A Cambodian gets two years in jail

The Kantharalak Court on Tuesday handed down two-year jail terms each to a Thai national, a Cambodian and a Vietnamese after finding them guilty of spying along the Thai-Cambodian border.

The three men are Suchart Muhammad, a 32-year-old Thai Muslim, Cambodian citizen Ung Kimtai, 43, and Nguyen Teng Yang, 37, a Vietnamese national. They were arrested on June 7 in Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district while they were driving a pickup truck in an area controlled by the Thai military along the border near the Preah Vihear temple.

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Transformers 3 shot in Cambodia

“Transformers 3 – Dark Side of the Moon” was shot in Cambodia in February 2011 at the Angkor Temple Complex and Bokor Hill Station, according to Mr. Nicholas Simon, producer of Indochina Productions.

“Transformers 3” is the third part of the well-known science-fiction movie about TRANFORMER robots defending the earth.

“We want to shoot in Cambodia as it is one of the most beautiful countries around. With both Angkor Wat and Cambodia’s natural wonders, we will be able to maintain the large production scale of TRANFORMERS while giving the impression that the story is traveling all around the planet earth,” said Mr. Nicholas Simon in his letter addressed to Cambodian Minister of Information H.E. Khieu Kanharith.

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Metal pieces found in Preah Vihear: Suspected spy plane parts

The authority was inspecting the metal pieces suspected to be part of a spy plane exploded mid-air. The pieces were found in Preah Vihear province on 16 August 2011 (Photo: Hang Savyouth, RFA)

 Joint authority force in Preah Vihear province have discovered several metal pieces made from aluminum spread on the ground. The parts could be pieces a small plane flying over Kulen district, located about 40 km southwest of Preah Vihear city.

The discovery was made after 3 loud explosions were heard in the air on Tuesday morning.

Research teams from the joint force including soldiers, military police and CMAC employees, indicated that several metal pieces measuring 4 to 7-cm thick, as well as an electrical box were found near a villager’s house and also in several locations in the forest located in Kulen district, south of Sroyong commune, after several consecutive explosion sounds were heard. The sound created panic among villagers located about 40-km around the area.

On Tuesday 16 August, Sor Thavy, the deputy district governor of Preah Vihear province, said that several explosion sounds were heard at about 6AM, then the authority started the search immediately after villagers from Kulen district reported that they saw metal pieces raining down from the sky near their houses.

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Thais drop 'spy' charge against Cambodian

A court in Thailand switched charges against a Cambodian national from espionage to trespassing close to a military base in a hearing that was delayed for a second time, foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said yesterday.

Ung Kimthai, 46, appeared at court in Thailand’s Sisaket province yesterday to face charges of espionage and drug use following a delay in his first hearing on July 26.

Thai authorities have claimed they seized a map with military bases on it and photos taken near a base when they apprehended Ung Kimthai on June 7.

“Our lawyers and Kimthai himself continue to strongly reject this groundless accusation,” Koy Kuong said.

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The kingdom of wonders

The Cambodian Government touts its country as the Kingdom of Wonder, a slogan that is more appropriate than perhaps it intended. You wonder what to expect on a visit to Cambodia and when you leave, you wonder exactly what you've experienced.

It confronts and confounds, disturbs and excites. A thinking tourist will surely experience every colour of the emotional rainbow. In many places, like the floating villages, there's barely a pot of food and in others, such as the Royal Palace, much more than a pot of gold.

The buzzing capital city, Phnom Penh, is an immediate assault on the senses. The roads are semi-organised chaos (we saw a motorbike accident within our first few hundred metres of travel) and the streets are teeming with people.

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Angelina Jolie’s Journey to Cambodia

This is the 36s video of Angelina Jolie’s Journey to Cambodia For Louis Vuitton.

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Jolie spotted in Siem Reap

Photo by: Michael Sloan

International superstar Angelina Jolie was spotted at Siem Reap airport yesterday after an advertisement shoot for luxury brand Luis Vuitton reportedly finished.

Accompanied by her children, including adopted Cambodian-born son Maddox, Jolie was seen exiting a helicopter late in the afternoon.

A small number of tourists watched on – before security guards brought out screens to shield the family – as the group was whisked away in a mini-van and two four-wheeled drives, complete with darkened windows.

The drivers were wearing uniforms of Siem Reap’s exclusive Amansara hotel.

A well-placed source said Jolie had flown from Siem Reap to Battambang province in the morning and returned later that day.

In 2003, the mega-star founded an NGO called the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which operates out of Battambang province. It tackles conservation, education and infrastructure projects in the area.

Yesterday, the foundation’s human resources manager said he could not comment on Jolie as he had been on leave.

The star of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is thought to have arrived in Cambodia on Saturday for filming after a production team scouted out potential locations.

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Jolie rocks the boat in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Photo by: Annie Leibovitz/Louis Vuitton

 A new advertising campaign featuring Hollywood megastar Angelina Jolie posing on a wooden boat in Siem Reap province with a £7,000 (US$11,374) handbag was launched yesterday in the International Herald Tribune newspaper.

The adverts, shot by world- famous photographer Annie Leibovitz for the Louis Vuitton Core Values advertising campaign, feature Jolie “sitting barefoot in a traditional wooden boat in the luxuriant, watery landscape of Siem Reap province”, according to an official press release.

Matthew Robinson, founder of Khmer Mekong Films, said yesterday that regardless of how successful the campaign might prove, the sheer scale of the production alone had provided a valuable contribution to the Kingdom’s economy.

“Any production, whether it’s advertising, whether it’s TV spots or a movie or a drama coming from outside is going to boost the economy,” he said, adding that such jobs typically provided employment and valuable experience to Cambodians.

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Taiwan fraud suspects deported from Cambodia

The 122 suspects, detained Thursday in a rare co-ordinated police operation across several Asian countries, landed in Taiwan early Saturday and were taken to a police centre for questioning, said the Criminal Investigation Bureau. 

TAIPEI: More than 120 Taiwanese nationals arrested in Cambodia on suspicion of fraud were deported to Taiwan Saturday for further investigation, police on the island said.

They were among nearly 600 people, including 410 Taiwanese and 181 Chinese, rounded up across the region for allegedly running Internet and telephone scams mainly targeting mainland Chinese, according to the bureau.

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Cambodia arrests 166 Chinese for extortion

PHNOM PENH—Cambodian police on Thursday arrested 166 Chinese nationals for allegedly extorting money from victims abroad using Internet phone services, an official said.

A Vietnamese woman was also held in a massive police operation, national police spokesman Kirt Chantharith told Agence France-Presse, with arrests in the capital Phnom Penh, the southern town of Sihanoukville and the eastern province of Svay Rieng.

"They used the Internet to extort money from people overseas," said Chantharith, adding that the extortion gang had "many tricks" to blackmail their targets, without providing further details.

He said the crackdown followed complaints from numerous victims.

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Agence France-Presse 

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Thai soldiers shooting on 11 Cambodians, 1 died

Thai soldiers shot on 11 Cambodians, causing 1 death and 1 injured, while these Cambodians were crossing the border from Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province to work as wood loggers in Tapraya district, Sakaeo province, Thailand.

Vat Han, the Banteay Chhmar commune chief, located in Thmor Puok district, Banteay Meanchey province, reported that Cambodian border defense troops have indicated that Thai soldiers shot on Cambodians in the morning of 07 January.

Vat Han added: “The information indicated that there was a fatal injury: one dead among the 11 villagers, 7 of whom come from my village. They left q from our village, Dangrek village, and they went to border post 27, then they cross the border post to enter Thai territories. The information indicated that they went to log wood in Thailand and the Thai troops surrounded them and shot them.”

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Kasit threatens to review relations with Cambodia if no progress in two days

Kasit wants Cabinet to review relations if no progress in two days

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya wants the Cabinet to review Thailand's relations with Cambodia unless Phnom Penh makes progress with the case of the seven arrested Thai nationals, including Democrat MP Panich Vikitsreth, in the next couple of days, a government source said.

Kasit told the Cabinet meeting yesterday that he had failed to talk Cambodian authorities into settling the case out of court, because Phnom Penh was angry with some members of the group, especially yellowshirt activist Veera Somkwamkid, who was caught twice in the same location, the source said.

Panich, Veera and the other yellowshirt activists were arrested last Wednesday on Cambodian soil near Sa Kaew's Bang Nong Chan community while allegedly inspecting the disputed border area.

Veera was captured at the same location in August when he and his group crossed the border illegally. He was released shortly afterwards thanks to help from the border police.
This time, though, Phnom Penh is taking the case seriously and is prosecuting the intruders. However, a Cambodian senior security source said Panich might be given bail because he apparently had no intention to provoke arrest.

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Clips show Panich [arrested Thai MP] in Cambodia

MP's video phone call suggests Abhisit knew 

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva knew Democrat MP Panich Vikitsreth had intruded on Cambodian territory before Mr Panich and six other Thais were arrested by Cambodian soldiers, video footage posted on YouTube shows.

One of the video clips shows Mr Panich making a phone call to his secretary, named in the conversation as Q. Mr Panich asked Q to inform the prime minister through Mr Abhisit's secretary, Somkiat Krongwatanasuk, that they had crossed the border into Cambodia.

"Please tell Somkiat to inform the prime minister that we are already inside Cambodia. I planned to call the prime minister myself but it is okay now," Mr Panich says on the phone to his secretary .
"Call him [Somkiat] so in case there are problems, we can coordinate because we are already in a Cambodian area. And make sure that he does not tell anybody because only the prime minister must know this."

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Puea Thai slams captured MP Panich

Democrat Party MP Panich Vikitsreth, one of the seven Thais held in Cambodia, should have known better than to have entered the disputed frontier area where he was captured, Puea Thai Party spokesman Prompong Nopparit said on Thursday.
"It is quite unusal for a man like Mr Panich, who was formerly an assistant to the foreign minister, to be arrested. He should  know the law and the situation between Thailand and Cambodia regarding the disputed border," Mr Prompong said.

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Main Obstacle [to negotiation with Cambodia] is Veera : Suthep

Negotiations with Cambodia to free seven Thais including a Democrat MP, have not gone well mainly because one of the group has previously been arrested for illegally entering Cambodia, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said on Thursday.

He was referring to a yellow-shirt leader, Veera Somkwamkit, who is known for his strong views on the Preah Vihear controversy and border disputes.
"The negotiation is facing more difficulties because Khun Veera has been held by Cambodian soldiers for entering a nearby site," Suthep said.
Veera was earlier detained by Cambodian soldiers after being spotted on Cambodian soil. He was freed after lengthy negotiations.

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Thai MP arrested at border

A Thai parliamentarian and six other Thais were arrested yesterday for allegedly trespassing on Cambodian territory in Banteay Meanchey province while examining the countries’ shared border, the latest turn in the protracted boundary conflict between the two nations.

Among those arrested were Panich Vikitsreth, an MP from Thailand’s ruling Democrat Party, and Veera Somkwamkid, a former leader of the “Yellow Shirt” People’s Alliance for Democracy who now leads the Thailand Patriot Network, a PAD splinter group. Banteay Meanchey provincial police chief Hun Hean said the group of five men and two women was apprehended in the the province’s O’Chrou district, across the border from Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province.

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Cambodia PM: No border and Diplomatic Tension over Thai Arrests

CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, Dec 29, 2010-Cambodian PM Hun Sen on Wednesday announced that Cambodia authorities have arrested seven Thais including a lawmaker from ruling party of Democrat of Thailand, and a yellow shirt leader, reporters and other activities in the movement of land love from Thailand after they entered illegally in Cambodia and acts against Cambodia.
“Our authorities arrested them in Cambodia soil. They entered Cambodian soil illegally without passport, and also conducted the opposed activities of against Cambodian soldiers in Cambodia,” PM Hun Sen told the closing ceremony of annual meeting of ministry of rural development in Phnom Penh.

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Breaking News: Arrested Thais to Send to Prison Without Interference

CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, Dec 29, 2010-Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday said that he ordered his authorities to send recently-arrested Thais to Cambodia’s prison adding that he would accept any interference to release them.

PM Hun Sen said that two Thai MPs and other Thai journalists were arrested on Wednesday morning as they were trying to monitor Cambodia-Thailand border demarcation at Banteay Meanchey province of Cambodia, adding that those Thai were sent to Phnom Penh where they will face judiciary. “If they are found guilty, they will be sent to prison.”
Bangkok Post reported on Wednesday that Thai PM Panich, Veera and five colleagues travelled to the border district of Aranyaprathet, Thailand intent on investigating whether Cambodians had trespassed on territory claimed by Thailand.
While inspecting the border area in territory claimed by Thailand they were detained by Cambodian soldiers.

DAP News

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Khmer Surin in Thailand Get Support From US Group

Khmer Surin child learning Khmer language

A group of US Cambodians has begun looking for ways to encourage an increase in interest of the Khmer language in the Thai province of Surin.

That province was once part of a wider Khmer empire that encompassed parts of modern-day Thailand and Vietnam.

On Saturday, the Supporting Khmer Surin Committee held its first meeting, after a visit by some of its member to the province earlier this year. Members discussed the need to promote Khmer language in the area and the challenges faced by the so-called Khmer Surin people.

“There are many Cambodians doing business across the borders, so it will be easy for them to communicate,” said Srey Ayuthyia, the committee’s vice president, from Los Angeles.

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Cambodia Rice rival to Thailand

Thai Hom Mali rice could lose market share in Hong Kong to Cambodia, where premium fragrant rice sells at more competitive prices.

Hong Kong imports 220,000 to 230,000 tonnes, or 10% of the jasmine Hom Mali rice Thailand ships each year.

But the volume of Thai rice to the territory has been falling in recent years, as Cambodia offers lower prices by shipping out of ports in Vietnam, Thai exporters said.

"Cambodian fragrant rice sold in Hong Kong is very competitive at US$800 per tonne, lower than the $1,100 for Thai rice," said Charoen Laothamatas, the president of Uthai Produce, the country's leading Hom Mali exporter.

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