Pol Pot's shoes up for sale [-Nhem En tries to cash in on Khmer tragedy?]

Nhem En

April 20, 2009
AFP

PHNOM PENH - A PHOTOGRAPHER for the Khmer Rouge said on Monday he is putting leader Pol Pot's sandals up for auction along with a pair of cameras used to picture life under his brutal regime.

Nhem En, who photographed inmates at the notorious S-21 torture centre and also snapped pictures at official ceremonies for the Cambodian regime, told AFP bidding for the items would open at US$500,000 (S$750,000)

'Now I offer for auction a pair of Pol Pot's sandals and my two cameras that I used to shoot Pol Pot and other Khmer Rouge leaders, as well as those who died and were victimised at S-21,' Nhem En said.

The sandals belonging to Pol Pot, who died in 1998, were made of car tyre, while the two cameras were manufactured in Germany and Japan, he added.

Nhem En, now a deputy governor of northwest Anlong Veng district, said he hoped to use the money to construct a museum to showcase photographs and items from the Khmer Rouge period, including Pol Pot's old toilet.

'I call for an auction of the items because I need the money to build a big museum in Anlong Veng,' he said.

Up to two million people died of starvation, execution, overwork or torture as the Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, dismantled society in a bid to forge a communist utopia.

The former chief of S-21 prison, Kaing Guek Eav - better known as Duch - is currently on trial for crimes committed during the regime. Cambodia's UN-backed court also plans to try four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Read more!

Pol Pot's shoes up for sale [-Nhem En tries to cash in on Khmer tragedy?]

Nhem En

April 20, 2009
AFP

PHNOM PENH - A PHOTOGRAPHER for the Khmer Rouge said on Monday he is putting leader Pol Pot's sandals up for auction along with a pair of cameras used to picture life under his brutal regime.

Nhem En, who photographed inmates at the notorious S-21 torture centre and also snapped pictures at official ceremonies for the Cambodian regime, told AFP bidding for the items would open at US$500,000 (S$750,000)

'Now I offer for auction a pair of Pol Pot's sandals and my two cameras that I used to shoot Pol Pot and other Khmer Rouge leaders, as well as those who died and were victimised at S-21,' Nhem En said.

The sandals belonging to Pol Pot, who died in 1998, were made of car tyre, while the two cameras were manufactured in Germany and Japan, he added.

Nhem En, now a deputy governor of northwest Anlong Veng district, said he hoped to use the money to construct a museum to showcase photographs and items from the Khmer Rouge period, including Pol Pot's old toilet.

'I call for an auction of the items because I need the money to build a big museum in Anlong Veng,' he said.

Up to two million people died of starvation, execution, overwork or torture as the Khmer Rouge, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, dismantled society in a bid to forge a communist utopia.

The former chief of S-21 prison, Kaing Guek Eav - better known as Duch - is currently on trial for crimes committed during the regime. Cambodia's UN-backed court also plans to try four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Read more!

KR victims in the US let their voice heard

Houng Poeuv, center, and Nin Poeuv, right, survivors of Khmer Rouge atrocities in Cambodia, join other activists in a call for President Obama's attention in saving victims of genocide in Darfur at a rally in Lafayette Park across from the White House in Washington, Sunday, April 19, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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KR victims in the US let their voice heard

Houng Poeuv, center, and Nin Poeuv, right, survivors of Khmer Rouge atrocities in Cambodia, join other activists in a call for President Obama's attention in saving victims of genocide in Darfur at a rally in Lafayette Park across from the White House in Washington, Sunday, April 19, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Human Rigts group helps Tim Skahorn seek refugee status in Thailand

18 April 2009
By Mondulkeo
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Officials of a human rights group in Cambodia said that they are legally providing help so that Venerable Tim Sakhorn receives temporary refugee status in Thailand.

On 18 April, Ang Chanrith, the executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organization (KKHRO), claimed that his group is legally providing help so that Ven. Tim Sokhorn, the former abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda, receives his temporary refugee status in Thailand.

Ang Chanrith said: “We who are living in Cambodia, we will not stop it, i.e. we continue to push so that he (Tim Sakhorn) receives the refugee status by the UNHCR in Bangkok. We are working with other human rights organizations, such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Cambodia, and we are also working with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to have them help push this issue with the UNHCR in Bangkok so that he (Tom Sakhorn) can receive the refugee status.”

Following his one-year jailing in Vietnam, on 04 April 2009, the Viet authority allowed Ven. Tim Sakhorn, the former abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda, to return to Cambodia to commemorate for his departed mother. However, the Viet authority set 17 April 2009 as his return date to Vietnam.

After he arrived in Cambodia, this former monk was re-ordained again, and he fled Cambodia to seek refugee status in Thailand.

Khieu Sopheak, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, said that Ven. Tim Sakhorn has all the necessary rights like all other Cambodian citizens, so there is no need for him to fear anything. Khieu Sopheak added: “He has other goal, so he takes this opportunity to ask for refugee status. This is not a new affair, there are several others who are like him.”

Trinh Ba Cam, Hanoi’s mouthpiece in Cambodia, said that he does not pay attention to this issue. He added that Mr. Tim Sakhorn is merely a simple citizen. Trinh Ba Cam said: “We are not preventing him from going anywhere, he asked for the legal authorization, then it is legal, but when he fled, that is illegal.”

Ven. Tim Sakhorn fled to Thailand on 11 April because he fears for his personal safety. He is currently asking for refugee status from the UNHCR in Thailand

Read more!

Human Rigts group helps Tim Skahorn seek refugee status in Thailand

18 April 2009
By Mondulkeo
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Officials of a human rights group in Cambodia said that they are legally providing help so that Venerable Tim Sakhorn receives temporary refugee status in Thailand.

On 18 April, Ang Chanrith, the executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organization (KKHRO), claimed that his group is legally providing help so that Ven. Tim Sokhorn, the former abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda, receives his temporary refugee status in Thailand.

Ang Chanrith said: “We who are living in Cambodia, we will not stop it, i.e. we continue to push so that he (Tim Sakhorn) receives the refugee status by the UNHCR in Bangkok. We are working with other human rights organizations, such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Cambodia, and we are also working with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to have them help push this issue with the UNHCR in Bangkok so that he (Tom Sakhorn) can receive the refugee status.”

Following his one-year jailing in Vietnam, on 04 April 2009, the Viet authority allowed Ven. Tim Sakhorn, the former abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda, to return to Cambodia to commemorate for his departed mother. However, the Viet authority set 17 April 2009 as his return date to Vietnam.

After he arrived in Cambodia, this former monk was re-ordained again, and he fled Cambodia to seek refugee status in Thailand.

Khieu Sopheak, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, said that Ven. Tim Sakhorn has all the necessary rights like all other Cambodian citizens, so there is no need for him to fear anything. Khieu Sopheak added: “He has other goal, so he takes this opportunity to ask for refugee status. This is not a new affair, there are several others who are like him.”

Trinh Ba Cam, Hanoi’s mouthpiece in Cambodia, said that he does not pay attention to this issue. He added that Mr. Tim Sakhorn is merely a simple citizen. Trinh Ba Cam said: “We are not preventing him from going anywhere, he asked for the legal authorization, then it is legal, but when he fled, that is illegal.”

Ven. Tim Sakhorn fled to Thailand on 11 April because he fears for his personal safety. He is currently asking for refugee status from the UNHCR in Thailand

Read more!

Telecoms market in Cambodia overcrowded

April 20, 2009
ABC Radio Australia

Cambodia has just 15 million people, and is one of the poorest countries in the region.

And yet it has nine mobile phone operators.

Presenter: Robert Carmichael
Speakers: Thomas Hundt is the CEO of Smart; Syed Azmeer is the chief marketing officer of Hello; Kay Lot, MobiTel's chief operating officer

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

ROBERT CARMICHAEL: Last year the number of mobile phones in use worldwide passed the 3.3 billion mark. That means that more than half the world's population has a mobile phone, making it the fastest-spreading technology in human history. Cambodia is not what you would call a major player in global telecoms. Its population is relatively small and relatively poor - 15 million people of whom around one-third live below the poverty line. Many millions live just above that line.

And yet Cambodia has nine mobile phone companies, with two more still to launch. So Khun is the Minister for Posts and Telecommunications and has been in his job since 1992. Asked what he thinks is the most important change in telecoms in his time, he answered: Liberalisation - allowing private companies to enter the mobile telecoms market. The government created the chance, and the participants came. And they've kept coming - five mobile phone companies have launched in the last 15 months.

THOMAS HUNDT: Well doubtless the market is competitive.

ROBERT CARMICHAEL: Thomas Hundt is the CEO of Smart, the latest entrant.

I asked him why Smart has started up. He says one reason is that market penetration is low - 25 percent. In other words, just one person in four owns a mobile phone. In fact, Hundt believes the real penetration rate is probably far lower since many people have more than one SIM card.

HUNDT: There are a couple of factors that are supporting the market. First of all the population growth. Secondly we have here in Cambodia 24-25 percent penetration. So looking at other countries in Asia we have a long way to go to penetrate the entire market.

ROBERT CARMICHAEL: Cambodia's telecoms market is hyper-competitive, but if the competitors agree on anything, it is that the market cannot sustain so many players.

Syed Azmeer is the chief marketing officer of Hello, which has been here in various guises since 1992.

SYED AZMEER: Basically it is a war of attrition. People are giving away free minutes and free SIM cards and there comes a certain point where they can't do that any more. Some of the not-so-serious players - once they amass a certain number of subscribers - will be up for sale. That's classic in any telco scenario.

ROBERT CARMICHAEL: Evidence of this war of attrition is widespread, with huge billboards across Phnom Penh, and advertising campaigns in most media - and even plastered on the tuk-tuk taxis that ferry people around the capital.

Azmeer says Hello doubled its subscriber base to 700,000 last year through an aggressive marketing campaign. Good though that is, it means Hello has just a third the number of subscribers of the country's dominant player, MobiTel.

MobiTel claims 60 percent of the market, and says it grew by one-third last year.

And where MobiTel leads, the others have to follow. The low-hanging fruit has been taken in the relatively well-off cities and large towns, so the next stage is for telecoms companies to expand their operations in rural areas, where more than 80 percent of the population live.

But that requires substantial investment. Despite operating in financially-straitened times, MobiTel's parent company last month signed a loan for USD$100 million.

The money will be used to expand its coverage in rural areas, says MobiTel's chief operating officer Kay Lot.

KAY LOT: Well I think the urban growth is still there, but it won't last. There are only so many target markets that are still out there in the urban. So the longer-term strategy is to go out more into the rural areas.

ROBERT CARMICHAEL: To that end, says Kay Lot, MobiTel is erecting hundreds of new base stations in the countryside each year. Its more established competitors are also focusing their efforts outside the cities as the push to capture subscribers moves away from urban Cambodia.

The dominant player, MobiTel, will doubtless continue to do well. And several of its competitors will certainly be around in two or three years time too. But the multi-million dollar question is which of the nine operators will by then have hung up on Cambodia's tough and overcrowded mobile telecoms market.

Read more!

Telecoms market in Cambodia overcrowded

April 20, 2009
ABC Radio Australia

Cambodia has just 15 million people, and is one of the poorest countries in the region.

And yet it has nine mobile phone operators.

Presenter: Robert Carmichael
Speakers: Thomas Hundt is the CEO of Smart; Syed Azmeer is the chief marketing officer of Hello; Kay Lot, MobiTel's chief operating officer

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

ROBERT CARMICHAEL: Last year the number of mobile phones in use worldwide passed the 3.3 billion mark. That means that more than half the world's population has a mobile phone, making it the fastest-spreading technology in human history. Cambodia is not what you would call a major player in global telecoms. Its population is relatively small and relatively poor - 15 million people of whom around one-third live below the poverty line. Many millions live just above that line.

And yet Cambodia has nine mobile phone companies, with two more still to launch. So Khun is the Minister for Posts and Telecommunications and has been in his job since 1992. Asked what he thinks is the most important change in telecoms in his time, he answered: Liberalisation - allowing private companies to enter the mobile telecoms market. The government created the chance, and the participants came. And they've kept coming - five mobile phone companies have launched in the last 15 months.

THOMAS HUNDT: Well doubtless the market is competitive.

ROBERT CARMICHAEL: Thomas Hundt is the CEO of Smart, the latest entrant.

I asked him why Smart has started up. He says one reason is that market penetration is low - 25 percent. In other words, just one person in four owns a mobile phone. In fact, Hundt believes the real penetration rate is probably far lower since many people have more than one SIM card.

HUNDT: There are a couple of factors that are supporting the market. First of all the population growth. Secondly we have here in Cambodia 24-25 percent penetration. So looking at other countries in Asia we have a long way to go to penetrate the entire market.

ROBERT CARMICHAEL: Cambodia's telecoms market is hyper-competitive, but if the competitors agree on anything, it is that the market cannot sustain so many players.

Syed Azmeer is the chief marketing officer of Hello, which has been here in various guises since 1992.

SYED AZMEER: Basically it is a war of attrition. People are giving away free minutes and free SIM cards and there comes a certain point where they can't do that any more. Some of the not-so-serious players - once they amass a certain number of subscribers - will be up for sale. That's classic in any telco scenario.

ROBERT CARMICHAEL: Evidence of this war of attrition is widespread, with huge billboards across Phnom Penh, and advertising campaigns in most media - and even plastered on the tuk-tuk taxis that ferry people around the capital.

Azmeer says Hello doubled its subscriber base to 700,000 last year through an aggressive marketing campaign. Good though that is, it means Hello has just a third the number of subscribers of the country's dominant player, MobiTel.

MobiTel claims 60 percent of the market, and says it grew by one-third last year.

And where MobiTel leads, the others have to follow. The low-hanging fruit has been taken in the relatively well-off cities and large towns, so the next stage is for telecoms companies to expand their operations in rural areas, where more than 80 percent of the population live.

But that requires substantial investment. Despite operating in financially-straitened times, MobiTel's parent company last month signed a loan for USD$100 million.

The money will be used to expand its coverage in rural areas, says MobiTel's chief operating officer Kay Lot.

KAY LOT: Well I think the urban growth is still there, but it won't last. There are only so many target markets that are still out there in the urban. So the longer-term strategy is to go out more into the rural areas.

ROBERT CARMICHAEL: To that end, says Kay Lot, MobiTel is erecting hundreds of new base stations in the countryside each year. Its more established competitors are also focusing their efforts outside the cities as the push to capture subscribers moves away from urban Cambodia.

The dominant player, MobiTel, will doubtless continue to do well. And several of its competitors will certainly be around in two or three years time too. But the multi-million dollar question is which of the nine operators will by then have hung up on Cambodia's tough and overcrowded mobile telecoms market.

Read more!

Mobile phone rivals fight for Cambodia

Cambodian mobile phone companies will extend their reach into rural areas. [ABC]

Sunday, April 19, 2009
Robert Carmichael, Phnom Penh
ABC Radio Australia

Cambodia has just 15 million people and is one of the poorest countries in the region - and yet it has nine mobile phone operators.
Five have launched in the last 15 months, and two more are preparing to open.

More than half the world's population has a mobile phone - there are 3.3 billion of the instruments according to latest figures.

But in Cambodia, says Thomas Hundt - chief executive of Smart, the latest entrant - market penetration is low, at 25 percent.

In other words, no more than one Cambodian in four owns a mobile phone and that makes telecommunication phone companies very excited.

Liberalisation

So Khun, Minister for Posts and Telecommunications since 1992, told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program the most important change in telecoms in his time is liberalisation, allowing private companies to enter the mobile telecoms market.

All the competitors agree on one thing, however: the market cannot sustain so many companies.

Syed Azmeer, chief marketing officer of Hello, says: "Basically it is a war of attrition. People are giving away free minutes and free SIM cards and there comes a certain point where they can't do that any more.

"Some of the not-so-serious players - once they amass a certain number of subscribers - will be up for sale."

MobiTel claims 60 percent of the market,and its parent company last month signed a loan for $US 100 million, which will be used to expand its coverage in rural areas.

Base stations

The company's chief operating officer, Kay Lot, thinks there is more urban growth to come, "but it won't last. There are only so many target markets that are still out there in the urban. So the longer-term strategy is to go out more into the rural areas."

To that end, MobiTel is erecting hundreds of new base stations each year.

Its more established competitors are also focusing their efforts outside the cities as the push to capture subscribers moves into the green Cambodian countryside.

Read more!

Mobile phone rivals fight for Cambodia

Cambodian mobile phone companies will extend their reach into rural areas. [ABC]

Sunday, April 19, 2009
Robert Carmichael, Phnom Penh
ABC Radio Australia

Cambodia has just 15 million people and is one of the poorest countries in the region - and yet it has nine mobile phone operators.
Five have launched in the last 15 months, and two more are preparing to open.

More than half the world's population has a mobile phone - there are 3.3 billion of the instruments according to latest figures.

But in Cambodia, says Thomas Hundt - chief executive of Smart, the latest entrant - market penetration is low, at 25 percent.

In other words, no more than one Cambodian in four owns a mobile phone and that makes telecommunication phone companies very excited.

Liberalisation

So Khun, Minister for Posts and Telecommunications since 1992, told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program the most important change in telecoms in his time is liberalisation, allowing private companies to enter the mobile telecoms market.

All the competitors agree on one thing, however: the market cannot sustain so many companies.

Syed Azmeer, chief marketing officer of Hello, says: "Basically it is a war of attrition. People are giving away free minutes and free SIM cards and there comes a certain point where they can't do that any more.

"Some of the not-so-serious players - once they amass a certain number of subscribers - will be up for sale."

MobiTel claims 60 percent of the market,and its parent company last month signed a loan for $US 100 million, which will be used to expand its coverage in rural areas.

Base stations

The company's chief operating officer, Kay Lot, thinks there is more urban growth to come, "but it won't last. There are only so many target markets that are still out there in the urban. So the longer-term strategy is to go out more into the rural areas."

To that end, MobiTel is erecting hundreds of new base stations each year.

Its more established competitors are also focusing their efforts outside the cities as the push to capture subscribers moves into the green Cambodian countryside.

Read more!