Listeng Here
At least 70 people have been injured since Saturday when the rioting broke out within hours of the killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. Hundreds of stores have been damaged or destroyed.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has ignored opposition calls for early elections and promised shopkeepers affected by riots generous compensation, including 10,000 (464,300 baht) handouts to cover short-term needs.
Although no major protests were planned yesterday, tension persisted in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki, students occupying their high schools and university faculties. They planned a demonstration in Athens today.
Authorities have renewed appeals for calm, with influential church leaders joining in attempts to ease tension.
While being generally tolerant of occasional outbreaks of violence during frequent demonstrations, Greeks have been shocked by the ferocity displayed by teenager rioters and the extent of the destruction.
‘‘Is this our youth?’’ exclaimed an elderly woman as she picked her way past the rubble of a burned out shop near the Athens Polytechnic, where some of the most severe rioting took place. ‘‘Who needs youth like this? Why don’t they go and burn the prime minister’s house? What fault was it of these people [who lost their store]?’’
Two separate opinion polls published on Wednesday, before the aid package was announced, showed 68% of Greeks disapproved of the government’s handling of the crisis, and gave a nearly 5 percentage-point lead to the opposition Socialists.
The exact circumstances of the death are disputed.
Two police officers charged in the shooting said they had come under attack by rock-throwing youths, and that one of the officers fired warning shots. Witnesses who have spoken to the media disputed that account.
A prosecutor ordered the two officers remanded in custody late on Wednesday, pending trial. No date has been set.
hurl – to throw something with a lot of force
pelt – to throw objects with force at someone or something
sporadic – not regular or frequent
scores – a large number of people or things (one score is 20)
ignore – to not consider something, or to not let it influence you
generous – more than is usual or expected
compensation – money that someone receives because something bad has happened to them
handout – an amount of money or goods given to people who need them
tension – the feeling caused by a lack of trust between people, groups, or countries who do not agree about something and may attack each other
persist – to continue to exist
demonstration – an occasion when a large group of people protest about something
appeal – an urgent request
tolerant – willing to accept
occasional – happening sometimes but not frequently or regularly
outbreak – the sudden start of war, disease, violence, etc.
ferocity – violence or extreme force
extent – the size or degree to which something happens
rubble – broken pieces of stone and brick from buildings, walls, etc. that have been destroyed
crisis – an urgent, difficult or dangerous situation
circumstances – facts or conditions that affect a situation
disputed – not in agreement
witness – someone who sees something happen
account – a written or spoken report on something that has happened ย
prosecutor – a lawyer whose job is to prove in court that someone accused of a crime is guilty
remand in custody – to keep under police control until a trial is held
pending – waiting for something to happen
Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 09:36 AM
Friday, December 12, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
'Killing fields' survivor documents Cambodian genocide
Youk Chhang runs the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which has documented 20,000 mass graves.December 5, 2008
By Jennifer Hyde
CNN Producer
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (CNN) -- Youk Chhang knows the truth about the Cambodian genocide perhaps better than anyone in the world.
He was 13 when the Khmer Rouge came to power. Separated from his family, forced into slave labor, beaten nearly to death for stealing rice for his pregnant sister, he saw the horrors firsthand.
His mother lost a daughter and four siblings; 30 years later she still searches for them, hoping they survived.
Chhang survived by eating whatever he could find. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, it took him months to walk home to his family. Eventually, he fled to safety in the United States.
"Food was ... more important than God," Chhang said. "I always wish to have a bowl of rice. And one good night's sleep. That's all I wanted. I would do anything for it." Watch Youk Chhang talk about what he ate, how he survived »
But the ghosts of the genocide brought Chhang back to Cambodia. And for more than a decade, he has run the Documentation Center of Cambodia.
"DC-Cam," as it is known, is the world's largest repository of information about the Cambodian genocide. It holds hundreds of thousands of documents, photos and films as well as interviews with both survivors and former Khmer Rouge members.
Chhang said he believes the Khmer Rouge kept such careful records as a measure of their success -- a trophy of sorts.
"At each time when they kill a person, they document it so that they can measure their success one step forward," Chhang said. "If they kill two, then two step forward. If they kill five, then five step forward. So to them, it's a golden file. But I mean, to us it's crime against humanity."
DC-Cam has located and mapped nearly 200 prisons and 20,000 mass graves across the country. For Chhang and DC-Cam, the work is critical to preserving memory and promoting justice. Watch as Chhang takes CNN's Christiane Amanpour into DC-Cam's secured vault »
Today in Cambodia, a tribunal is under way to try five of the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge -- 30 years after their alleged crimes. DC-Cam is providing much of the evidence for use in the trial, evidence that makes plain the facts of the genocide, the scope of the losses and the personal and national grief.
Chhang said he hopes the tribunal will help Cambodians move forward -- and help heal the nation he loves.
But even now, the way forward is difficult. Chhang has dedicated a lifetime of work, research, preservation and advocacy to his mother, whose bravery and sacrifice inspired him.
Even though his mother survived and they shared much of the same pain and many of the same losses, the two do not talk about what happened. Some in Cambodia are anxious to forget and forgive. Others are angry and searching for justice.
Many, like Chhang, said that only by knowing, exploring and exposing the truth will Cambodia be able to rectify its past -- and secure a healthy future.
He was 13 when the Khmer Rouge came to power. Separated from his family, forced into slave labor, beaten nearly to death for stealing rice for his pregnant sister, he saw the horrors firsthand.
His mother lost a daughter and four siblings; 30 years later she still searches for them, hoping they survived.
Chhang survived by eating whatever he could find. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, it took him months to walk home to his family. Eventually, he fled to safety in the United States.
"Food was ... more important than God," Chhang said. "I always wish to have a bowl of rice. And one good night's sleep. That's all I wanted. I would do anything for it." Watch Youk Chhang talk about what he ate, how he survived »
But the ghosts of the genocide brought Chhang back to Cambodia. And for more than a decade, he has run the Documentation Center of Cambodia.
"DC-Cam," as it is known, is the world's largest repository of information about the Cambodian genocide. It holds hundreds of thousands of documents, photos and films as well as interviews with both survivors and former Khmer Rouge members.
Chhang said he believes the Khmer Rouge kept such careful records as a measure of their success -- a trophy of sorts.
"At each time when they kill a person, they document it so that they can measure their success one step forward," Chhang said. "If they kill two, then two step forward. If they kill five, then five step forward. So to them, it's a golden file. But I mean, to us it's crime against humanity."
DC-Cam has located and mapped nearly 200 prisons and 20,000 mass graves across the country. For Chhang and DC-Cam, the work is critical to preserving memory and promoting justice. Watch as Chhang takes CNN's Christiane Amanpour into DC-Cam's secured vault »
Today in Cambodia, a tribunal is under way to try five of the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge -- 30 years after their alleged crimes. DC-Cam is providing much of the evidence for use in the trial, evidence that makes plain the facts of the genocide, the scope of the losses and the personal and national grief.
Chhang said he hopes the tribunal will help Cambodians move forward -- and help heal the nation he loves.
But even now, the way forward is difficult. Chhang has dedicated a lifetime of work, research, preservation and advocacy to his mother, whose bravery and sacrifice inspired him.
Even though his mother survived and they shared much of the same pain and many of the same losses, the two do not talk about what happened. Some in Cambodia are anxious to forget and forgive. Others are angry and searching for justice.
Many, like Chhang, said that only by knowing, exploring and exposing the truth will Cambodia be able to rectify its past -- and secure a healthy future.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Will Cambodia's Court Survive To Try Khmer Rouge?
Saturday, 6 December 2008
By Eleanor Ainge Roy
Scoop (New Zealand)
Year Zero. April 17th, 1975. The Khmer Rouge soldiers enter Phnom Penh. Young men in black pyjama’s and chequered scarves walk the streets with a stealthy calm.
Within three days Phnom Penh’s entire population had been forced to leave the city. Nearly one million people were marched South, West and North to labour camps across Cambodia. The young, the weak and the sick were left by the side of the road where they fell, the first victims of Pol Pots genocidal regime.
By 1979, when the Vietnamese Army invaded, up to two million Cambodians had perished. They were killed by the Khmer Rouge’s drastic attempt to re-invent Cambodia as an agrarian society, to rid the land of bourgeoisie and intellectual influence, and to instigate Communism in its most heinous form. (Image: A victim of the Khmer Rouge.)
Following the Vietnamese liberation, Cambodia fell into more than a decade of civil war, and in 1997 requested aid from the UN in prosecuting the leaders of the Khmer Rouge, most of whom still roamed free across the land, some repentant for their crimes, others fighting from their stronghold on the border with Thailand.
In 2001 the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia was created (known as the ECCC), a joint UN –Cambodia project to try the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge.
In 2003 it was agreed the ECCC would be made up of a combination of Cambodian and International staff, the first hybrid court of its kind - a Cambodian court subject to international standards. As the website boasts ‘It will provide a role model for court operations in Cambodia’.
The court officially started operating in 2006, and now nearing the end of 2008, the people of Cambodia are still waiting for justice to be served.
Oung Heng, 56, is one of few who still have patience for the beleaguered court.
"I think we have a very bitter history and it is very sad. We hope that nothing like this ever happens again in the future. The ECCC is a consolation for the survivors and we have to help them seek peace. It is a heavy lesson for our country to learn but very important"
The ECCC has been plagued by problems, some unavoidable, others self created.
Of most pressing concern for many is the age of the detained - five in custody and not one younger than sixty. When Cambodia's life expectancy is still just 59 years, all of those in detention are decidedly old men.
There are warning signs that have people worried. Seventy seven year old Khieu Samphan, former head of state, was hospitalized in May following a minor stroke, and former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 82 was hospitalized this year when medics discovered blood in his urine. There are very real fears afoot that some of the detained will not live to stand trial, and escape into death like their comrade Pol Pot in 1998.
The Court has also been plagued by allegations of kickbacks and corruption, a problem endemic to Cambodian courts, but a real embarrassment for a UN institution.
In mid 2007 an audit of the court was commissioned and undertaken by an independent international auditing firm. A UN investigation was also launched into the alleged corruption cases.
Although the investigation has concluded the results have still not been released, and public confidence in the court is now widely threatened.
“"I don't trust the courts here, I would do anything to avoid them.” says Heng. Justice is rarely served and you only end up paying a great deal of money. Everyone knows taking your problem to court will not get it solved ".
Hopes were high this year that the first trial would begin in September, starting with the trial of former Tuol Sleng prison chief sixty five year old Kaing Guek Eav - or ‘Duch’ as he is more commonly known. Duch oversaw the torture of more than 20,000 inmates at Tuol Sleng prison, also referred to as S-21, a former elementary school in the capital.
But appeals by Duch and others for release from pre-trial detention has stalled the start of his trial, as have requests for the translation of official court documents from Khmer and English into French for Duch’s lawyer - a process which has taken three months.
The victims of the Khmer Rouge are losing their patience. Nuon Sapan, 36, lost five members of his extended family to the regime.
"I think many people are beginning to question if these trials will ever get off the ground. So much money has been spent I think a lot of people are re-considering the necessity for 'justice''. Maybe all these millions of dollars would have been better spent on development, which would surely lead to improved courts in the future anyway"
And the ECCCs greatest problem of all is money. The court was initially granted funding of $60 million dollars from the Cambodian Government, the UN and donor countries. The court was expected to be in operation three years, and would be dissolved upon completion of the trials.
But in early 2008 the Court admitted it was near bankruptcy and requested extra funding of $30 million. On top of this the court projects that to complete its work it will require an extra $80 million over the coming years, though no official request has been made.
The extra $30 million has been granted, in drips and drabs, but it is unclear how much more the international community will invest in the project which, after eight years of planning and nearly three full years of operation, has yet to hear a single case.
Now that so much money has been spent the court cannot be abandoned. ECCC officials say the first trial should take place by February of 2009, but skeptics in Phnom Penh scoff at this hope, and cynicism is beginning to spread into further reaches of society.
As the months pass five old men lose a few more hairs from their grey heads, and sleep a little less soundlessly each night. The time is coming for them to face their crimes against humanity - but will they still be living when the court is ready for them?
*******
Eleanor Ainge Roy is a New Zealander working in Cambodia for the English language daily The Phnom Penh Post.
Within three days Phnom Penh’s entire population had been forced to leave the city. Nearly one million people were marched South, West and North to labour camps across Cambodia. The young, the weak and the sick were left by the side of the road where they fell, the first victims of Pol Pots genocidal regime.
By 1979, when the Vietnamese Army invaded, up to two million Cambodians had perished. They were killed by the Khmer Rouge’s drastic attempt to re-invent Cambodia as an agrarian society, to rid the land of bourgeoisie and intellectual influence, and to instigate Communism in its most heinous form. (Image: A victim of the Khmer Rouge.)
Following the Vietnamese liberation, Cambodia fell into more than a decade of civil war, and in 1997 requested aid from the UN in prosecuting the leaders of the Khmer Rouge, most of whom still roamed free across the land, some repentant for their crimes, others fighting from their stronghold on the border with Thailand.
In 2001 the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia was created (known as the ECCC), a joint UN –Cambodia project to try the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge.
In 2003 it was agreed the ECCC would be made up of a combination of Cambodian and International staff, the first hybrid court of its kind - a Cambodian court subject to international standards. As the website boasts ‘It will provide a role model for court operations in Cambodia’.
The court officially started operating in 2006, and now nearing the end of 2008, the people of Cambodia are still waiting for justice to be served.
Oung Heng, 56, is one of few who still have patience for the beleaguered court.
"I think we have a very bitter history and it is very sad. We hope that nothing like this ever happens again in the future. The ECCC is a consolation for the survivors and we have to help them seek peace. It is a heavy lesson for our country to learn but very important"
The ECCC has been plagued by problems, some unavoidable, others self created.
Of most pressing concern for many is the age of the detained - five in custody and not one younger than sixty. When Cambodia's life expectancy is still just 59 years, all of those in detention are decidedly old men.
There are warning signs that have people worried. Seventy seven year old Khieu Samphan, former head of state, was hospitalized in May following a minor stroke, and former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, 82 was hospitalized this year when medics discovered blood in his urine. There are very real fears afoot that some of the detained will not live to stand trial, and escape into death like their comrade Pol Pot in 1998.
The Court has also been plagued by allegations of kickbacks and corruption, a problem endemic to Cambodian courts, but a real embarrassment for a UN institution.
In mid 2007 an audit of the court was commissioned and undertaken by an independent international auditing firm. A UN investigation was also launched into the alleged corruption cases.
Although the investigation has concluded the results have still not been released, and public confidence in the court is now widely threatened.
“"I don't trust the courts here, I would do anything to avoid them.” says Heng. Justice is rarely served and you only end up paying a great deal of money. Everyone knows taking your problem to court will not get it solved ".
Hopes were high this year that the first trial would begin in September, starting with the trial of former Tuol Sleng prison chief sixty five year old Kaing Guek Eav - or ‘Duch’ as he is more commonly known. Duch oversaw the torture of more than 20,000 inmates at Tuol Sleng prison, also referred to as S-21, a former elementary school in the capital.
But appeals by Duch and others for release from pre-trial detention has stalled the start of his trial, as have requests for the translation of official court documents from Khmer and English into French for Duch’s lawyer - a process which has taken three months.
The victims of the Khmer Rouge are losing their patience. Nuon Sapan, 36, lost five members of his extended family to the regime.
"I think many people are beginning to question if these trials will ever get off the ground. So much money has been spent I think a lot of people are re-considering the necessity for 'justice''. Maybe all these millions of dollars would have been better spent on development, which would surely lead to improved courts in the future anyway"
And the ECCCs greatest problem of all is money. The court was initially granted funding of $60 million dollars from the Cambodian Government, the UN and donor countries. The court was expected to be in operation three years, and would be dissolved upon completion of the trials.
But in early 2008 the Court admitted it was near bankruptcy and requested extra funding of $30 million. On top of this the court projects that to complete its work it will require an extra $80 million over the coming years, though no official request has been made.
The extra $30 million has been granted, in drips and drabs, but it is unclear how much more the international community will invest in the project which, after eight years of planning and nearly three full years of operation, has yet to hear a single case.
Now that so much money has been spent the court cannot be abandoned. ECCC officials say the first trial should take place by February of 2009, but skeptics in Phnom Penh scoff at this hope, and cynicism is beginning to spread into further reaches of society.
As the months pass five old men lose a few more hairs from their grey heads, and sleep a little less soundlessly each night. The time is coming for them to face their crimes against humanity - but will they still be living when the court is ready for them?
*******
Eleanor Ainge Roy is a New Zealander working in Cambodia for the English language daily The Phnom Penh Post.
Cambodia Considers Allowing Foreign Ownership of Property
Cambodia Considers Allowing Foreign Ownership of Property
Friday, December 05, 2008
Global Property Guide
Cambodia real estate values are in freefall, and officials may soon allow foreigners to purchase buildings, though foreign ownership of land is still out of the question. For more information, read the following article from Global Property Guide:
Cambodia’s housing market is plummeting, and the government is considering a new law to allow foreigners to own buildings.
In 2005, the government amended an investment law to allow foreign ownership of buildings. However Cambodia’s property market was then experiencing one of the biggest booms in Asia. As a result, the law was never implemented and the idea floundered.
The boom saw prices surge 25 percent to 40 percent annually from 2004 to 2007. Land price increases were at first confined to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, but the boom spread right across Cambodia. Other hot spots have been the border areas with Vietnam and Thailand and, to a lesser extent, Laos.
The capital’s most sought after locations fetched US$500 per square metre in 2000, but were sold at around US$4,000 or more per square metre along Norodom Boulevard, and US$2,500 per square metre in the central residential neighbourhood of Boeung Keng Kang (BKK).
A downturn started in July 2007 after the government announced new investment guidelines for developers.
Then in mid-2008, the bubble burst. The global financial crisis had hit Cambodia’s biggest investor, South Korea, and Korean investors began pulling out foreign assets to increase liquidity.
Real estate sales plummeted 30 percent to 50 percent from a year earlier.
To prevent the market from sliding further, the government is considering moves to allow foreigners to fully own buildings. Land ownership is still out of the question.
The housing boom
Cambodia has just witnessed one of the biggest real estate booms in Asia.
The reasons are obvious, as soon as you visit Cambodia. Phnom Penh is an attractive colonial city, with broad avenues, charming housing, a hip and young atmosphere, and a riverfront view. Siem Riep, which houses Angkor Wat, is even more charming, and has a cooler, more agreeable climate. There are agreeable beachfronts at Sihanoukville.
Cambodia is in a strategic position in the centre of IndoChina. Prices are laughably inexpensive (from a foreign perspective) and economic growth is exploding. The combination is hard to argue with.
Rentals are far higher than in days when Phnom Penh was a sleepy outpost where the only foreigners worked for aid organizations. In BKK I, according to a report in the Bangkok Post dated March 2008, a spacious, four-bedroom apartment with gym, swimming pool, parking and 24-hour security is on the market for US$3,000 a month. Nearby, the owners of a two-story, four-bedroom villa are looking for US$5,000 per month.
Phnom Penh has, as a result, experienced a construction boom. The government is aggressively pro-development, and squatters and other eyesores are simply cleared away, by a government which is in league with wealthy developers.
Part of the charm may be about to be lost as Phnom Penh succumbs to development. A 42-story US$250 million twin condominium, twice as high as Phnom Penh’s current tallest building, is being built in the most conspicuous position possible—at a busy corner leading to the city's Independence Monument. Residential units in the ‘Gold Tower 42’ project, which will not be completed till 2011, range from US$459,000 to US$1,500,000, according to developer Yon Woo Cambodia Co. Around 70 percent of the buyers are Cambodian. Around 40 percent of the sales have gone to speculative investors.
World City Co. Ltd., a South Korean company, is investing US$2 billion to build a satellite city called Camko City on a 120-hectare (300-acre) in northwest Phnom Penh. The single biggest foreign direct investment in to date, Camko City will include residential units, villas, condominiums, commercial and public facilities, trade and financial centres, office buildings, shopping centres, hotels, schools and hospitals. The project will include about 500 apartments with price tags ranging from US$112,000 to US$1.8 million a unit. Construction will take 3 1/2 years to complete. Nearly half of the units have already been sold.
Land values in Siem Reap have risen 25 percent to 30 percent every year for the last four years at least. The average price of land per square metre is now around the US$500 to US$600 mark. But premium land in downtown tourism districts is around US$1,600 per square metre.
Housing mortgages
Mortgage finance is now available in Cambodia. Acleda Bank entered the home lending market in January 2007; by March 1 2008 Acleda’s home loan portfolio was worth about $40 million. To get around foreclosure risk, given the corrupt legal system, Acleda keeps the title to the property until the loan is repaid.
ANZ also offers 15-year installment loans, allowing customers to borrow up to 60 percent of the home purchase price at variable interest rates, lending against registered titles.
Foreign-ownership schemes
Foreign individuals cannot buy real estate in Cambodia directly. But land can be held by foreigners on long (renewable) leases and through majority locally-owned companies incorporated in Cambodia. This company structure is the safest for a foreigner wishing to buy land. It is not totally bullet-proof, but in practice it works.
Foreigners typically take two Cambodian nationals as partners in the land-holding company, with the 51 percent share allocated so that the foreigner is the biggest single partner. Other safeguards include
1. Creating different classes of shares, giving the foreigner more rights;
2. Minority control documents;
3. A mortgage on the land, stipulating that the land cannot be transferred without the consent of the foreigner.
Leases up to 99 years are another common acceptable structure—the magnificent Raffles Hotel le Royal in Phnom Penh, for instance, is held on a simple lease.
Nominee structures should be avoided.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Global Property Guide
Cambodia real estate values are in freefall, and officials may soon allow foreigners to purchase buildings, though foreign ownership of land is still out of the question. For more information, read the following article from Global Property Guide:
Cambodia’s housing market is plummeting, and the government is considering a new law to allow foreigners to own buildings.
In 2005, the government amended an investment law to allow foreign ownership of buildings. However Cambodia’s property market was then experiencing one of the biggest booms in Asia. As a result, the law was never implemented and the idea floundered.
The boom saw prices surge 25 percent to 40 percent annually from 2004 to 2007. Land price increases were at first confined to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, but the boom spread right across Cambodia. Other hot spots have been the border areas with Vietnam and Thailand and, to a lesser extent, Laos.
The capital’s most sought after locations fetched US$500 per square metre in 2000, but were sold at around US$4,000 or more per square metre along Norodom Boulevard, and US$2,500 per square metre in the central residential neighbourhood of Boeung Keng Kang (BKK).
A downturn started in July 2007 after the government announced new investment guidelines for developers.
Then in mid-2008, the bubble burst. The global financial crisis had hit Cambodia’s biggest investor, South Korea, and Korean investors began pulling out foreign assets to increase liquidity.
Real estate sales plummeted 30 percent to 50 percent from a year earlier.
To prevent the market from sliding further, the government is considering moves to allow foreigners to fully own buildings. Land ownership is still out of the question.
The housing boom
Cambodia has just witnessed one of the biggest real estate booms in Asia.
The reasons are obvious, as soon as you visit Cambodia. Phnom Penh is an attractive colonial city, with broad avenues, charming housing, a hip and young atmosphere, and a riverfront view. Siem Riep, which houses Angkor Wat, is even more charming, and has a cooler, more agreeable climate. There are agreeable beachfronts at Sihanoukville.
Cambodia is in a strategic position in the centre of IndoChina. Prices are laughably inexpensive (from a foreign perspective) and economic growth is exploding. The combination is hard to argue with.
Rentals are far higher than in days when Phnom Penh was a sleepy outpost where the only foreigners worked for aid organizations. In BKK I, according to a report in the Bangkok Post dated March 2008, a spacious, four-bedroom apartment with gym, swimming pool, parking and 24-hour security is on the market for US$3,000 a month. Nearby, the owners of a two-story, four-bedroom villa are looking for US$5,000 per month.
Phnom Penh has, as a result, experienced a construction boom. The government is aggressively pro-development, and squatters and other eyesores are simply cleared away, by a government which is in league with wealthy developers.
Part of the charm may be about to be lost as Phnom Penh succumbs to development. A 42-story US$250 million twin condominium, twice as high as Phnom Penh’s current tallest building, is being built in the most conspicuous position possible—at a busy corner leading to the city's Independence Monument. Residential units in the ‘Gold Tower 42’ project, which will not be completed till 2011, range from US$459,000 to US$1,500,000, according to developer Yon Woo Cambodia Co. Around 70 percent of the buyers are Cambodian. Around 40 percent of the sales have gone to speculative investors.
World City Co. Ltd., a South Korean company, is investing US$2 billion to build a satellite city called Camko City on a 120-hectare (300-acre) in northwest Phnom Penh. The single biggest foreign direct investment in to date, Camko City will include residential units, villas, condominiums, commercial and public facilities, trade and financial centres, office buildings, shopping centres, hotels, schools and hospitals. The project will include about 500 apartments with price tags ranging from US$112,000 to US$1.8 million a unit. Construction will take 3 1/2 years to complete. Nearly half of the units have already been sold.
Land values in Siem Reap have risen 25 percent to 30 percent every year for the last four years at least. The average price of land per square metre is now around the US$500 to US$600 mark. But premium land in downtown tourism districts is around US$1,600 per square metre.
Housing mortgages
Mortgage finance is now available in Cambodia. Acleda Bank entered the home lending market in January 2007; by March 1 2008 Acleda’s home loan portfolio was worth about $40 million. To get around foreclosure risk, given the corrupt legal system, Acleda keeps the title to the property until the loan is repaid.
ANZ also offers 15-year installment loans, allowing customers to borrow up to 60 percent of the home purchase price at variable interest rates, lending against registered titles.
Foreign-ownership schemes
Foreign individuals cannot buy real estate in Cambodia directly. But land can be held by foreigners on long (renewable) leases and through majority locally-owned companies incorporated in Cambodia. This company structure is the safest for a foreigner wishing to buy land. It is not totally bullet-proof, but in practice it works.
Foreigners typically take two Cambodian nationals as partners in the land-holding company, with the 51 percent share allocated so that the foreigner is the biggest single partner. Other safeguards include
1. Creating different classes of shares, giving the foreigner more rights;
2. Minority control documents;
3. A mortgage on the land, stipulating that the land cannot be transferred without the consent of the foreigner.
Leases up to 99 years are another common acceptable structure—the magnificent Raffles Hotel le Royal in Phnom Penh, for instance, is held on a simple lease.
Nominee structures should be avoided.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Two Crimes Added to Duch Indictment
Former Khmer Rouge prison chief S-21, Kaing Guek Eav better known as "Duch" (C) stands in a dock in the court room at the Extraodinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. Cambodia's genocide court on Friday ruled that the former Khmer Rouge prison chief will face extra charges, paving the way for the first public trial of a leader of the brutal regime. (AFP/POOL/Mak Remissa)By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
05 December 2008
Duch will also be charged with murder and torture for his role as chief of Tuol Sleng prison under the Khmer Rouge.
Jailed Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch was handed two more counts in his atrocity crimes indictment Friday, but he was not charged under a legal principle that would link four other leaders to his alleged crimes.
Chief judge Prak Kimsan announced the decision of the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s Pre-Trial Chamber Friday, adding the crimes of murder and torture from Cambodia’s Penal Code to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The decision moved the tribunal one step closer to Duch's trial, expected in early 2009, the first ever for courts that have faltered from their inception, alarming critics who worry leaders will perish before they face trial.
Tribunal prosecutors in September lodged an appeal against the indictment, part of a so-called “closing order” by the investigating judges, noting Duch had not been indicted for the two crimes, which fall under the 1956 Penal Code.
Prosecutors also noted Duch, who real name is Kaing Kek Iev, was not indicted for all crimes committed in the notorious prison he ran, Tuol Sleng, known to the Khmer Rouge by the codename S-21.
The Pre-Trial judges said Friday they had found enough reason in the appeal to add the two crimes to Duch’s indictment.
They announced they had found enough cause for murder, because Duch had allegedly planned or incited killings at S-21 and the nearby site of mass graves, or “killing fields,” at Chhoeung Ek, a commune in Phnom Penh’s Dankao district.
Duch’s defense lawyers did not comment after the hearing, but in a brief submitted to the Pre-Trial Chamber in November, they expressed worry that the murder and torture claims could delay the court through further investigation.
However, Hong Kimsuon, a lawyer for the civil parties in Duch’s case, said Friday the new indictment would not extend the investigation or prolong the process.
“It is only an additional [two charges], and after that they will go forward to trial,” he said.
Judge Prak Kimsan also said Friday Duch would be detained until his trial and the case would now be forwarded to the Trial Chamber.
Prak Kimsan said the legal principal known as joint criminal enterprise, which could potentially link the other leaders with Duch’s crimes, had not been satisfactorily demonstrated.
Jailed Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch was handed two more counts in his atrocity crimes indictment Friday, but he was not charged under a legal principle that would link four other leaders to his alleged crimes.
Chief judge Prak Kimsan announced the decision of the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s Pre-Trial Chamber Friday, adding the crimes of murder and torture from Cambodia’s Penal Code to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The decision moved the tribunal one step closer to Duch's trial, expected in early 2009, the first ever for courts that have faltered from their inception, alarming critics who worry leaders will perish before they face trial.
Tribunal prosecutors in September lodged an appeal against the indictment, part of a so-called “closing order” by the investigating judges, noting Duch had not been indicted for the two crimes, which fall under the 1956 Penal Code.
Prosecutors also noted Duch, who real name is Kaing Kek Iev, was not indicted for all crimes committed in the notorious prison he ran, Tuol Sleng, known to the Khmer Rouge by the codename S-21.
The Pre-Trial judges said Friday they had found enough reason in the appeal to add the two crimes to Duch’s indictment.
They announced they had found enough cause for murder, because Duch had allegedly planned or incited killings at S-21 and the nearby site of mass graves, or “killing fields,” at Chhoeung Ek, a commune in Phnom Penh’s Dankao district.
Duch’s defense lawyers did not comment after the hearing, but in a brief submitted to the Pre-Trial Chamber in November, they expressed worry that the murder and torture claims could delay the court through further investigation.
However, Hong Kimsuon, a lawyer for the civil parties in Duch’s case, said Friday the new indictment would not extend the investigation or prolong the process.
“It is only an additional [two charges], and after that they will go forward to trial,” he said.
Judge Prak Kimsan also said Friday Duch would be detained until his trial and the case would now be forwarded to the Trial Chamber.
Prak Kimsan said the legal principal known as joint criminal enterprise, which could potentially link the other leaders with Duch’s crimes, had not been satisfactorily demonstrated.
Small Party Leader Laments Slow Reform
(Photo: Cambodge Soir Hebdo)By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
05 December 2008
Kem Sokha, whose Human Rights Party gained three National Assembly seats in July’s election, becoming a part of the opposition, said Thursday he was disappointed in the slow pace of Cambodian reform and the absence of the checks and balances that make democracies functional.
Fifteen years of reform had failed to bring true democratic reform, he said, as the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, under the rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen, controlled all branches of government.
“There are no checks and balances,” Kem Sokha said, as a guest on “Hello VOA,” leading to the loss of representation for “about half a million voices.”
The CPP won a commanding 90 seats in the 2008 National Assembly election, and it has put party members as the head of each of the body’s nine committees.
Kem Sokha said that a rule of the National Assembly requiring 11 parliamentarians to form in order for one member to address the body was a regression “toward communism, like the ‘80s.”
Democracy require political freedom, economic freedom and social freedom, he said, adding that the system of administration in Cambodia should also change, graduating out of the hands of a single leader, such as Hun Sen.
“It is now just based on one individual, who, when he wants something, they do, and when he does not want to do, they do not do,” he said.
The CPP won their seats through fear, gift-giving, vote-buying, threats and fraud, he said, adding that if a neutral election committee from abroad were to organize the elections, the ruling party would completely lose.
The Human Rights Party is ready to join the main opposition party, of Sam Rainsy, for future elections, he said, denying rumors he would challenge Sam Rainsy for the presidency.
Fifteen years of reform had failed to bring true democratic reform, he said, as the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, under the rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen, controlled all branches of government.
“There are no checks and balances,” Kem Sokha said, as a guest on “Hello VOA,” leading to the loss of representation for “about half a million voices.”
The CPP won a commanding 90 seats in the 2008 National Assembly election, and it has put party members as the head of each of the body’s nine committees.
Kem Sokha said that a rule of the National Assembly requiring 11 parliamentarians to form in order for one member to address the body was a regression “toward communism, like the ‘80s.”
Democracy require political freedom, economic freedom and social freedom, he said, adding that the system of administration in Cambodia should also change, graduating out of the hands of a single leader, such as Hun Sen.
“It is now just based on one individual, who, when he wants something, they do, and when he does not want to do, they do not do,” he said.
The CPP won their seats through fear, gift-giving, vote-buying, threats and fraud, he said, adding that if a neutral election committee from abroad were to organize the elections, the ruling party would completely lose.
The Human Rights Party is ready to join the main opposition party, of Sam Rainsy, for future elections, he said, denying rumors he would challenge Sam Rainsy for the presidency.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Cambodian PM promises strict management of assets to donor countries
Cambodian PM promises strict management of assets to donor countries
PHNOM PENH, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The government will keep on strengthening its management of state properties according to law and improving the efficiency, transparency and accountability of public institutions and enterprises, Prime Minister Hun Sen here on Thursday told the representatives of its major donor countries.
"The government is committed to effectively managing the revenues from the exploitation of the minerals, oil and gas, and also well aware that the anti-corruption law is an indispensable legal instrument to fight corruption with good result," the premier told the Second Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum.
In this context, the Cambodian government is strongly committed to ensuring rapid conclusion and adoption of this law in close consultation with all concerned parties on the basis of all other fundamental laws that must be adopted first, he said.
Meanwhile, the premier also said that the national foreign currency reserve has increased to more than 2 billion U.S. dollars, which can ensure about 3.3 months of imports of goods and services for domestic consumption.
In addition, the banking and financial sector in Cambodia are not seriously affected by the global financial cataclysm because they are not widely exposed to the international financial system, he said.
International institutions and donor countries promised some 6 billion U.S. dollars of aid for the kingdom in 2007.
Local reports said that the government targets 7 billion U.S. dollars of foreign aid in 2008.
PHNOM PENH, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The government will keep on strengthening its management of state properties according to law and improving the efficiency, transparency and accountability of public institutions and enterprises, Prime Minister Hun Sen here on Thursday told the representatives of its major donor countries.
"The government is committed to effectively managing the revenues from the exploitation of the minerals, oil and gas, and also well aware that the anti-corruption law is an indispensable legal instrument to fight corruption with good result," the premier told the Second Cambodian Development Cooperation Forum.
In this context, the Cambodian government is strongly committed to ensuring rapid conclusion and adoption of this law in close consultation with all concerned parties on the basis of all other fundamental laws that must be adopted first, he said.
Meanwhile, the premier also said that the national foreign currency reserve has increased to more than 2 billion U.S. dollars, which can ensure about 3.3 months of imports of goods and services for domestic consumption.
In addition, the banking and financial sector in Cambodia are not seriously affected by the global financial cataclysm because they are not widely exposed to the international financial system, he said.
International institutions and donor countries promised some 6 billion U.S. dollars of aid for the kingdom in 2007.
Local reports said that the government targets 7 billion U.S. dollars of foreign aid in 2008.
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