies had given toxic real estate derivatives an AAA rating until the whole thing went bust.

Similarly, any news that comes out of Europe regarding the bailout of Greece has an instantaneous effect on the markets. Reading the news about this is like a roller-coaster ride. One day it’s more or less positive, one day is negative, with the negative outweighing the good news. It seems as though journalists thrive on painting bleak pictures.

Initially, all this had virtually no effect on rubber prices but when the Greek problem came up, they eventually took their hit too. In 2010, the strong Chinese economy overshadowed the Euro crisis. China is the largest buyer of natural rubber. Rubber prices remained at an all-time, and somewhat uncomfortable, high. This lasted until April/May of 2011 when Greece’s debt was finally reduced to junk status by the rating agencies. Paired with the fear of a weakening of European and U. S. economies, which would lead to a lowering of Chinese industrial output and reduced purchases of raw materials, this news started the slow but steady decline of rubber prices. This graph aptly illustrates this fact. These prices are for processed crepe rubber on the Malaysian Rubber Exchange; the Cambodian prices follow the exchange.

Month Price/100kg CSK5L

Jan 503.13
Feb 559.70
Mar 539.82
Apr 557.86
May 519.51
Jun 505.83
Jul 485.49
Aug 474.17
Sep 452.31
Oct 427.09

Prices for latex sold in Cambodia to processing plants follow a similar pattern as this graph shows, although there was a short recovery period in June when Euro zone ministers committed to a bailout package for Greece. Prices are $/kg.

Let’s see what this does in dollars and cents for the operators of rubber plantations in Cambodia. 40% of all plantations are smallholders, that is, they range from 5 to 50 ha. Let’s use a 30 ha plantation and an average production of 150 kg of dry latex per ha per month, or 450 kg for 30 ha.

Since February is the so-called wintering period on a plantation, we will start with April of 2011. The owner could record gross revenues for each month until October of this year.

April $ 17,313
May $ 15,255
June $ 17,454
July $ 16,098
August $ 15,606
September $ 15,686
October $ 13,185.

Compared to April the owner had approximately $4,300 less in his pocket in October; this translates into 25%, and that’s a lot of money in anybody’s book. Reason: the news had become extremely volatile in October; some even feared the collapse of the Euro zone. In previous months, the average price levels were helped by intermittent better news, which caused upticks in prices. A major positive decision was reached this week and so far, rubber prices hover a little above their lowest level in 2011. Of course, commodity prices are very high to begin with and an adjustment might be called for, but then markets don’t always react logically.

To those who think this is still a good income in a country like Cambodia I can say they are right but should not forget that those are gross revenues; operating expenses are considerable what with expensive fertilizers, fungicides, manpower, machinery, etc. Additionally, in order to get to this revenue level the owner needs to invest first in land, land preparation, then in seedlings, management, etc. Until trees produce good amounts of latex, the owner has to wait roughly 10 years. Although production usually starts after 6 years, yields are not in the higher range until year 10. So it’s not just sitting back and collecting money.

If you follow a certain reasoning you could say that Greece and the markets not only hold the European governments hostage but the smallholders in Cambodia too, not to mention the huge investment plantations. Greece with its unconscionable policies, and the speculators with their insatiable greed make their actions felt throughout the world. The rubber plantations are but a small part in the overall picture.

It is ironic that a country with a population of roughly 10 million people could get the large European economies (Germany with a population of about 82 million, France with 56 million) into a severe recession, not to mention the reverberations in the rest of the world. It is equally incomprehensible that the markets, say speculators, can determine a government’s policies. Mind you, this is a sector of the economy that does nothing but shuffle papers or hit keys on a computer keyboard and with that produce profits (or losses) for investors. It’s called investment banking. Most of the large banks are engaged in investment banking. They accept huge risks and but when they incur huge losses they all of a sudden become too big to fail and need to be bailed out by the government, in other words, taxpayers’ money. It is an old axiom that only money makes money, consequently if you have no money you cannot invest, but if you have money and you can invest and make a tidy profit, you should also be ready take a loss.

When I went to business school, I learned how to assess the value of a company based on its assets, liabilities, productivity, market position, long-term viability, earnings and earnings potential, etc. Those things have all gone out the window. The dot com bubble showed it, the real estate bubble showed it, and any subsequent bubble will show it as well. There is nothing wrong with trading in stocks, bonds, and such, but when it comes to buying and selling stocks, you don’t even have with borrowed money, a line must be drawn. Just look up the term ‘hedge funds’ and you will get an idea who dominates the financial world and who can ruin many an existence.

If you are interested in following the timeline of the Euro crisis, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13856580

Get out of Here

2011-10-12T01:28:00.002-04:00

The SRP expelled two of their parliamentarians, one MP and one Senator, from their ranks for disloyalty. The affected politicians claimed they were kicked out to make room for some relatives of SRP higher-ups, otherwise known as nepotism. Critics of the party have accused the SRP of nepotism before, leveled even at their revered leader Sam Rainsy.

Claims and counter-claims, accusations and denials; these are the hallmarks of political life everywhere. So this incident is not really noteworthy for its happening; but I believe what is noteworthy is the fact that the SRP has no qualms about expelling members that it feels are no longer of value to the party. Also noteworthy is that, according to press reports, the party leadership made the decision. I am not sure what kind of inner-party procedures are set down in their by-laws but it reeks of an arbitrary decision – and this from a party that always portrays itself as the truly democratic political party in Cambodia.

The expelled ex-members indicated they would bring a lawsuit against the party. The party spokesman stated in response that the courts do not have jurisdiction over intra-party affairs. This spokesman is an MP himself and one must scratch one’s head and possibly raise an eyebrow or two at such pronouncements. An MP who is not cognizant of the fact that courts always have jurisdiction over disputes, no matter whom or what it involves, should probably seek employment elsewhere. You can bring a lawsuit against anybody if it is based on existing law. Of course, the outcome of that lawsuit is another question altogether.

A sort of funny story….

2011-10-11T01:55:00.001-04:00

.....or maybe not. Petty crime is just as widespread in Cambodia as everywhere else. It starts with people stealing the make and type emblems off cars – the hybrid emblems are especially popular these days - and goes all the way to burglaries.

I live in a gated neighborhood in Phnom Penh with guards at three gates. They patrol the neighborhood at irregular intervals, both day and night. The community is walled in; barbed wire is mounted all around. Sometimes I wonder whether these guards would really be any help if you needed them. They don’t let just anybody in and ask motodups and tuk-tuks their business. But if you drive a car nobody will stop you. If the car is big enough they will give you a snappy salute.

Security is supposed to be good in those neighborhoods; at least my wife used to believe so. One recent night I was awoken by some loud noise. Being half asleep I couldn’t really make out what this was – a party, an argument, or what?

The next day we learned that a burglar had broken into a house nearby. On making his exit he encountered the 14-year-old daughter who returned to her room from a bathroom downstairs. She screamed her lungs out, grabbed the thief by his sleeve and tried to keep him from escaping. But she was no match. The burglar wrestled free and escaped over the balcony.

The people in the house are an American family. Now here is the baffling thing. They had been burglarized 4 times before. Each time the burglar entered the house through an open balcony door on the third (or some say second) floor. Nimble people can easily climb up to those balconies. Most Cambodian houses feature iron bars in the windows. They are an ugly sight but an absolute must as any builder will tell you. But all those bars won’t help if the door is left open.

The parents realized they had been burlarized after each incident – obviously money was missing - but failed to tell their kids so as not to frighten them - not altogether a smart thought. Consequently the kids didn’t feel they needed to observe the simplest form of safety precaution by keeping their doors closed, never mind the floor. Their house is located on the outer perimeter. The wall runs about one meter behind their house. The two adjoining houses are empty. On the outside of wall there is dirt trail – very convenient for any would-be burglars; equally convenient is that there is a gap in the barbed wire between the properties. They can just stroll along that dirt path and look who left the door open. I can only presume this is exactly what the thief in this case did. Having gotten lucky one time he just thought, ‘Well maybe I’ll get lucky with some other careless people.” He may have been surprised himself that he could break into the same house 5 times, assuming it was the same man. How naïve or stupid can that American family be?

The take each time: between $500 and $1,000.

After that incident, we heard that burglaries are not that uncommon in this community. People told about several of them; in one case the booty was a cool $100,000. Ah, these Cambodian people. They just love to keep their money at home, like there aren’t any banks in the country.

If I have more than $100 in my pocket, that is a lot. Who keeps money at home? Even if you want to do a large transaction, you can always go to the bank first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, checks are still a rarity in Cambodia’s business circles.

A house like this; easy to scale, right?

When You Need a Doctor….

2011-09-27T07:18:00.001-04:00

Where do you go in Phnom Penh? I am sure this problems confronts most expats at one time or another during their time in Cambodia. I believe a fellow blogger - ”LTO-Cambodia” - gave a pretty good run-down some time back of what’s available in Phnom Penh. My recent experience makes me take up that subject one more time.

Fortunately, I am a very healthy individual and don’t need a doctor much. Since I usually leave Cambodia at least once a year I have any necessary check-ups done abroad, formerly in the U. S., now in Europe. Although the health care system is excellent, the cost in the U. S. is prohibitive, now that I don’t carry U.S. health insurance any more. Germany has an equally excellent health care system, and the cost is only a fraction of that in the U. S., even as a private out-patient. The great advantage there is you only need to go see one doctor. They all have the necessary equipment in their office, e. g. ultra-sound, X-ray, their own lab, etc. In the U. S. you are sent from one office to the next, which really makes seeing a doctor a big hassle.

Unfortunately, my wife is afflicted with some more or less minor health problems, which I presume to be the consequences of her early childhood during the Pol Pot years. Of course, she used to go to local doctors, or clinics, which abound in the city. Later she got quality health care in the U. S. and in Europe.

Here are our experiences with health care in Cambodia. A few years ago, around 2005, my son needed medical attention and we took him to one of those store-front clinics. The sanitary and hygienic conditions were repulsive and disgusting. Bedsheets were a nice ‘grey’; although people walk barefoot, the floor was grimy. The doctor wanted to give my son an injection, which didn’t happen because of his needle-phobia, and I was grateful for it in that instance as we really didn’t know whether it would have been advisable to have that needle stuck into him. So we left. Of course, compared to Western fees, these services are outright cheap, but you don’t know whether you go home in better or worse health. Needless to say, that was the first and last time we went there.

Initially, my step-daughter didn’t live with us in the U. S. During that time she was suffering from a rather rare syndrome in her intestines (I don’t want to go into details here), which we didn’t know about as it had not manifested itself before. But then she started suffering from nausea, vomitting, stomach and abdominal pain. A friend of my wife’s took her to a clinic. The first thing they did was hook her up to an IV, as they always do in Cambodia, whether you need it or not. The diagnosis was as hazy as the doctor’s knowledge. It was during the year we came to pick them up to come live with us. During our stay that same friend advised us to see a ‘famous’ doctor, apparently one of the chief doctors at the Calamette Hospital. He did bloodwork, took X-rays, and seemed to examine her thoroughly. His diagnosis: she had water in her abdomen. How it got there and the cause of it, that eminent doctor didn’t know. Treatment: another IV. Charge: $50.

When we got to the U. S. her symptoms persisted and I took her to an internist who just by looking at her was able to diagnose the problem (there were outward signs by which an expert recognizes the syndrome immediately). Naturally, he ran all the necessary checks and tests on her, including endoscopy and colonoscopy and started a treatment, which brought about a remission of that syndrome. Now that we are Cambodia she is still sympton-free and enjoys the normal life of young woman.

In my early years here I had a stomach problem, which was accompanied by a slight fever. Fearing a malaria-type infection my friend suggested I see the Tropical & Traveller’s Medical Clinic. A Western-educated doctor examined me, diagnosed minor food poisoning and gave me appropriate medication. Charge: $50. That was in around 1996.

My son suffered from sneezing fits. On one of his visits it got so bad that I took him to a nose-ear-throat specialist at the Aurore clinic. The doctor found the culprit quickly; unfortunately, the cure would have involved minor surgery, which we didn’t want to have done here. My son got some medication though, which helped alleviate the problem. Cost: $15, plus medicine (2009).

Since Florida my wife suffered from chronic allergies. These abated when here – for whatever reason – but one time they came back and got so bad that we decided to see the same doctor at Aurore. He prescribed a range of medicines; one of which produced a severe reaction in the form of stomach pain. Result: she needed to spend a night there in order to settle down her stomach; of course, an IV was administered as well. This time though, it definitely was part of the healing process. Cost for all of this: $100 for private room, food, care, medication (2010).

This past May, my son was visiting. He arrived with a severe cold, which I also unfortunately caught from him. Having had a rather good experience with the good NET doctor we went there again. Again, as seems to be the practice in Cambodia he prescribed about 5 to 6 medicines for him and for me. Charge: $25 plus $15 for the X-ray.

They eventually helped and after a week or so he was ok again. I, however, couldn’t shake off that cold, and on top of it I lost part of my hearing in my right ear. All that multitude of medications didn’t help. I went to see him about the loss of hearing; he said I needed to be a little patient. It is connected with the cold. After 3 weeks it hadn’t gotten better one bit so I decided to seek help from the NET doctor – a Russian gentleman - at that new hospital in Phnom Penh Thmey – the Sen Sok University Hospital. He prescribed a simple remedy: close your mouth and nose by clamping your hand over it, then exhale strongly so that your ear pops. Then swallow. Repeat that three times a day. After a week the hearing should be back. Lo and behold, it was back after a couple of days. Cost: $50 (2011).

Heartened by this experience, we went there again for a case of suspected heart troubles some time later. Fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm. Cost of consultation and ECG: $100.

A splitting headache caused us seek their help again. The doctor order bloodworks and once the results were back prescribed the usual plethora of medications. The medications helped; the headaches subsided. Cost: $100 for the bloodworks, $40 for the consultation, and $60 for the medications.

Like many people we self-medicate minor problems. A few times there were urinary infections, which were healed with anti-biotics. But the problem with anti-biotics and with medication to relieve headaches, like ibuprofen or aspirin, is that they affect the stomach and can cause an inflammation of the stomach lining if taken over a longer period of time.

This happened to my wife. So we went to Sen Sok Hospital again. The good doctor, after listening to the description of the problems, immediately inserted an IV – what else? Then he suggested that she stay overnight for observation; additionally an upper stomach fluid probe needs to be taken and tested. So far so good, I thought, as he explained he needs to rule out certain causes to be sure which treatment to administer. The test came back negative, that is, no bacteria, fungi, etc.; diagnosis: gastritis from overmedication. Cost for test and consultation: $60.00.

The next morning when I came to pick her up she was still hooked up to the IV – the third one she told me – and additionally there was another bag added to the drip. My wife complained that the doctor hadn’t been in to see her at all. I went to look for him. Well, I found him downstairs at the entrance cleaning his large Lexus SUV himself, watched by a couple of male nurses. I approached him and asked whether he would have a minute. So we went aside, he with sweat on his brow, and he explained that the second bag contained medicine for the inflammation of the stomach; once that was finished she could go home. As it happened, that took a little over two hours. The nurse mentioned that she wanted to hook up another IV, which met with our determined protests. We just wanted to go home.

A few minutes later, she showed up again with the bill in hand. The total: $297.49. I looked at it and thought there must be a mistake. After all, I had already paid $60 the previous night. They must have added the bill for the room by mistake twice. At the cashier’s office the woman explained that indeed this was correct as my wife had been there two days. She had checked in at around 5 pm. It was then 2:30 o’clock the next day, so she was charged $60 for the room, consultation, and nurse’s care twice. I objected strongly. Also on looking closer at the bill, I found that the charges for all medications were $125. I was wondering, “What on earth had been so expensive?” One IV was $20 to begin with, plus that special drip was $30. Long story short, I argued back and forth with the good doctor who finally agreed to reduce the bill. He had also prescribed 4 medications; for another $46, mind you. Two were for stomach relief, one was for fungi, and one – another anti-biotic - was for bacteria. Now that threw me. The tests were negative for both, and the anti-biotic was the culprit in the first place. How can that quack prescribe one redundant and one in her case harmful medication? I just told the nurse to keep them. In the end I paid $180, and made it clear to the doctor and the nurses that they wouldn’t see us again at their institution. That whole thing was a rip-off, if ever there was one. And the irony of this story: they advertise 50% discounts on a big banner at the entrance.

Now where does that leave people who look for qualified medical care in Cambodia? I still believe the Sen Sok Hospital is a rather good place to turn to. They have experts in almost all fields. Their diplomas are displayed prominently in the huge waiting area. Most have degrees from the U. S., France, South Korea, Thailand, or Russia. In addition to the NET, the OB-GYN is Russian as well. A few have Cambodian degrees. That international background persuaded me to go there in the first place, never mind the slightly higher cost. The way I see it the doctors there get a base salary and then receive premiums for patients treated and medications prescribed. It was rather conspicuous that on each occasion they wanted to keep my wife there overnight. I guess a way to avoid that is to talk to the doctor very clearly about the expenses.

The best-known hospital in Phnom Penh is the Calamette, a French-run hospital. At one time I needed to take an old aunt of my wife’s to the ER. The conditions there are appalling. People who look like they can’t afford it (e. g. that old aunt) are kept waiting for hours. Doctors simply refuse to look at them. That place is definitely not for foreigners, although from what I know it is the only place where emergency surgeries are performed. In general, if you are not going to be treated by a French doctor I wouldn’t go there.

The a. m. Aurore is a place with expert doctors as well, whether it is an internist, NET, OB-GYN, urologist, etc. The cost is pretty reasonable and although the place looks a little run-down, it is clean and has all the equipment needed. The experts also perform surgery in their fields. The rooms are located in the upper stories. At least you won’t have to bring your own food. They feed you too. A consultation is $25; the room with board is $60; an X-ray is $15. They also have an MRI; I don’t know the cost for that, though.

Another international-class hospital is the Royal Rattanak Hospital. This is a Thai-run institution; it is big and looks modern and clean. The drawback there is that they only provide general medicine, which may be enough in most cases, but I am a firm believer in specialized care. If you don’t earn a high income or have adequate health insurance you might not want to go there anyway; a consultation is $125, the rooms start at $250 a night.

Then there is the American Medical Clinic at the Cambodiana Hotel. It is staffed by American doctors; a consultation is $45. Again, the drawback here is only general medicine.

Other than that, I am sure there are a number of hospitals, clinics around that I haven’t heard of or know about. But who wants to try them out as a sort of guinea pig? We will most likely use the Aurore from now on.

A word about those ever-present IVs, people even ride on the back of a motorcycle attached to one; I don’t know for sure but I believe doctors prescribe them automatically as they know that strangely enough Cambodian people don’t seem to drink enough and may be dehydrated a lot of times. Dehydration is a major cause for headaches, and anybody who has ever come in closer contact with Cambodians knows that they suffer from headaches and migranes a lot.

But principally I go by two rules that a doctor whom I knew rather well gave me:

‘A cold will take a week to go away with medication, and 7 days without medication.’

‘Don’t ever have anybody stick a needle into you, or cut you open, unless it is absolutely necessary.’

And finally, depending on the kind of coverage, age, history, etc., basic health insurance is about $85 a month in Cambodia, which is cheap in comparison to the West but given the low cost of health care in general it usually doesn't pay to buy one. The big if is, of course, hospitalization for a grave illness, a traffic accident, or similar, treatment of which might run into the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. Then you are screwed if you don't have one. Think about that when you go see a doctor next time, or better, get one now.

Next Steps for the SRP

2011-09-22T05:35:00.001-04:00

The Appeals Court reduced Sam Rainsy’s sentence by three years to seven. This has been the only item about him in the news for a long time now. Nevertheless some still ask whether he will get that royal pardon or not. I personally doubt it. This time the rift was too deep.

In that context I would like to quote two cables courtesy of Wikileaks. At about the same time I had come to the same conclusions – and I am no politician. Sam Rainsy is currently a non-entity in Cambodia. His virulent anti-Vietnamese rhetoric just does not resonate with the people as a whole. He merely panders to the geriatric Lon Nolists overseas with his diatribes.

Cable Jan. 29, 2010 - Excerpt
9. (C) The SRP Permanent Committee agreed January 28 to file an appeal later during the 30-day window, even though the initial public rhetoric will focus on the inability to secure justice and the futility of an appeal. Among the core SRP leadership, there is a realization that the loss of Rainsy's charisma, his dramatic speaking style, and his ability to unite will be keenly felt in Cambodia. A strategy to hold several digital video conferences with Rainsy from France and assurances of renewed commitment by the party faithful appear to be attempts to put a brave face on a serious setback. Some in the SRP worry that Human Rights Party (HRP) President Kem Sokha is already intent on stealing away SRP members to
the HRP in an attempt to make HRP the "legitimate opposition" that the CPP knows that it needs. Fissures in the SRP appear to be emerging with one group of accomplished and publicly
popular parliamentarians such as Son Chhay and Mu Sochua potentially squared off against an inner circle close to Rainsy and Tioulong Saumura, Rainsy's spouse and fellow SRP MP. Some observers see the Rainsy case as an old CPP tactic to divide and conquer the political opposition and suggest the CPP tactic is working.

-------
COMMENT
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10. (SBU) In both the prelude to the hearing and the reaction to the verdict, the SRP appeared uninterested in addressing the actual charges of Rainsy's role in property destruction and incitement, and instead focused on the larger issue of whether the border markers are improperly placed (Ref B). Rainsy continues to claim sole responsibility for the removal of the temporary border markers, despite video
showing he did not physically uproot them but brandished them for the cameras after others had pulled them up (Ref A). With the January 27 verdict, Rainsy cannot return to Cambodia unless he goes to prison or receives a pardon, which requires agreement of the government. In the meantime, without a leader present in Cambodia able to project a confident image and articulate opposition perspectives, the SRP faces tough decisions about what to do next and the ultimate direction of their party. In the end, most find it difficult to imagine how Rainsy's stunt will increase the SRP's political relevance in Cambodia, despite the headlines it attracted by Rainsy's very visible and vocal efforts to mobilize anti-Vietnam passion while most of Cambodia's population was focused on Thai border issues. However the SRP emerges from
this incident, it is clear that -- at least for now -- the playing field for opposition politics has been reduced as a result.
RODLEY

Cable Dec. 18, 2009 - Excerpt
Rainsy is doing nothing to calm the waters form his Paris venue, where he lashes out at the government a and attracts opposition funding. If Hun Sen sticks by his recent fit of pique not to pardon Rainsy until Rainsy has served two thirds of his sentence, the opposition may well have to readjust its leadership calibrations.
End quote

Meanwhile of late, the SRP members of parliament sent a letter to the local director of the World Bank asking that the WB maintain withholding funds from the Cambodian government until the Boeung Kak Lake issues have been resolved. Although those issues are indeed thorny and remedies are overdue and come rather late, if not too late, I have never read or known that MPs advocate measures aimed against their own country no matter of what quality they think the government is; those funds indirectly benefit their own constituents, among others. It is the WB’s perfect right to suspend funds, but for parliamentarians to ask them goes against the responsibilities and duties of elected members of parliament; it directly contravenes the principles of democracy in my mind. As long as the opposition is of such a caliber there is no chance on earth that they will ever have enough stature to be part of a government. So where is the alternative leadership the U. S. ambassador refers to? Isn’t it time for them to be more vocal? I haven’t read anything from them or about them. Two years until the next election is not a long time in terms of a campaign that has to make do without a lot of money for media exposure.

Boating in Cambodia

2011-09-16T03:26:00.000-04:00

First off, there is no boating in the sense we normally understand it in Cambodia. There are a couple of charter boats in Sihanoukville for tourists, notably one run by a Kiwi and an Aussie – a 12m regular fishing vessel, with a small bar, head, and so on. They offer day trips to outlying islands. Other than that, you don’t see a whole lot of recreational fishing.

I am an avid boater and had to do without one for over a year now. I am really itching to get back on the water. Although, to be honest I am not that great a fisherman, this is still my most favorite pastime. People who fish know what I am talking about. There is nothing quite like it if you are out on the water dropping your lines to the bottom and getting that bite and the line starts reeling off like crazy. Of course, those are the great times. The other times are much more frequent though; you just sit there and nothing moves. It’s really frustrating sometimes. You see all those nice fishing reports online accompanied by trophy pictures or even videos of the catch, and you were out there to show zilch for it. The only consolation is that those great reports are usually written by pros – charter captains - this is one way to lure new customers to their business; and they know from long experience where the fish are. We all know the saying ‘You got to fish where the fish are.’ To find that out, though, takes time and patience, not to mention a bit of money for the gas. Those marine motors don’t just sip gas, they guzzle it. Nevertheless, the true fisherman never gives up.

Now if one were to believe boat salespeople the only thing you need is a great boat, preferably big, with big, powerful motors, and the fish will just wait to snap up your bait. Frankly, I succumbed to that sort of persuasion once myself. I got a nice boat that could take me out 100 miles offshore. More often than not, I didn’t come home with dinner for four, maybe for one. At $3.80 a gallon, I had just blown $100 for one fish.

Now I am ready to get back into boating here as well. After all, the main reason I bought land and built a house on a riverbank about 500 m from the open sea was that I could get out quickly, maybe just for a quick spin of an hour or two and head back in, hopefully with a cooler full of fish. But where to get that boat? I had been looking all over the place but apparently the only thing available were those traditional wooden fishing boats that lie low in the water and have a sort of a lawn-mower motor with a driveshaft and propeller attached to them. The bigger ones have Diesel engines; but they normally only produce 30 hp and that doesn’t get you anywhere fast. Those boats are affordable sure enough, but it really isn’t what I was looking for. They go about $2,500 for a smaller one (used with motor) to $20,000 for a bigger, new one as in the picture with a 30hp – Diesel.


10 m traditional fishing boat

Then one day I spotted an ad on www.bongthom.com – somebody was selling a 10 m traditional boat and a speed boat with twin 200hp Yamahas. The traditional boat was $5,000, if I remember correctly, but it had that diesel engine, bilge pumps, etc., so maybe this was an alternative. The speed boat was $40,000 and with those two motors would have burned a big hole in my pocket. I checked them out both. Not for me.

The seller, a guy named Rob (he won’t mind giving his name here as this will possibly help him) – friendly as he is – pointed me to another outfit in Koh Kong. They had a 22’ center console monohull with a 140hp Yamaha on it, which exactly fits my bill. So off I went to take a look at that boat.

If I ever saw a ‘great’ salesman, here he was. This was a boat made in Thailand by an American. Supposedly, it was new and hardly had any hours on it. The first look I got I thought that thing is at least ten years old. The seats were all mildewy, both outer and inner hull had nicks and scratches, the gelcoat was dull, and signs of rust all over the place. The motor seemed to have been either re-built or at least tuned and serviced lately. Anyway, the owner started by telling me he didn’t like the way the boat was built, e. g. the hull (gunwale) was not smooth, the beam was too narrow, etc., etc. I made that trip for nothing.

Looks good in the picture, but.....

On the positive side, though, this guy – an Aussie just like Rob – imports rigid inflatable (RIB) boats from Australia. They are really nice and I would indeed buy one of those if the price wouldn’t exceed my budget. Which brings me to the question of import duty and taxes. The salesman said he paid $2,500 for that Thai-made boat, but isn’t sure how much it would be now. My guess was that since boats are luxury items just like cars in Cambodia the import duty and tax would be the same, namely 115%.

This is a RIB

Now Rob back in Sihanoukville told me he is starting his own boat-building business in Sihanoukville, and maybe he could help me with that; especially since the approximate price he gave me was exactly within range of my budget. A locally built boat would not be subject to those outrageous duties and taxes. Of course, all the special marine hardware, brackets, etc. would have to be imported, but the duty on those is but a fraction (15% plus 10% VAT). The only downside I found was that the boats were going to be made of fiberglass-encased wood. I am a firm believer in full fiberglass boats; fiberglass doesn’t rot. Hardwood is too heavy for a speedboat, so the plywood used is particularly susceptible to rotting. I read up on that and found that another risk is called ‘delamination’, that is, when and if the fiberglass were to peel off the wood exposing it to water. You really got a problem then. Rob has a partner, Ted, who is the actual boat builder. He hails from Connecticut; and all the coastal states in the U. S. are prime boaters’ country. Ted honestly said he couldn’t deny that but this is where the craftsmanship of the boat builder comes in. You do shoddy work, you will have a problem; you do it right, we will all be happy.

Then my Khmer friend told me of a shop in Phnom Penh that makes full fiberglass boats. He used to work with him when he assisted in building a luxury wooden river cruise boat for a French touring company a few years ago. I looked for him and found him on state road no. 5 to Battambang along the riverside. It was a typical Khmer operation, which doesn’t really instill confidence in foreigners. I am used to that from car repair shops where I have never been let down, so I wasn’t put off too much. He only builds smaller boats up to 16’, 17’. That’s a little too small to go offshore. But he promised me he could help me import any boat I wanted. He also claimed that there is no import duty as Cambodia doesn’t have a code for boats yet. I was quite excited. Maybe, after all, I could get a nice fishing boat from the U. S. and promptly checked online. I found two excellent boats in California. The freight would be around $5,000, but if the tax was halfway like the guy said I was ready to go for it.

I wanted this beauty

He checked with the customs department. That took forever, of course, and in the end he emailed me some sample tax invoices which showed anywhere from 15% plus 10% to 100%. Bottom line, he didn’t really know.

So I contacted one of the larger freight forwarders in town. If they wouldn’t know, who would? As I had suspected import duty, luxury tax, plus VAT comes out at a compounded 115.25%, just as with cars. There went my dream of getting one of those nice boats. Because in the end I would have to shell out something like $40,000 for a boat that would sit idle about 90% of the time. I don’t believe in paying that kind of money for a used car, why should I pay this for a boat? That price is only an average price tag here for a 2008 model, most of them go for $60,000 to $80,000.

After some hard thinking, I made up my mind and ordered that boat from Rob and Ted in Sihanoukville. Here is a model of what it will look like except that it will be a center console and the deck layout as well as the transom will be designed differently. If you are interested in a speedboat for fishing, diving, snorkeling, here is his phone number 016 511 251. Hopefully in 6 to 8 weeks I will be on the water catching snapper.

Something like this

Incidentally, Rob does have quite a bit of experience with boats. First he is the operator of the Beach Club in Ream, where he uses two traditional boats for his guests there. He also has that 32-footer(I believe)with the twin motors, and operates three speed boats at the Sokha Beach Hotel activity center.

Population Growth and Its Price

2011-09-09T02:35:00.000-04:00

Looking at a normal street scene one cannot help but notice the overwhelming majority of young people. They can be a pesky lot when they ride their motorcycles with abandon and without regard for their own, or other people’s lives. Traffic would run a lot more smoothly and with fewer accidents if it were not for those obnoxious young people (not to mention those motodups and tuk-tuks).

With all these young people, Cambodia is headed down a path that should be cause for concern. The people as such seem to be quite unable to raise, educate, train, or otherwise guide their young people so that they may become productive members of society. More than 50% of the population is under 25 years old (CIA World Factbook). As the World Factbook states, it will be the government’s daunting task to fashion a policy that helps create jobs. These jobs have to be generated in the civil sector, as the country certainly doesn’t need any more civil servants who while away their days pestering the people they are supposed to serve. In one of those leaked cables, the U. S. Embassy also notes that the PM and his government are faced with this great problem and may fear the consequences of this imbalance as those young people, after getting at least a minimal school education, all of sudden find that the world out there doesn’t have the jobs that would afford them a life that is portrayed in all those TV commercials. These commercials invariably show people driving shiny cars, having the latest cell phones, and all live in well-appointed houses or apartments. An especially stark contrast between reality and the TV dream world are the kitchens shown on TV. Even in more affluent houses in Phnom Penh you will hardly find any of those nice and shiny kitchens with the most modern appliances. (The fact is that an estimated 70% still cook their meals on wood-fires.)

It appears as if TV sets are turned on 24 hours a day. And since the young people have nothing to do but watch TV most of the time (excepting the better-off kids who own a computer and spend their time in front of that), they eventually find out that their expectations of what they can achieve are way overblown. This indeed does pose a grave risk for Cambodian society as a whole. High un- or underemployment among the young creates social problems. Dissatisfaction generates unrest, crime, and higher drug use.

A ghastly reminder of that happened just a few days ago when three young thugs robbed and shot dead a moneychanger in broad daylight in plain view of many people in front of a curbside market near the airport. Their take: $30,000. Especially horrifying was the calmness and magnanimity with which one gangster shot that woman, took his time arranging the box with the money to sit right when getting on the pinion seat of the motorcycle and then rode off into traffic. Dismayingly, nobody moved to help that woman on the ground. (The media report that the son-in-law tipped those people off.)

As Americans know very well, their country is among the ones with the highest crime rates in the world. Explanations often quoted are the disparity between rich and poor, the dwindling middle class, and the economic problems that led to an unemployment rate of about 10%. There are distinctive similarities between these two otherwise so different countries. In Cambodia the unemployment rate is around 20%, the disparity between rich and poor is even more drastic, petty crime is ever-present, serious, and violent crime an almost daily occurrence. Add to that the general lack of individual discipline, the disregard for rules, regulations, and the law, and you have all the ingredients for future social upheavals.

There is virtually no middle class in Cambodia. In fact, it probably is rather difficult to define social classes to begin with. We know there are rich people as evidenced by their flaunting their wealth with grandiose villas, multiple luxury SUVs, and spending habits that rival those of African chieftains and Arab princes. But where are the people that hold down clerical jobs in private companies and government? People that make, say, around $500 to $1,000 a month. The jobs paying that kind of money are far and few between, as anybody who is somewhat familiar with the local economy knows. Then, of course, we have the vast lower class; the people that just survive on the bare minimum. To be honest, after so many years I am still amazed how they do it. Everybody seems to own at least a motorbike, cars clog the streets of Phnom Penh, and even in villages many people are proud owners of a car.

But what are the prospects of all these people that enter the job market, where they cannot find jobs; sometimes for lack of knowledge, sometimes because they studied the wrong subject, mostly though, for lack of a broader economic base – there simply aren’t enough jobs. What they do know, however, to put it somewhat crassly, is how to make babies. All these young people seemingly get married before they are 22, at least that goes for the women, and the young men are not much older. Parents are afraid their daughters will become old spinsters if they are not married by that age. These parents are maybe not even 40 themselves, or barely over 40. And in most cases, within a year of their wedding the young people are proud parents of a baby boy or girl. A second one will be on the way shortly thereafter, and so on, and so on. In other words, that population growth will go on unabated exacerbating the serious situation in the job market exponentially. People in Cambodia as a rule have more than two children, the number that would sustain a population. Of course, part of the problem lies with the good old Asian tradition to have as many children as possible so these would support their parents in old age. But if those children have no jobs, no prospects in life, that tradition is going to blow up in their parents’ face. The children along with their parents will be destitute. The children can’t afford to support their parents any more. It may eventually lead to the children abandoning their old parents and who then have no way of supporting themselves. This dire picture is especially true for Phnom Penh and its surrounding districts that grow ever closer together on account of that resurgent building boom. It is an established fact that the urban poor’s plight is far worse than their fellow fellow citizens’ in rural areas are. The break-up of the traditional Asian family takes place first in the cities, and that is definitely noticeable in Phnom Penh. Sometimes, however, this is not restricted to just the young people.

Two cases in point:

A nearly 70-year-old couple gave up their son to a Canadian couple for adoption when he was 12 years old. They believed the son would have a better life there, and naturally thought, that he would support them later; which he did, being the good Cambodia son that he was.

That first happened in 1972 or so. Subsequently, wanting another child they brought up an adopted daughter who then unfortunately got married to a drunkard. The drunken husband fell off his bike and was killed in the accident. He didn’t provide for his family to begin with but now he left her with a baby girl and no prospects of supporting herself. She got married to another man, but obviously had a disposition to live with an alcoholic because that second husband was a drunkard too. They produced four children. Anybody can guess what will become of those children.

The in the meantime adult son in Canada fell on hard times with his business after the financial crisis in 2008 and was unable to support his natural parents further. Their adopted daughter was also unable to take care of them. In the end, these foolish (one cannot say otherwise) people borrowed money using their house, the only asset they had left, as collateral and used it in a small-time loan-sharking business. Loan-sharking because they charge outrageous interest rates, e. g. from 5% to 10% per month. Of course, it’s unsecured loans, as small as the loans may be, so a premium interest rate may be acceptable, but 120% per year? The reasoning goes like this: you have $5,000, you get $500 a month, which is enough for them live on. We all know the catch, of course. And that promptly happened after a while. Somebody couldn’t pay and they were out of their money, owing the bank, which threatened to take their house. To their great relief they found somebody who loaned them the money.

These old folks have an even older mother, around 98. Now this bleak situation meant they couldn’t look after her any more either, not that they had done that a lot before. They simply ignored the fact that the mother was still alive. Thankfully, the youngest son of that old lady and his daughter at least give the mother and grandmother shelter and a little food. Guess what? The situation isn’t much better in that part of the family. The granddaughter’s husband sired four children with his wife and two with his mistress - on a policeman’s salary.

And then there is this old lady, over 70, she doesn’t really know how old she is, who also adopted a daughter as her husband died before they had children together. She brought her up, but that daughter was in the habit of spending money she didn’t have. She always borrowed from neighbors and so-called friends. In the end, the situation had become so bad she had to leave the little village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh where they lived. She left the son she had with her mother. Needless to say, that the husband had left a long time ago. The grandson seemed to be a decent guy. He stayed with his grandmother and took care of her. But this only lasted until age 19. He got a job as a driver at a garment factory, met girl, promptly impregnated her, and under her threat of suicide married her. Here he was with hardly a place to live, no job (which he lost during the downturn after 2008), but with a wife and a baby. Eventually, he took off too to find a job elsewhere, forgetting about his destitute grandmother who doesn’t know where the next meal comes from. (She did find somebody who is helping her out though.)

These two examples show how poverty will eventually break up a family; and these are not singular cases. When push comes to shove, not much seems to be left of the moral fiber that normally makes up the core of family values in Cambodia. They also show that no matter how precarious their situation, people will produce babies regardless. In another post I had mentioned that in rural areas these values still seem be very much intact. Children take care of their old folks. But here too more and more young people migrate to the urban centers to find ‘better’ jobs in a garment factory or in the construction business.

Nonetheless, traditional values still play a determining role in starting a family both in urban and rural areas. These traditions and values only confound the population problem.

Another case in point:

A young man, by now 28, went to college and got a bachelor’s degree in tourism, which isn’t much worth in the grand scheme of things, but nevertheless, he got a better education than most. Best of all, nobody helped him. He paid his way through college by working in the mornings and at night. In the afternoon, he went to class. Now one would expect that he would go about planning his future a little better, and that always includes some sort of family planning. First of all, he got married before he graduated because his parents and the prospective wife’s parents put a lot of pressure on him. They threatened she might go with another suitor. After all, she was a ripe 22 years old and might miss the boat. His manly pride couldn’t take that. So he did the deed. In my typical Western concept I had advised him, first, not to get married before he had landed a proper job after graduation, and, second, don’t have kids until he was somewhat settled financially. He agreed wholeheartedly, but his in-laws had a different plan for them. Just four months into his marriage, his mother-in-law consulted with a fortuneteller who predicted that this year was very auspicious for the birth of a grandson. As things go, she ruled that her daughter was to have that baby this year and they promptly set to work. Not too long afterwards, we learned they were going to be parents. In the beginning, it didn’t seem all that bad, as he had indeed landed a job as a hotel manager and made $500 a month. Three weeks into that job the owners let him go as they found out that a rookie couldn’t really help them fill the hotel. Well, he found out the hard way that life ain’t that easy after all. Now he and his wife live in his in-laws' house, without a job, and a baby on the way.

At the bottom rung of society you have the absolutely ignorant, one is tempted to say dumb, people who have no idea that there is such a thing as birth control. Of course, these people are poor to begin with, they are absolutely uneducated, just scrape by, but their natural drives are well defined. They don’t know how to support the family of six to begin with, always complain about the poor hand they were dealt in life, but then before they know it, there is a fifth child on the way. The mother says, “I didn’t even know I was pregnant until I was 5 months along.” Suuure! There is an office of the The Reproductive and Child Health Alliance (RACHA) in Phnom Penh. They provide birth control devices for people free of charge. But one needs to know about these things first, right?

All these factors relative to the population and its growth come together in Cambodia, a country that is trying mightily to overcome its third-world status. There are no easy answers or quick-fix solutions available for this overwhelming problem. One answer surely is education both sexual and general, but that will take generations before any tangible results would be seen. China’s policy of a one-child family was cruel and drastic, led to infanticide, and was counter-productive. Surely, this is one thing the government here doesn’t want to even begin to consider.

Certain segments of the opposition conjure up social unrest as the one means to unseat the hated government. There is an email campaign underway called ‘The Lotus Revolution’. I have no idea who is behind it; I just somehow got on their mailing list and this is how I learned about it. This is a pipe dream at best in my opinion. The Cambodian people are submissive in character and won’t go to these extremes, not by a long shot. Nevertheless, a program needs to be put in place that stems the population growth. The government has so much influence on the mass media, especially TV. A PR campaign driving home the need for birth control over and over again would be a first step. Most assuredly, the statement on TV by a highly placed person in Cambodia that the country needs more people is not pointing the people in the right direction and I am just puzzled what that person was thinking. The government and NGOs helped bring down the number new HIV infections. Surely, this problem deserves just as much attention.

The Ubiquitous and Mostly Incompetent Middleman

2011-09-04T05:01:00.001-04:00

Anyone who has ever done business in an Asian country and Cambodia in particular knows that the use of an agent, or middleman, is virtually unavoidable. Much of the information someone needs in regard to especially real estate is not general public knowledge or available, say, on the internet. There are a couple of good real estate agents in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap but most properties for private or small business use are handled by middlemen. Industrial properties or concession lands are rarely handled by those agencies.
Now there are middlemen and middlemen. Some really work on behalf of the seller and these usually have the necessary information ready.

The great majority of them, however, have no clue what they are talking about. They could work as tuk-tuk drivers, motodops, waiters, policemen, or soldiers; the latter two, mostly higher-ranking officers, constitute the majority of all middlemen, at least in my experience, and they usually do have connections that can help. The other ones, on the other hand, just vaguely heard that somebody wants to sell something. They pass that information on among their friends and people they know. Eventually it will reach someone who knows someone who is looking for just that particular item, or piece of land.

A case in point is my search for an additional smaller working rubber plantation. I am looking for a plantation in Kompong Cham province, close to the one I already own. I happen to know a middleman who supposedly does have a good knowledge of what’s available in that sector. So I asked him to be on the lookout for me. I had been searching for some time already without any workable results.

After just a few days he got back to me with a few proposals. Though I had given him the district of my plantation, the ones he suggested were all about 100 km away. How can my manager work these two plantations on a daily basis, which is an absolute must.

Next he brought back three plantations near my district, albeit a little overpriced. When asked where exactly they were, he said the other middleman didn’t want to disclose it just yet. He was clearly afraid he might be cut out of the deal. So I said, ‘Let’s take a look.’ Prices can always be negotiated. On the day we were supposed to leave he called early in the morning, saying the one I was most interested in had already been sold; and he wasn’t so sure about the other ones; the guy he was talking to said maybe the soil isn’t that good (never mind that the plantation was 14 years old already), etc., etc. In other words, a typical case of ignorance where this middlemen just wasted somebody else’s time, but thankfully in this case no money. I just told him to forget about looking for another one. As is often the case, he didn’t know the owner directly but had talked to another middleman; and I am not sure whether that was the only one in the chain.

A while back something similar happened. A guy told me he had a 6-year-old plantation. Great, we were going on an inspection trip anyway, so we went to take a look a look at the same time. We picked up the
two middlemen and while we were talking on the way, the second guy mentioned that the trees were only three or four years old. I just dropped him off in the main district town, he was from the area anyway, and went on my way. Was he just looking for ride or what? I still amazes me that people would waste so much time for nothing.

I am sorry to say this is not limited to Cambodian middlemen. In my consulting job I source large plantations for foreign investors. I have come to learn that there are certain nationalities that I should be wary of.

One day I got a call from somebody overseas who said he has a client – a tire manufacturer - who wants to buy a large plantation. Since he made it clear he was acting as an agent and belonged to one of the nationalities I am usually somewhat suspicious of I didn’t want to harness the horses unnecessarily so I didn’t get in touch with some of my contacts. I informed the agent of the legal situation in Cambodia, and told him if he is serious he should come and visit the plantation. I was somewhat surprised when he actually did make plans to come and look at a plantation. So when he got here he told me he had another appointment in the afternoon, could we do this in the morning. We picked him up at his hotel and on the way he told us he would be picked up later in a town near our location. I had expected we would discuss his plans a little more in detail, but this obvious disregard of our efforts raised an immediate alarm with me, but we were on our way already. He was clearly on a fishing expedition and I presumed the whole thing would lead to nothing. So I showed him just any plantation. Long story short, this indeed didn’t lead to anything. He really didn’t have the clients lined up yet but was just trying to find buyers himself with the first-hand information he got from us. Finding investors is actually part of my job. So what did he think he can do differently? People just don’t realize that this scattershot system is a waste of time in 99% of the time.

Then there are the other kinds of middlemen, or rather facilitators. They are not middlemen in the real sense of the word but people who actually handle these things for the government in a semi-official capacity. There is usually one go-to guy who works at a higher level job in one of the ministries or is a military man with close connections to the minister or state secretary, sometimes the PM himself. They know their stuff and will take care of everything. Anybody wants to do business in Cambodia on a large scale where land concessions or blanket government approval is needed is well-advised to find such a person. Everything else is mostly not worth the time and money. And stay away from the dime a dozen middlemen that can only give vague answers and cannot get you in touch with the seller or owner directly.

Back, .... and some 'Pretty Good Economic News'

2011-08-25T07:30:00.001-04:00

After a hiatus of more than 2 months I am back. I took a trip to Germany and Italy for 6 weeks and since my return have been extremely busy with my (consulting) job, so that between that, checking on things at the rubber plantations, and my search for a fishing boat, I haven't had much time to dedicate to writing about Cambodia -as it is.

I have to say one thing. The Italian waiters, especially in Venice, could really learn something from the normal waitstaff at Cambodian restaurants. I do understand that Venice gets run over by about 20 million tourists a year - the city itself is only about 300,000 - so the waiters might sometimes get a little harried, but one would think the basic courtesies could still be extended to the people who in effect pay their wages and their tips.

There are different mentalities in that country, as in any other larger country too; that was made strikingly clear in the city of Verona where service was outstanding and the waiters' politeness was impeccable.

Nevertheless, what a contrast to Cambodia where in the many years I have been here I really haven't met with a rude or impolite waiter/waitress; never mind their oftentimes incompetence; at least, they do it with a smile on their face.

On another note, I am a regular reader and previous poster on Khmer440.com. Their website got a makeover and it looks much different and the front page is now really good. I can only recommend one of the recent contributions by one of their regulars, '7 reasons why I should probably marry a Cambodia woman'. This is really a funny, somewhat self-deprecating piece, but it does hit the nail on its head. You can read it here http://khmer440.com/k/2011/08/7-reasons-why-i-should-marry-a-cambodian/.

Again here is a quarterly newsletter put out by Leopard Capital by email. All in all, they paint a pretty good picture of the Cambodian economy. For those of you who don't receive it I am attaching it below:

Economic Update

In 1H 2011, Cambodia is beginning to see signs of a return to the robust pre-crisis economic activity after a retraction in 2009 and modest recovery in 2010. Economic growth forecasts for the year have been revised upwards to 8.7% by the Economic Institute of Cambodia, while the IMF and the World Bank currently predict a more conservative 6.5%. The elevated forecast is being driven by three of the Kingdom's four economic pillars-garments, tourism and agriculture-while recovery in real estate still remains nascent.

Garments benefit from relaxed regulations. The garment industry contributes more than 70% of Cambodia's exports. In H1 2011, garment exports surged 32% YoY to US$ 1.9 billion as a result of loosened European Union regulations governing rule of origin and increasing demand from Asian countries. As of January 1, 2011, under the Everything But Arms (EBA) trade initiative, least developed countries such as Cambodia could export to the EU duty- and quota-free if the country manufactures 40% of the product's value, whereas the previous threshold was 70%.

Tourism increases with more direct flights. Cambodia's second largest source of income is the tourism industry. In H1 2011, tourism arrivals rose 13% YoY to 1.4 million with Vietnam, Korea and China as the largest sources of tourists, respectively. Ticket sales at Cambodia's main tourist attraction, Angkor Wat, rose 33% YoY to US$ 20 million during this period, and total revenue from the sector is expected to reach US$ 1.9 billion in 2011. An increase in direct flights to Cambodia is one of the principal drivers behind the overall increase in arrivals-Air France has even relaunched direct flights from Paris to Cambodia in July after a 37-year hiatus.

Agriculture also benefits from relaxed regulations. Accounting for a third of the Kingdom's GDP, the agriculture industry also benefited from the relaxed EU export regulations, among other factors. In H1 2011, rubber exports increased 84% YoY to 21,511 tons (US$ 102 million); milled rice exports increased 369% to 80,442 tons ($46 million); and cassava exports increased 88% to 212,018 tons (US$ 8.7 million). Prime Minister Hun Sen has set a target of exporting 1 million tons of milled rice by 2015-a feat considered attainable if the Kingdom builds another 25 to 30 rice mills (a US$ 350 million investment) to expand production from currently just five major mills.

Real estate starts to recover. Cambodia's fourth economic pillar, real estate, has started to show signs of recovery in 2011. The value of approved construction projects (i.e., housing developments, apartments, factories and tourist facilities) increased 94% YoY to US$ 638 million in H1 2011. While land prices for commercial and residential properties in Phnom Penh have still remained flat since the end of 2009, demand and prices are expected to rise over the next two years.

Banks are also rebounding. With 35 banks, Cambodia's congested banking sector showed signs of a rebound in H1 2011. Aggregate loans among the Kingdom's three largest banks increased 9.5% YoY to US$ 2 billion-loan books for ACLEDA, Canadia and Campu grew 11.9%, 10.6% and 5% YTD, respectively. Banks are expecting a surge in agricultural investment to continue driving the increasing demand for loans. The growing agricultural sector has also led to more loans and deposits at the Kingdom's 27 microfinance institutions (excluding ACLEDA)-loans among these MFIs increased 6.7% YoY to US$ 505 million in Q2 2011, while deposits increased 33% to US$ 69 million.

CSX opens with no trading. The long awaited Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) officially launched in July, making Cambodia one of the last Southeast Asian nations to open a stock market. However, no companies have been listed yet for trading. Three state-owned enterprises-Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority, Sihanoukville Autonomous Port and Telecom Cambodia-are expected to list by year's end.

Inflation is a rising concern. Driven by rising food and petroleum prices, the Kingdom's inflation rate rose to a 14-month high of 6.5% in May 2011, exceeding the inflation rate of neighboring Laos and Thailand but still well below Vietnam's rate of 20%. The Cambodian government had recently raised its 2011 inflation target by 50 basis points to 5.5%, while the World Bank and the IMF predict 5% and 6.5%, respectively, for the year. To mitigate inflationary concerns, the National Bank of Cambodia is considering raising the reserve requirements of commercial banks from 12% to 16%.

End

Being in the natural rubber business, I am a benefactor of the upsurge in prices, and despite those irrational up and down swings in the stock markets, rubber has been holding pretty steady over the year. There was some drastic drop from around $4,900/mt for crepe rubber to around $4,700 right now, but the expected drop to $4,000 is not in sight despite some predictions that there has been an oversupply since July. I will continue reporting on that particular market situation.

Cambodia’s Perennial Power Woes

2011-06-08T07:51:00.000-04:00

A new hydro-power plant is being built in Stung Treng province. The Phom Penh Post reported about this a week or so back. For that purpose a new road to Rattanakiri is also being built, which is terrific, as all people who have ever traveled the old road. Although the old road had gotten better over time but the rainy season was still the pits.

The government claimed that the power generated there will first of all benefit the local population, whereas a consultant countered quickly that the owners will sell their power to Vietnam and a mere 1% or so will be available for the local population. The reason: lack of a power grid.

Traveling that route quite frequently I know there are power lines in place but probably not enough to carry 4 MW cross-country. I am wondering, however, how the power will be delivered to Vietnam since this follows exactly the same route (Ban Long and then on to Vietnam). This really got me scratching my head.

And the irony of it all would be, if the consultant is correct, that Cambodia buys a substantial part of its power from Vietnam, not only in the South-eastern region but in the Northeast as well. So on the one hand we buy from Vietnam, but on the other, we sell some back instead of meeting our own needs first? Profit-mamimizing should definitely have a limit there and the government should use its otherwise formidable authority to ensure a sufficient power supply to its own population.

One thing is clear though, Cambodia to a large part is still not electrified and in dire need of more and a better power supply. During the hot season in March, April, and May, and it is still going on, parts Phnom Penh are periodically shut off; sometimes starting right after 8 am until 11 am, and then again from around 1 or 2 pm to 4 or 5 pm. Besides being a nuisance to all residents, businesses suffer the most, at least the smaller ones that don’t have their own generator. And what about those business people that run their business from home – like me, for instance?

The cause for all these power outages is the explosion of power consumption in and around Phnom Penh. Just look at Phnom Penh Thmey, my place of residence in PP. What was barren land is now dotted with new houses, small factories, and some larger new gated communities. So it comes as no surprise that with all those a/c units, TVs, fridges, and computers, power consumption is up exponentially. Sadly, as always, the bureaucracy has not foreseen this; obviously forgetting that power is one of the main components of a functioning infrastructure. Issuing building permits is only a tiny step in a community’s development, right?

Even Sihanoukville fares better. My house there is around 20 km away from the city but our power supply is pretty consistent. My backup generator is sitting idle in its little shed most of the time. I can’t research all the reasons behind this disparity between PP and SHV, I simply don’t have the time these days, but even the most ignorant planner knows that without electrification development will stall. I am sure Vietnam and Thailand can sell a lot more than what they are supplying now. A couple of years ago the situation was not a bad as it is now; or is it that my memory doesn’t serve me right?

The Delicate Social Fabric of Cambodia

2011-05-25T05:52:00.002-04:00

On the one hand, Cambodians are very traditional and at least on the surface very religious. Marriages are commonly still arranged between the respective parents. At minimum parents reserve the right to veto a marriage with what they consider an unsuitable partner. Tradition among Khmer people calls for the husband to move in with the wife’s parents; with Khmer of Chinese extraction the wife moves in with the husband’s parents. It is, therefore, not surprising so see all those huge villas (of the rich) than can house several families. Even in the countryside, grandparents generally live with their children and married grandchildren.

On the other hand, we know that it is quite customary for rich men to keep a (younger) girl friend on the side. What amazes me, though, is the high incidence with which especially poor people also disregard those traditional values. Generally, it is especially poor people who maintain their beliefs in order to ease the burden of poverty spiritually. Only that way can they keep up a mental balance when observing the differences between their own lives and the lives of more fortunate contemporaries.

I have come to know many examples of poor people that demonstrate an unconscionable and depressing disregard for not only the values of traditional Khmer life but in particular show a despicable disrespect for the lives of wives and children.

A couple of examples: A man married four women and produced twelve children with them. He left or divorced all of them without paying one riel for alimony or child support. After the fourth wive he took up with yet another girl friend who eventually left him when she learned there was nothing to be gained by staying with him. He is a high-ranking officer but belongs to the category whose ‘wives weren’t very good at business’. In other words, he wasn’t able to use his position to generate some degree of wealth. He is now sick and poor. Thanks to his high rank the army takes care of him.

Then there is the case of a policman in his early thirties. He got married and had two children. His wife had become pregnant with their third child. During that pregnancy he met another girl and started having an affair with her. People in Cambodia are still pretty ignorant about birth control so it doesn’t surprise that he got his girlfriend pregnant. This made him leave his family from one day to the next. The wife did not have a job, the children needed to go to school. She couldn’t support herself or pay the daily fees for school. She became dependent on her parents. After the girlfriend had had her baby the husband all of a sudden turned back up at home, promptly impregnating his wife again, only to leave again after a short while. Her husband obviously thought 3 children, one baby, and one on the way was too much for him. In the end, however, he did return to his family but carried on in the usual Cambodian fashion. Husbands simply don’t tell their wives where they are going when they go out at night. He is said to spend a few evenings, sometimes nights at his girlfriend’s house.

In another case, a former soldier, penniless as they usually are, left his wife and four children to live with another, younger woman to produce another four children with her. Needless to say, he didn’t pay child support, let alone alimony to the first wife and her children. The good thing is they are all adults now and can take of themselves. The current wife is on the verge of leaving him for greener pastures, or so she thinks, although no other man is in play here.

Cambodian husbands are notoriously feckle, and although polygamy is outlawed and there is even a law against adultery on the books, it is still a wide-spread practice that Cambodian men keep mistresses on the side. This is not restricted to just the wealthier class; it pervades all levels of society.

The legal system does not help either. Although people can divorce easily, courts usually do not decide on alimony or child support. They restrict their decisions to the distribution of property. Usually, they split any property the couple might have down the middle, sometimes making some allowance for the children in that the wife gets a slightly higher share. Of course, that doesn’t help her in supporting her children. Children are still considered a family’s wealth and the providers for their parents in old age. Consequently, being divorced or just plain deserted, the women have to struggle to bring up their usually multiple children.

A note on divorce decrees: it usually contains an order that the wife cannot remarry or even have relations with a man for 9 months to ensure that she cannot claim a child born in the interim is the former husband’s.

Women are usually a strong partner in a typical Khmer marriage. They usually manage the office in a small family business. They manage the household and the finances, and most property is held in both names. Therefore, it is all the more surprising that they nevertheless end up holding the short end of the stick when the marriage fails or that they have no legal recourse for reining in their wayward husbands, prominent examples to the contrary notwithstanding.

Although Cambodia’s motto is “Nation, Religion, King” and the constitution makes Buddhism the state religion, that doesn’t hinder people from violating the tenets of their religion. Generally, Khmer people are very religious and observe all Buddhist holidays with great enthusiasm. Each home is adorned with a place of worship, but those seem be there more for the wives than the husbands.

Like any religion, Buddhism has several basic tenets or core beliefs. As we see they are broken on a regular basis by common people, that is, people who are not monks or nuns. And even monks are not immune to outside distractions. Those core tenets call for good conduct, virtue, and morality, meditation and mental development, wisdom and enlightenment; as well as the four noble truths, and the five precepts. To go into these would exceed this post.

While there is a big difference between the teachings and the application of those tenets, and many of those differences are manifest in civil laws, the general Western perception of Buddhists is their greater fervor in living their religion. Morality and virtue occupy a prominent position in Buddhism.

However, looking at everyday life now in Cambodia, one cannot but wonder why Khmer society has in reality distanced itself so much from those core beliefs. By nature, we humans are weak and succumb to all kinds of seductions too easily. Cambodia, though not alone with its recent abysmal history (Uganda, Ruanda, Bosnia come to mind) may possibly claim special circumstances for its recent societal evolution. After all, the relatively peaceful development after indedepence in 1953 was disrupted by the unwise policies of the 1960ies of then King Sihanouk, the coup d’etat by the inept Lon Nol, and the ensuing holocaust-like regime of Pol Pot. The Cambodian people went through a mind-shattering experience.

Although people tend to turn to religion in hard times, and most likely this also happened in Cambodia, the following years after Pol Pot saw the rule by atheistic Communists who did not place great, if any at all, emphasis on traditional Buddhist beliefs or values. I was not here – no Westerner was allowed into the country during that period – but judging from reports from the former Soviet bloc, Cambodia probably was no exception in that respect. The period from 1975 to 1993 must have shaped the national character, which may now at least seminally still be felt. Additionally, new-found freedom and better material circumstances may contribute to this ‘live and let live’, or ‘enjoy today as if were your last’ sentiment in Cambodia men.

Cambodia and Its Cars

2011-05-14T01:18:00.004-04:00

Cars are the scourge of mankind; at least that is what some people want to make us believe. Of course, in a sense it is true. People do a lot to own one and once they have that prized possession it becomes the outer symbol of their personality. It is no different in Cambodia, especially after its people had to endure hardship and deprivation for such a long time.

Americans think ‘bigger is better’. They came up with SUVs, gas guzzlers all, never mind past oil crises. ‘What’s the big deal?’, seemed to be the motto. Car makers made their profits on SUVs for the longest time and in the end that trend nearly bankrupted the big three in the U. S. when oil prices hit almost $150/gallon. People just no longer wanted gas guzzlers getting 12 – 14 mpg (15 or 16 ltrs./100km). Even those sporty European cars get around 8 – 10 ltrs/100 kmh.

Cambodians seem to be caught up in that same frame of mind and oblivious to all these market fluctuations and trends when it comes to their status symbol. Looking at the streets of Phnom Penh, prices at the gas pump don’t seem to faze those upper-crust Cambodians who insist on driving 8-cylinder cars at the a. m. abominable gas mileage, judging by the number of those huge SUVs clogging up the streets.

There are two underlying reasons for this. First, there is the concept that a big car gives a man great status (this applies not only to Cambodia, though), which leads some people to drive a Lexus 470 LX but to still live in a wooden shack without proper santitation or even furniture. But then, you will also find someone who struck it rich, even owning a few of those large SUVs. One trend seems to have been reversed, however. The most idiotic of SUVs – the Hummers – has largely disappeared. They seem to have been replaced by those boxy Landrovers, which now seem to be the ultimate status symbol.

Second, Cambodian people seem to have that genetic urge that if someone has or does something they all must have or do the same. In the same vein, if someone starts importing something, e. g. cement back in the early 90ies or batteries, for instance, everybody else jumps on the bandwagon, thinking this is good business, forgetting the basic law of economics that oversupply will depress prices. I could cite numerous examples where that happened, not the least with importing cars, in the end benefitting customers as dealers had to lower their margins and often had to sell below cost. (This urge also seems to extend to overseas Khmer in the U.S., where a large number of whom operate a dougnut shop.)

I know this from first hand experience as I was the first car importer in Cambodia after the opening of the country to the Western world in 1989/90. Government officials wanted to drive a Mercedes car. At that time, they couldn’t afford the bigger models so they opted for the MB 190. I had suggested to get other makes as well as they would be a lot cheaper. Mercedes cars are notoriously expensive on the used-car market. Additionally, the U. S. embargo was still in place at that time so there was only one way to get those cars – from Germany, a country with definitely higher used-car prices than the U. S. No one wanted to hear of it – it had to be the MB 190 in black or dark-blue, possibly silver; definitely no red, no white or light blue. Power windows, power locks, stick shift, no sunroof – those were the criteria. Stick shift because they felt nobody would be able to repair an automatic transmission at the time; no sunroof because if the car rolled over they couldn’t even begin to imagine what would happen.

So one official got a car like this, everybody else wanted the same car. Finally, I convinced some people to raise their status by trying the E-series, the most successful Mercedes series ever. Well, lo and behold, it caught on. And there I was importing MB E200/260/300 cars. Those were good times – import duty was only $2,500 per car. It didn’t last long, though.

But then came UNTAC with their Toyota Landcruisers. Guess what? Exactly; that was now the truck to have, never mind the cost or the gas mileage. Quite a few got stolen, repainted and sold on the black market. The business had become so cut-throat that I decided to just let it go. I didn’t want to go to all the hassle for just a $100-profit. Later, once the U. S. embargo was lifted, they started importing the first Camrys. Well, the same thing happened. Once the first one had gotten a Camry so everybody else wanted one too. The good thing about the dominance of Toyotas, of course, is the ready availability of spare-parts – new and ‘remanufactured’, and every Jim and Jack knows how to repair it.

Since the government ministers and higher-ups all got a Landcruiser as part of their position it became the ultimate status symbol in Cambodia, and still is today along with its brother, the Lexus 470. However, not everybody can afford the large SUV. For those people Lexus has the RS300. How much of a status symbol can it be, though, when every Tom, Dick and Harry drives one?

Nevertheless, the trend goes on unabated with even the latest even bigger models appearing that may be just a year or so old. These vehicles set you back more than $100K. Environmental or financial concerns? Not an issue for some people.

Anyway, I was in the market for another car myself and I had to weigh those exact issues – price, gas mileage, environment. I had been a long-time Mercedes driver, more than 20 years, so I originally wanted to get another Mercedes besides the Toyota 4-runner I use as my workhorse. But the price tag for the Mercedes I wanted seemed kind of high. A decent 2006 E320 from the US would run to about $55,000, pretty steep for a 5-6 year-old car (on account of the approximate 110% you have to add to the purchase price in the U. S. for freight, import duty, luxury tax, and dealer profit, the latter being the smalles item on the bill – about $500). Then I thought maybe an S-series would do just fine as well, although I think it’s a little too big for my purposes. On the plus side, though, there a quite few around in Cambodia. So I checked around. A 2000-model would run to $20,000. Still a nice car, but come to think of it, for me this is still a bit over the top, but compared to the $30,000 for a 2000 Lexus this would be an outright bargain, now wouldn’t it? Being a Barang in Cambodia, however, I don’t need that status symbol that sets me apart from the rest.

In the end I decided on the most reasonable car available in Cambodia these days – a Toyota Prius; great gas mileage, good for the environment, actually quite comfortable, nice quiet ride, and handles well due to front-wheel drive; the price tag was acceptable too. In fact, it was in the same range that same car would cost in the U. S. Well, there are always tricks to beat the customs people, I guess. While looking for my, or rather my wife’s, car I noticed that all of a sudden there were many Priuses for sale at the dealerships. Also, we now noted many driving around in Phnom Penh already. Is this the coming big trend for cars in Cambodia? I just hope it is. Makes sense, too, doesn’t it – with gas prices at $1.20/ltr. Hopefully, Cambodians will eventually see that a car after all is only a means of transportation. By the way, prices range from $13,000 for a 2004 model to around $17,000 - $19,000 for a 2006 model - 2007 and later to arrive soon.

We tried it out the next weekend on a trip to our house in Sihanoukville – we filled up the tank, made the round trip, and still had more than a quarter left in the tank of 45 liters. Although the gas mileage shown was only 37 mpg on average for that whole tank whereas normally it should be around 45 – 48, this is due to the fact that Phnom Penh stop-and-go traffic will lower the mileage. For those of you used to the metric system, 37 mpg is about 6.1 ltr./100 km, 45 is about 5.8 ltr./100 km. Not too shabby, right? Just think of the 20 ltrs. a Lexus 470 uses to crawl along at 5 mph in Phnom Penh.

A note on the salesmanship of those car dealers: don’t expect any of them to come out of their house and jump on you trying to sell you a car; they won’t. Some wouldn’t even come out after you beckon them. I guess they are not really in the business of selling, rather like we need to politely ask them whether they are willing to let us buy a car, perhaps?

And finally here is a list of some of the cars I owned in my lifetime. As you can see I didn’t always follow reason in my car purchases either.

My very first car - 1953 Beetle - Bought in the late 60ies - great sunroof almost made it into a convertible.

My second beetle - 1954 - after I had wrecked the first one (photo courtesy of 'Classic Cars')

I drove several of those - mostly the E260 - roomy, comfortable, top speed 220 kmh.

The smoothest ride and lines of a car ever - at that time - my 1985 Jag XJS12 - even took it to Cambodia - nobody wanted it as they didn't know it.

The start of the SUV craze - 1992 Chevy Blazer

Jeep Grand Cherokee - great SUV

2001 MB ML320

I currently drive this Toyota 4runner (stock photo) - super reliable but a gas guzzler.

Prius - the Hollywood celebrities' car, made famous by Larry David in 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' (stock photo)

Promotion of Democracy

2011-04-24T02:27:00.001-04:00

The International Republican Institute in Cambodia

I came across this article in the New York Times. On the surface, it may not pertain to Cambodia but it led me to take a closer look.

Excerpts:

NYT
By Ron Nixon, April 14, 2011

WASHINGTON — Even as the United States poured billions of dollars into foreign military programs and anti-terrorism campaigns, a small core of American government-financed organizations were promoting democracy in authoritarian Arab states.

The money spent on these programs was minute compared with efforts led by the Pentagon. ……….They are seeing that the United States’ democracy-building campaigns played a bigger role in fomenting protests than was previously known, with key leaders of the movements having been trained by the Americans in campaigning, organizing through new media tools and monitoring elections.
A number of the groups and individuals directly involved in the revolts and reforms sweeping the region, ……….received training and financing from groups like the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House, a nonprofit human rights organization based in Washington, according to interviews in recent weeks and American diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks.
The work of these groups often provoked tensions between the United States and many Middle Eastern leaders.
The Republican and Democratic institutes are loosely affiliated with the Republican and Democratic Parties. They were created by Congress and are financed through the National Endowment for Democracy, which was set up in 1983 to channel grants for promoting democracy in developing nations. The National Endowment receives about $100 million annually from Congress. Freedom House also gets the bulk of its money from the American government, mainly from the State Department.
“We learned how to organize and build coalitions,” said Bashem Fathy. Mr. Fathy attended training with Freedom House. He said, “This certainly helped during the revolution.”
But some members of the activist groups complained in interviews that the United States was hypocritical for helping them at the same time that it was supporting the governments they sought to change.
Diplomatic cables report how American officials frequently assured skeptical governments that the training was aimed at reform, not promoting revolutions.
Hosni Mubarak, then Egypt’s president, was “deeply skeptical of the U.S. role in democracy promotion,” said a diplomatic cable from the United States Embassy in Cairo dated Oct. 9, 2007.
For the full article visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/world/15aid.html?_r=1&ref=internationalrepublicaninstitute&pagewanted=all#

The IRI website’s mission statement for Cambodia is just normal PR-speak for such an organization. I would assume intelligence services sometimes hide behind similar statements. I do not want to intimate that the IRI is involved in any clandestine activities but the article above points to some highly interpretable agendas for those organizations.

The IRI finances at least in part the CCHR and as recently as October 2010 supported Kem Sokha. As a matter of record, Kem Sokha resigned from his post in 2007 after employees of the CCHR accused him of corruption and embezzlement of funds. He is now president of the Human Rights Party and has lately been in the headlines for his mental acrobatics in pushing for a merger with the SRP and soliciting their party members to join the HRP at the same time.

The IRI is widely known among informed circles in Cambodia as the organization that publishes annual surveys of public opinion, which at least for the past few years have always shown a favorable rating of the CPP-led government. As a reminder, as this was reported in the press before, the one for 2010, published in January 2011, for instance, found among other things:

1. 76% believe the country is headed in the right direction
2. 72% and more of all age groups believed that it is headed in the right direction
3. Between 65% and 77% witnessed corruption
4. Only 0.4% reported that they had no rice to eat several times a week
5. 36% think border demarcation impacts the country the most

For item no. 5 it is not clear whether the Eastern or Western border is meant. I would venture to think that people were thinking of the Thai border with its periodic outbursts of fighting over the Preah Vihear issue rather than the SRP-alleged border encroachments by Vietnam.

The IRI regularly draws the ire for those surveys from especially the SR Party, which claimed the respondents were too afraid to voice their true concerns and no great credence should be attributed to the survey. The general state of the country, all the pressing problems notwithstanding, belies that claim, which has not deterred the SRP from reiterating it and similar claims at every twist and turn.

The question arose in my mind what exactly the IRI’s agenda might be in light of that article above. They have been active in Cambodia since 1992 and one of their aims was to strengthen political parties. It appears that they have failed miserably in that department. Both the SRP and HRP are in a dismal state, and by all appearances in no position to challenge the dominating role of the CPP. The latter, however, is stronger than ever. This might raise the question in some people’s minds whether the IRI rather helped that party entrench and solidify that party’s power to such an extent that it seems all but impossible to unseat them in any of the next elections, barring any unforeseen events. Seeing the reality on the ground, however, I don’t think that party needed any outside help. Its leaders know how to play the instruments of politics.

Sam Rainsy is hoping that events similar to the one in Tunisia and Egypt, and now in Syria and Yemen, may one day happen in Cambodia as well. By deductive reasoning from the NYT article, the IRI’s role might substantially be the same in Cambodia as in those Arab countries. In that case, Sam Rainy’s hope appears to have some substance. Does he know more than appears to the naked eye?

On the other hand, the article points out one very essential fact of the U. S.’s policies towards autocratic regimes. Strategically, they assist and support the regimes, whether it is for economic or military reasons. At the same time, as the purported ‘greatest’ democracy, they profess to foment and support democratic movements and reforms through other means, e. g. through NGOs like the IRI, which are funded by the U. S. Congress. In Cambodia, you have the IRI on the one hand, and joint military maneuvers of Cambodia’s RCAF and the U. S. forces on the other. Hun Sen’s son even attended West Point, from which he also graduated. Additionally, the U. S. Navy makes repeated friendly calls to Cambodia. All this indicates a rather close official relationship.

Hosni Mubarak, the deposed Egyptian president, was ‘deeply skeptical of democracy promotion’. According to their website the IRI provides country-wide civic education, which indicates they are indeed involved in ‘democracy promotion’. In other words, the U. S. and the IRI believe this country needs democracy-building, despite the fact that, after all, Cambodia is a democracy, although the absolute majority of the CPP makes it a virtual one-party state. Civic lessons are a subject for middle and high schools. From my experience they are part of the curriculum in Cambodia. The question is whether these lessons do help the young generation really understand the principles and characteristics of a true democracy and whether they do need the help from organizations such as the IRI. Currently, it appears as though the people as a whole do not pay particular attention to these things. They are happy the way things are and value stability and economic progress more than truly democratic components and values.

Given the positive surveys and the virtually non-public profile of the IRI in Cambodia it appears that their work in the democracy-building process is directed not at helping to bring about (regime) change but to really enhance public awareness of the true characteristics of a democracy. That involves first and foremost a multi-party system. And this is exactly where Cambodia is lacking. Officially it does have a multi-party system but with the current opposition parties in such a disarray and without any true party leadership and mired in their internal power struggles, the IRI’s work looks to be a long and arduous task. Are they playing a similar role as in the Arab states, though? I don’t think so. First, Cambodia is not at the center of a volatile region such as the Middle East, in which the U. S. has vital interests. Second, I don’t think Cambodia would stomach any unsettling activities given that China and Vietnam have much greater influence on the government than the U. S.

April 2555

2011-04-21T03:14:00.002-04:00

The most prominent event in April is, of course, the Buddhist New Year Celebrations. This is the year 2555 on the Buddhist calendar. I remember a song entitled ‘In the Year 2525’ …. will man still be alive?
Well, we have 2011 already and despite some disasters of epic proportions, mankind so far managed to avoid annihilating itself.

Cambodians apparently don’t think much about these things. Their minds were on celebrating. As every year, Phnom Penh was largely deserted as many residents returned to their native villages to celebrate the New Year with their family. We are now in the Year of the Rabbit. People born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. Check your Chinese zodiac. Are you a rabbit?

My family and I spent the weekend, actually the whole week, with a couple of friends in our house in SHV. One day we went down to Ocheuteal Beach for a picnic, which was packed as was to be expected. Nevertheless, tables and beach chairs were still available, probably because not everybody wanted to shell out $20 for a place to sit. Beach restaurant owners always rent out their chairs on holidays (although we did get one for free for the International New Year). It makes sense, of course. People usually bring their own food and drink, so the restaurateur doesn’t really make any money on that so they charge for the chairs and tables instead; quite legitimate in my mind. $20 might seem a little steep though.

What was striking was the virtual absence of foreigners on the beach. Normally they stroll along the new boardwalk. It seems they don’t really want to mingle with Cambodians. Tourists probably have some reservations to go to places where they only see native faces, but what about the expats? I read somewhere (an expat wrote it) people can’t go there because of all the Cambodians. Now that is odd, isn’t it? What’s he doing here?

Here is a picture of the parking lot when we left the beach at 4 pm. It is not as full as on International New Year and the evening people hadn’t come yet, but nevertheless, it is a sign of incipient affluence, as limited as it may be and regardless of what the SRP makes you believe, but it is a sign nonetheless.

An American journalist wrote a book about Cambodia. Now the stupidest sentence I read was that Cambodians don’t smile. He was here in 2008. I am wondering where he went. But he should have seen the faces of the people at the beach or of the young people who pelted passing motorcycles with little water bombs. Besides that, the book is reportedly full of inaccuracies, though it also contains some detailed accounts of how the rich got rich in Cambodia. But any interested person knows that already. He even made the news on Bayon TV. Needless to say, he got blasted.

Speaking of the opposition, Sam Rainsy made headlines again in April. On one occasion he likened the CPP leadership with the Khmer Rouge, saying land expropriation occurs in a similar fashion now as during the KR period. Although the CPP spokesman dismissed this as remarks from a man who now knows he can never return to his homeland, I am sure they irked the mentioned people inside anyway. Someone said Sam Rainsy acts now exactly like his father who had become disillusioned with Sihanouk’s rule and spoke out against the king. We know the result. He mysteriously disappeared. SR has practically become a non-person anyway, which may render the same result. Let’s face it he is no Nelson Mandela who came back from political prison and led the nation to independence.

The other item with which he got into the news was his rejection of Kem Sokha’s party merger plans. He is right in that instance, of course. As mentioned in a previous post, Kem Sokha must be suffering from some sort of delusion. He must somehow be completely disconnected from the real world.

On another and non-political note, I heard from a friend there is a new development going up in SHV. The company BS Holiday Villa and Condominiums is selling weekend cottages starting at $15,000. I couldn’t believe it. It is supposedly located about one kilometer from the beach. That I wanted to see for myself. So one day I drove around looking for that development.

After some inquiries I found the Villa and Condo compound. Here is the entrance and what the smaller villas look like.

The price tags, however, started at $125,000. The location is anything but prime land. Following the road to Otres Beach you turn left instead of right at the junction to Otres Beach. The road goes up the hill a little and there it is. The rear of one side of the villas faces the sea, but the other one has no view at all. Next to it is an empty lot, which is intended for those weekend cottages, indeed starting at $15,000 for a simple wooden contraption, up to $60,000 for a more elaborate cottage. Again, the location simply sucks. That money buys you a lot of weekend hotel rooms outside the big holidays. I am not sure how many takers for the villas or for the cottages they corralled. Maybe I am too negative in my assessment of the situation, but to me this looks like another failed investment. I don't know what the "BS" stands for, though.

But I also thought the 300,000 or so ‘flat houses’ in Phnom Penh were a flop, and many of them were. That doesn’t keep one company from starting one new development after another in the Phnom Penh Thmey section of town (the Borei New Worlds).

Further up that road in SHV I spotted another one of those in my mind absolutely non-sensical developments. The picture speaks for itself. I didn’t bother to check the prices.

What opposition?

2011-04-02T05:59:00.001-04:00

Kem Sokha, the head of the Human Rights Party (HRP), recently stated that he would welcome any defector from the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) after Mao Monivann, an SRP MP, had done so and joined the HRP. Later it was clarified that he was expelled for non-conformism; that sure is a severe dereliction. Normally, opposition politicians defect to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) in the not so vain hope for plum jobs in the current power structure or sweet business deals.

At the same time, however, there are talks under way, currently stalled for several reasons, for the two opposition parties to merge so they can be a more formidable force in the next elections to be held in 2013. Kem Sokha’s invitation must have been a slap in the face of the SRP leadership. With his statement, he has shown a childlike naïveté. Who in his right mind would want to negotiate with such a back-stabber, that’s what it is called in other parts of the world? I guess even in the rough-and-tumble world of politics this is considered pretty much unacceptable and intolerable. It is no wonder then that the SRP doesn’t really want to share their bed with such an infantile megalomaniac.

But the SRP is no exemplary proponent of freedom and democracy in this Kingdom of Wonder either. As previously mentioned on this blog, they are rather headless right now. Sam Rainsy keeps calling from Paris espousing the same litany and travels all over the world pronouncing the imminent end of Hun Sen’s rule, using Libya as an example. Mu Sochua is equally absent many times traveling all over the world to all kinds of forums on behalf of her pet project – women’s rights, not that this is a bad thing per se, but it surely won’t help her party in Cambodia. Additionally, Sam Rainsy has been hit with another lawsuit in Cambodia – this time brought by Hor Nam Hong, similar to the one Hor Nam Hong brought in France. The only difference appears to be, if I read this right, the lawsuit here is criminal whereas in France it was civil. He errs too when he says he can’t be punished twice for the same matter. Anyway, all this has the trappings of dealing the final blow to His Excellency the Permanent Exile. One blogger, normally an ardent supporter of the SRP, even termed the current events in the party as self-destruction, accusing the second-tier leadership of being undemocratic, autocratic, self-dealing, favoritism, even of nepotism. Well, people who have followed my blog for some time will remember that back in 2009 I had quoted one Timothy S. Chhim, a Khmer-American attorney from New York, who had worked in the SRP election campaign and who had just brought forth those same observations. Are those SRP sympathizers finally waking up to reality?

Clearly, the opposition is in such great disarray, clueless of what to do, that they won’t even get that small number of seats in the next election unless, of course, they find a new leader who can put them back on the right course and who has appeal for the masses in Cambodia, not only for those geriatric overseas Khmer and xenophobes.

Here is a nice but late April fool’s Day hoax gleaned from Timothy’s blog:

Breaking NEWS FROM APFD news.

Fearing that Cambodia may turn to be Libya number 2 because of Sam Rainsy’s recent threat and prediction Hun Sen has decided to step down and is willing to leave the power to the brand new administration headed by the President of the United Cambodian Party.

The United Cambodian Party or UCP was formed freshly by leaders of all opposition parties to help rescue Cambodia from being swallowed by Vietnam.

Meanwhile many overseas Cambodians are busy applying for various positions including ambassadorial positions throughout the world.

The new president of UCP cannot be reached for comment.

AFPD News, of course, being April Fool’s Day News.

Economic Update

2011-03-26T03:00:00.000-04:00

I don't know how many of my readers receive Leopard Capital's newsletter. The last one contains a rather good overview of the current status of the Cambodian economy. For this reason I thought it is worthwhile sharing it with you.

Quote

Cambodia's economic recovery continues to gain momentum. Ramping up from a flat 2009 to grow by 5.5% in 2010, the Kingdom is projected to grow by 6-7% in 2011. Core sectors reasserted their strength last year and are posed to build on these gains in 2011: Garment exports surged 26% to a record $3 billion; tourism roared back with 16% growth in arrivals, rising to 2.5 million; Agriculture kicked back in across several sub-sectors with rubber topping growth for the sector at 43%, bringing rubber output to 50,000 tons. Underscoring growth in tourism, ticket sales for Angkor Wat -rated the world's #1 heritage site on TripAdvisor.com - rose around 20%. The airports are now bustling and airlines are planning new flights. Agriculture's gains come from outside and within Cambodia -- sustained, non-speculative demand in commodities will keep demand and prices high while, internally, the opening of several new rice mills and integrated sugar projects signal upgrades to infrastructure and efficiency of the Kingdom's agricultural sector..

Cambodia's wide-open banking sector continues to attract newcomers willing to meet the capital requirement ($34.5 million); the latest entrants CIMB, Bank of China, and ICBC have raised the number of issued licenses to 30. Meanwhile fifteen firms (including our portfolio company ACLEDA Bank) received securities licenses. Two of these firms have already built spacious new securities trading rooms in anticipation of the planned July 2011 launch of the Cambodia stock exchange. The question to answer: will it open on schedule? Only time will tell, but if precedents matter, note that neighboring Laos successfully opened its securities market in January with two fruitfulI POs.

Cambodia continues to make strides in the international arena. The EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) scored Cambodia as having the second best environment for microfinance in all of Southeast Asia. The UN reported that Cambodia achieved Asia's fastest rise in human development - defined as income, life expectancy and years of schooling - over the past two decades. Cambodia ratified the ASEAN Free Trade Zone with Australia and New Zealand, opening the way for full, free trade with these countries by 2015. Europe extended its "Everything But Arms" tariff free exports for Cambodia, and slashed from 50% to 30% the local content requirement for such exports.

The development of new infrastructure continues and is laying the groundwork for future growth. The ADB-backed $84 million project to renovate Cambodia's decrepit 650 km line has reopened the first section, 120 km from Phnom Penh southward to Kampot. Next will come the Kampot to Sihanoukville Port link, and the northwest line from Phnom Penh to the Thailand border. Separately, China agreed to finance a $700 million new eastern line to connect Phnom Penh to Vietnam, the 250 km "missing link" of the Trans-Asian Railway system. This five year project would slash transport costs and boost Cambodia's agriculture and mining exports to China. Cambodia's port revenues rose 31% in 2010 in sync with the garment sector recovery. The Phnom Penh river port led the growth, as it now feeds Vietnam's new Cai Mep Port, which offers direct connections to the U.S. and Europe. A second river port with over twice the handling capacity is being financed by China and is now 25% complete. As for power, construction has started on a Malaysia-backed 100 MW coal-fired power plant in Sihanoukville and several hydro dams financed by China. In the meantime, new power lines have been strung from Vietnam to Phnom Penh, and blackouts have become rare in our office.

End Quote

Coup de Grace?

2011-03-22T05:53:00.001-04:00

The Cambodian Assembly stripped Sam Rainsy of his seat in the Assembly citing his criminal convictions. After being sentenced to prison for 2 years and then for 12 years in two heavily disputed trials this move by the powers that be did not come as a surprise.

In a telephone interview Sam Rainsy stated as much but indicated that he will come back to participate in the 2013 elections. He is not exactly known as that typical come-back kid but he certainly does not appear to ever give up. He always gets up again like a rubber doll. He also vowed that he would continue to lead his party from Paris – a party that is seemingly in some sort of limbo and could urgently do with some form of leadership. That party does not know which direction to take and Sam Rainsy doesn’t know how to handle any of these imbroglios that have come up in his political career. It has been reiterated in many a publication that his intransigence, really stubbornness, won’t get him anywhere within the current power structure. Although he indicated there might be a deal with the CPP for his return before the elections, he did not specifically mention Hun Sen; but Hun Sen is the only person who could pave the way for him. His party asked the King for a royal pardon, which again only demonstrates the sheer helplessness the party finds itself in. The King pardons on recommendations from the Prime Minister and that recommendation has not been reported anywhere.

He said he still has wide support among Cambodians and the international community. One might be a little doubtful about the scope of that support. Banking on the international community is an exercise in futility, as he might have realized by now. The example of Libya has made it once again abundantly clear how reluctant the big powers are to intervene in another nation’s internal affairs; only Ghaddafi’s threats of no mercy and attacks on civilians finally brought about the armed international intervention. Nobody in his right mind, though, can compare Libya with Cambodia. Any help Sam Rainsy might be hoping for will simply not be forthcoming. The international community has more pressing, and seemingly never-ending, problems to deal with than reinstating a politician who has fallen from grace. He has simply become a non-person in Cambodia. Personally, as an interested bystander I don’t believe that he will be allowed back under some kind of political deal this time around. I would be very surprised if that were to happen. So in the end losing his assembly seat certainly looks like the coup de grace to his political career in Cambodia.

Cambodia – The Kingdom of Wonders

2011-03-17T05:50:00.002-05:00

And wondering we are – at the new marriage law that went into effect this week. The expat scene in Phnom Penh was abuzz with it. Normally, being not too much interested in anything the expat community is talking about, this new law did, however, pique my interest, being an expat who is married to a Khmer woman myself.

Now, by all accounts that law stipulates that no male foreigner, both Caucasian and Non-caucasioan, over the age of 55 or earning an income of less than $2,500 per month can marry a Khmer woman. It should be noted it says foreign man; this law does not apply to foreign women.

This law begs the question why it was passed in the first place and what is the objective behind it. I mean we are used to all kinds of stupid and ludicrous laws being passed, not only in Cambodia, but all over the world, and the U. S. is among the many Western nations that could do with a thorough overhaul of especially their state laws. But this law really shows the feeble-mindedness of some Cambodian politicians. Why set the age limit at 55 and why a minimum of $2,500 a month when the average male Cambodian makes only a small fraction of that, gets married and has a bunch of children whom he can hardly support? Were they possibly thinking of the proverbial old lecher who is salivating after Cambodia’s young pretty lasses? What about the guy who is widowed (like I was, though I was under 55)? What about a young strapping man in his twenties who came here as a volunteer, now makes $1,500 a month, falls in love with a Khmer co-worker? No chance, buddy, no Cambodian wife for you.

Some spokesperson said they want to protect their young women from being exploited by foreign husbands, probably having in mind those sad Korean stories. Of course, the government does not object to their young, uneducated rural girls to go work as maids in Malaysia, and other mostly Muslim countries. And from press accounts we do know how those girls are treated. Don’t they deserve the state’s protection?

Well, I personally know of an example where a sixty-eight year old man married a twenty-four year old country girl. In fact, he was older than the girl’s father. Only the dumbest person can believe that there was love involved on the girl’s part or on the man’s part for that matter. He told me himself he just got married so he would have a companion and somebody to take care of him. Apart from having to deal with a randy, wrinkled old man on a daily basis, this girl was set for life. He lived on his pension, 60% of which the wife is entitled to after the husband’s demise. So does the government want to protect these girls from their good fortune?

Sure, it’s rather an irritating sight to see an old man holding hands with his young consort in hot pants parading down the street. But he likes it, and she clearly makes money off it. If he wants to get married to a whore, he is just trying to get exclusive rights to her body. It’s their choice, and shouldn’t they be the masters of their personal lives and destiny. Never mind their level of education. She would be off the streets (hopefully) and he would get to spend his money on a worthy cause, since he would also be supporting the wife’s extended family, wouldn’t he?

And I am wondering why draw a distinction between foreigners and Khmer men? It is quite normal and customary for an older man, often over 55, to marry a girl 20 years or more younger. Don’t even mention the many old men who keep a beautiful, young mistress in clothes, jewelry, car, and apartment or house. Why this hypocritical morality all of a sudden? Now the most astounding thing is that Licadho, that otherwise reputable human rights organization, lauded this law. Do we even know the number of marriages of foreign men over 55 with Khmer women, some of whom may well be of the same age or only slightly younger?

It is a fact that it is mostly fellow Asian men that seek out much younger brides - like the Korean men who came here and who had no marriage prospects in their own country. So they exploited the plight of these gullible girls and took them to Korea and in many instances abused them. Surely, there are different ways of protecting these young, vulnerable women, e. g. mandatory pre-marriage counseling.

It is clear that somebody must have had too much to drink when they drew up the law and the legislature must equally have been mentally absent when voting for it. I would think that it is unconstitutional to begin with as it infringes not so much on the rights of the foreigner but on the Khmer bride’s rights first of all. It is discriminatory and contravenes the basic concepts of human rights. Yes, Cambodia doesn’t have the most stellar record on human rights and according to pundits some people just don’t have any rights at all. Much needs to be done even according to the Prime Minister, but why even bother with such an unnecessary, outright ludicrous and really stupid law. It’s a waste of time and effort and will in no way curb human trafficking, sexual exploitation, or any other abuses of women’s rights.

Personally, of course, although now over 55, I am not affected since I have been married for a long time anyway, and additionally, we were married abroad (in the U. S.). We were also married well before that other section of the family law went into effect under which the foreigner needs to provide all kinds of documentation to the foreign ministry and get their approval before they could be issued a marriage certificate. After all, that certificate is a prerequisite for obtaining a visa at most embassies so that the spouse can travel to Europe or the U. S., for instance. That process will set back the groom (it’s always a groom, isn’t it?) about $1,500. Well, if you are serious about this you will probably not mind spending that money.

Apart from those older men and that new silly law, the question of how to go about a possible marriage with a Cambodian woman will arise for most eager-to-wed foreigners contemplating it. First there is the incredible amount of red tape in this country. Then the $1,500 to get everything together and approved. Traditional girls or women would most likely want a nice wedding ceremony, which incidentally has no legal bearing on the couples marriage status. Depending on the number of guests and with all the razzmatazz, like multiple dresses for both, the wedding tent, the monks, the dinner and subsequent dance, etc. spending $10,000 is no rarity. If you want to get married here so you can take you wife to your home country, I wouldn’t go through with all this rigamarole. Try to get her a tourist visa by vouching for her so that she won’t become a charge of the state and get married in your home country. Marriage licenses in the U. S. require a minimum of paperwork and cost about $150. The Clerk of Court of the county or their representatives can administer the oath. Nothing to it, really.

As a U. S. citizen you could also get a fiancee visa. This takes some time but will usually be granted according to a knowledgeable source. Similar visas are available from most EU countries with varying regulations. The important factor for all of them is to provide credible proof that the couple has known each other personally for some time and that they intend to get married in the groom’s home country. This may involve registering for marriage at the magistrate’s office of your home town, or some other official confirmation. You need to check with your country’s regulations. Some countries require that the bride have at least rudimentary knowledge of the language spoken there. From what I hear this is the best albeit not the quickest way of getting your bride out.

If you want to settle in Cambodia, why get married in the first place? The majority of Khmer people I know never bothered with the civil ceremony.

When we applied for my wife’s visa at the U. S. embassy way back we applied for a tourist visa. The official asked why not go for a fiancee visa to which I replied that first, I am not a U. S. citizen, and second, I don’t want to go all the way right away but see how it works out. He completely understood and was very sympathetic to this. As a long-time resident, business and home owner in the U. S. I had no credibility problem either. So we got that visa and avoided all that hassle with the Cambodian authorities. Ironically, though, we are legally married everywhere else in the world except in Cambodia because the Foreign Ministry will not recognize our U. S. marriage certificate without that red tape I mentioned above. Aw shucks, I thought, what do we need that for anyway? If we want to travel we can get any visa we want for her.

As for that law, one could think that the writers live on a different planet. Smart people won’t be affected, and ignorant foreigners deserve no better, or do they?

Rip-Off?

2011-02-28T01:47:00.001-05:00

I posted a story in August 2009 about a little village at the junction of Hanoi Road and State Road 5A. (http://about-cambodia.blogspot.com/2009/08/foreign-direct-investment-in-cambodia.html - ‘Where is all the outrage?)

At that time the residents of that village, nothing more than an assembly of wooden shacks in a deplorable state, had to pay $100 per family to get their name on the Sangkat list for relocation. All families on the list made them eligible for a plot of land somewhere else as part of compensation for the loss of their current dwellings. A developer who saw some merit in the location at the junction of two major roads had obviously bought the land. The way this little settlement looks now it is probably a boon for the residents to be relocated. The only thing that bothers me personally is that they haven’t been informed of the new location.

Now in the latest development one and half years later it turns out that each family has to plunk down another $200 to get assigned that piece of land. It is supposedly a normal-sized lot of 4.5m x 12 or 16 m. Location: still unknown. We are talking about approximately 50 families or 200 to 300 people. Not a big deal, right? But who gets the $200 or $10,000 altogether? And who got the $5,000 the first time around. One can see that in order to get your personal documents, e. g. ID-card, etc. right, you need to pay a fee, even if it is $100. This means that you do get the right of residence at a particular location. Way back that ‘carnet de residence’ cost only a few riel, but like everything else, prices have gone up, in other words, the $100 were half-way acceptable. I am sure, though, $30 went to the middleman, the policeman in charge of safety at the village no less, and $70 were divvied up among the commune chief and his cronies.

Now what is it with that second list? It doesn’t look like there is any need for it, right? Possibly the middleman didn’t think so, because that demand came from him. No doubt he will have to share it again. Again, no official plan, no location, nothing, nada. On hearing about the additional demand the people at the village started hustling to scrape together the $200. They didn’t even ask one question about the legitimacy of the demand. It seems that when you practically live above a little river, which serves as the local sewer, and which rises up into the shacks during the rainy season with all the health problems that entails when you live in your own waste, you don’t ask too many questions. Poor people have so gotten used to being bounced around and being taken advantage of they accept everything lying down. Is it part of the Khmer mentality that no matter how poor you are you still get squeezed dry by your neighbors; and that policeman is a neighbor? It is not only the rich who do this, no it pervades the whole Khmer society from top to bottom, or so it seems.

But I again dare ask the same question: ‘Where is all the outrage?’ Where are the NGOs, where are the media? Probably not worth the trouble of sending somebody out there to ask a few questions, I guess. But then, that might have an adverse effect on the whole deal, might it not?

During the rainy season

Location

Will It Ever End?

2011-02-20T03:53:00.000-05:00

The dispute about the Preah Vihear temple and the adjoining territories is into its 3rd year without an end in sight. If it were not so serious, one could easily dismiss this as politicking to enhance politicians’ stature. By all appearances, though, there are real fanatics at work; these would be the so-called yellow shirts in Thailand.

A possible, surely very unofficial scenario, of the recent round of fighting along the border must have gone down like this: the Thai PM called for the removal of the Cambodian flag from a temple in a disputed district. The Cambodian PM promptly denied this. So what could the Thai PM do? Nothing. This enraged his power base – the yellow shirts. They vowed to make things right and took matters into their own hands and marched to the border, most likely with the aim of removing that hated flag.

The Cambodian soldiers stationed at the border seeing the advance of the yellow shirts, probably accompanied by Thai soldiers, feared an invasion and opened fire. Needless to say, the Thai side retaliated in kind and in the end there were 2 or more dead (exact numbers are hard to come by even today), and many injured soldiers and civilians on both sides.

As happens in such cases, both sides claimed to have prevailed, but the result tends to point to the Cambodians as winners - the flag is still there, the territory is still Cambodian.

One can only suspect what happened the following days. It is well conceivable that the Cambodian soldiers were a little nervous and therefore trigger-happy. At the slightest movement on the other side they fired a few rounds in that direction, which promptly flared into another exchange of artillery rounds and machine gun fire.

Enough is enough, the Cambodian PM said and called on the UN Security Council to deal with this matter and send in UN observers or even peacekeepers. Finally, he also sent a letter to the International Court of Justice in The Hague ‘to clarify’ their 1962 judgment that the disputed territory belongs to Cambodian, as does Preah Vihear. How about that? Why didn’t that happen two years ago?

Diplomacy being diplomacy, one couldn’t really expect any concrete steps from the UNSC. I mean, the UN is a paper tiger anyway when it comes to resolving armed conflicts. Why should it be any different now? Surely enough, it called for ‘utmost restraint’. My goodness, that will defuse the situation, won’t it?

Having been sort of rebuffed, the PM then made a proposal to have ASEAN observers present. A smart move, as in the past practically all Cambodian moves were smarter than the incessant Thai calls for a bi-lateral solution. Even the Thai English-language newspapers acknowledged this fact. After more than 2 years, it must be clear to even the most naïve observer that a bi-lateral solution is not possible. So, now what?

Of course, the Thai PM is on wobbly legs already and needs to maneuver cautiously among the various factions of his supporters. The army is already itching to send him where he belongs, namely in some corporate boardroom. One thing is clear. The Thai PM cannot control his regional military commanders, let alone the military per se. Those regional commanders run their districts like fiefdoms, it is said; and it seems they all have their own agenda. It is a well-known fact that military people are not exactly known for their progressive thinking. Consequently, one cannot expect much from that side.

So will it be more of the same in the coming months and years, or will the Thai side finally come to their senses? And it is clearly them who are on the wrong side of history and international law here. We’ll see - check the news in the coming days for new developments – I wouldn’t hold my breath though.

What is so frustrating and disappointing, and one could really lose one’s faith in the intellectual abilities of politicians, if one hasn’t already, is that this is happening in the 21st century, where leaders throughout the world are supposed to be more open-minded and have a better understanding of the complexities of human interaction. Hasn’t anybody learned that armed conflict never solves anything permanently? But then, I never thought a war in Iraq or a continuing war in Afghanistan would ever happen. All the time people are dying for their leaders’ mistakes. Human lives aren’t worth much, are they? To me, this whole conflict is a travesty of diplomacy and a human tragedy, both in terms of the loss of individual lives and of the inability of leaders to resolve a needlessly deadly conflict.

Anonymity on Blogs/Websites about Cambodia

2011-02-04T04:09:00.000-05:00

The internet and its social networks have played a vital and transcendent role in both the uprising in Tunisia, the ongoing revolt in Egypt, and the civil unrest spreading in Jordan, Syria, and Yemen.

Exactly what role it has played is somewhat hazy but undoubtedly its impact was tremendous; what is clear is that it enabled the spread of information within seconds of becoming significant to the cause. Words like ‘We should do something about it.’, meaning the oppression, censorship, and other curtailments of basic rights, can ignite into a wildfire. We can see the results of a call to take to the streets in Egypt. Unmistakably, the internet and Facebook have become a powerful tool for opposition groups that leaders in oppressed countries have only now come to realize, or so it seems.

On the other hand, about 60% of all Internet traffic is to sites with sexual or pornographic content. Another big nuisance of it is that anybody can post anything on websites, e. g. this domain, for free; some people choose to use their real names, some choose to use a pseudonym, and others do it anonymously. This anonymity leads, of course, to a flood of vicious, vile, and insulting postings that only serve one purpose: to besmirch the author of the post or one of the comments. Bloggers, myself included, feel they have something to say so they publish their thoughts on a blog. They do this because they want to share their thoughts, possibly provoke a discussion, offer a different point of view; but most certainly their aim is not to be vilified.

Someone, I believe it was a NYT reporter, once said bloggers have become the new form of print journalism, as sometimes they do break news the mainstream media has not picked up on yet. However, that person was obviously referring only to the serious ones, like the ones that can be found on the New York Times website, or the Huffington Post; certainly, vulgar websites and posters were not included in that statement.

An overseas Khmer political scientist by the name of Gaffar Peang-Meth published an article on the subject of anonymity on a number of websites, including his main vehicle the Pacific Daily News. He simply listed a number of observations made by other people, the gist of which was what we all know already – humans are capable of writing things anonymously, regardless of civility or propriety, they wouldn’t otherwise write. If all people lived by certain universal ethical standards we would not need laws or in the case of internet blogging, moderation of comments.

I, for one, choose to post anonymously in order to avoid those profane and vile comments that would, and in fact did, automatically follow, to some people controversial, posts. (However, anybody can learn my identity if they get in touch by email.) I know the names afforded certain groups or nationalities, e. g. rednecks, the N-word for Africans, guinea for Italian, mick for Irish, kraut for German, frog for French, etc. Again, they don’t serve any purpose but to denigrate other people. In my view, those vicious comments are just a waste of space on the internet, and any self-respecting blogger would just not have his/her site marred by such trash.

The a. m. Mr. Gaffar mentioned that anonymity is the shield from tyranny of the majority (quoted from the U. S. Supreme Court). Understandably, anonymous posters might also fear reprisals from authorities in countries with oppressive regimes. While this certainly has validity in countries like China and Vietnam, for instance, does this apply to Cambodia?

There are many anti-government websites, including blogs, on the internet. The most notorious one is probably KI-Media, which is a prime example of a typical unmoderated blog. The site itself is anonymous so they publish the most virulent anti-government comments. Most are overseas-Khmer who I am sure sometimes come to visit relatives and for that very reason wish to remain anonymous. Their contention most likely runs somewhat along the ‘You never know’ line. On the other hand, Licadho or the Cambodian Center for Human Rights and their members are and live in Cambodia and continue to exist without interference from the government. Of course, they are internationally recognized organizations and harder to influence or control than mere individuals. I have no idea how Facebook features in the dissemination of information about Cambodia, but if other examples are any guide, it probably has the same prominence as elsewhere.

Another anti-government propaganda site is Khmer Intelligence. Now this site doesn’t really exist, but the people behind it send regular Cambodia-related news, mostly rumors and outright fabricated information, by email. This site is actually rather redundant. Other self-appointed anonymous critcs living abroad fall mostly into the same category. They think they make a difference and possibly wish they could foment an uprising like the ones in Tunisia or Egypt with their posts, but they fear to lose the comforts of their normal life so they opt for anonymity and remain armchair experts, content in their belief to have achieved something by putting it out in cyberspace. Only by stepping out of their anonymity and by revealing their true identity can they hope to make a difference; real leaders always have a name.

On the other side of the spectrum, a blog of serious content is ‘The Mirror’ written by former DPA (German press agency) correspondent Norbert Klein. He voices his opinions and often critical observations in broad daylight, so to speak. Well, he is not Khmer, so is he afforded special status or is it that his pieces are of a more mature,sophisticated nature and on a higher level? Said Mr. Gaffar and Ms. Theary Seng, a prominent Khmer activist, also publish their articles under their true names; nothing has happened to them either. Sadly, though, both also choose KI-Media for their publications.

Mr. Gaffar headlined his article ‘Anonymity has its Time and Place’. I would believe this for the most part does not apply to the people who really do want to work for change in Cambodia.

Postscript: Another at times anti-government blog has disappeared from the scene, it seems. Details Are Sketchy ceased from one day to the next. A recent comment on my blog was wondering what happened to her. Although I believe her blog had mostly rather superficial content and some nasty comments, I also wonder what happened to that blogger.

Repose

2011-01-30T00:03:00.000-05:00

Most days we are consumed with thoughts about work, family, money, and other seemingly important things and find little time to savor the beauty of nature and local ambience around us. The free time we have we spend in front of the TV, or engaged in other distractions the modern world has presented us with.

So sometimes, we need to take that proverbial time out, which we occasionally do, but certainly not nearly enough. Here are a few pictures of such moments.

The monkey thieves - these cheeky inhabitants of the Udong hill steal the flowers from unsuspecting visitors - they make fine fare for them.

Sunset at one of my favorite restaurants in Sihanoukville.

Crabbers returning overloaded with our culinary delights.

Tunisia in Cambodia?

2011-01-22T06:20:00.006-05:00

A couple of days ago Prime Minister Hun Send referred to the ouster of the Tunisian president Ben Ali when he said that similar unrest would not be tolerated in Cambodia. He would ‘close the door and beat the dog’. Many scratched their heads wondering what he actually meant, at least those people who are unfamiliar with the phrase. This is actually a Chinese saying that found its way into other Asian languages as well. It was widely used after the Tiananmen massacre and Tibetan unrest in China when the Chinese government put restrictions on free movement and the flow of information at the time, trying to shut out the world.

This is what the Phnom Penh Post reported about Huns Sen’s remarks:

Also today, Hun Sen lashed out an unnamed critic that he said had advocated a popular revolution in Cambodia on the model of Tunisia, where rioting and protests forced out long-time ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali last week.

“There is a guy saying that Cambodia should foment a Tunisia style-revolt. I would like to send you a message that if you provoke or foment a Tunisia style-revolt, I will close the door to beat the dog this time,” Hun Sen said, arguing that the North African nation faces “the prospect of civil war” as it attempts to hold together its fragile interim government.

“This guy, if he enters Cambodia, will face arrest. This guy has a bald head. This guy says Cambodia should look to the style of Tunisia: if you dare to gather [the people] to do that please come, don’t say such silly words … I will beat you on the head.”

It was not clear to whom the prime minister was referring.

Obviously, Hun Sen was talking about Dr. Lao Mong Hay who had encouraged Cambodians to follow the Tunisian example. This Dr. Lao is a well-known Cambodian intellectual and activist living in Hong Kong who, of course, is banned from entering Cambodia due to his anti-government pronouncements that subliminally call for the ouster of the regime even by unlawful means. He also happens to be a staunch royalist and is a little out of tune with the times. In our Western understanding, there is only one way to bring about a change of government, that is, at the ballot box. However, many Western governments nevertheless encourage regime change in brutal dictatorships or governments that are not beholden to their Western interests, or as they like to put it ‘democratic ideals and principles’. Sometimes they even invade a country to bring about that regime change, like in Iraq, or in Grenada in the 1980s. On the other hand, it is quite comprehensible that a repressed people will rise up, and for the most part, it will have the free world’s support. But do we have these conditions in Cambodia?

Hun Sen reiterates that he won fair and square in the elections and the only way he will leave office is if he is defeated in elections. Radio Free Asia got a quick response from the government when an op-ed there criticized Hun Sen on his 26th anniversary as Prime Minister and asked that he step down. The government pointed to the U. S. and European Union’s statements that the 2008 elections, in fact all previous elections, were freer and fairer than the previous one. He is the democratically elected leader of the country.

Do we have a repressive regime in place here? According to Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch Asia, who wrote the op-ed for RFA, yes. I believe, however, Brad Adams has lost his ability for independent and objective observation. He hears or sees Hun Sen, he sees red. The fact is that according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s report on the state of the world’s democracies, Cambodia is a hybrid democracy and occupies rank 100 among the 187 nations listed. What does that mean? Cambodia has all the trappings of a democratic state but the ruling party enjoys an absolute majority that would even enable it to change the constitution. Essentially, it has become a one-party state, where the opposition parties play no significant role in the country’s political life. The King is the head of state without power as in the U. K., for instance. The Prime Minister wields all the power based on his party’s majority. By all appearances, the Hun Sen is rather autocratic and his word is just like the law. He is famous for micromanaging the state’s affairs. He will attend the opening of even the smallest road, as he did this Saturday when he came to the inauguration of a small paved side road of Hanoi Road in Phnom Penh Thmey. (Of course, this also enhances his visibility with the general population and earns him the gratitude of the Okhna who most likely footed the bill.)

There were some misguided incidents with the press and opposition politicians, e. g. Mu Sochua, and at least the English-speaking press freely reports that some judges are afraid of adverse consequences if they rule against the ruling party’s interests. This does cast doubts on the judiciary’s independence.

Nevertheless, the press enjoys the most freedom among most of the SE Asian countries. Notwithstanding the fact that some police hired for the protection of a private construction site overstep their authority as in the case of the PPP reporter who got beaten up, the press can go about its business freely unless they publish patently false stories or slanderous rumors. You can’t just accuse politicians of corruption without hard evidence. Also, the Khmer-language press is notorious for printing uncorroborated stories, or even trying to extort money from individuals for not printing negative stories about them. So there is a flipside to this coin as well.

The best English-language paper in the country, the Phnom Penh Post, is a prime example of what a newspaper should print. They also report and print stories critical of the CPP, the Prime Minister, or any other politician for that matter. I have not seen or heard any repercussion or attempts to silence the paper. Of course, they never engage in rumormongering. They abide by the New York Times’ motto: ‘All the news that is fit to print.’ This is a maxim the Khmer-language newspapers should engrave in their editors’ minds. A lot of the conflicts with an admittedly press-sensitive government could be avoided.

Despite the recent hullabaloo about the shutting down of a domain, the internet is freely accessible. Sometimes, the powers that be seemingly try to please the Prime Minister and his wife by trying to control content. Madame Bun Rany is rather puritan in her views and wants to ban all things erotic from cell phones and the internet. That, of course, is a hopeless undertaking in today’s technological world. Consequently, any attempt to block sites will prove futile, as people will always find a way to circumvent the blockage, with or without the help of some savvy hackers at home and abroad. The flow of information cannot be stemmed. This is a fact that the government seems to have internalized already. You can buy any foreign newspaper or magazine – uncensored, as opposed to neighboring countries.

In Tunisia, the masses protested in the face of economic hardships, high unemployment, and rising prices while the accumulation of the Ben Ali family’s wealth continued unabated; these protests were obviously triggered by Wikileaks cablegate and the self-immolation of a street vendor. Global Witness reported allegations how the Prime Minister Hun Sen’s clan amassed fortunes by selling out the country. Ministers, generals, and high-ranking officials are all seen to be rich. GW and other organizations accuse them of having gained their riches through corruption, theft, or other illegal means. Whatever truth there is to these allegations and accusations, could this lead to the same demonstrations as in Tunisia? I don’t think so and this is where Dr. Lao errs in believing that such an upheaval could or should happen in Cambodia.

I did business in and with Tunisia and know the country, although it certainly has undergone some change in the last decade. Dr. Lao should have checked the CIA World Factbook before making such a recommendation and drawing the ire of the Cambodian government. Although it gained independence from France in 1956, the same time period as Cambodia, its history is vastly different from Cambodia’s; most significantly, it never went through a dark ages period. The population is generally more educated and affluent than Cambodia’s. Prosperity has penetrated many levels of society. Their contact with the modern and western world came early with the advent of mass tourism, one of the major industries in Tunisia. This happened almost along the same time line as the development of Thailand, which also began in earnest around the early 1970s, after the Vietnam war and the influx of tourists from Western countries. Cambodia lags about 30 years behind in this.

Despite some organizations’ and people’s misgivings, justified or unjustified, about the current government, it has proven to be positive for the country as a whole. It has brought stability, peace, and a good environment for investment. People power as in the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine will not happen here. The older people are tired of unrest and instability, the younger people want to enjoy life. The mentality of the people is just not conducive to uprisings. This is seemingly what politicians or activists like Sam Rainsy or Dr. Lao overlook. Being a baby-boomer and having always been intensely interested in current affairs, I cannot remember one instance in all those post-war years where extra-parliamentary opposition has succeeded in bringing about regime change without the help of the entrenched power structure, or in some cases with outside help. Of course, if you let agitators into the country, you might open the floodgates. Sorry, folks, but those people better stay out. It is not good for the country. If you want to beat the system, work within the system. If you preach democratic principles, please apply them too.

All Hyped Up

2011-01-20T06:28:00.003-05:00

Yesterday the Google domain that hosts this blog among many, many others was inaccessible in Cambodia, possibly from other countries as well. Blogspot.com, of course, is a huge domain with blogs probably numbering in the hundreds of thousands. It is quite conceivable that sometimes there might be logistical problems, e. g. servers are overloaded, electrical failure (power outages still occur), or similar problems.

Pretty soon news made the rounds that one or two Cambodian Internet providers had shut down this domain, although the incidence and regions seemed to vary. On being contacted, one of them confirmed that a manager had ordered staff to block that domain. Subsequently, the general manager denied any such instruction; the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication purportedly also knew nothing about this, as did the Ministry of the Interior. For the full story, please see www.phnompenhpost.com .

Some pundits also got all hyped up about that whole situation and voiced their self-righteous indignation in blogs and comments. Sure, it could only have been the government, right?

Among the many blogs blogspot.com hosts, KI-Media, a news aggregation site, is probably the most widely read blog about Cambodia. KI-Media obviously gets its posts by searching the net for news about Cambodia, reprints it, and also must have good connections into some government circles because it sometimes publishes information that could only stem from those sources. Evidently, they are very close to especially one opposition party (SRP) and get a lot of their inside information from them. It also enjoys very close relations with overseas Khmer activists, plus the bloggers themselves are most overseas Khmer. A few of them, however, actually seem to be homeland Khmer. These people all have one thing in common: they want to unseat the present government and KI-Media is their mouthpiece.

They also have some contributors that have transformed the site from a sheer propaganda outlet for the opposition to a site for civic lessons. One contributor calling himself Khmer Democrat publishes texts from various legal sites, including the Cambodian constitution, obviously trying to educate the ‘dumb’ masses of Cambodia. This person may think he/she is pretty smart with what he/she is doing but nowadays nothing is easier than ‘cut and paste’ from the internet. What this person also seems to forget is that he/she is missing the intended target, as the people who would make a difference in Cambodia just don’t read the website – the young. What amazes me, however, is that one Theary Seng uses this forum for her publications as well. This lady is an intelligent and well-educated woman, a U. S. licensed attorney no less, who enjoys a solid reputation in Cambodian civil societies and is certainly misplaced on such a crude site as KI-Media.

The way KI-Media has evolved and goes about its business is beyond the pale, in my mind. From what started as a rather good, purely news gathering site, if you disregard the prevalent obscene readers’ comments, they have turned into a slanderous, undemocratic, demagogical, virulent, bile-spewing, contemptible political trash site. Those purportedly highbrow articles posted by several seemingly well-educated contributors cannot help their stature. A few years back I got a few posts published on that site, but once I became critical of the main opposition party I was henceforth banished. So much for their objectivity.

They accuse the government of being illegitimate, of having stolen the last elections, of tolerating, even supporting, corruption at all levels, brand the heads of the ruling party as traitors, of being murderers, and generally act as a platform for the failed opposition leader Sam Rainsy. They are outright racist when it comes to their opinion of the Vietnamese government and the Vietnamese people. It might anger some CPP officials what they read there, but they also might just dismiss the site as somewhat ludicrous.

The site never tires of calling for the respect of human rights, freedom of speech (and press), democratic principles, etc., but their own website does lack these things. We all know Cambodia is a developing country with all its woes and all is not well in the Kingdom of Wonder but KI-Media with its kind of low-level attacks is certainly not helping the democratic process. Overseas Khmer with a few homeland Khmer chipping in every now and then run the site. A duplication of the site without the vile commentaries is a blog called Khmerization (I have had many a dispute with that blogger about the situation in Cambodia).

Now it cannot come as a surprise that these two sites thought the government had blocked their sites when the outage occurred. Although the information at hand is ambiguous, I am sure the Cambodian government has by now come to realize that it just can’t simply and easily shut down websites. Proxy servers abound and it is not a problem to access a banned website from within Cambodia through those. It rather sounds as if some overzealous ISP employees misunderstood an instruction and blocked it. But it sure enhanced KI-Media’s profile over the short term and their number of hits, as well as those for Khmerization. This Australian accountant considers himself the great authority on Cambodian politics anyway, perhaps missing a sense of proportion in the grand scheme of things (although admittedly some of his posts that reach me via email are not too bad, especially the ones dealing with history). KI-Media and Khmerization simply attach too much significance to their blogs. In other words, they are just a little too full of themselves, aren’t they? Cambodia is not the U. S. or Australia. Although the internet is widely available and uncensored in Cambodia, the penetration of internet usage is only about 3-5 %. So who are they preaching to?

Education at What Price?

2011-01-19T05:31:00.002-05:00

Interested expats all know about the state of the Cambodian education system in comparison to other more developed countries. An indication of what it is like is the fact that people of means send their children to private schools or even abroad.
At the beginning of the past school year, I had to make a choice where to send my Cambodian stepson. He had completed middle school (8th grade) in the U. S. with average grades; it goes without saying that we wanted to give him the best education available in Cambodia. Ideally, we were looking for a bi-lingual school. Being Khmer it makes sense that he should be able to read and write Khmer on an advanced level; being in the era of globalization with English the dominant language, we also wanted him to continue his education in English.

The public schools don’t enjoy much of a reputation and naturally don’t teach in English, although English is taught. I experienced first-hand with my two stepdaughters the level of knowledge they pass on or rather don’t pass on to their students. They had both completed middle school here when they came to the U. S. American high schools are not too demanding to begin with, but these two girls were pretty much lost there. Nevertheless, they both managed to obtain their high school diplomas there.

Numerous private high schools in Phnom Penh teach in English. Many, I don’t know exactly how many, are just elementary schools. Practically all of them have a very big minus in my mind. They do not employ native English speakers. If parents want their child to learn a foreign language it is best taught by a native speaker of that language, right? Well, many of those private schools may not have the funds for that. After some research I narrowed my search down to just a handful of high schools. Unfortunately, the best ones offer curriculums in English only. So I had to weigh whether it would be desirable for my stepson to have a decent English education but probably wouldn’t be able to write a decent letter or document in Khmer.

Anyway, here are the schools I contemplated:

The International School of Phnom Penh (ISPP)

This is clearly the top secondary education school in Cambodia. They offer the International Baccalaureate, which is recognized practically worldwide and opens admission to even the best colleges in the English-speaking world. They possess all the modern facilities a high school needs to have in this day and age. Needless to say, that the curriculum is very demanding and rigorous. I also do know about the IB first-hand as my own son entered the IB-program in the U. S., only to resign after just one semester. It was too strenuous for him, although he did have the brains for it.

All this excellent education comes at a price, of course. With registration, capitalization, tuition, etc. the annual amount parents would have to dole out is in the range of $15,000. That’s more than most normal colleges in the U. S. cost. Considering the cost and the fact they my stepson with his average grades wouldn’t probably cut it, and that this would only be good if he were to go to college abroad, I eliminated this school from my list.

Northbridge International School Cambodia (NISC)

What was said about the ISPP applies to this school as well, except that they don’t offer the IB. A few years back they were accredited for the Diploma Program but must have lost that in the intervening years. According to their website, though, they will most likely be a member for the next school year. Tuition fees, etc. are practically the same as at the ISSP, and for exactly the same reasons I eliminated that school too.

I am sure both are excellent schools and offer an outstanding Western education but they are both geared towards diplomatic and NGO personnel with the means to pay these kinds of fees.

Zaman International School

Zaman enjoys an excellent reputation among Cambodians. Many would like to send their children there if they could only afford it. This school has exactly what I was looking for: classes in both English and Khmer. 20 of the 40 weekly class-hours are taught in English. The Ministry of Education and an international education body accredit them (see their website). This institution comprises not only elementary and secondary education, but they have an outstanding university as well. Equipment and facilities are on a par with today’s requirements. High school graduates earn a Khmer diploma as well as a Zaman diploma, which is recognized by a number of colleges in English-speaking countries. So this would fit my bill, it appeared. The one drawback for me was that the level of my stepson’s Khmer is not sufficient to enter high school just yet. Registration, tuition, etc. run to about $3,500 a year, which would appear to be very reasonable under the circumstances. This school, however, was founded and is run by Turkish people. Although they profess to employ only native English-speakers for their English-language classes, I found out this is not quite true. Of the English-faculty staff, there are maybe two or three native speakers. Even the English teacher is Turkish. This is a big disadvantage. I heard that they had more native speakers originally, but seemed to have phased them out over the years; probably for cost reasons. Turkish teachers may be less expensive than say Brits or Americans. Other than that, being Turkish doesn’t mean that they are Muslim-oriented; they are an all-secular school. Classes, however, are not co-ed.

British International School

As opposed to all the other international schools this institution blooms in the dark, so to speak. They do not advertise, nor do they have a website. When asked why, we were told that they rely on word-of-mouth only, so as not be overwhelmed by wealthy Khmer who many a time think their money can buy the grades and the teachers’ goodwill in the face of the children’s bad behavior.

In short, they offer the English A-levels diploma, which is similar to the U. S. diploma, possibly a little more rigorous, but not quite as demanding as the IB; only native speakers, of course, all the modern equipment and facilities, as far as we could tell, so pretty much the same as the ISSP, and the NISC. At $6,500 a year not exactly a steal, but still considerably cheaper than the former two. I was rather tempted as I put great stock in European schools. I always think they are better when it comes to general knowledge. The U. S. system is probably better at the tertiary level.

Logos International School / Hope Schools

Logos is apparently an excellent teaching institution with everything that’s needed and equal to NISC in the quality of education they provide. However, it is faith-based and as an avowed atheist, I cannot send anyone to a school that starts the day with a prayer, has daily Bible studies, and teaches Intelligent Design. To their credit, though, they also teach Darwinism. Additionally, I don’t believe Christian schools have a place in Cambodia to try to convert mostly devout Buddhists to their faith through, although admittedly good, education. They do say they do not indoctrinate but they do want to convince people that only the Christian faith will make them better and happier people and that their salvation lies in a Christian life. It is not exactly cheap for a Christian school – around $4,000, considering that many Christian elementary schools in Cambodia are free. Here is a quote from their website that says it all:

“In the case of religion, enrollment may be censored when necessary in order to maintain the strong Christian culture of the School.”

Western International School

This is a Cambodian-run institution, the staff is Cambodian, and it seems the only appeal they have is that their tuition fees are downright cheap in comparison to the other schools – only about $1,000 per year. Although they offer a high school in only English, it is only part-time, so a student would only get part of an education. I later learned that many of them go to a public school as well. The impression I got was not too favorable, so I eventually ruled it out.

Golden Gate American School

This school has been around since 1996 and was founded by overseas Cambodians. One of their sons who obviously stayed here when his parents emigrated runs it. They offer kindergarten to high school, or K-12 as it is generally known. However, high school currently consists of one 9th grade of nine students with exactly two teachers who between them teach four subject classes. They hope that this 9th grade will become 10th grade next year, but the future is somewhat hazy if you take a closer look.

At around $5,000 a year, this school is there for the money it seems, even though I don’t doubt its teachers’ motivation and good intentions. The director seems to be a little out of his depth, though. One of the teachers also told me that most students go to a public school in the afternoon. Again, this demonstrated the contradiction in the schools pronouncements. They offer full-day classes. Everybody is free to come to their own judgment. I cannot recommend it.

In the end, I decided on Zaman school for the one and simple reason that they offer Khmer-language instruction as well. After all, an educated Cambodian must be able to speak, read, and write literate Khmer. What if he wants to make a career in his home country - which, incidentally, I ardently hope for? Where would Cambodia be in the future if all its elite were to emigrate? He can always take the exams for any diploma later on, or enter an international school at grade 11 or even 12, if he is so inclined and bright enough. Zaman might not be the best school in English-language classes but it is unique in its combination in Cambodia. Additionally, any foreigner who wants to study in another country usually needs to take an admission test like the SAT or ACT in the U. S. anyway, no matter which diploma he or she holds, except, for the most part, the IB-diploma. So for the time being, all options are still open for him.

The Normal Daily Madness

2011-01-17T01:36:00.000-05:00

Many people have commented on the traffic situation here but this recent Friday I experienced one of those for Westerners incomprehensible situations at the intersection at the Daem Koa market just before Mao-Tse-Tung and Monireth. This is an intersection best avoided at any time but this situation drove home in abundant clarity the point that the government really needs to do something drastic to educate their moped and truck drivers, and to a lesser extent car drivers.

I don't need to go into details as most people living here know what I am talking about. Cambodians just love to create gridlocks. They have no sense of how to effectively avoid getting stuck in traffic. It's like they really love inhale all those noxious fumes. It's complete chaos and sheer madness; and this happens all over Phnom Penh on a daily basis.

I do understand how this evolved. Some 20 years back there was hardly any traffic on the roads and people could drive whichever way they pleased - against traffic, U-turns at will, etc. Even seven, eight years ago it it wasn't so bad except that people making a right turn at a traffic light would just pass all the stopped traffic on the left and go around it in front, never mind that the light might change in the meantime. This seems to be a thing of the past right now. But the will to cross or pass in front of the passed vehicle is deeply ingrained in people's minds. They would pass you on the right, just to cut in front of you and make a left turn.

But since ever more people have been able to buy a car the traffic density has increased accordingly, but unfortunately, the traffic behavior of the people to a large part hasn't. Car drivers are a little more careful as they don't want any harm to come to their prized possessions. Truck drivers in their delapidated, road-unworthy frames on wheels take quite a different attitude unless they see one of those big SUVs with military or state government plates. The worst, as mentioned in a previous post, are the mopeds and the tuk-tuk drivers. The motodups usually are a little older and still used to their old ways in traffic, the younger ones just imitate the older people, and what's common to all of them is that they have to be the first. Also, many of them, especially the younger moped riders seem to be possessed by that inexplicable urge to commit suicide.

Anyway, the attitude and people's comprehension of traffic rules and the explosion of cars on the roads just haven't kept pace. In my years in SE Asia I have never seen such ignorant traffic behavior as here in Cambodia. Thailand underwent that explosion of cars just the same as Vietnam did. Although there were chaotic situations in terms of erratic driving there as well it had never reached such irrational proportions. Nowadays, of course, Bangkok is practically a huge parking lot but that's a different story; in Vietnam, though also pretty unruly in general, mopeds at least stay in the right lane and cars usually drive in the left lane. You rarely see people running red lights. So what is it with Cambodians? If this goes on like this Phnom Penh will also become that proverbial parking lot, but for different reasons.

Or just look at that moped; he is carrying 350 kg on his moped that was made to carry two adults or approximately 250 kg max. This is just a tiny example what goes on on Cambodia's road in terms of overloading.

Eat Your Heart Out

2011-01-13T02:57:00.000-05:00

At the height of the real estate boom people bought properties left and right, some in places you would never believe would have any future value; especially rice paddies in rural areas that normally cost $.25-.35 per square meter.

So this one man whom I know was one of those people. Of course, he had a little money to spend to begin with, true to the maxim: ‘To make money you need money.’

He bought lots all over the place in 2005; one of those was a rice paddy of 3 ha near the Vietnamese border. The price he paid was $30,000, so $1/m2; already an inflated price at that time. Now guess what? Yep, he sold it in December – are you sitting down? - for an unbelievable $1.0 million. Who would pay such a ridiculously high price for a rice paddy? It turns out that the area is up for development due to a widening of the road to Vietnam (it is not road number 1) and an upgrading of the border crossing to a major entry/exit point to/from Vietnam. I don’t know who the buyers were but perhaps they want to build a casino on the lot; if not that, then definitely something that will recover the investment in rather short a time, otherwise it wouldn’t make any sense economically.

Now you people out there who always believe that the spoils of the rich were gained in a shady manner, how is that for a profit? I can just hear people say, ‘Sure, he is probably a big shot in the government and/or well-connected.’ This guy just happens to be a private businessman, nothing else; no special political affiliations. The way I see it this is pure capitalism at work, nothing more nothing less.

New Year’s Eve

2011-01-07T23:27:00.002-05:00

It’s a little late for this post but I will put it up anyway. Sometimes when you read the NGO reports and some blogs about Cambodia you might think the whole country and its people are in a deep mental depression; that this is the country of the poor, the downtrodden, the bereft, the displaced, the oppressed, the unhappy.

Everyday life tells you a different story, though. I am not denying the underlying causes of the problems described in the reports published by various human rights organizations, such as Licadho. What I want to point out, though, is that the people, and I am talking about the vast majority, like in the 90 percentile, are generally happy with the life they have. Of course, they would wish for more, like everybody else in other parts of the world who doesn’t happen to be in the 5% top income bracket.

A case in point was this past New Year’s Eve. My family and I spent it in our house in Sihanouk province and went to Ocheuteal Beach in the evening. I can’t tell how many people roamed the walkway along the beach, or sat in the lounges, but my guess would be more than a hundred thousand. When we got there at eight o’clock, the parking lots were full, the people had already started their own fireworks. People were shooting those little flare rockets that had 100 flares in them all up and down the beach. They kept on doing this until well past midnight. They were eating, drinking, dancing, laughing, some getting drunk, just like everywhere else in the West. Everybody seemed to be having a good time. It was a big party. I can only marvel at the amount of money that was spent on those fireworks.

What I am saying is that this is not the picture of an unhappy people. Call me naïve or simplistic in my view but I believe this is symptomatic of the general state of mind in Cambodia. The majority of the population is under 30; they don’t know anything about the past, or if they do, very little. Those reminders before or on Jan. 7 don’t seem to take hold in their minds. The general attitude might well be, ‘That was then, this is now.’ And this generation is pretty much apolitical, so it is no wonder that the opposition parties with their Vietnam border issues don’t make much headway into this segment of society. The young want to enjoy life, they want to buy the latest gadgets like i-phones, have a new motorbike, or whatever their heart desires. Looking at the 25% or so of the urban population many of them have succeeded in fulfilling part of their dream, at least on the material side. And this is not restricted to the cities. The rural population is equally eager to emulate the Western youth in their life-styles.

This New Year’s Eve was a perfect example of the change of life and life-style the Cambodian people are undergoing. Whereas the traditional Khmer New Year in April is a more sedate affair, this international New Year’s Eve was a big party in the best Western tradition. I remember a New Year’s Eve I ‘celebrated’ on Ocheuteal Beach in 1994. The only acceptable hotel at that time was the New Hong Kong Motel, a Thai-style lovers’ tryst. There were maybe four Western expats on the beach; no lighting, no fireworks, no Khmer in sight. What a change.

Will Sihanoukville Ever Become a Real Resort Town?

2010-12-25T23:20:00.004-05:00

Ochoeuteal Beach

There have been many enthusiastic reports about the more or less imminent development of Sihanoukville into a major tourist destination. This was to be the premier resort town of Cambodia. Of course, there isn’t any other town on the coast that would offer similar prerequisites. So it stands to reason that all efforts would be concentrated here. Not too long ago the city/provincial government even sent notice to all business owners on Otres beach to vacate their land as the beach is going to be developed. Never mind that some of the business owners had just gotten their license a few months before and were not told about those plans. In the end, most of the affected businesses just moved their shacks to another part of the beach. It pretty much looks the same as before.

Anyway, I had wanted to be part of that development at one time; 3-4 years ago to be exact. I was looking for about one hectare on Otres beach to build a 15-bungalow 3-star international resort. Everybody had land to sell, so not surprisingly, I found a suitable piece of land rather quickly. Of course, it came at a price, which I at the time thought was not too farfetched – about $100/m2. They are asking for more than double, even triple that money now. For beachfront land this is not too much either, I believe. After all, there is only so much beach available; once it has been taken, it is gone. My plans did not come to fruition, though, as I couldn’t find solvent investors for the project, which had a total volume of about $8.0 million. Many were interested, but when it came to showing the money, the communication abruptly ceased or I got an earful of excuses. When the financial crisis hit there was no chance I could find any investors so I forgot about the whole project. Nevertheless, I occasionally go back to check on what’s going on there now. I read there was a Greek casino operator that wanted to built a resort with casino (of course); some Chinese were supposedly coming in too. Well, to make a long story short, I have yet to see a resort on Otres beach going up, Greek or otherwise; so far not even an indication of one being initiated. That one hectare I wanted to buy is still sitting there vacant, in the meantime overgrown with weeds.

The city/provincial government promised an Otres Beach Park. Well, look at the picture below. This is what has materialized so far. This is not to say they won’t build it but it might go the same way as the Hun Sen Beach Park. They erected a corrugated iron wall, behind which some construction activity could be heard, and trucks drove in and out. Now the wall has come down again, and lo and behold, I did not see any difference to the way it was before. So I guess they have given up on their plans, or the money needed to be spent somewhere else. Before they even start contemplating a park like that for Otres Beach they should build proper access roads. The dirt road really isn’t going to cut it if they want more people to travel the distance to it. Those squatters along the road close to the beach won’t help either. They have been there for the last 7 or 8 years. Just imagine the public outcry if indeed the government were to move those people. They are not fishermen; they have no visible means of support; yes, they are poor but what are they doing there? I can sympathize with them, but I don’t understand it.

Proposed Otres Beach Park

Having been in the tourist/travel business for a long time, I am naturally interested in those developments. In previous posts, I wrote about what was needed to attract foreign (Western) tourists. (Western, because those tend to spend quite a bit of money.) First and foremost is adequate hotel accommodation, that is, in the 3 to 5 star category. So far there is only the Sokha Beach Hotel and the Independence Hotel. The Sokha Beach added some nice bungalows on stilts in water in quasi-Khmer style with thatched roofs.

Sokha Beach Hotel Bungalows

On Ocheouteal, I saw a new Diamond Hotel about to open their doors. But this looks just like another Khmer-hotel that will probably soon go to seeds because they usually don’t do anything in terms of upkeep. I remember the Jasmine Hotel when it first opened in 2003. I thought it was quite nice, although lacking a decent restaurant for breakfast. If you go to stay there now, it is a run-down place and surely not worth more than the $20 they charge for an air-conditioned room. Other than that, there is nothing worth mentioning as far as attractive accommodations go. The bottom line is that Sihanoukville is a far cry from a resort town. It’s still a backpackers and single male travelers destination as is evidenced by the many single man, mostly on the wrong of side of 50, roaming the streets on mopeds or tuk-tuks with a usually much younger female Khmer companion, although during season the picture changes slightly.

Koh Puous is still moving along at a snail’s pace. The bridge is due for completion in 2011. Then the island development is going to begin. In other words, it will be some time before we see any tourists there.

Koh Puous Bridge

Hawaii Beach has practically disappeared with the Emario Shonan Resort being built there. Although the beach is accessible to the public, as with all beaches the 15 m, sometimes 30 or 50 m of waterfront, remain state property, I wonder how many Khmer will actually go there once the development is finished. According to their website the company is Khmer-owned and the architecture is good evidence of that. (http://www.emario-resort.com) I haven’t found out how much the flat-houses, or the bungalows, or the marina houses will cost. But the whole thing looks a little like overkill to me. They are building a hotel with conference center, a casino, restaurants, a shopping mall, and an apartment house. They all bank on foreigners and wealthy Khmer buying into this. Well, who doesn’t want to have their own beachfront property? Bearing that in mind, on second thought, it might well succeed too, with the foreigners buying the condos, and the Khmer the ‘flat houses’ (but what about the shopping center?). Once luscious landscaping will make it look attractively tropical, I am sure it will add to Sihanoukville’s appeal both here and abroad.

Emario Resort

Now Pearl City on the other hand is one development where I am wondering what it is supposed to accomplish for the overall development – more flat houses and more shopping centers. The developer is Thai Boon Roong, one of the seven groups in Cambodia that virtually control most of the country, both in real estate and business. So they have enough money to pour into something that is planned well into the future. It is too big too soon for Snooky at this stage in its development, that’s for sure. It’s huge, currently ugly (well, it is a construction site), and planned well past the pocketbooks of the majority of Khmer. They make exactly the same mistakes as all the flat house developers in Phnom Penh – too much and too expensive for today’s Khmer real estate market. I wonder whether these people have ever heard of market research, demographics, income distribution, and such. There is also a resort that recently partially opened nearby – the Khmer Broneth Resort. Another big miscalculation Khmer hotel developers make is that they think a nice hotel with a swimming pool is a resort. That property is one of them. Well, how about some activities and entertainment á la Club Med? Now that’s what I call a resort!

Pearl City

However, I know a piece of land that would be a gem if someone like the people who designed the Sokha Beach Hotel properly developed it. It is a gem of sorts already; it currently houses the Treasure Island restaurant with excellent seafood. The location is ideal. It is secluded enough (notwithstanding the onramp for the Koh Puous bridge nearby at the beginning of the access road), and it practically has its private beach. Although the Koh Puous bridge is going up within sight of the beach, I don’t think that will matter much once the bridge is completed. As far as I know the property is leased to a Hong Kong Chinese for 50 years. Either he doesn’t have the money to develop it, or he doesn’t know how, or he is simply not interested. It is a real shame, though. This property would be just the site for a 20-bungalow resort like the one I had planned. For the time being, though, try out their fresh seafood; you won’t be disappointed. It’s a beautiful, romantic setting if you eat there at night in one of the gazebos along the beach. The fishing boat that ran aground there adds to the overall ambience.

Treasure Island Restaurant Beach

Through the Roof?

2010-12-21T04:19:00.002-05:00

For those of you interested in the rubber industry, and there are quite a few judging from the visits I get on those posts, it may not have escaped your attention that the price for crepe rubber has risen to heretofore unseen heights. Here is the relevant table for Cambodia’s main export CSK5L - kg prices in US cents:

Source Malaysian Rubber Exchange

Yesterday the price hit $4,640/mt (or 464 cents per kg). Although it had touched that point once before but came back down to between $4,400 and $4,550/mt. Compared to a low price of around $1,500 to $1,600/mt in March 2009, this is a tripling of prices in 20 months.

By any standard this would be considered unhealthy. Personally, I am a little worried, too, as my experience has taught me that those rapid price increases tend to end up in a crash. This is, of course, all driven by the Chinese economy which hums along at an 8% to 9% growth rate. Economists see a certain danger looming up ahead for the Chinese economy as their growth is also based on an exploding real estate market, and readily available loans from banks, which, however, helped China avoid (just as India did) the severe consequences of the world-wide recession. A real estate bubble and easy money were the same ingredients that led to the crash of the U. S. economy, though; the one big difference appears to be that Chinese banks do not repackage their loans in what later became known as toxic derivatives. China is expected to tighten monetary policy by raising interest rates next year. This should cool down the economy somewhat.

The connection to the rubber growing industry is to a large extent China’s auto manufacturing industry. Today China has the largest single auto market in the world; it surpassed the U. S. in 2009. Coupled with an underproduction of crepe rubber this has led to this explosion of rubber prices. Besides, oil prices also drive other commodities, especially rubber – high oil prices, high rubber prices. Why? High oil prices make synthetic rubber more expensive so the markets turn to natural rubber.

Hopefully, China’s economy will indeed cool down next year, which will then also lead to a stabilization of prices, which is certainly needed in the rubber industry. It’s nice to make some extra money now, and we should enjoy it while it lasts; but we should be wary of a rude awakening. Should it come we can only hope that we won’t fall out of bed in the middle of a nice dream. But then, there are also sage people who say the Chinese economy is going to be growing for the next ten years. In that sense, investing in a rubber plantation is not a bad idea. The Chinese do it - killing two birds with one stone - securing their supply and earning decent money on their investment.

18-month old plantation

Does the Country Need This?

2010-12-19T04:08:00.000-05:00

Christmas is around the corner in the Western world. It finally caught up with Cambodia too. It was here before but this year it really made a big splash, so to speak, what with all the Christmas carols blaring from the sound systems of the shopping malls and supermarkets, like Lucky and Bayon, and with (artificial) Christmas trees in many restaurants; even the ones where you wouldn’t expect it, like my favorite Chinese-Khmer breakfast place, the Mekong. Thankfully, I believe most Cambodians ignore all that hustle and bustle that is normally associated with the pre-Christmas season, e. g. buying presents (after all who has the money), the office parties, etc.

Now since this is a Christian holiday, that is, before it declined into a purely commercial event, this brings me to the question why there are so many Christian organizations in Cambodia. They really seem to proliferate. It appears as if it’s mostly American and Australian churches, or denominations, that abound. Of course, Americans have always been great missionaries, and they are found all over the world. Wasn’t it American missionaries that annexed Hawaii? But you also have your German Lutherans, and Roman Catholics, e. g. the Don Bosco padres, etc.

I know I am not the only one who is asking himself the question whether or not all these Christian organizations are here for the help they extend to the poor and needy, or are they here for their souls? Now, why would a family of six from Oklahoma pack up and go to live in Cambodia? Aren’t there any souls to be saved in their dusty home state? Wouldn’t they have a much more comfortable life back home? Why leave all that for some backwater, ‘uncivilized’ country like Cambodia?

Yeah, I know, they all do good work here, and traditionally churches have always been on the forefront of humanitarian aid. But obviously, their underlying purpose is to proselytize and convert people to the Christian belief, whether it’s Protestant or Catholic, with the numerous protestant denominations outweighing the Catholics 99 to 1, I would guess. One of their insidious ways of getting Cambodian converts is by schooling them. One primary example appears to be the Hope schools, incl. Logos. They teach a normal American curriculum but each day has one period of Christian lessons, like Bible study. They also teach the theory of Intelligent Design (including that ridiculous belief that the earth is about 5,000 years old), alas alongside the Darwinian Theory. Those schools are not for free, but they do offer scholarships to Cambodian children. Some Christian schools, though, offer a free elementary education; that age period when children are most impressionable and easily indoctrinated.

I wonder who funds all these NGOs. I know people in the West donate tons of money for good causes, and in the U. S. whole churches exist on their members’ donations. So is this where all the money comes from? And it’s not that these missionaries live an ascetic life. No, they drive nice cars, mostly SUVs, rent villas, and employ maids. I guess it must be worth it to leave all that materialism behind and help people here.

In the plus-column, though, we can note that they do offer a quality education, if you disregard their religious lessons, they do help with community projects, they do provide much-needed health care in some rural areas. But could they just do it without wanting to convert people, or to show them the ways of the Christian God and their Savior Jesus?

After all, the Cambodians have an older, perfectly acceptable, and livable religion in Buddhism, or philosophy as some would say, in terms of how to live a good life. Some would say it is a better religion as it has not brought forth so much evil that was committed in the name of Christianity.

I mean, Christian ethics as expressed in their 10 commandments, which actually is a Judaic postulate, and the teachings of their prophet Jesus weren’t new ideas. The same principles were espoused long before Jesus came along. Plato and Socrates come to mind. Buddha laid down more or less the same principles. That all happened well before Jesus’ time.

Christianity is just a sect that sprang from Judaism, just as Islam did. Religion has a way of splitting up into Churches. It’s only too human. When people differ in their beliefs, they just start their own church. And there is no place like the U. S. where anybody can start their own church, mega-churches even, that oftentimes rake in millions of dollars. Similarly, anybody can come to Cambodia in the name of Christianity, start an NGO, collect money, and do some good work, right? Don’t get me wrong. I am not accusing any organization of coming here for the money. But it would be possible, now wouldn’t it?

And what are these Mormons doing here? At the time I was still flying back and forth between the U. S. and Cambodia, there was hardly any time when I did not see a group of Mormons on the plane that usually dispersed in Taiwan taking their flights to the different Asian destinations. Each Mormon must spend 2 years as a missionary. This is a dictum of their church. So you have them here in Cambodia, of all places, bicycling along in their white shirts, black pants, always wearing a helmet. Clean-cut, nice guys, no doubt. And you have to give it to them. They all speak Khmer. So they come well-prepared, and they surely have the most prominent ‘Christian’ building in Cambodia. But, as far as I know, they don’t do squat in terms of doing some good deeds. They just spend their time trying to convert people. Now, I would think they had better pack their magic underwear and head back to where they came from. Cambodians need them as much as a dose of VD. (Note to those who don’t know: Mormons wear special undergarments, or garments, that are supposed to protect them from evil, and also remind them of the promise they made to God. There are some other interpretations and a lot of ridicule about those magic underpants. If interested Google it.)

I mean, to each their own. Sure, let them come here and do good; and the Cambodian government lets them. Just don’t be so ostentatious about it. Cambodians regrettably copy enough of that Western, mostly Americanized, life-style as it is. They sure don’t need that Christian belief too. I am sure secular organizations could do just as good, if not better, a job. I am thinking of Oxfam, or the GTZ (German technical NGO). But as to the Mormons: you are not needed here, nor anywhere for that matter.

The Blame Game

2010-11-26T23:26:00.003-05:00

As was expected many people and organizations feel called upon to seek out those bearing supposedly direct responsibility for the disaster on the Koh Pich bridge this past Monday.

A certain Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza of the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong put out a press release, which even found its way into the New York Times. She accused the authorities of a ‘failure to plan for and control the crowd then limit the damage from the stampede’. She went on to say that the police

- Did not enforce traffic directions (on the bridge),
- Military and police attempts to control the crowd may have exacerbated fear and confusion and caused further fatalities.
- Eyewitness reports state that the military used water cannons on the crowd after the stampede began, electrocuting, and killing some of those trapped on the bridge when the water hit exposed electric wiring.
- The government is directly responsible for the stampede deaths; Phnom Penh was unprepared for any form of large-scale disaster.
- Responses by police and military were lacking and may even have contributed to the stampede
- Hospitals were overwhelmed,
- The capital had only 60 coffins available for victims,

In a previous post on the Huffington Post she had stated that ’ an estimated two-thirds of those who died were women, less able to fight their way from the crowds, indicating the extreme vulnerability of Cambodian women to disaster.’

To her everything is ‘clear’. While the authorities were clearly overwhelmed and certainly have no experience in this kind of disaster, to put the blame squarely on them is somewhat of a stretch. As in any such mass panic, it was a combination of factors that contributed to the tragedy (see my previous post).

If Ms. Poza had lived in Cambodia for a while she would know how undisciplined most Cambodians are in traffic. Traffic is practically a daily chaos in Phnom Penh. The police are helpless in the face of the sheer numbers of motorcycle riders that go just as they please regardless of traffic lights, signs, even police. Add to that a certain apathy, it is no wonder they were equally helpless when people just used both bridges any way they wanted. The new bridge was closer so most of them simply preferred that one.

I am sure the authorities had no contingency plans for stampedes. Even if they did, those plans are no guarantee that this disaster could have been prevented as examples in other countries demonstrate; each mass panic is different. Crowd control is a nice word but again, if you look at other countries, authorities mostly fail at it miserably using water cannons, tear gas, etc., which only aggravate the situation, sometimes even leading to riots in the aftermath of a panic.

How the government is directly responsible would need a bit more substantiation than mere hearsay and accounts from possibly unreliable sources. Eyewitnesses were still in shock. People in shock aren’t the best witnesses immediately after the event. A case in point is the rumor of electrocution, which this dear lady takes at face value and even repeats twice - in her post and a news release. It turns out that this did not happen. Nobody was killed by electrocution according to doctors.

The response by police and military were most likely not on a level with Western standards, but one has to bear in mind that this was a first for Cambodia. This in itself does not absolve the authorities from all responsibility, but a more thorough evaluation than Ms. Poza’s is certainly desirable.

I would be interested to learn which city in the world stocks enough coffins for such an incident. What I see and read is that elsewhere, but not everywhere, body bags are used. And it is no surprise that hospitals were overwhelmed. This is a third-world country with all the deficiencies this term denotes: lack of proper health care, lack of education, lack of training in emergencies, and so on, and so forth. Ms. Poza, I only hope such a tragedy doesn’t strike Hong Kong. The scope of incompetence you so stridently condemn in Cambodia would most likely be equally present.

And finally, how Cambodian women are more vulnerable in such disasters than other women eludes probably not only me. That statement together with your other allegations, assumptions, and outright falsehoods clearly show how unbalanced your view of events is, your bias, and a certain extent of ignorance. If all ‘reports’ by the Asian Human Rights Commission are prepared like this I can understand the government’s animosity towards your and similar organizations.

P. S. The AHRC website lists Ms. Poza as an intern whereas she labels herself as a political consultant and writer for the AHRC.

The Koh Pich Disaster – Preventable?

2010-11-25T00:26:00.003-05:00

It goes without saying that everybody is shocked by this event and feels with the families and friends of those who lost their lives on that fateful night.

The headline might suggest that I am going to engage in a round of finger pointing or seeking out responsible parties - I am not; it wouldn’t be my place anyway. Of course, it would be very easy to put the blame on someone in order to divert from the real issue underlying such a stampede. Once you have a culprit the case is closed for most people. It is just like in a murder trial. The killer gets a life sentence or even the death penalty; that is supposed to bring closure (what a nice word) to the victim’s family. But does it? I don’t think the families of the victims in this case would feel less pain if they knew why all this happened. Their son or daughter, or niece, or nephew, is gone and won’t return.

The answer to the question is obviously not so easy. Although I am not an expert, I dug into the subject matter and was shocked at how many of those stampedes actually happen every year. Just check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stampede, which incidentally had added Koh Pich just one day later. We are swamped by news stories every day so much that we don’t seem to notice any more how many people die in such a horrible way. Sure enough, this story had disappeared from international headlines just one day later, to be replaced by a missile attack in the Koreas. How are we supposed to keep up with all this news stream?

This stampede appears to be very similar to the one that happened in Germany this past summer at an event called ‘Love Parade’, a huge rave concert. The number of fatalities was thankfully ‘only’ 21. Instead of too narrow a bridge as the access/exit route to a site there it was tunnel. In both cases these two entry/exit points became the proverbial bottleneck, which when people move in panic becomes like moving walls in a horror movie. People are pressed against each other, which makes them move even faster in order to get away from all that pressure.

Many studies have been done on the subject and there is a very logical and scientific explanation of people’s behavior and why it comes to stampedes. I found one done by the Technical College for Sociology in Zurich. The gist of it is as follows.

There is something called average density, meaning the number of people on a certain area at a given time, which generally is considered to be four per square meter. Once the number reaches six a critical point has been reached, at which people start to feel uncomfortable and try to avoid this by moving away. If there is enough room to move to, of course, there is no imminent danger. Under normal circumstances, that critical density is of no direct consequence as the people either move to or from an event in a more or less orderly fashion unless there is something that makes people want to move faster than is possible due to local density.

By news accounts the Koh Pich root cause that provoked the panic was a slight swaying of the suspension bridge due to the masses moving on it, which led some people to believe that it was about to collapse. This thought spread through the masses like wildfire. People reportedly started moving in both directions increasing the local density to over eight people. At the critical point of six people per square meter the speed of movement is decreased threefold, in other words, they almost come to a complete stop. Meanwhile more people press on, trying to get away from the purported danger point.

Now one has to realize that such a density can result in forces to over 445 kg being exerted in one direction. In this enormous pressure, people have trouble breathing that adds to the panic and they futilely try to move even more quickly, resulting in possible thrashing about. Eventually and consequently, many of them lose consciousness and die by asphyxiation (compressive asphyxiation as per Wikipedia). They are literally crushed to death. They then fall to the ground and are trampled on by the masses above them.

Now are those stampedes preventable? At first glance one tends to say ‘yes’. This is actually the point where the local authorities with their responsibility for public safety come in. Usually, such an event needs some kind of official permission to take place. In Koh Pich the Bayon concert and all the other attractions most certainly did have all their permits in place. The authorities estimated that about 2 million people converged on Phnom Penh for the water festival, the biggest event every year. Some previous estimates were as high as 4 million. The newly open Koh Pich was an attractive addition to the venue and promised to be a nice conclusion to the festival. I wasn’t there so I don‘t know whether the authorities posted police at the entrance to the bridge on each end to monitor the stream of people. I am sure there were at least a few as police was present in force throughout the city during the festival.

Now did the police have reason to expect or suspect that a panic might break out on the bridge in view of the masses moving over the bridge? Any clear-headed person must answer this with a ‘no’. This is just like at the end of a football/soccer game or a rock concert with 80,000 people in attendance. They may have many more exits available to leave the stadium but if people start pushing and shoving even that number of exits is not enough. It will only take a tiny spark to set off a panic and consequently a stampede. Similarly, the assumed spark that set off the stampede on that bridge could under no circumstances be expected. As a former resident of Florida, I know what it is like to be sitting on one of the many suspension bridges in your car waiting for the oncoming traffic to pass by due to a lane closure ahead. Believe me, those things do sway and shake, especially if a big truck rushes by. People just put their trust in the engineers that constructed the bridge, firm in their knowledge that those did a good job. Of course, the people here don’t know anything about that. For them the swaying was an ominous sign, which then resulted in that horrible disaster.

Finally, it appears that short of shutting those sites off for mass events there is no sure method of preventing a stampede if certain conditions prevail. Such catastrophies at one time or another strike even countries that have much more experience in crowd control than Cambodia. Perhaps one idea for the future would be to install cameras to monitor the density on the bridge, or any other public venue for mass gatherings for that matter, and once that critical density of five or six people per square meter has been reached slow down or temporarily stop the onflow or inflow of people onto the bridge or any other site for mass gatherings.

One Tiny Step at a Time

2010-11-22T00:28:00.001-05:00

It’s been there a while but I only now get to show it. Ocheuteal Beach in Sihanoukville, or Kompong Som as the locals still call it, has undergone a transformation for the better. It has been going on for a while and initially I thought this was only the individual bar and restaurant owners improving their own site but this is a concerted effort by the city of SHV. They built a ‘boardwalk’, which here is made of tiles. The restaurants are not just shacks, although there are still a few around; the beach lounges and umbrellas are usable, and the sand is clean, at least most of the time. It’s far from perfect but it’s a start.

Let’s face it the beach was nothing much to look at in the past. It was a beautiful stretch of oceanside showing nothing but neglect from the beach lounges to the umbrellas and the tables. One always read about those high-flying plans the federal and the state governments espoused of how to attract major tourist operators and airlines to send in thousands of tourists every year. All those plans foundered due to the lack of hotel capacity and, of course, the beach itself. As long as it stayed that way, they would only continue to get parsimonious backpackers.

First, the beach is rather small in order to accommodate the throngs of tourists the government and the local entrepreneurs would like to see there. Second, Western tourists, and those are the ones they should focus on, are rather spoiled when it comes to beaches; they are beach connoisseurs so to speak, probably having taken in the sun in places from Mombasa, Kenya, to Mauritius, or neighboring Thailand. Cambodia could not compete with any of those. On the one hand, this was one of the attractions of this country, but on the other hand, in order to lure those hard-currency carrying foreigners the beaches needed to undergo a major change. It is those Western package tourists who spend quite a bit of their money pouring it into the local economy.

I recently read an article sort of complaining that most of the money of the tourist sector goes back to foreign companies, starting with the airline, the foreign-owned hotels, and many times foreign-owned incoming operators. The frugal backpackers and individual tourists do spend money locally but they stay at cheap hotels, eat cheap food, and travel like locals on the inter-city buses. So altogether, they probably try to get by on $25 a day including hotel. For the tourism sector to be a major contributor the economy tourists would need to spend more time in the country and consequently more money that stays in the country. Currently the majority of tourists comes from Vietnam who stays 3 days on average. They are not exactly known for splurging. Koreans and Japanese come in groups and are herded through Angkor Wat, take a day to see Phnom Penh, and are off again. Their tours are usually 5 days. Mind you, they don’t like to eat at Khmer places – no, they want to eat their own food. So, it is Westerners.

There are a few hotel projects under way in SHV. I don’t know whether they will make a difference. We read about many promising multi-million dollar projects; so far, nothing has materialized. What the city and its beaches need are a few major investors who put up a string of 3 – 4 star resort hotels totaling about 2,500 beds. Since this won’t happen overnight, the logistics of that are manageable in terms of flight transfers from Phnom Penh or Seam Reap unless the plans for that airport at SHV become reality, which for now has again been put off. Once that number of ‘quality’ beds have been built there is no doubt that there will be at least one Western airline introducing non-stop flights from Europe to SHV. Cambodia, after all, makes for an ideal tourist destination – a typical package would comprise a total of 10 days at the beach, 3 days in Seam Reap, 2 days in Phnom Penh. Europeans normally have 4 – 6 weeks paid vacation time. Given the inhospitable climate there, they travel two, sometimes three, times a year, one of which is often a long-haul destination. Cambodia could be the next destination in their travel plans, but only if the infrastructure is there. And so far, unfortunately, it is not. But cleaning up their act, in the truest sense of the word, is a tiny first step.

Any Results?

2010-11-06T23:18:00.000-05:00

Usually a visit by a foreign government official to Cambodia results in some kind of promise, political agreements, or even contracts which would help the country in some way or other, but Hillary Clinton’s visit seemed to have been more of a good-will tour because no tangible results came out of her two-day visit to Cambodia.

First of all, she started out in Siem Reap, where she visited the shelter for trafficked women. The she took of tour of Angkor Wat; of course, she can’t miss that. But is this the way to start a state visit?

The most interesting pronouncement was her idea to use Cambodia’s debt to the U. S. to channel it into education and the environment or nature. The way understood I it, her idea was that Cambodia repays at least some of the money, which the U. S. then earmarks for those purposes. The balance might then be used directly within Cambodia with a firm commitment to those purposes. This is at least a novel idea and quite different from that expressed by her Assistant Deputy Under Secretary (that is a mouthful, isn’t it?) who testified before a Congressional Committee that it needs to be repaid - period. It actually is quite a good concept that could be used by other countries as well when it comes to repaying those immense loans Cambodia has piled up over the years. But a Secretary of State doesn’t have the authority to make such a concession point-blank. It needs to be reviewed by however many committees and subcommittees. So in order to prepare for this she will send over a team of experts to hammer out details with the Cambodian government that will stand up in those committees and ultimately in the U. S. Congress. Having followed American politics for many, many years I am doubtful, though, that this idea will meet with much enthusiasm. American politicians are good when it comes to talking about issues that don’t affect the budget, but once money is involved, their thinking tends to change quite rapidly. With the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives and only 53 seats in the Senate Obama and Hillary Clinton are practically hamstrung. They won’t get one law passed without major concessions, if any at all.

As a consequence, this issue will remain on the backburner. The Cambodian government could just relax and wait what happens if it were not for the interest that keeps accruing to the original debt, which was something like $330 million and has now risen to over $440 million. Bottom line: nothing will happen the next two years.

Her remarks on the UN Human Rights office, and human rights in general, were typical diplomatese and in my mind distinctive only in that they were softer than what all human rights organizations had anticipated and even encouraged her to state. Her words on the opposition parties were equally broad and general. According to the press, she stated she would follow the situation ‘in detail’. Now what does that mean? In no way could this be interpreted as her ‘helping Sam Rainsy return to Cambodia for the next election’. The opposition was clearly overshooting with that statement. Wishful thinking? Notably absent was Mu Sochua playing for a central public role in the encounter with Hillary Clinton. She wasn’t even mentioned in particular in the statement released by the opposition. Did she really miss that chance to buddy up to her ‘close friend’ Hillary?

Overall, the whole visit was remarkable in that it was rather unremarkable in the context of Cambodian politics. Maybe she really did want to get away from the for the Democrats catastrophic mid-term elections in the U. S. And sure enough, the next day a high-ranking Chinese official came to town who got a lot more play in the press. Well for one, he stayed 4 days instead of the 2-day whirlwind tour of Hillary Clinton. And besides, he brought with him a $1.2 billion package, and the Chinese government forgave $4.2 million in debt that had become due for repayment. Who’s to argue with this? All this happened on the heels of Hillary Clinton’s admonition that Cambodia should seek partners everywhere in Asia (and beyond), not just China. Make no mistake, Vietnam might be on the opposition’s mind, but the real dominating force here is China these days. With $62 million or so p. a. in U. S. aid for Cambodia, there is just not enough leverage for the U. S. to make their case; additionally, their influence as a great power is waning. This was underscored by the fact that Forbes magazine chose Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, as the most powerful man on earth. The Americans sure got enough problems at home right now – and they will last well into the next decade - to bother with backwater countries like Cambodia.

Another sign, though on a smaller scale: I just learned the other day that one large private Cambodian rubber manufacturer sold out to a Chinese company. China is the next great power and will dominate the world. This is the reality, people.

The Canadia Tower

2010-11-06T05:38:00.001-05:00

I think that building was finally really inaugurated on Friday, Nov. 05. Although it has been open and functioning for a while now (with still a lot of office space available), one thing has been missing that normally many tall buildings in other metropolises of the world feature: a rooftop restaurant.

A building like this is ideal for this, and I am really amazed why nobody has had the idea to open one unless, of course, the rent is forbiddingly high and makes the whole thing unworkable. After all, who can afford to go to expensive restaurants on a regular basis? The Malis restaurant is obviously the exception, but with its world-class cuisine, it found its niche in Phnom Penh’s restaurant scene.

But this past Friday, one very creative French entrepreneur and his equally creative Korean wife at least opened up the rooftop terrace for a one-night party. They own the Elsewhere restaurant, a popular hang-out for expats and NGOs employees and feature the First Friday of the Month evening at their restaurants, which they now held at the rooftop terrace.

Initially, it looked kind of desolate with only a few tables and chairs available, but they had hired a pretty good jazz combo, the sound system was terrific and after the wind had died down it became what you would expect from a tropical night party. They served up food prepared or organized by the FTE NGO, the proceeds of which went to that NGO.

After 8 o’clock, the place filled up and by 9 o’clock, it was packed. At the time we were leaving at around 10:30 (I had drunk my beers a little too quickly) there were still people streaming in. As was expected the crowd was more on the younger side with a lot of what looked like girls-night-out. My guess is there were about 1,000 people milling around, mostly Caucasian though. I was wondering whether these were really all people living and working here or whether a lot of tourists found out about the party from their hotels. Whatever the case it was quite enjoyable and the view is just great, something one only has when arriving by plane at night. Anyway, I had my doubts about the whole thing when I first entered but it certainly turned out a smashing success. I am sure this venue will prove successful for all kinds of get-togethers with a social character.

Building a House in Cambodia

2010-10-31T01:18:00.001-05:00

I read this article in the New York Times a few days ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/greathomesanddestinations/20gh-cambodia.html?ref=greathomesanddestinations

This house looks ugly as hell; only French people can build a thing like that (and I am not a Francophobe, quite the contrary). I know of a small hotel in Phnom Penh, the owner of which transformed a rented house into that nice boutique hotel – the Blue Lime. It turned out to be a success commercially, but the rooms are ugly as hell as well. He used only concrete and steel wire as furniture. On his website he calls it minimalist. But then I must be pretty old-fashioned as the guests like it. There is even one hotel that copied it to the T. (The ‘252’)

The house in Siem Reap in the picture looks like it also has just bare concrete walls; normally a nice coat of paint makes a house look more attractive, doesn’t it? Well, not to some French people, it seems. Perhaps that’s the new style in Southern France? I don’t know. I haven’t been there in ages. Anyway, what surprised me most was the price tag for that house. According to the NYT they paid approximately $300,000 for 3,000 square feet – it is not clear whether this includes the swimming pool - it looks more like a foot bath - and the yard. 3,000 square feet equals about 279 m2, in other words, they paid about $1,080 per m2. I am inclined to think that includes the yard as well. The house doesn’t like it is more than 4 m wide (standard Cambodian width) and 10 m long.

Cambodian builders have perfected the art of building a house in a jiffy. I see all these row houses spring up all over the city at an incredible speed. Since I just recently built a house myself and was involved in a smaller development I know a little bit about building houses.

Basic building materials like cement ($80/mt) and bricks ($400 for 10,000 pcs.) have come down from previous heights, but it may come as no surprise that construction prices haven’t. Usually, prices are quoted by m2, including everything from tiles to windows, doors, bathroom installations. Depending on the quality of the materials except bricks and cement and workmanship, of course, these prices can vary quite a bit.

A regular row house, ground floor only, costs about $200 to $220/m2, including that half-floor; the first floor will be at the same price, the second floor (half of which is usually a terrace) is half that price. So normally a row house is 4 m x 12 m, sometimes 4 x 14 m, or 48 m2 to 64 m2 of floor area (Cambodian lots are typically 4 x 20m – 4 m in front must be kept free as sidewalk, and 1 m in the rear needs to separate it from the adjoining wall there.) If you do the math this will come out as round about $10,000 to $12,000 for a ground floor only, with first floor $22,000 to $25,000. No kitchen cabinets or anything else besides the toilets and the wall shower are included. If you want things a little bit more complete or modern, like a real shower, you will have to figure in another $5,000 minimum. The price for the land is not included, of course.

If you fancy something more extraordinary there is no limit to what you might need to pony up. Those huge villas we see all over the place in Cambodia are around the $500 - $800 mark. Some of them are outright palatial; Khmer people have a tendency toward bigness, if they have the money for it. Modesty or understatement seem to be unknown terms for them.

But coming back to that French house in Siem Reap that price seems to be a bit high, even considering that the owner changed a few things while it was being built. The way it looks I would have guessed it at about $250/m2. To me it looks like half-finished, but then that’s me. Just look at the teal colored drain pipes sticking out from the first floor wrap-around balcony.

The rather plain house I built cost me $237/m2, not including air conditioning, shower stalls, special bathtub, special windows, window screens, the garage, the driveway tiles and around the house, the high ‘Tiki hut’, a water filtration system (well water), the connection to the power grid (about 1 km away), etc. Considering that the house is located in the countryside we got a pretty good deal. Prices in the provinces are usually higher as all the materials need to be hauled from Phnom Penh.

Of course, when you buy land (my wife is Khmer), you need to build a wall around it so as to officially stake your claim to the land and so that everybody can see there is an owner and this land is not for squatting. That wall plus the barbed wire, the gate, etc. are all extra, not to mention the yard or garden as we would rather call it, which is not nearly finished. We will do that bit by bit. The grass for about 1,000 m2 was about the same amount in dollars, with two thirds going towards the transport from the sod place to our house. I kept part of the land free for possible later construction of a boarding house for fishing tourists. Something I am planning to do on the side.

Altogether we spent about half the money that a ‘normal’ 2,000 sq.ft. house would cost in Florida, with the major difference being that the land is three times as large, and that all interior walls are brick. The ceilings are 3.50 m high, although not vaulted as is the normal style in Florida these days. The floorplan is such that the front and back door are in a direct line so that the wind can blow right through the house; additionally, we build a ventilation shaft so there is an air flow from the great room through the roof. We hardly ever need the a/c during the day; we just turn it on for about one hour before we go to bed.

A final word about workmanship; the quality of the brickwork is, as far as I can judge, equal to Western standards. The plastering and more delicate work in corners, etc., could do with some improvement. The ventilation shaft gave them a lot of problems, because it was a first for them. The roof frame is galvanized steel; the concrete foundation is solidly built 50 cm into the ground. The woodwork, like built-in under sink cabinets, or the slatted door to the walk-in closet are pretty poor as is all the sanitation work. The bathroom fixtures are all first quality (Karat), but the installation was definitely lacking. When we moved in I had redo all the hose connections as they were leaking. Also, what they obviously don’t know how to do is build floor-drains so that no odor wafts back from the pipes leading into the septic tanks. I closed them all as we have no need for floor drains since we have shower stalls, which incidentally were also leaking and needed to be re-sealed. Of course, the builder gave a 5-year warranty and all the repair work was done under warranty. The whole house was built in just 5 months. You can’t beat that for speed. Overall I am pretty happy with the work, and the builder did a terrific job. Seeing him for the first time you are not inclined to put your trust in him. But he came with good references and actually lived up to them too. It is located in a somewhat remote area, but that’s the way I like it.

Here is a look at it:

In comparison here is a look at the house I own in Florida, which as everybody can see is up for sale.

Big Events

2010-10-28T00:58:00.000-04:00

It seems as if Cambodia is trying with all its might to obtain a higher international standing judging by the parade of foreign dignitaries that recently arrived, are here, or will be arriving soon. Of course, there are the usual inter-ministerial meetings between Vietnam and Cambodia, the frequent visits by Chinese officials, but this week the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon was here and on Sunday, Hillary Clinton will arrive for a two-day visit.

In the Prime Minister’s typical fashion, he ‘suggested’ that the U. N. Rapporteur on Human Rights in Cambodia be removed from his post since he is just echoing the opposition parties’ complaints and acts as their mouthpiece. I guess it is well known that Hun Sen doesn’t take well to criticism of Cambodia’s human rights record, or of his policies in general, for that matter. The PPP reports that he even went so far as to indicate he would close this office. I haven’t read anything about Ban Ki-Moon’s response but it sure would have been interesting to be present for the actual reply.

Unfortunately, it indeed appears as if those rapporteurs actually do repeat the complaints of the various opposition and civic groups, though it shouldn’t come as a surprise as all those independent observers need to gain their knowledge from sources both within and outside the government, that is, from exactly those opposition and civic groups. The same applies to Human Rights Watch and other NGOs. In my view, the observations by NGOs and civic groups are almost or just as unbalanced as the government’s views. The only ones that seem to be somewhat more objective are the Cambodian Center for Human Rights and Licadho. But be that as it may, no one with a pre-cast Western mindset will have any luck in that position in Cambodia for the foreseeable future.

Hillary Clinton is one of the most prominent fighters for women’s rights but in her position as Secretary of State, she must represent the policies of an administration that may not always be identical to her views. Expediency and national interests shape policies, not ideals – and the world is far from being an ideal place. I am just wondering what the U. S.’s interest in Cambodia is. They hold joint military exercises, much to the chagrin of Mu Sochua and the opposition; it lauds Cambodia for its efforts in the fight against terrorism, in general is rather friendly towards Cambodia despite Cambodia’s poor human rights record as presented by the various international organizations. Vietnam with an equally poor record is a frequent destination for all sorts of U. S. officials; in fact, this will be Hillary Clinton’s second visit in the last three months. So one can clearly see that American politics is determined by economic interests first and foremost, and to a lesser extent by trying to counter Chinese influence in the region.

The thorniest issue will probably be Cambodia’s debt incurred during the Lon Nol years. That bozo, what else could you call such a man, of assistant deputy under secretary Yun had the nerve to testify before a Congressional committee and said that the U. S. does not have a policy to forgive debts. Of course, it did have a policy of secretly and illegally bombing this country causing thousands of innocents to die or to be displaced, not to mention the material and environmental damages the country suffered. ‘It would set a bad example to other nations.’ What was this man thinking when he prepared this unconscionable statement?
By any definition, these were war crimes and crimes against humanity as well. But who dares file a lawsuit against the U. S.? Of course, it would take a lot of guts, not to mention money, to pursue this. I am sure federal courts, the proper venue for such a complaint, would take it up. Mind you, the U. S., that bastion of the rule of law, does not recognize the International Court of Justice in The Hague. But as all those self-proclaimed fighters for justice point out, justice in Cambodia is served with two measures, one for the rich and powerful, and one for the poor. To me, this equally applies to the U. S. and small Cambodia as well.

Hillary Clinton’s visit should be a great opportunity for Mu Suchua. I really wonder how Mu Sochua will come off in her meeting with Hillary Clinton and how she will use it to her advantage and enhance her stature as the main opposition figure. The way things go these days it doesn’t seem even remotely likely that Sam Rainsy will ever return to Cambodia to lead the opposition in the next elections. Calling for Hun Sen’s arrest as a perpetrator of crimes against humanity and filing lawsuits against him in the U. S. and possibly other countries will make it very hard for Hun Sen to cast aside his personal animosity towards Sam Rainsy and allow him back in. (Not that those lawsuits will have any prospect of ever being actually tried. Hun Sen is a sitting Prime Minister of a diplomatically recognized country and enjoys diplomatic immunity, not to mention whether there is real evidence to file those charges in the first place. Sam Rainsy hasn’t shown a lucky hand in filing foreign lawsuits in the past. Attorneys will file any lawsuit as long as they get paid.)

Khmer Intelligence

2010-10-17T00:50:00.001-04:00

Khmer Intelligence operates as if it were a news service disseminating its reports by email. I get my copy from samngat@yahoo.com. How I got on their mailing list, I do not know. They are, of course, anti-government and staunchly pro-SRP. I assume they are based in France, although they report in English.

A lot of times their reports serve only one purpose, it seems – to destabilize the government in order to get rid of Hun Sen who is seen as the primary source of all evil in Cambodia.

On October 07, 2010, this rather obscure outfit ran two reports. One is claiming that the Vietnamese leadership is quietly moving to have Hun Sen replaced from his position as the next candidate for Prime Minister in the 2013 elections. It also named Men Sam An as the possible successor. I am sure this lady was glad to read her name in this report. If she was vying for that job, nothing could have come at a worse time than this. If KI (are they connected to KI-Media at all?) is aiming to destabilize Hun Sen this was the wrong ploy. If indeed it were true, Hun Sen would just grill this lady what her plans were and simply sack her from her post. This way he would consolidate his power rather than weaken his position.

KI sent out numerous pieces of misinformation in the past, e. g. the wobbly state of the Foreign Trade Bank, and I venture to say that this is just another one.

The second story claims that Hun Sen equipped his most loyal army units with the new tanks Cambodia bought from Eastern Europe. The say he has become paranoid about a possible internal coup and will use those units to strengthen his grip on power. Historically it is true that autocratic heads of state get more paranoid the longer they stay in power but I can’t believe that this is the case with Hun Sen - quite the opposite.

Hun Sen is achieving ever-greater stature internationally with each conference, e. g. the U. S. – Asean meeting in New York, or the EU-Asean meeting in Brussels recently. The economy is on the rebound, people are not all unhappy with the current state of affairs, as in some way they do participate in it, as little as it may for the majority. I personally cannot see any unrest among the population in general.

In addition, one good indicator of the economic resurgence is the resumed strong building activity all over Cambodia, not only in Phnom Penh. Real estate prices have stabilized, although at lower level (but still too high in my humble opinion). The nomenclature, Hun Sen’s power base, is satisfied too and won’t want to upset the apple cart. And finally, Hun Sen is a close friend of Vietnam’s power elite and they couldn’t wish for a better ally in his post, I believe. So they have no reason to get him out.

It probably is true that China and Vietnam are maneuvering for dominance of the region, but it takes place on the economic front and nothing can beat China there at the moment, right?

I guess KI is just a bunch of old Lon Nol refugees in France, the U. S. and Australia who cling to their outdated views of the world and Cambodia and just can’t see that the 2010 world scene has drastically changed from the 1970ies, ‘80ies, and even ‘90ies.

This is proven in another piece they ran. Cambodian communities all over the world are organizing campaigns to revive the 1991 Paris Agreements.

Cambodian communities all over the world? Hey, how many are we talking about here – millions? Yeah, right. Estimates of overseas Khmer run anywhere from 300,000 to 400,000 worldwide. One third is too young to be politically active, one fifth is too old or too apathetic, and 80% of all adults are politically inactive to begin with (if you go by averages in other nations). What remains are maybe 20,000 people worldwide. (Wow that sure is an impressive number.) Additionally, they are not even Cambodian citizens; at least other countries see it this way. So do you think this will meet with great interest in the signatory nations? I don’t think so. As long as there is no strong movement from within Cambodia pushing for some international action, if such were needed, I can’t see how any of those countries’ governments will lend an ear to them. It is futile, can’t they see this? In this case even a constant drop in the bucket won’t fill it, believe me.

Cambodian Oddities

2010-10-16T04:11:00.000-04:00

Although I usually refrain from writing about certain cultural particularities as this would sometimes lead people to be biased. I just consider them normal.

But there are a couple of things that really struck me as odd; they are also completely non-sensical.

There is this belief especially among middle-aged women – I have never encountered it in younger ones yet – that drinking too much water makes you fat. Consequently, they drink just a glass or two a day. It may come as no surprise to the discerning observer that a lot of people suffer from migrane and severe headaches; a direct result of dehydration. When those headaches get too bad they go see a nurse or a doctor who puts them on an IV of saline solution to replenish their body water. This is good business especially for the nurses who normally do this on the side at home; I don’t know where the saline solution comes form, and I don’t really want to speculate, but I do have my theory here.

Anyway, I wonder where this silly belief comes from. Why they choose to see a nurse for an IV so quickly – they call that whole thing ‘chah serum’ – may come from the Communist period. Health care at that time was free so it was really easy to get it. Nobody in the West would think of going to get an IV for the same symptoms. At $150 per doctor’s visit in the U. S. for instance, that is no surprise either.

The second oddity is that some people don’t dry their bodies with towels after a shower or bath. Reason: if you rub the body with that towel you rub that water into the skin. The water is not entirely clean as a lot of people, especially in the countryside, use rain water or bathe in the river. By letting their body air-dry they don’t get any bacteria into their body. Well, it may make perfect sense at first glance, but it also demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the human body.

Business Korean Style?

2010-10-14T01:29:00.000-04:00

This is something that has only now come to my attention. There is a pretty large Korean conglomorate that opened a bank, a construction company, and an architectural design office in Phnom Penh a while back.

They had plans to build some De-Castle style condos near the airport. One of their buildings called for a height of 42 meters (I wouldn’t know how many stories that would make it). As it happened, this building was right smack in the landing and take-off zone of the airport and exceeded the permissible structure height as prescribed by air traffic control procedures and aircraft performance criteria.

Now this is a big company and one would have thought they would have some pretty well-educated persons at the top. You know what happened? They wanted to bribe the airport and air traffic control officials to give them an exemption - never mind, air safety.

When their bribery attempts failed, they simply wanted to buy the company that operates the airport. That company is French-owned and they still have some 30 years to go on their concession. Perhaps, the concession is not sellable under the terms of their contract; perhaps, the offer was not good enough; perhaps the profitabiliy is so good that no offer would have been good enough.

Anyway, give me a break. What were those knuckle-heads thinking? Anything goes in Cambodia? A lot does, but not everything.

Moving to Cambodia

2010-10-14T01:08:00.001-04:00

Although quite a bit has been happening on both the political and economic front in the past two months I have not been able to maintain this blog for some time. I have given up my U. S. residence for good now (although I still have my business and own property there). I also moved into new homes in Phnom Penh and in Sihanouk province, which kept me busy for the last two to three months. I had lived in a furnished 2-bedroom apartment in Phnom Penh and a weekend cottage before.

I think I will have a little more time to furnish some inside info on Cambodia again in the future. First, however, let me tell those overseas Khmer considering moving back to Cambodia lock, stock, and barrel what is involved in such a move; financially, cutting through red tape, setting up or building your own home, etc.

In the past I have always encouraged overseas Khmer to move back in order to help develop the country. We all know Cambodia is still in dire need of people with a better education, know-how in modern business, experts in various fields ranging from agriculture, mid-sized construction, to small manufacturing, knowledge of international trade, and teachers, among others.

From my many encounters with Cambodians overseas I know they all long to be back in their home-country but really don’t know what to do here; whether they can afford the same things they are used to in their adopted countries, maintain the same life-style, etc. It certainly is a big decision. I am aware that most overseas Khmer just make enough to make ends meet; not a whole lot have struck it ‘rich’ overseas; they just have normal jobs; many times they barely eke out a living, oftentimes due to the lack of proficient knowledge of English, French, or German; the languages of the countries that most of them went to. Of course, their children who were born overseas don’t harbor those feelings. They more or less assimilated into the new culture and feel as belonging there rather than here. But nevertheless, I would still recommend the younger people as well to at least consider it; the money might not be as good here, in fact, it definitely isn’t, but possibly it might be more rewarding in other respects.

However, once they are ready to go ahead with their plans they may be surprised how much it actually costs to make that actual move if you want to take your whole belongings with you.

Now I had furniture for a 4-bedroom house, one SUV, one motorcycle, one 22’ power boat. My residence was Florida, which is almost exactly halfway around the world from Cambodia, so the cost is higher than from California, or Europe for that matter.

First, I forgot about the power boat. It would have cost $15,000 for the freight alone; I had checked into how much the import duty would have been, but boats weren’t in the books of the customs department. Anyway, that was too much for my taste so I simply sold the boat.

Next, I wanted to take my SUV, a 2001 MB ML320, and my motorbike, a 2003 Honda 750 Shadow ACE. Put into a container the freight would have been $5,500 for both; import duty for the MB around $11,000, and $1,100 for the motorcycle.

The lowest quote I got for the furniture, another 40’-container, was $9,300 including insurance, so altogether I was looking at around $26,000 to $27,000 just for freight and duty. My freight agent in Phnom Penh also advised me that there would be some import duty on the personal belongings, e. g. TV, computer, and such. All of a sudden that added up to possibly over $30,000.

Consequently, I scratched the car and the motorbike. I sold both which paid for the freight for the furniture. That made it a lot more acceptable. Additionally, I had an SUV in Cambodia already. We needed to add the flight tickets for the family into our tally, which set us back another $6,000 (not to mention the trip to Washington, D.C. and New York my wife and I took as a farewell tour, which slimmed our pocket books by another $4,000; but after the hassle of packing things and getting the house ready for sale we thought we had earned that trip).

When we got to Cambodia we moved right into the house in Phnom Penh my wife’s uncle and aunt had prepared for us already; additionally two of our kids had arrived a month earlier, so we didn’t have to do much on that end. Nevertheless the house needed to be furnished, we needed motorbikes for the kids to get around, etc. – cost for fridge, TV, furniture, curtains, and so on, $7,000. The furniture from our house in the U. S. was to go to our house in Sihanouk province.

That container was still on the water and it took a month until it arrived in Sihanoukville port. Total transit time from the house in Florida to Cambodia was 51 days. While we were waiting we prepared all the paperwork for the import clearance. Besides the ocean bill of lading, the Cambodian customs department requires a commercial invoice (never mind that this was a personal move), and an itemized inventory of each item. Virtually everyone in the U. S. owns some kind of gun; so did I. I wanted to take them but those were definitely no-go items. I tried for a special permit but was categorically turned down; so sold they were too.

Of course, now the haggling started over whether or not there was any import duty payable. I left that in the hands of my freight agent. To my vast relief he reported to me on the day the container was finally cleared that we were exempted as the whole affair was declared as my wife’s return to Cambodia. Nevertheless, we still needed to part with a whopping $1,350, which broke down into fees for the port, Camcontrol (the official inspection agency), import permits, clearance fees, fees for documents, approval fees, x-ray inspection fees (each container is x-rayed, so forget about trying to smuggle in something illegal, e. g. weapons, drugs, etc.), warehousing, and transportation. In comparison to clear an inbound container in the U. S. is around $60 in agent’s fees, but the terminal handling charges are about $500; anyway, it is still way cheaper in the U. S. (I know; I have owned an import business there for 20 years).

If you do the math you get a neat $25,000 plus miscellaneous out-of-pocket expenses to make that move for a family of 4. (I had gotten rid of at least one quarter of our furniture in the U.S.) Obviously only few people will move into two homes at the same time, so take off the $7,000 for house in Phnom Penh. But $18,000 plus will still make you think twice. You may deduct about $2,000 if you move from California, and $3,000 if you move from Europe. Fewer belongings won’t make a big difference as a 20’-container is about $300 less than a 40’er. The only consideration might be to sell off your stuff and start from scratch in Cambodia. If you want to maintain a Western standard it will cost you at least $15,000 too to buy everything from fridge to sofa, chairs, etc.; and it is a question of quality too.

Is it really worth making that move? It all depends on your motivation for it. Mine was pretty clear; I have a Cambodian wife, and two Cambodian children who still live at home; I firmly believed the children should go back to make their contribution to Cambodia, as small as it may be. Others might think differently; in fact, I guess most of them do.

Most serious Westerners, of course, come to live here from world-weariness, that is, weariness of our Western - what I perceive as - degeneration. It is slowly finding its way into Cambodia too, judging by what young Khmer people consider ‘in’ in terms of life style and what’s important to them. It also used to be that Westerners came here for the low cost of living. That may turn out to be a fallacy. If you live and eat like a Khmer, yes, but if you continue with your Western life-style, there is hardly any difference any more, except for eating out, rent (if you rent), medical costs, clothes. Anyway, this is the second time that I have come here to live here full-time, so there is at least one person who thought it worth it.

The Cambodian Catch-22

2010-09-16T06:11:00.000-04:00

The new school year has begun or is about to begin. As always, each year students need to register for their new classes. High school student Srey Lea (that ubiquitous name for Cambodian girls) wanted to change school from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh as her grandparents who had raised her had moved there. She was quite astonished to learn, however, that the new school would charge her about $150. She would also have needed to get her transcripts from the old school, which of course would have cost some more money. It goes without saying that she didn’t have it. So in the end she stayed in Siem Reap and will finish her senior year there.

Srey Lea is the younger of two children. At age 30, her father died of liver cirrhosis when she was 3 or 4. Needless to say, they were poor, and the mother was left to fend for herself and her two young children. Her mother remarried shortly thereafter and had five more children with her second husband over the next 15 years. Srey Lea and her older brother were then raised by the grandparents as the mother could not handle that many children, not to mention she and her second husband didn’t have any money either and lived hand to mouth. Actually, they were their adoptive grandparents as they had adopted the mother when she was age 8. For all intents and purposes her mother abandoned them.

When Srey Lea graduates from high school, which will cost her money again for the diploma, she won’t have the approximately $200 it costs per semester to go to college. Her path is marked for her. She will either get married right out of high school, have children, or will get a low-paying job as a waitress, seamstress at a garment factory, or similar. She is poor so is not considered a good catch by eligible young man. Consequently, she will probably get married to someone with a similar background. Her grandparents, without money or income themselves, who found shelter with their niece, can’t be of help any more either.

Can Srey Lea break out of that poverty cycle? Not likely. She is trapped in that vicious cycle of poor people all over the world. First, her parents were poor and uneducated; consequently, had no idea of birth control; they just kept on having babies although they couldn’t even feed their children. This left Srey Lea without the means to better her own fate. Only a better education would have gotten her out of that cycle. So she will also be poor and, despite her high school education, mostly ignorant about family planning. More likely than not, she will follow in the footprints of her mother.

This is the malaise that still besets Cambodia today. Children are born into poor families, and despite their own best efforts, they have no options of finding a way out of poverty. This can only change if they will not have to worry about school fees or money for textbooks. Public schools are free of charge officially, but teachers’ pay is so low they are dependent on unofficial ‘contributions’ from parents. This can amount to about $20 to $30 a month, plus fare for a motodup if the school is a not within walking distance. Parents in the cities are looking at about $60 a month just to send their children to school. It is self-evident many cannot afford this on an income of $160 or so a month. Hence, there is still a rather high share of children who leave school after four or five grades, if that at all. This is the dire truth and, unfortunately, this means social progress will be very slow in materializing.

Kem Sokha in the U. S.

2010-08-30T00:21:00.001-04:00

This VoA report caught my eye. http://www.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/Party-Leader-Urges-US-Cambodian-Political-Participation--101644263.html

He said:

“I am here today to inform you that if you feel tired and lose hope, I, who am inside the country, have no chance and no ability to fight to save our country. We need all of you to continue to support us. This is the last breath of our nation, because until now all major issues that we are seeing have not been solved.”

All of 20 people showed up for his speech in Virginia. It rather seems that this is his last breath in the U. S. instead.

But maybe Kem Sokha doesn’t live in Cambodia. He probably didn’t read the relevant reports. The country is doing much better economically judging by the statistics put forth by banks, government agencies, and not the least, the ADB. The ‘last breath of our nation?’ Poor choice of words. By trying to create a doomsday picture he certainly isn’t helping his image, if he has any to begin with.

I guess he is trying to duplicate the SRP’s efforts. Now that party has at least a few chapters registered there and all those visits by party functionaries are nothing but fund-raisers. The question is how long will even those die-hard overseas supporters foot the bills of pretty lame and uninspiring politicians. The VoA writes there is declining interest among Cambodians in the U. S. for Cambodian politics. No wonder – with these protagonists.

Practical Advice for Internet Users

2010-08-29T01:41:00.001-04:00

This is just in case somebody out there doesn't know about this yet but my personal experience with the two major providers in Cambodia leads me to share this with you.

Mobitel still beats everybody in Cambodia with their latest low-cost high-speed offer. You get 1 GB in month for just $5. Nobody can beat that. If you happen to own a 3G phone you get really fast speeds - 460.8 Kbps. Watching videos, however, is still an arduous task. This speed is still too slow for streaming.

The one drawback is that Mobitel covers only three areas with 3G - Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, and Siem Reap. Outside these areas it drops down to 105 or so Kbps. The price, however, is unbeatable. Even if you exceed your bandwidth you just buy another one-month subscription even if the previous month is not up yet.

Metfone is the next largest competitor. They practically cover all of Cambodia with their cable provided connections; you can get speeds from 128 Kbps up to 2048 Kbps, but it comes at a price. The slowest connection will set you back $50 a month, the fastest $510.

You take your pick.

Traffic

2010-08-29T01:31:00.000-04:00

I always thought I should not write about the traffic situation in Phnom Penh, or Cambodia in general. This is better left to travel sites; and this is not a travel site. But I am now going to comment on it anyway.

Anybody who has ever been to Cambodia knows how chaotic traffic here is. Bangkok is chaotic too, but in a different way. You just get stuck for hours on end; so much so that some savvy entrepreneurs even offer mobile toilets along the roads. But the big difference is that most Bangkok drivers still adhere to most of the traffic laws and rules; e. g. don’t go down the wrong way in a one-way street; and motorists also usually stay in their lanes.

Ho Chi Minh City is another good comparison. About 20 years back traffic was just as horrendous there as it still is on Phnom Penh. People just went every which way without regard for their own lives, let alone for other participants. This has changed also. At least mopeds and cyclos stay in the right lane whilst cars, buses, and trucks stay in the left lane.

But Cambodia is a different story altogether. I would have thought with more vehicles on the road people would see the necessity for some order in using the roadways as it would definitely increase the flow of traffic, safety, reduce toxic emissions, and lessen stress.

But nothing could be farther from the truth or reality. One must make a great distinction between mopeds and cars. Whereas many of the former are clearly suicidal, the latter surely want to maintain their prized possessions in their pristine condition, never mind that most of them are older models. They do this by driving at the slowest speed possible even if there is no other traffic far and wide.

I guess the majority of the owners of mopeds or motorcycles don’t have any idea that there are traffic laws on the book; and if they do they don’t realize that the laws are there to make life easier, notwithstanding the penalties they proscribe. Mopeds/motorcycles always seem to be in a hurry. Red lights are just seen as a nuisance that keeps them from getting to their destination quickly. Consequently, running red lights is the order of the day. Sometimes they do this at such speeds that if indeed there were cross-traffic it would surely end in a fatal accident. I have yet to see one, but the number of traffic deaths speaks for itself. Another favorite driving style is to cut in in front of oncoming vehicles; don’t ever cross over the intersection behind the oncoming vehicle; goodness, that would be too safe. Better yet, don’t even think there might be another, as yet unseen, vehicle passing the oncoming car on the right, at breakneck speed at that. No, they need the thrill of looking death in the eye.

Of course, coming down the wrong side of the road with a divider, or riding in the middle of the road although there is plenty of room on their right, is minor in comparison. In Phnom Penh you have street lighting so you can at least see mopeds without head or tail lights. Drive at your own peril on country roads at night, though. You drive too fast you might end up rear-ending a moped, a truck, or an oxcart with unwanted but clearly imaginable consequences.

Now cars are a different matter. First of all, everybody just loves a Toyota Camry, the sedan of choice for the less affluent. The more affluent and rich people have developed a clear preference for the Lexus brand. I am sure everybody needs one to go off-road to their land holdings in the countryside. But they are also so much more practical in the city. An 8-cylinder engine driving that LX470 at 15 kph, guzzling about 25 ltr/100km is definitely the most economical way of moving your 120 lb. frame forward. Lately, the new Landrover has come into style. The Mercedes S500 is definitely an understatement in Cambodia. At least the LX470 or Landcruiser have a nice size that can’t be overlooked. Well, I guess people just need status symbols, I can understand that; especially people of smaller size. In the West older man who can afford it like to own a Porsche, which is generally interpreted by most as a way of compensating the decreased virility that accompanies the aging process. In the U. S. I tend to think it’s the pick-up truck, which along with SUVs hardly ever see anything else but city streets and freeways that proves that a man is a man. So here it might just be the LX470 or the Landcruiser. Never mind that these golden calves set you back around $150K if bought new. A shiny SUV beats a nice villa any time, right?

So you have the chaotic moped riders weaving their way through those slow-moving behemoths in Phnom Penh, among them those ultra-sensible trucks that General Motors recently sold to a Chinese company. I even saw a real Hum Vee the other day. Now that sure is an absolute must for the discerning auto enthusiast.

Additionally, you will find that cars are not averse to driving on the wrong side of the street either, or running red lights, especially during lunch hour, on weekends, or at night, when the police are safe at home watching TV, if they are not in a beer garden drinking away their hard-earned traffic fines.

The role of the traffic police is really hard to understand in this country. Once the helmet law was passed they were, and still are, busy stopping moped riders to instruct them of the danger of not wearing one. Of course, the passenger on the pinion is not in as much danger, as the law makes no mention of that. Naturally, any small contribution towards the policeman’s well-being was never scoffed at.

Then came the mirror law; and the police had another reason for stopping all those mopeds. But that has all been some time ago, and I still see the police stopping them, although there was nothing noticeably wrong with them; they wore their helmets and had their mirrors in place.

Car drivers are not immune from being stopped either, though. Another addition to the traffic laws was that seat belts needed to be worn. Although I religiously put them on in the West, I was rather negligent in Cambodia. So I got pulled over twice. They reminded me politely of my negligence and were just standing there smiling. 5,000 riel released me from their smiles.

Running red lights, going against the traffic, though, was not one of their concerns. Gridlocked intersections can’t faze them either. They just look on with uncomprehending eyes, probably wondering how this all happened.

But the lasting impession about all this is the stoicism with which all participants, both car and motocycles, endure this chaos, notwithstanding the almost permanent use of the most cherished part on their vehicles – the horn.

I am pasting a YouTube video by a young man names Daniel which gives a pretty good impression.

Final Act

2010-08-14T04:19:00.001-04:00

The Cambodian Daily wrote about the Mu Sochua case in Friday’s paper reporting that by some people’s account it enhanced her stature, especially among women. One person was reported as saying that about 50% agree with her while the other half does not. Be that as it may – I don’t believe for one moment that this ‘drama’ was on the forefront of people’s thoughts – one thing is for certain.

By impounding her salary the court avoided a greater political international scandal. Domestically, the whole case was just old hat. Internationally, of course, it caught a few headlines, although by and large it wasn’t something that aroused great interest in the Western press.

If the court had had her arrested that would certainly have produced outrage among the Western international community with possibly some consequences. The government would really have had a hard time explaining this. So far, it was just a lawsuit, a personal matter as a spokesman said. But prison for insulting the Prime Minister? It would also have made a martyr out of Mu Sochua, a person who is probably liked best within Cambodia among the opposition politicians. That was not something the government really wanted. So they found this way out. A little beyond what is generally accepted as good democratic practice, but, hey, this is still a 'fledgling democracy'. The good thing is that it is over; Mu Sochua said as much. Turn to the real issues now.

A Cambodian Dilemma

2010-08-13T04:21:00.000-04:00

A 26-year-old man, let’s call him Sun, came to me seeking advice in a very personal matter. He is planning to get married to a woman from his home village. However, he is facing a big problem. First, he has a competitor; second, he doesn’t have a home, nor enough income to support a wife, or a family for that matter. The potential father-in-law makes a living panning for gold in the Mondulkiri mountains and is moderately successful at it. That father-in-law’s brother had at one time struck lucky when he found rocks containing the equivalent of 1 kg of pure gold.

The competitor works as a carpenter in his father’s shop; in most villagers’ eyes he would be considered a good match. On top of it this, that man is Sun’s cousin. The girl herself doesn’t say much. She relies on her parents’ judgment. Sun doesn’t really know whether he loves that girl either, but he is eyeing her parents’ potential wealth; even though their current situation is not too bad already.

The girl’s parents are not exactly averse to Sun marrying her as he is also quite flexible when it comes to making money. Most of the time he acts as a guide to tourists, taking them all over town and occasionally to Siem Reap as well. He owns a car, which he bought with borrowed money from that gold prospector who lucked out once. He has since paid back the loan, so his standing with the family is quite good.

Marrying the girl would definitely mean going back to his home village in Kratie province. But what kind of job would he have there? He is still going to college too. Now that’s the real dilemma. If he loses out to his cousin that would certainly affect his manliness, at least in his mind. If he marries the girl, however, he would most certainly face a life of hardship for the first few years, if not most of his lifetime. Would he still be able to graduate from college?

He is not even sure whether he really loves the girl, and whether the girl really loves him. On the surface it looked to me more like a case of hurt pride than a basis for a marriage. Being a Westerner most will probably know what I advised him to do. After all, there are many beautiful young girls out there, or as the saying goes, there are many more mothers with beautiful daughters, why put all your money on one?

The second dilemma, of course, is Khmer tradition. Decent girls just can’t go and live with a guy to see whether they are a good match. In the West young people go out together for a while, have a relationship, and eventually move in with each other, before they get married. That’s a no, no for normal Cambodian girls. If they defy that tradition they are put on an equal footing with prostitutes. The perception of young people about this is slowly changing, but it will be a long time before people will shed their concept of the role of the sexes. Some people will even say why should it change?

So what’s a guy to do? Well, in the end he heeded our advice and let go of that inner compulsion to get married for all the wrong reasons and is now playing things by ear. The other day he told us he had to help another girl-friend in Phnom Penh whose mother was sick. It looks like it wasn’t such a big love after all.

Is The Recession Over?

2010-08-08T07:21:00.000-04:00

By economic standards, yes. The Cambodian economy is growing again, so officially it is over. This is borne out by the increase of tourist arrivals, the rise in exports, sale of cars and trucks, where imports jumped by 35% and the resumption of construction activity in the first half of 2010. According to the Ministry of Commerce, the agricultural sector is contributing to the growth significantly, which I can, of course, personally confirm from my own experience.

Unfortunately, this is combined with increased inflation, one sign of which is the increase in gasoline prices. Regular gas is now about $1.04 versus about $.90 per liter at the beginning of the year. The riel has also come under pressure prompting the National Bank to sell dollars from its reserves, trying to reduce the volume of the riel. So far, as much as I can see, this has had limited effect, as the riel still is at KHR 4270 to the dollar. The National Bank tries to keep it between KHR 4000 to KHR 4200.

What surprises me most, however, is the real estate and construction sector. I am no longer involved in looking for land or in developments, but from what I can see around Phnom Penh, there are still many Cambodian–style flats, or town houses, sitting empty. But I see new ones springing up everywhere now. Where and to whom are these people selling their houses? Where I live in PP, about half of the ‘gated community’ sits empty, but the developer nevertheless added about 20 units. Of course, all the existing ones had been sold (prior to the bust). People who bought them as investments aren’t getting any return on them, neither as rent nor by re-selling them at a profit.

Opposite that gated community a new development is being built. Guess what? It’s a compound of Cambodian flat houses again. I don’t really know what to make of that. There is glut on the market already but they are still building new ones?

Camko has resumed building their high-rises. From what I hear they have a new management in place, which was obviously able to tap into fresh working capital. Other than that, however, I don’t see any of the big development plans, e. g. Koh Rong resort development, or the Stung Hao international port, making any great strides towards realization or making much progress. Stung Hao International Port has put up an impressive portal and they started blasting the hill, but I haven’t seen any other activity for over a year now.

In the West they usually build the entrance last, but here it is obviously important to have a great portal first in order to show (off) the size of the investment. That ridiculous gate at the Grand Phnom Penh City is a case in point.

A little digression here: I also like the new Koh Pich. They built a nice park for the public. Although it still needs more landscaping it makes for a nice view of the area. I just don’t know what it is with the Greek monopteros-style gazebos. They do look nice but I find them a little misplaced in Cambodia. An absolute eyesore in my mind is the almost completed government building next to the new Council of Ministers building on Russian Boulevard. Whereas the existing building is daring in its architecture and definitely an interesting design, that new building is just a monstrosity, which reminds me of Soviet-style architecture with a slight Cambodian touch.

So money seems to be flowing again, what with the multiple projects under way all over the city, and new cars coming onto the roads (I only wish new trucks would replace those old run-down, ready-to-break-down trucks in use now). On a different note, I seem to be seeing a lot more vehicles with military plates again; also the green plates of the state appear to be mushrooming. They also appear on high-end SUVs all of a sudden, whereas before that was rather the exception.

But as before, that money seems to flow in the same circles, namely the ones who have it use it to hand it over to other people who also have it, in other words, it’s the business people and the upper echelon civil servants driving all this. Of course, there is also foreign money from China, Vietnam, and South Korea still flowing in. The consuming part of the population, however, is still so small that it will not have any noticeable effect on boosting a consumer-driven economy. That will still be some time in coming. A good way of seeing this is the Lucky market clientele. Besides all the expats and tourists, you see what I would call the Khmer upper-middle and upper class shopping there. You can tell by the way they dress.

Average people still have a hard time making the money it takes to break through the subsistence level. Most people just make enough to eat; they live hand to mouth so to speak. There is nothing left over to put aside for getting a business started, or expand the one they might already have.

But this is in large part due to the prevalent general ignorance of people of how to go about getting a loan, for instance. A good example is a couple who started a car/driver-for-hire business. They borrowed $5,000 from a loan-shark; they euphemistically call themselves micro-finance people. There are many of those operating in every market. The couple is paying $150 a month as interest, in other words, 36% p. a. Of course, there is no collateral so a higher interest rate in justified, but 36%? Well, somebody told the couple to go ACLEDA, the largest small-business lender in Cambodia, and a highly successful one at that. ACLEDA loans money for this kind of business using the car as collateral. The interest rate was 15% p. a. The couple was told to contact a certain person who is an acquaintance of the person advising them.

They did go to the bank, but spoke to somebody else who just shoved a sheaf of paper into their faces, which they didn’t know how to fill out. Intimidated by all this, they left it at that and now continue paying $150 a month.

Another example is a young man who will graduate next year from college with a degree in ‘tourism’, which includes some sort of business management classes. He wanted to start a fishing business in Rattanakiri and needed $500 to buy a motor for a boat. Did he do any research whether or not this business would be viable, what the competition is like, etc. No, he didn’t. Consequently, he didn’t get that $500. It looks like there are enough fishermen around already, right? Why would somebody who is studying tourism want to go into the fishing business?

This all just goes to show, that the key to improving their livelihoods starts with a good education – a sort of a platitude, I know, but that’s what is boils down to. Yeah, I know the educational system sucks, but, still, there are people who know how to use it to their advantage. I know a young lady who got a BA in marketing from the state university. She graduated top of her class and got a Fulbright scholarship in the U. S. Now she is back with a master’s degree and found a job with a financial institution.

A final word to some of my readers who simply disagree with everything I write about. Don’t start making comments again about corruption and it’s all the government’s fault that Cambodia is in this state. We have covered this ad nauseum, so save your energy.

Rubber News – July 2010

2010-07-27T06:41:00.000-04:00

It’s been awhile since I last reported on this subject. So for all those people interested in this aspect of the Cambodian economy here is another take.

Despite my expectations to the opposite, prices have held steady this year, hovering around the $3,500 mark on the Malaysian Rubber Exchange. Since Cambodia still lags behind with their pricing, traders here pay around $3,100/mt for the top-grade CSK5L crepe rubber. The reason is still the industry’s reliance on Vietnamese buyers. On the one hand this is good for the processing plants as these buyers come with cash in hand. They don’t have to deal with letter of credits and banks, and all the paperwork that is involved when shipping their products. On the other hand they lose quite a bit of money because of that. If they were a little more educated in modern business techniques they could reap a higher profit. The next economic crisis may be just around the corner, that is if the Chinese cannot dampen their overheated real-estate market, then that extra income could be put in the piggy bank for a rainy day.

Rubber plantations get about $2.20 per kg of dried latex which is lower than it should be but since pricing is pretty much uniform throughout the country you can’t do much about it. Prices should be $2.90/kg. So the lack of a heterogeneous market deprives both farmers and processing plants of sorely needed income; income to build reserves for market fluctuations and re-investment for planting new trees, which, after all, take 6 – 7 years to mature, for acquiring updated machinery/ovens, new trucks, etc.

So there is still a lot to be done. In the past 4 – 5 years the industry expanded considerably in terms of added acreage but not too much in the field of technology.

Despite the relative profitability of rubber plantations and processing plants there a number of privately held plantations which are up for sale. They are 4,000 ha, 5,000 ha, or 6,000 ha respectively; tapping areas vary, as do areas with immature trees. They all come with their own processing plant, all machinery, trucks, etc, and all staff that are well-trained in their fields. I am actively involved in the divestiture of these plantations and currently in talks with one large foreign company. Nevertheless, should there be someone else interested in either one or more of these businesses, please contact me by email and I will be in touch right away. I have all necessary documents on hand and can provide any information required. But please, only serious, qualified parties should contact me.

Car Repairs

2010-07-25T01:45:00.000-04:00

After so many political commentaries I am turning to a rather mundane subject; but to people living here this may be of some interest.

Since I go off-road quite a bit I drive a Toyota 4-runner, one of the best off-road 4WD vehicles around (eschewing the more ostentatious full-size SUVs for simple economic reasons). Whenever there was a problem, and I must say there were very few, I took it to one of the many free repair shops that abound along the roads in Phnom Penh. I favored the one across the Rattanak hospital in Tuol Kork. One time they really didn’t know how to adjust the brakes – they went by the trial and error method - so I took it to the Toyota dealership on Russian Boulevard. In the end the slightly higher prices would make up for them being able to fix things the first time around, so I thought.

They promptly located the problem, fixed it, and I was good to go. Some time later I needed the wishbone joints replaced (part of the suspension). Unfortunately, they didn’t have the spare parts in stock. Ordering meant a wait time of 21 – 45 days by air, or up to 90 days by ground. Luckily, I didn’t need the truck for some time as I was out of country for some time. So when I go back everything was fixed nicely again.

Now just recently I had this problem with the water getting too hot and actually overheating. I had to put in about 2.5 ltrs. every day. I went to Toyota and found that the radiator lid was defective, so we replaced it. They didn’t find a leak in the radiator itself and said if the problem persists we would need to replace cylinder head gasket. There is probably a tiny leak in there making me lose all that water – sounded credible to me, although the engine oil checked out all right, but who am I to doubt a specialist’s word?

Ok, the problem didn’t go away, so I took it back for the gasket replacement. Lo and behold, they didn’t have the gasket in stock, wait-time 21-45 days. No way could I go on driving this vehicle without proper cooling for 3 – 6 weeks.

I decided to use my old shop again. They quickly found the leak in the radiator, replaced it, and $200 and 3 hours later I was all set - no problem with the gasket. Come to think of it, a simple compression check would have proved that. Lesson learned: I won’t use the Toyota shop again. They are no better than the rest, though one might expect more. First they didn’t diagnose the problem and I would have had to pay for an unnecessary repair and second, how can a qualified repair shop work without a sufficient stock of spare parts? It’s not that this is an exotic make around here, and the 3.4 ltr. engine is used in many other Toyota models too. So if you think of going there for a repair be prepared.

Reality Check

2010-07-24T07:06:00.001-04:00

This Friday the multi-national military exercise Angkor Sentinel 2010 with the support of the U. S. came to its conclusion.

On July 21 Cambodia and the U. S. celebrated the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic relations attended by Sok An, Carol Rodley, among others.

Previously an Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs had visited Cambodia. He promptly came under fire for the military exercises. Critics, including Md. Mu Suchua, condemned the exercises claiming human rights violations by some of the participating Cambodian military units.

Whatever the case, nothing can better demonstrate the U. S.’s stance towards Cambodia. This all must have come like a slap in the face for all those critics who had turned to the U. S. seeking support from the House of Representatives and even the President in punishing Cambodia because of the government’s human rights record, including the curtailment of freedom of expression, etc. Even the possible imprisonment of an MP did not cause the U. S. to reconsider their military commitment.

The opposition must now realize that their efforts abroad are rather futile and won’t amount to much, if to anything at all, and focus on domestic issues instead. I have pointed this out in previous posts. If the opposition wants to be heard they need to play to their constituents in Cambodia, not to some obscure U. S. politicians or the overseas Khmer community; or submitting practically worthless petitions; which is not to say that petitions shouldn’t be used as an instrument in a political struggle, but it should certainly be used more selectively. Looking back on the last few years, I don’t think the SRP and their supporters will ever learn how the game of politics is played.

As a footnote, it is interesting to note that Md. Mu Sochua travels to the U. S. a lot. These trips are expensive, as I know from my own experience, traveling back and forth around 4, sometimes 5, times a year. Her salary as an MP is around $1,000. Who pays for all this – the party and their supporters with their donations? Couldn’t the money be used for a better purpose rather than enhancing her own international profile? Of course, if she pays for this out of her own pocket, it’s an entirely different story.

Response

2010-06-17T10:41:00.000-04:00

I want to reply to a comment Stefanie F posted on the previous entry with a full post.

You espouse a somewhat idealistic view. While I am not disputing what you wrote in general I believe one has to take a realistic view of things. I try to remain neutral and see things from a an outsider’s position, although my many detractors believe I am in the government’s pockets. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

First, the U. S.’s $60M is a trifle in view of other countries’ donations, especially compared with China, Japan, and even the EU, if you include the member countries’ contributions. After all, Cambodia just got $1.1 billion in aid and grants. So what’s the $60M? The U. S. is a country that propagates human rights but this is to be seen more as lip service than proactive involvement. Whenever it suits the U. S.’s goals, they will shape their foreign policy after expediency more than anything else. It may get better in the future, but judging from the past, one cannot be too optimistic.

The powerful hands are exactly the people formulating policy, and they obviously don’t have Cambodia on their screen. A petition signed by a paltry 2,000 mostly overseas Khmer and foreign supporters of the opposition won’t change official policy one bit.

Change must come from within. Pressure from outside, especially the U. S., will only entrench foreign governments in their position and make them look elsewhere for aid and support. This is exactly what Cambodia has done. They turned to China, which is only too willing to jump in in order to counter Vietnam’s influence in the region, and thumb their nose at the U. S. at the same time.

In that sense, all the SRP’s efforts to muster support from the U. S. are futile, if not outright counterproductive. If you want to beat a system you must do this at its own game. Suing the Prime Minister is certainly the wrong tactic. Pulling pubicity stunts and bringing the Vietnam border issue to the foreground is another failed tactic. What the opposition, foremost its leaders Sam Rainsy and Mu Sochua, need to do is appeal to the people at large. Since they can’t do this in the assembly, where they will be outvoted at every turn, they must look for other ways to convince voters that they are the ones who can bring about change that will benefit the masses and not only a few. By being abroad, and the voters in Cambodia see this very clearly, they are not helping the poor. They are seen as rich people who can afford to travel so widely just as the CPP’s rich people. They see no difference between them at all. After all, what are their sources of income? Believe it or not, this is what people on the street in Cambodia are asking.

Whether Ms. Sochua is a heroine or not is subject to personal interpretation. I believe the word hero/heroine is just used too lightly, especially in the U. S. I can’t see how she has made an impact in Cambodia since she came back as a Funcinpec member and Minister, and later as an SRP MP. Realistically, fighting for human rights and equality, freedom of expression, upholding the constitution, though noble causes they are, ranks lower than filling one’s stomach. Exactly this is where the opposition and their two most prominent leaders have failed dismally. Like in any other country the broad masses are apolitical. They care about their livelihood, their family, where the next meal comes from. You can’t make a peaceful world on an empty stomach. What all supporters of Mu Sochua and Sam Rainsy forget is the Khmer mentality. During their history Khmer people have learned to be stoic and endure until things get better – and better they will get. I can’t remember one instance in which the opposition’s leaders have helped the poor in a substantive way. Maintaining a high public profile abroad certainly isn’t doing the job.

Petition to the U. S. President

2010-06-16T13:25:00.000-04:00

The PPP reports that Md. Mu Sochua, SRP MP, is traveling to the U. S. carrying with her a petition to the President Obama.

The petition asks the President to condemn the Cambodian government and Supreme Court for their lack of accountability, fairness in the judicial process, etc. We by now know the list of grievances human rights activists and the opposition have. A ‘whopping’ 2,000 people, mostly online, will sign that petition.

The one baffling thing about Mu Sochua, who is also a U. S. citizen, is that she spends a lot of time away from Cambodia. She is now traveling there for a documentary film on human trafficking. No doubt, this is a noble cause, and Md. Mu Sochua is well known as a fighter for women and children’s rights. Her proponents never tire of pointing out that she was once a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Normally, that information is withheld from the public, but in this case her supporters believe it surely enhances her stature. I am sure it is an honor to be put forward for the nomination, but let’s not forget that initial list can comprise 500 or more nominees.

I am just not sure what the initiators of that petition are trying to accomplish with it. First, Md. Sochua won’t be able to hand it over personally. It might just as well be sent by mail. Second, the petition asks a head of state to condemn another country’s institutions. It doesn’t matter whether or not this is a dictatorship, democracy, or anything in between, foreign governments usually do not interfere in another nation’s domestic affairs, legal or otherwise. Even the extradition of the Uyghurs to China provoked only luke-warm criticism from an Under Secretary of State.

The main question, however, is why Md. Mu Sochua and Sam Rainsy always try to raise the international community to aid in their cause. A cause they obviously are not able to propagate with their own means. Observers have stated that the international community hardly listens any more to the same grievances over and over again. They have simply tired of that litany. Equally as obviously, they cannot find any resonance for their cause in Cambodia itself. But it is there that they need to find broader support in order to further their agenda. By being abroad so much they remove themselves more and more from the people they are supposed to work for.

Under normal circumstances Md. Mu Sochua seems to be a very sensible person - with the exception of her ill-fated lawsuit against Prime Minister Hun Sen. Why don’t they organize a grass roots organization instead of spending all that money on expensive travels abroad? Of course, they use those travels as fund-raisers at the same time, which is all good, but why not put the money to better use in Cambodia.
If she wants to be an international celebrity, she should maybe return to the U. S. There is a greater chance to get into the limelight there.

This petition as well as many of the SRP’s endeavors seem pointless and wasted efforts.

As Was Expected

2010-06-04T15:40:00.000-04:00

The past couple of weeks have seen some decisive events in the course of political life in Cambodia.

First Sam Rainsy lost on appeal in Hor Nam Hong’s defamation suit against him in France. Now, in this case nobody can claim that the courts were bought or biased towards any party. They strictly rule on the basis of evidence and that evidence did show that Sam Rainsy was wrong in his accusation that Hor Nam Hong was part of the Khmer Rouge at the Boeung Trabek work camp.

Sam Rainsy claimed his witnesses were too intimidated to come forward, and Hor Nam Hong’s witnesses were bought. He didn’t say this outright but in essence that was what he meant.

The outcome of the case doesn’t really prove either side right, only that Hor Nam Hong’s evidence was preponderant. But finally, this case is over for good, and it is time for Sam Rainsy to move on.

And moving he is. According to news reports, he is traveling the U. S. and Canada to drum up support for his case on alleged border encroachments by the Vietnamese. I am sure he will find open ears at his North American audiences, because nobody is farther from Cambodian reality than those folks. One Sean Pengse, by all accounts another reactionary with claims to historical knowledge and a right to judge, accompanies him. The French-based Border Committee is a paper tiger, but they just don’t want to believe it. They spend other people’s money pursuing a lost cause. They might as well throw it right out the window. Regardless of the merits of their findings and presentations, the unalterable fact remains that a legal Cambodian government and parliament, and that’s what they are notwithstanding counterclaims by the opposition and various other factions, are the only bodies that determine what happens in terms of border demarcation through bi- or multilateral treaties. Period.

Meanwhile, the other prominent SRP-member, Ms. Mu Sochua, lost her appeal in Hun Sen’s defamation lawsuit against her. I myself do believe that this is an aberration of the judicial process, but the outcome was to be expected, wasn’t it?

Here is a comment by an obviously Khmer anonymous writer on KI-Media on her case that sums it up nicely.

Mu Mu deserves it. She brought this case upon herself. If she doesn't believe the court can provide her with justice, why bring this case to court and try to sue Hun Sen in the first place. Now since HS sue her back and won, she cry the court unfair. The same as Sam Rainsy losing the case to Hor Nam Hong again and again in France and still cannot accept that he lose the case.

Who said the word strong leg is a bad word! The word Jeung Klang is a complimentary. Meaning a strong person, strong mind, a fighter.

And then came the stunning news. Cambodia’s donors pledged $1.1billion in aid to the country. Numerous NGOs had called upon the donor nations to use their aid prudently in the context of human rights, judicial reform, and socially beneficial use of resources. The government will no doubt use this record amount as an indication that their policies are in line with the international community. The Prime Minister vowed to combat corruption with all might. Needless to say, various know-it-alls in different corners of the overseas Khmer community as well as some expat leeches within the country – those that are most strident in their comments and criticism and are here for no other purpose than to lead an easy life on the cheap, ridiculed him for this.

One really needs to see the environment in which this happened. Sam Rainsy was stripped of his immunity and is in exile, Mu Sochua lost her case at the Supreme Court and is bound to go to prison if she doesn’t pay her fine; questions of accountability and transparency were raised resonantly throughout the press and some serious NGOs. International watchdogs, e. g. Global Witness, vociferously warned donor nations, the U. S. government had sharply criticized the extradition of the Uyghur asylum seekers, U. S. congressional representatives introduced legislation to punish Cambodia; all to no avail. The donor nations saw progress and dished out the cash, so to speak. Make no mistake, however. This two-day conference was just to finalize the process. They had all come with their minds made up and their budgets ready; they had all done their due diligence back home already. The Cambodian government might be smirking at their opponents now, while the opposition appears rather hapless. Perhaps it is time to change strategy and come up with an alternative game plan? Border issues just don’t cut it with the population at large, and the opposition seems to have lost their credibility abroad.

The Hypocrisy of American Politics

2010-05-26T11:38:00.000-04:00

Two knuckleheaded U. S. politicians want to punish Cambodia for its deportation of the Uyghur asylum seekers to China. The punishment: No reduction in or elimination of some $300 million in debt, dating back to the Lon Nol era. The CIA was instrumental in Lon Nol’s coup-d’etat in 1970. That same country bombarded Cambodia for over one year from 1969 to 1970 – secretly. That same country violated Cambodia’s national sovereignty in pursuit of its own misguided foreign policy at that time, not to mention the much worse killing of countless Cambodians by U.S. bombs. The $300 million were given to Lon Nol to bolster his fight against the Khmer Rouge.

Now this country wants to punish Cambodia? What moral right, let alone legal claim, does a country like that have? How about some reparations for its acts against humanity in Cambodia?

They also want to deny Cambodia duty-free status for its garments. So the garment workers are to blame for the government’s action? What makes those two asinine men tick? The excuse with reference to the Chinese dictatorship in a cozy relationship with Hun Sen and his government comes off pretty lame.

Their own president went to China and did not mention human rights once in his talks with the Chinese government. Last I heard, China counts pretty big in U. S. foreign policy. They can’t really afford to alienate the Chinese, now can they? Did they ever introduce a similar bill to punish China? Not to my knowledge.

The only solace we can draw from this is that this bill is probably dead on arrival. Speaking of dead on arrival; did we ever hear anything about that House resolution condemning Cambodia in the aftermath of that Tom Lantos Commission hearing? Of course not; it was never called for a vote.

Meanwhile the U. S. administration announced a huge aid program entitled ‘Feed the Future’. One of its targeted country is Cambodia, as the State Department stated. Perhaps those two guys will want to cut Cambodia out of it? After all, the money will go to the Cambodian government and who knows where it will end up. Some circles are crying foul before even the first cent has been disbursed. Well, this is how some people make their money – the hacks and the professional do-gooders who are so unselfish in their concern for the Cambodian people.

Color Coding Political Preferences

2010-05-25T12:41:00.001-04:00

An obscure ‘CPP committee order’ dated Sep. 14, 2009 was dug up by the Voice of America, which allegedly orders government officials to identify people according to their political leanings.

Civil rights organizations, opposition parties, and bloggers promptly got their knickers in a twist saying this violates people’s privacy, rights, and will be used to deprive people of their free choice in elections. According to VoA the local CPP party leaders were to win over as many non-CPP leaning people as they could.

Is the uproar justified or is it again just blowing hot air on the part of those critics to get their names in the papers or their blogs read?

Isn’t that the same thing political parties do all over the world? Local party chieftains try to get as much information on their constituents as possible in order to fashion their election campaigns so that the voters will vote for their candidates.

Let’s compare this with the U. S. election system. First voters need to register to vote. Then the two parties – Democrats and Republicans – hold primaries that determine which of their party’s candidates will run in the election itself. Some states’ primaries only allow registered party voters to vote in their party primaries. Consequently, the parties know from their party rolls who is ‘white’, the color the CPP documents uses to identify their loyal followers. They may not know their opposing party members by name (‘black’ in CPP lingo), but they do know their approximate number. Additionally, opinion polls ordered by the political parties don’t do anything different than ‘color coding’ people. They just don’t call it that. Again, they won’t know the names, but they do know their percentage of all voters within an error margin from 3 – 5%.

Then there are those ‘grey’ (the CPP term) masses out there. In the U. S. they are called ‘independents’. Both parties need to win over a substantial percentage of those for a win. In some elections they swing to the right and in others to the left – therefore, they are called swing voters.

Of course, Cambodia isn’t as sophisticated as the U. S., where mass media campaigns determine the outcome of an election. Saturation TV advertising, attack ads, etc. are still virtually unknown in Cambodia, definitely in rural areas. So village party elders admonish their constituents to vote for them. This happens in the U. S. too, although possibly in a slightly different manner. There candidates walk from door to door to introduce themselves and ask for people’s votes.

In past elections it was reported that some of those local party officials got a little overzealos and used strong-arm tactics to get the vote out in favor of them. Well, whenever there is political power involved, you get people who overshoot their target. Whether it is outright lying by the candidates or voter disenfranchisement of certain ethnic groups or voter blocks, to name only two widely used ploys, no democratic election anywhere has ever been 100% pure and without flaw. Vote buying is another popular tactic used throughout the third world, and even in the U. S. (keyword labor unions).

As in the previous post I refer to fellow blogger Details-are-Sketchy for her somewhat outlandish remark.

Quote
Depending on your political leanings, this is either standard political campaigning or an insidious plot to steal the 2013 national election and enslave the nation in poverty (at the behest of the Hanoi masters, no doubt).
The tracking of individual political leanings, if true, is definitely creepy, and without a doubt illegal. Such information is very likely to get abused, and in spirit the color-coding scheme urinates all over a whole raft of human rights treaties. But such thuggish campaigning is also effective at marshaling votes, and history and independent polling suggest it will work.
Unquote

Ha, ha, ha. I can see that the first sentence is probably tongue-in-cheek. But with that blogger you never know.

The second one is outright stupid and blind to modern electioneering strategies and tactics. Can she be so ignorant as not to know that in a village of 100 people everybody knows where everybody stands? Illegal? Urinates over a whole raft of human rights treaties? Ha, ha, ha.

Aside from that, take all this color-coding with a grain of salt. It sounds more ominous than it is and in one form or another it is done in all Western countries as well. So keep your knickers up so you won’t stumble while running.

Murky Waters?

2010-05-24T11:42:00.003-04:00

I have once again attracted some attention from a fellow Cambodia blogger for purported support of certain business practices. The post claims I overlooked that some of that money companies paid to the government went missing, disappeared into thin air, so to speak.

I take it these people do read more about Cambodia than average people would, so one would expect their level of knowledge to be somewhat higher. But it must have escaped them that the reports in the papers and the statements from NGOs on those payments weren’t just about transparency. They were also critical of those business practices as such, as these have increasingly become frowned upon, as they are often seen as nothing else than disguised bribes. While no country really gave a hoot about paying bribes, as it was the order of the day in the 90ies, it is now outlawed in most Western countries. It does, however, continue unabatedly in certain parts of the world.

Besides the amounts of those payments, there is not one piece of evidence that was published that would indicate part or all of it disappeared into dark channels. Show me the proof. Don’t just blather for the sake of making yourself heard. Once shown I will believe it. Now I may suspect or assume, but I don’t know, and you don’t either. Have any you of ever heard the word fairness? Only small- and narrow-minded people use the tactics of their opponents. I know it is quite fashionable to use blanket condemnations whenever it comes to the Cambodian government.

What I miss in all these blogs and most of the newspaper reports is a balanced view of things. Especially that blogger Details-are-Sketchy is quick with her condemnations and snide remarks. It would behoove her well if she sometimes used some restraint before going off half-cocked. A lot of the people who write comments there are no doubt blessed with congenital rectitude, which gives them the right to ride the high horse, giving them a moral superiority, and making them, in the end, nothing but hypocritical and self-righteous. They spew forth words of outrage and moral indignation, not to mention their tendency to judge things on appearances and hearsay without really knowing the full facts.

I am not disputing wide-spread corruption in Cambodia, not even the Prime Minister does that. Some bonehead even once suggested that I support corruption. How stupid can people be? It just goes to show that their intellectual faculties aren’t quite developed yet.

But most reporters, let alone bloggers have no well-founded insight into the real state of affairs in Cambodia. They write from their desks in some foreign country or, if in the country for just a few days, believe they have learned everything there is to know. Most expatriates don’t have any real contact with the local population or the government, apart from getting driver licenses. So what is their knowledge based on?

Regrettably, the government is not really forthcoming with their information policy either, but does that give people the right to smell corruption at every twist and turn of political life in Cambodia? And I also find it deplorable that the national budget, for instance, is not published in great detail for the public to see how funds are spent and where all those donations go.

But rest assured, you zealots, the donor nations do gather detailed information on governance and how funds are spent; and they have noted improvements. Or do you really think they would increase their aid to Cambodia year after year? After all, it reached close to $1.0 billion in 2009.

The U. S. once found that about $500 million a year are lost due to corruption. One of their agencies (I forgot which one and couldn’t bother to research that) had undertaken a study in 2001 (was it?) and had come up with that number. Both the previous and the current ambassador mentioned that figure in public. Whether this number is correct or not is subject to interpretation. U. S. government reports aren’t the most accurate ones as we all know. Just take the reports on Iraq and Afghanistan. They are oftentimes miscalculated and misinformed. They certainly aren’t the gospel. Corruption by its very nature is done in secret. So I wonder how do people come by their findings – by asking people on the street?

This number is used time and again by all people who feel called upon to condemn and criticize everything the Cambodian government does. If you analyze that number, you will find that it is grossly exaggerated, especially the past few years. People are just wont to paint pictures with really broad brushstrokes, without bothering with the finer details. Well, I guess you can’t expect more from people with half-assed knowledge, much less experience.

So, before you people get up onto that soapbox, take a deep breath and reflect on the things you write about first. Sometimes things aren’t what they appear to be.

And then there is this guy who obviously has it in for me. Judging from his comments, he must be a very immature young man. He is certainly the most vile and mean-spirited character I have encountered on the Internet in a long time. His accusations and insults directed at me, without knowing one iota about me, clearly puts him in a category of its own, a category that is normally reserved for gangbangers and similar scum. Only the anonymity of the Internet allows him to write his comments this way. He wouldn’t dare look people in the face and repeat them. But then, the Internet brings out the worst in some people. He fits right in with the people who comment on KI-Media. If he does live in Cambodia, I wonder what made him come here. He is probably one of those losers who didn’t make it in the West. Go home, buddy, do your good deeds in your home country. You are not needed here, much less, what you contribute to Cambodia, and I doubt very much that you contribute anything at all.

Head in the Sand?

2010-05-13T15:11:00.001-04:00

Global Witness reports and, needless to say, lambastes the Cambodian government for the export of an estimated 796,000 mt of sand per year to Singapore. GW fears a long-term negative impact on the environment and the livelihood of locals. I am sure this is true if that figure of 796,000 mt were a nearly accurate estimate. This number would translate into 25,677 mt per day. This is an enormous amount of sand, not to mention weight since the sand is still wet.

Now I know there are several dredging boats at work in Koh Kong. If they operated 24/7 they would dredge about 1,070 mt/hour. This number seems very high and I am wondering whether they based their report on actual on-site observation, measurements, and shipping data. Depending on the size of the vessels this volume would translate into a veritable shuttle with about 10 vessels leaving every day. Somehow, I tend to believe they maybe misplaced a comma?

What’s Wrong With That?

2010-05-06T15:38:00.002-04:00

I am talking about the payments Total and BHP Billiton made to the Cambodian government for offshore exploration rights and mineral excavation rights, respectively. Similarly it appears some NGOs and Global Witness are up in arms about research to extract oil from the Tonle Sap. What rankles them most, judging from their statements, is the fact that both Total and BHP paid money to the government in connection for these rights. Ok, BHP is investigated by the SEC in the U.S. whether these payments constituted a bribe or whether it was a legitimate concession fee. Obviously, the deal with Cambodia did not come to fruition as the company withdrew its operations from the country. The Japanese company hasn’t paid anything yet but most likely will at a later date.

But the payments Total made should not raise any eyebrows. This is customary and quite within a country’s rights to sell exploration rights, which will usually lead to a partnership once oil has been found. The oil company will surely recover this comparatively paltry amount in no time.

Sorry, I can’t see anything wrong with BHP either. But then, admittedly, I don’t know all the facts, but neither do the people who go on barricades clamoring for transparency. It now has come to the point that whenever a payment is made to the government people raise their heads and cry foul, assuming that most of those funds will disappear in some government official’s pocket. Granted, Cambodia doesn’t have the best of reputations when it comes to corruption, but can’t we just wait for all the facts to come out first?

Then this Global Witness spokesman gave a telephone interview, speaking from London, where I am sure he is completely in the know, fearing that oil extraction in the Tonle Sap region will have negative environmental consequences or will not be of benefit to the people. He doesn’t even know exactly where this is going to happen. The Japanese responded that the area is not in the protected zone and an environmental impact study will be made. Shouldn’t that be enough?

I am not knocking Global Witness in general, but sometimes it seems they just seem to jump the gun a bit. Additionally, we don’t know either where the monies go that governments of other countries reap in for mineral rights. Sometimes governments auction off rights to the highest bidder; even telecom frequencies were sold this way. Now all of a sudden, it is not all right because this is Cambodia? Of course, the companies’ reticence doesn’t help either. They surely don’t win any PR awards this way.

257 Military Trucks on the Political Chessboard

2010-05-03T14:55:00.004-04:00

The U. S. had recently announced that it would withhold a shipment of used military trucks as Cambodia had purportedly not abided by international law and its own agreements when it extradited 20 Uygurs back to China. The Uyghurs, as we all know, are a persecuted Muslim minority in NE China whose religious and political freedom have been restricted by the Chinese government. However, Uyghur groups also staged a number of terrorist attacks in the 1990s in their fight for autonomy from China. Consequently, the Chinese government labels those groups terrorists. In 2007 Chinese troops killed 18 Uyghurs and claimed that Uyghurs planned to sabotage and disrupt the 2008 Olympics.

It was on those terrorist grounds that China requested the extradition of those Uyghur refugees from Cambodia. Cambodia obliged and promptly sent them back. Although it was claimed that this was in no way connected to the deportation of those Uyghurs, the subsequent Chinese aid agreements with Cambodia worth 1.2 billion may be subject to one’s individual interpretation.

Now, the previous U. S. government had detained 22 Uyghurs in Guantanamo until Nov. 2009 when 9 of them were released and sent to Palau. Previously five had been sent to Albania. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_detainees_in_Guantanamo for exact details.

It must be borne in mind that despite the U. S.’s claim that they were enemy combatants and, therefore, had no right to due process, it was clear to people familiar with their history that they were caught in the crossfire of the war on terror in Afghanistan and were held on the mere suspicion of being Al Qaida fighters – no hard evidence was ever presented. Human Rights organizations had clamored for their release, just as they condemned Cambodia for that deportation for the same reason.

Although there has been a new U. S. administration in office, observers know that much of George Bush’s policies are continued under Barack Obama. It does seem hypocritical at best and downright cynical when the U. S. government, and it doesn’t matter which administration it is, condemns other nations for human rights abuses (which admittedly exist in Cambodia), but continues to infringe, curtail, or abrogates rights altogether itself.

On the occasion of the Shanghai expo the Chinese government now pledged to donate 257 brand-new (not used) military trucks to Cambodia. You can’t blame Cambodia for taking them. After all, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, do you? But some are busy saying Cambodia is playing a dangerous game, obviously remembering Sihanouk’s seesaw tactics, which in the end led to his downfall in 1970. Although it looks somewhat similar, the circumstances are vastly different. At that time, the Americans wanted to contain and push back Communism. Now it is about regional economic dominance. Let’s face it the U. S. is not a major player in Cambodia. That role has long been taken over by the Chinese, followed by the South Koreans. The Chinese don’t so much look at the Americans as their main rival in the region as at Vietnam, which also has very close ties to both Cambodia and Laos and likes to play that game. I would say it is just a plain old thumbing of the nose at the Americans when Cambodia accepted that generous gift. Calling this rivalry a power struggle is a bit of a stretch, Mr. Ou Virak. Cambodia has taken a side some time ago. The government accepts everything it can get their hands on, especially if there are no strings attached. If the Chinese are the ones handing the goodies over, so much so good. If it’s the American, just as well. But so far, the Americans have noticeably been absent from that game. They leave the field to the Chinese and others.

The U. S. is busy getting its economy back on track, they have their hands full with the drawing down of troops in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the nuclear threat of Iran, not to mention huge oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, immigration reform, to name a few. Cambodia is certainly not one of their political or economic priorities. As for sphere of influence, the U. S. lost that a long time ago after the debacle of the Vietnam War, although it is slowly clawing its way back into the Vietnamese economy, but it is far from its previous dominance, in not only SE Asia, but the world as a whole.

China has become an economic world power; without it, the global economy would grind to a standstill. So those 257 trucks are nothing in the great scheme of things. Hey, and these are new. The Americans just wanted to get rid of their old junk. How generous!

The Hoax

2010-04-30T15:33:00.001-04:00

By now this story has made the rounds, so more or less everybody in Cambodia knows about it; not only did blogs pick it up but the PPP found it newsworthy enough to dedicate an article to it; we all know now it was a hoax – whether intentional or unintentional we can just surmise; my guess is it was quite intentional. Khmer journalists sometimes have this foible to thumb their noses at their readers. And did they succeed this time!

KI-Media published an English translation taking it quite seriously; not to mention their readers who maden an almost unprecedented number of comments. The majority did fall for the story.

Even the Details-Are-Sketchy blog commented on it with proper outrage, although with her (?) usual sarcastic overtone.

Don’t people have any sense for reality any more, or do they really think the world, and especially Cambodia has come to this? I mean, think about it! A cool $1.0 million for a bride? It goes without saying this is for a virgin, a highly regarded female attribute in Asia. Although it is not uncommon that parents do sell the virginity of their daughter, with the girl ending up in prostitution in a lot of cases, that prize would deter even the most determined aphrodisiac-seeking Asian male. It is also not uncommon that wealthy parents seek out equally wealthy bridegrooms, but we were dealing with a cash-price here. Who wants to dish out that kind of money for the proverbial cat in the bag?

And really, I don’t think a bride is held that high in esteem by the rich young Khmer as one example shows. I met a son of a successful Khmer businessman not too long ago. He drives a Lamborghini (at $400K not for everyone, and this is not the only expensive car he owns). He was going on and on about his car, and one could see that this was really a very prized possession of his. I finally asked him whether he was married. He said, yes, he is. To my question who comes first for him, he only half-jokingly said, ‘They are both equally important to me’.

Anyway, whatever the editor was thinking, for this to appear in a newspaper as hard news would seem so far-fetched that one could ordinarily not help but conclude that this was a hoax. I was so amazed at the reaction and outrage this produced that I could only attribute this to people’s preconceived ideas about Khmer rich people and Cambodia in general. To them Cambodia is practically a cesspool, and anything is possible here. It is, of course, not surprising that the people who comment on KI-Media fell for it, as I believe their intellectual acumen is with a few exceptions somewhat lacking to begin with. But then we know those people don't know too much about Cambodia anyway.