The Mirror, Vol. 11, No. 527
“As the National Assembly has recently adopted a draft law on concessions, Mr. Son Chhay reminded the public that the concessions which have been awarded by the government so far are all illegal. Mr. Son Chhay, a parliamentarian from the Sam Rainsy Party, considers all the concessions awarded by the government so far to be illegal, because the concessions were initiated quietly between the private sector and powerful people in the government under corrupt arrangements, without putting the concessions for bidding transparently, and without considering the national interest.
“The parliamentarian continued to say that there are many cases where the government has awarded concessions without appropriate policies, and without checking the conditions, in order to guarantee benefits for the nation when providing these concessions: for example road constructions, hydroelectric plants, the concessions to operate national roads, the concession organizing the access to Angkor Wat given to the Sokimex Company, and the concessions of the airports.
“The most dangerous concessions for the nation and for the citizens are the concessions awarding land to private companies.
“According to Mr. Son Chhay, trees on millions of hectares of forest land have been cut because of land concessions given to private companies for rubber plantations. Such kinds of concessions not only affect public property of the state, but they also strongly affects the situation of housing, land, and the livelihood of the citizens.
“According to Mr. Son Chhay, such things never occurred in countries that respect laws properly. In other countries, concessions are awarded when it is important for the national benefit, and if the national benefit is guaranteed, then concessions are put up for public bidding.
“In contrast, the parliamentarian notices that in Cambodia, Khmer ministers like to adhere to the habit of sitting in their offices, waiting for businesspeople to come and meet them. And sometimes, receiving bribes from businesspeople, they ignore the rules by setting up policies for biddings according to the businesspeople’s interest, and in this way the state is seriously losing what should be national benefits.
“For instance, the concession for the operation of National Road 4 from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, which was built up by a US donation to the Khmer citizens, was given to the AZ Company of Ing Bun Hoaw. As a matter of fact, the AZ Company does not do much for the development of the road, besides setting up toll gates to collect money from the cars using the road, which is a way of ‘making cake without flour.’ Concerning this case, previously taxi drivers and citizens sharply protested. These protests were strongly motivated because many citizens traveled by taxis, and the taxis they used were pressed to pay toll road fees, and then the taxis, in turn, extorted the money [for the higher charges] from their passengers. This affected the livelihood of the citizens – most of them are very poor. However, these protests were cruelly suppressed by the government authorities of Cambodia.
“As for the concession given for the access to Angkor Wat, which is a heritage from all Khmer ancestors, to the major business leader Sok Kong of the Sokimex Company, so that this company sells the tickets and collects the money, the Khmer government should keep this national heritage as national property, and it should not have provided the right to the company of a capitalist entrepreneur who benefits from this concession immensely.
“However, in order to maintain this policy of illegal concessions, the government of Cambodia always uses the following reason to hide this scandal by saying that it is because the government is poor and has no funds for development.
“Through this simpleminded reason, many pieces of public property of the state, including some pieces of royal property, which are firmly protected by law, slipped into the hands of capitalist businesspeople. In view of this situation, some people who are brave to speak up, call the government of Cambodia a “sell-lease” government, i.e. the government has no capacity to make income apart from selling or leasing property which is its heritage.
“Regarding this issue, according to some observers, though the law on concessions was adopted somewhat late by the National Assembly, what is now important is whether, and on which level, the government of Cambodia will implement this new law to guarantee the national benefit – or whether the whole country of Cambodia will be made into concessions by people in power, who will then hand them over to traders.” Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.1, #32, 26.9.2007
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
Deum Ampil, Vol.2, #37, 26.9-2.10.2007
- 41 Funcinpec Officials Appointed, with Salaries, as Assistants to Leaders in the Royal Government
- Some State Electricity Thieves Have Ranks as Excellency and Oknha; Therefore, Officials of Electricité du Cambodge Do Not Dare to Suppress Them [Russey Keo, Phnom Penh]
- Hundred of Thousands of Liters of Smuggled Gasoline Imported by Motorcycles and Boats from Yuon [Vietnam] Every Day [Svay Rieng and Takeo]
Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.6, #1454, 26.9.2007
- Prince Thomico Prepares to Resist Khmer Rouge Tribunal
- Sihanoukville Court Summoned Police and Military Police to Take Oath [to be faithful to the nation and not to be corrupt], but Some of Them Just Pretended to Open Their Mouths to Say Something [but they actually did not say anything]
- Ministry of Interior Receives [gift of] 104 Police Motorcycles from China
- [Two] Indonesian Nationals Arrested on Suspicion of Piercing Car Tires to Rob People Who Return to Their Cars After Withdrawing Money from Banks [Phnom Penh]
Khmer Amatak, Vol.8, #519, 26.9.2007
- More Than 1,400 Activists of Different Parties Join Norodom Ranariddh Party [Prey Veng]
Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.1, #32, 26.9.2007
- Son Chhay: Concessions of Hun Sen Government Which Have Been Awarded So Far Are All Illegal
- For Freedom of Expression, Prince Thomico Announces Resignation from Funcinpec [to be free to speak]
Khmer Mekong, Vol.5, #300, 26-27.9.2007
- Japan Successfully Launches Its First Satellite [Kaguya] for Moon Observations
Koh Santepheap, Vol.40, #6154, 26.9.2007
- Funcinpec President [Keo Puth Rasmey] Doesn’t Agree with Prince Thomico’s Request for Support to End the Khmer Rouge Tribunal
- Study Says Cambodian People of All Ages Lack Iron and Vitamin A
- Nine Female Breeding Pigs Imported Alive from Yuon [Vietnam] Are Killed and Burned by Officials [in attempt to prevent import of infected meat and pigs from foreign countries – Kompong Cham]
Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.14, #3273, 26.9.2007
- Ieng Sary Threatens to Reveal Documents [related to current leaders] if He Is Arrested
Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.15, #4399, 26.9.2007
- Samdech Krom Preah’s Political Situation Will Become Hot Issue in October
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