Chasing Cars, the Preah Vihear peace edition

Everywhere there's Preah Vihear in the media, here, there and everywhere. Which is quite surprising. It's been here/there for centuries and hopefully will be here/there for more, however politicians and/or soldiers seem to need to uptake the issue of whether the temple is here or there to fulfill their cause, as if here/there are no more pressing issues?
Final word on the issue, with the Thai side closed and the Cambodian side nearly impassable (rains), don't hold your breath on the temple becoming the second Angkor Wat or what, within the foreseeable future that is.

• A first on the election front:

  'Two party activists killed in collision'

  is an item from VOA as published on KI Media.

  '"This is the first time a political party activist died in an election campaign due to a traffic accident," he [Pok Pulrith, chief of traffic police in Takeo] said'.

  Make that first and second. Usually, party activists are killed by murder. Do not know whether this is a change for the good ....

• More from the front, ... the election front that is, not the Thai-Cambo front! Vuthasurf writes about campaigning with government cars albeit without license plates:

  'According to the new road traffic law, the vehicle’s drivers without license plates are subject to a prison sentence of between six days to one month and a fine ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 riel'.

  He then concludes:

  'the enforcement of traffic law is still weak, and only the poor and ordinary people have been punished and fined'.

• Khmernews.com on the same issue, reveals that the 2008 parliamentary election campaign is actually:
  

  'A Lot of Unlicensed Vehicles Campaign'.

  Though that's what the opposition thinks ...

• Vietnam is now irritated about subsidizing petrol in Cambodia. Considering the bill they have to pay for subsidizing their own petrol last year was over $1 billion, subsidizing Cambodia in the process can hardly be worth being irritated.

  'The Market Monitoring Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that petrol smuggling in the Mekong Delta tended to increase lately, with some 15,000 liters of petrol smuggled to Cambodia per day'.

  At 0,30 $US profit margin / ltr, this might represent $1.5 -2.0 $US million, probably not even a percent of this years bill. Cheap neighbours nah?

• More from the frontier of the illegal fuel smugglers, this time from the other (now irritated?) neighbour ostensibly known as the 'Land of Smiles'.
  A fuel truck overturns. As 3 journo's (or is it journies?) happen to pass, they see this as a great photo op. Not so.

  'Then two men from a Mitsubishi car which came, with a license plate of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces [RCAF] with the umber 2 2809, jumped out and hit the journalists with their hands and kicked them and brutally twisted their arms and boxed them'.

  Journo no. 1 had

  'his nasal bone ... broken'

  , journo no. 2 had

  'his camera ... broken'

  , while journo no. 3

  'was able to escape from the hitting'.

  Luckily for Cambodia, that these guys fight for us! Pity that now the stream of cheap fuel from Thailand will come to a stop.

• There are some 'normal' news facts from Cambodia itself:

  'Cyclo drivers in security guard smackdown'.

  From the Khmeri Prosperous blog:

  'Phnom Penh’s cyclo drivers say security guards around the city’s markets are chasing them off and making it increasingly difficult for them to earn a living. ...
  “About half of all of cyclo drivers have faced problems with market security guards, usually asking them for money,” she [Cyclo Center coordinator Nouv Sarany] said, adding that guards at Phsar Thmei (Central Market) and the Sorya Shopping Center were the leading cause of headaches [is that literally or a figure of speech?]'.

  Shame on those guards! ABC adds:

  'The drivers have also accused the guards of seeking protection money'.

• Paying protection money? Yesterday's (July 18, 2008) Cambodia Daily mentions:

  'Tuk-tuk drivers form unofficial union at port'.

  What for?

  'to control access to tourists arriving ... at Phnom Penh Autonomous Port'. ... In return for the monthly payments, security guards will ensure that only members of the group [or 'unofficial' union] will be allowed into the area where tourists arrive.

  The manager of the port though seems to be a bit slow:

  "Nowadays we don't take money from the tuk-tuk drivers ...",

  but then regathers himself, contemplates and believes it's a grand idea, charging 'protection money:

  "but in future, we might charge some money", Hei Bovy [Phnom Penh Autonomous Port Authority General Manager] says.

  As their formation was to halt:

  'limiting earning for drivers',

  one guess should suffice to who will eventually ends up paying the 'protection' money!
  Next time take the bus and hope the bus company doesn't do the same! Fat chance....

• Finally from the statistics front: April saw 176 less citizens in Cambodia, which represents a 21% increase over April 2007 Cambodia Daily reports (18 July 2008) from a (unpublished?) monthly report by RTAVIS.
  Again the police are quoted on how the traffic law is being disrespected. Well police, do something about it!
  

Chasing Cars Cambodian Style, 8 February 2008

• Chinese / Vietnamese New Year means that the big shots are out of town despite them being 100% Khmer ... Anyway, an opportunity for Phnom Penh governor to talk tough:

  'Kep Chuktema [the gov'] said that the new traffic law has been in effect for a long period of time and, by now, the population should be aware of it already. He said that, therefore, from now on, the city authority will no longer be lenient on these traffic violations anymore'.

  Apparently his call co-incides with an order (why does he need an order to enforce the law?)

  'to arrest all vehicles violating the traffic law'.

  The timing could be better, this time of the year even the policemen leave town ...
  

• As if that's not enough the governor, in a seperate speech, warned:

  'Kep Chuktema, the Phnom Penh city governor, reminded the Chinese-Cambodian and the Vietnamese-Cambodian population in Phnom Penh that, during the Chinese-Vietnamese New Year, if they drink or they are drunk, they shouldn’t drive in order to avoid traffic accidents to themselves and to others.

  That mean's that all others (the real Chinese / Vietnamese and Khmer, basically 95% of the population) are free to drink and drive! especially during Chinese / Vietnamese New Year!
  

• And his comment on this?

  'Ten workers were injured when a factory owner’s car slammed into a group of protestors at the order of a local commune chief, labor representatives said Thursday. ... The unnamed driver moved the car into a crowd of workers demonstrating over annual bonuses and layoffs, representatives said'.

  Perfectly legal?

• The (daily / deadly ) horror?

  'Four people riding on a motorcycle died instantly at the scene when a Hyno truck crashed the motorbike and dragged 20km away until it got burnt'.

  Only in Cambodia can a motorcycle accident result in 4 dead! And the following?

  'A car, which contained luxurious timber, ran over and killed a three wheel motorbike driver at 4:30 on 31 Jan 2008 in Kampong Siem district’s Ou Svay commune. The three wheel motorbike also contained a big wood'.

• Travel updates? Only good news? From Khmer 440 forum the road to Koh Kong is nearing completion , however:

  'The good news is that BIG buses are now travelling over the Sre Ambel bridge and the Ta Tai bridge . [ the two end bridges] The bad news is that travel time has not been reduced as it still takes time to transfer to another big bus at the second bridge [ Andong Tek ] and third bridge [ Trapang Ru ]'.

  And the 'dancing' roads for which Cambodia is (in?)famous? On Monday February 4 2008, Cambodian Daily reported

  'Road 5 from Poiept to Siem Reap being Rebuilt'

  This being an understatement, it is on the verge of being rebuilt since last used as a minefield by the Khmer Rouge. Since then however nothing has happened, turning the road into a national shame On the plus side however it is now any tourist's highlight if they take this section. That's in a negative sense then. Back to the article, the road is to be completed by October, which must seem doubtful, as from June onwards there are heavy rains.

  'Saing Savath, director of Banteay Meanchey province's public works and transportation department said he expected the road to attract more tourists [why? Where will all the touristic potholes have gone]. "Before they [the toursits] were bored [certainly not bored] and tired with this road because it had many potholes" '.

  More questions seem to appear, the road from Poipet to Siem Reap is 150 km however the section being rebuilt is only

  '105 km'.

  Furthermore the road from Poipet to Sisophon is road number 5 (distance 50 km), from Sisophon the road number is 6 (distance 100km). So what is being rebuilt? A deliberate confusion to syphon off money?

Ripping off Vietnam

One way of earning a decent living in Cambodia is by smuggling gasoline from Vietnam, where it's cheaper. Not allowed in Vietnam, openly traded in all Cambodia. Pity the Vietnamese regularly pick up smugglers. Thanx to KI Media:

Gasoline Smuggling in Kampot province and Kep city

While the price of gasoline in Cambodia is higher than that in neighboring countries, gas smuggling is on the rise in provinces bordering with neighboring countries.

In Kampot province and Kep City, gas smuggling is done by sea. Kep residents who have no jobs, and who are very poor, as well as other villagers from Trapeang Lapov district, Angkor Chey district, Dang Tung district, in Kampot provinces, are involved in the smuggling. A large majority of these people act as laborers transporting gasoline for large businessmen, and only a small number of them are independent smugglers.

41-year-old Korm Samin said that he is into the smuggling trade for the past one year because his fishing trade is getting continually worst. He complained that currently, the smuggling trade is also getting more difficult as well, the profit is low, and he also faces police arrest.

Korm Samin said: “In this (smuggling) trade, you fear that you will be caught (by the police) because when you get caught, you lose, and we wouldn’t have anything to eat at home for 2 or 3 days. It’s never sure, sometime you leave (from home) at 5:00 PM, and you get there (Vietnam) at 7:00 PM, then you return back at 9 to 10:00 PM to come back home. [The amount of smuggled gas] is not steady, sometime you smuggled in 100 containers, but at other times, you would bring in 70 to 80 containers only. Before, it was cheaper, when the price of gas was cheaper, the cost is a littler over 50,000 riels (~$12.50), and we get here over 60,000 riels (~$15.00)”

Gas smugglers operate by sea using small boats departing from Kep city, they head to the Vietnamese border, in Ha Tien province. After purchasing gas there, they have to head back home in the middle of the night, and they have to make it back before daybreak in order to avoid large waves.

20-year-old Khieu from Kep City is working for others to transport smuggled gas. He said that each trip earns him up to 20,000 riels (~$5.00) only. “They call us to be the boat skipper for the large smugglers. They are the ones who make a lot of profit, for me, I receive only a small amount, about 10 to 15,000 riels only (~$2.50 to $3.75). Sometimes, if we make the wrong run, and take a bad path, the Vietnamese could shoot us, some even died from this shooting.”

50-year-old Chak Kol is another transporter of smuggled gas for others. He said that some of those who transport smuggled gas have been arrested by the Vietnamese authority and thrown in jail for 4 or 5 days, before the Cambodian authority asked for their release back. “We don’t get much, but we have nothing else, so we just do it, we have to endure it, no matter how hard it is. When the Vietnamese [authority] catches us, they confiscate everything, the gas, the boat, and they throw us in jail. One time, some of the smugglers were arrested [by the Vietnamese], then our side [Cambodian authority] went there by boat, and asked for their release, it was then that [the Vietnamese] release them and they could come back home. It’s not like we can do whatever we want, we cannot just transport [the smuggled gas] day and night as we see fit, we can’t do that.”

According to the local people, the large gas traders, who have the backing from officials, are the ones who can smuggle in tens of thousands of liters of gas and bring them into Kampot province and Kep City, but for the small time smugglers, the most they can bring in per trip is about 100 liters only.

Kong Chea, the police chief of Kep City, claimed that his police force used to arrest the small smugglers there, but that the majority of them travel to Kampot province instead. “There are smugglers here, we always arrest them, and now they don’t come here anymore. My force lacks transportation means to patrol at sea. We cannot go to sea, if we want to go to sea, we must rent a boat. But, in Kep City, there is not much to worry about.”

Thach Khon, Kampot province governor, admitted about gas smuggling in his province. Each month, the authority confiscates about 20,000 liters of smuggled gas. He said that because of the vast extent of the sea shore, the authority has a hard time eliminating this problem.

Thach Khon said: “… we try hard to arrest them, a report just came in that almost 5,000 liters of smuggled gas were caught, and each month, we confiscate tens of thousands of liters of gas. But, our sea is large, and we lack equipment, this doesn’t mean that we don’t make arrest, we do make arrest, like today, I just signed in a report saying that more than 1,000 liters, almost 2,000 liters [of smuggled were confiscated].”

Even though the authority claims that it intensely goes after gas smuggling, smuggling still take place in Kampot province and Kep City.

A local official of the Adhoc human rights group said that the authority only arrest poor people who smuggled in 1 to 2 gas containers, but it never arrest large smuggled gas traders who have the backing of high-ranking officials.

Creativity I

In combating the at best 'irregular' Cambodian traffic scene the government of Cambodia is increasingly using creativity.

It has been mentioned quite often that, despite all vehicles required to drive on the right hand side, there are a great many cars (including police cars) with the steering wheel on the wrong side: being the right side. This certainly does not ensure traffic safety and in the past the government has refrained from registering these vehicles (for this reason apparently).

But just over half a year ago this policy was reversed: better to earn money from these unsafe vehicles than putting a policy in place which will eventually result in these right hand-drives being banned altogether. Enforcing the ban would not seem to be such an effort either, or would it?

Well, the source of these right hand steering vehicles is Thailand; there they drive on the left, so that looks quite logical. And in Thailand there are no vehicles with the steering wheel on the wrong side, let their be no doubt about it.

But the Cambodian PM Hun Sen seems to sense the problem. At least that's what's in today's (February 26, 2007) Cambodian Daily. Well, actually Hun Sen believes that smuggling is the problem, not that the smuggling would lead to unsafe traffic situations. Smuggling is bad apparently because it provides illegal organisations outside the governments' official (and unofficial) reach of funds. The blame for the smuggling lies with Thailand apparently:

'If authorities on the Thai side cannot control the smuggling it will be a disaster for both sides', Hun Sen said.

Can't the Cambodian side control smuggling? Like the fuel smuggling.

'He also warned that Cambodian officials involved in the smuggling to change their ways or risk losing their positions'.

Not so long ago this nearly happened. But what about imprisonment, surely 'losing their positions' is not a sufficient deterrent?

'Hun Sen said more than 1,400 right hand-drive cars were smuggled into Cambodia from Thailand last year'.

According to who?

Combatting smuggling

Despite fuel been plentiful everywhere in Cambodia, the town of Pailin which borders Thailand is experiencing difficulties. After local authorities cracked down on petrol smuggling prices shot up, from 0.80 $US to 1.75 $US. In all a non-article in today's (February 9, 2007) Cambodia Daily as the prices where dropping, so where does that leave us? Here's the story.

Gasoline prices going ....

An article published by AFP and copied by KI:

Opposition demands a government response over record gasoline prices
Demands for answers in Cambodia over record gas prices

PHNOM PENH Cambodia's political opposition has demanded a government response over record petrol prices, which remain at over one US dollar a litre despite falling global oil costs.

"Why has the price not gone down when the cost of oil worldwide has dropped ... I want an answer from (Finance Minister) Keat Chhon," opposition leader Sam Rainsy wrote in a letter, dated January 12.

"This creates hardships for the Cambodian people," he added, saying the minister has so far refused to respond to his questions.

Crude oil prices closed at below 53 dollars a barrel Friday -- levels not seen since June 2005 -- after reaching highs in mid-2006 of around 78 dollars per barrel.

Cambodian petrol prices more than doubled as a result of the global surge last year, pushing up the cost of other essential goods as well.

While there has been a slight ease in pump prices, petrol in Cambodia shows no signs of dropping sharply.

Government officials say they have no control over fuel costs, although some have suggested that the finance ministry could urge gas companies for an across-the-board cut.

Gas companies in Cambodia have little reason to lower their prices once international markets drive them up amid a dearth of competition. There are no government subsidies to soften the impact of higher energy costs.

The situation on the local market is far from clear. Besides the big players, some with obviously good connections to the government there are a lot of 'illegal' petrol players, small time pumps selling to motorcyclists. 'Illegal', as the petrol is smuggled in from either Vietnam and/or Thailand. But as they are allowed to sell at vitually every corner, they can't be illegal. Either way someone somewhere is making a healthy profit especially if the world market prices are falling.

Smuggling and traffic safety

Smuggling apparently takes place on a large scale. At least that's what this Cambodia Daily write up reports.

Eight hundred cars have been smuggled over the border at 2 border crossings with Thailand since March this year. The article does not mention how it has been determined that there were 800 vehicles smuggled, a wild guess / underestimation? Anyway, at current levels there are many vehicles with their steering wheels on the wrong side, a potential traffic hazard as the drivers have insufficient overview of the road situation. Has anyone driven in a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side?

Earlier this year as a measure to broaden the road tax base, all right handed steering vehicles were allowed to register and should be paying tax. Obviously this also assists the smuggle: if right hand steering would have been forbidden (due to safety concerns) then this smuggling would not have taken place.

So what that this has been discovered? A couple of fines here and there (as high as the profits of the corrupt custom officials?) and now try to find an alternative strategy for importing cars.

Update on petrol prices

A slightly older article posted ion the KI site originally reported from Agence Presse in Vietnam. Apparently it's not all small-timers involved in the smuggling of fuel:

HANOI, Vietnam(AP) - Authorities in southern fined three Cambodians for smuggling more than 6,000 liters of diesel out of the country, a border official said Tuesday.

The smugglers from Kampot province in southern Cambodiawere intercepted last week in Vietnamese waters with 6,300 liters (1,660 gallons) of diesel in their boat, said Nguyen Huu Tai, the deputy chief of Xa Xia border checkpoint in Kien Giang province.

The government of Kien Giang fined the Cambodians 2.2 million dong (US$140; euro110) each on Monday for illegal entry and illegally transporting goods across the border, Tai said.

The men were released Monday after paying their fines, he said.

Vietnam estimates that hundreds of thousands of liters of fuel are smuggled into Cambodia daily, causing substantial losses to Vietnam's government which heavily subsidizes the price of fuel.

Diesel is about 5,000 dong (31 U.S. cents; 24 EU cents) cheaper per liter in Vietnam than Cambodia, Tai said.

"It's impossible for us to completely control the fuel smuggling because the border is long and we have a shortage of staff," Tai said.

The Vietnamese government is expected to pay 12.8 trillion dong (US$800 million; euro621 million) in fuel subsidies this year.

Vietnam exports crude oil, but imports refined oil products. Its first oil refinery is under construction in central province of Quang Ngai.