Charges in Beerdsen murder

 
A suspect arrested last week for the murder of Dutch national Daphna Beerdsen was charged on Saturday in Phnom Penh Municipal Court, a court official has said.The suspect, 35-year-old Chea Pin, was charged with intentional murder with aggravating circumstances at the court of first instance, Heang Sopheak, the court’s vice prosecutor, said on Saturday.Pin has since been remanded in custody and is awaiting trial at Prey Sar prison after the investigating judge issued a detention warrant for him.

“I have charged him with intentional murder with aggravated circumstances. He has now been sent to Prey Sar prison,” Sopheak said.The suspect – a homeless man living in Wat Than pagoda near the house where Beerdsen, 31, was killed on April 28 – was arrested on Tuesday.
Pin stands accused of entering Beerdsen’s home in Chamkarmon district and attempting to steal a bicycle.When Beerdsen shouted for help, the suspect lashed out with a screwdriver, fatally stabbing her six times, officials say.
Her 19-month-old daughter, Dana, was seriously injured in the attack and was airlifted to Bangkok on April 29.

The child was still under observation following at least three operations aimed at reducing swelling in her brain, according to a spokesman for Bangkok General, where she is being treated.
“She is still in the intensive care unit,” a hospital spokesman said yesterday, adding that he could not divulge further information.Police, meanwhile, countered suggestions that there may be more behind the murder by pointing to property belonging to Beerdsen they say was stolen by the suspect.
“[Pin] was arrested based on real proof – after police saw the victim’s property, and confiscated the victim’s laptop [Pin] had sold to a pawn shop in Phnom Penh,” said Brigadier General Chuon Narin, deputy chief of Phnom Penh municipal police. “And he has also confessed about his crime.

CNRP holds a citywide rolling rally

 

Days after authorities repeatedly cracked down on demonstrations, opposition party supporters staged a rolling rally across Phnom Penh yesterday, filling up roads for hours and blocking major intersections.About 500 people with tuk-tuks and motorbikes gathered at the Cambodia National Rescue Party headquarters in the capital’s Meanchey district in the afternoon before taking to their vehicles, from which they blasted the party’s anthem and shouted slogans over megaphones. Thousands of CNRP supporters also marched in Kampong Cham province earlier in the day.

“Change or no change?” members in Phnom Penh shouted as they rolled down the streets of several districts yesterday. “Change number four to number seven,” they said, referencing the CPP and CNRP’s respective numbers on election ballots last July.Opposition party members held the rallies less than a week after public gatherings were banned in the capital during the May 1-16 council election campaign.A mass of CNRP supporters in Phnom Penh followed lawmaker Yim Sovann, as members physically blocked people at major intersections from breaking up the rally and the group sped through traffic lights and snarled traffic.

“The public is not content; they don’t like it because traffic is always heavy,” Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said. “But in some cases, [CNRP members] don’t respect that.”

Siphan last night said the demonstration was allowed to occur because it did not interfere with public order.

Only a handful of police were seen on the streets during the roughly four-hour rally, a stark contrast to the reaction to demonstrations held last Thursday and Friday, when Daun Penh district security guards beat a number of people. The municipality notified the public of the ban via its website on Tuesday. An announcement on the site said city Governor Pa Socheatvong informed officials from all of Phnom Penh’s nine districts that public assemblies were banned.

After CNRP president Sam Rainsy and vice president Kem Sokha held an International Labour Day demonstration, where about 1,500 gathered at the Naga Bridge, across from Freedom Park, helmeted Daun Penh security guards seemingly picked people out at random and beat them with clubs. At least five people were injured.

Several people, including at least two journalists, were injured the next day after security guards and riot police cracked down on a gathering at the same location for a planned opposition party demonstration.

Rainsy and Sokha both attended the rally in Kampong Cham yesterday, where supporters took a similar approach to campaigning for the council election, despite what was described as a large number of military police blocking them from entering market areas.

“The Cambodia National Rescue Party will rule the government soon,” Sokha said at the Kampong Cham march. “During the election in 2013, the National Rescue Party won in Phnom Penh, so a Cambodia National Rescue Party member should be Phnom Penh municipality’s governor.”

Addressing the crowd in Kampong Cham, Rainsy brought up the issue of land grabbing.

“Our past disputes are not important; now we must join to save our nation,” Rainsy said. “People’s farmland is being grabbed and we must solve that. Our forests are also being destroyed, people’s lives are being ruined.”

New proposal to equalize pensions

Illustrative image. – File photo

Can you talk in detail about the change in pension policies in the amended Law on Social Insurance, which will be submitted to the National Assembly shortly?
Currently, the pension for non-state labourers is calculated based upon the length of time that labourers pay for social insurance. The draft committee for the amended Law on Social Insurance proposes that pensions for state employees who start paying for social insurance from January 1, 2015, be calculated based upon the same method – on the total length of time that they pay for social insurance. Previously, pensions for state employees were calculated based upon the average amount of the last 10 working years before they retire.
The new regulation will ensure equality between different payers of social insurance, while also ensuring the principle of getting what you pay for. It will get rid of the situation in which one gets more than what they actually paid, and caused the current gap in social insurance funds in receiving and spending.
Will the new regulation not favour state employees who begin paying social insurance from January 1, 2015, because according to the old method, their pensions might be higher?
If the new regulation is applied with state employees who start paying social insurance from January 1, 2015, these employees will begin receiving pensions in 2035, at the earliest. By that time, the basic wage will have increased considerably, compared to current wages.
Certainly, state employees who start paying for social insurance in 2015 will have lower pensions than using the old calculation method. But tackling shortcomings of the old social insurance policies is a complicated matter. Thus, the drafting committee could only propose new regulations with new subjects, so that all previous payers of social insurance before 2015 won't be affected.
The National Trade Unions' opinion is that we should only change the method of calculating pensions when the amount of social insurance payment is based upon the actual salary that one receives (basic salary and bonus, etc.), but not the salary stated in the labour contract. What's your opinion about this?
To balance the spending and collecting of social insurance funds, we are carrying out various solutions, and not only with pensions. The solution suggested by the National Trade Unions is being considered by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. However, we cannot go with this change quickly.
Charging the social insurance payment based upon non-salary incomes will cause enterprises to spend a lot more, especially when the basic salary is increased evenly. This would reduce the attractiveness of the country's economy and the competitiveness of enterprises.
We're considering applying this method of calculation beginning in 2018 or 2020, after submitting it for the National Assembly's approval.
The draft amended Law on Social Insurance will be discussed by the NA this May and voted on for approval in October this year.

South Korean ferry death toll rises to 242

 

The grim reality has begun to set in for the relatives of those aboard the South Korean Sewol ferry, as officials have confirmed yet more deaths.The search-and-rescue operation has long since turned into a grueling recovery of corpses. No one has been found alive since the day the ship sank. The work has become even more difficult as divers have had to break through closed cabin doors blocked by debris, according to the semiofficial Yonhap News Agency.Over a 24-hour span, the South Korean coast guard confirmed 14 more deaths, totaling 242, with 60 people still missing.The ferry sank April 16 while en route from Incheon to Jeju, a resort island off the nation's southwestern coast.