Embassy defends handling of maids

 
Cambodia's embassy in Malaysia yesterday denied pressuring domestic workers from the Kingdom into renewing their visas, after rights groups told the Post last week that the embassy exploited a legal loophole to keep maids in the country.The statement came as a Malaysian employers association, which has observed the drafting of a new agreement to send more maids to the country following the imposition of a ban in 2011, for the first time revealed details of the proposed agreement.
In a letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong, Cambodia’s Ambassador to Malaysia Arun Rasmey defended the embassy’s policy of renewing maids’ visas.

“If a maid decides to continue working with her employer, if the embassy was to delay issuing a visa to them and they cannot get a work permit from Malaysian immigration, they will become illegal immigrants and face many problems,” she wrote.Rasmey added that there have been cases in which visas were renewed after a maid suffered abuse because, in order for the embassy to file a complaint, the maid must stay in the country.But An Bunhak, president of local recruitment firm Top Manpower, said that while the embassy has conducted some vetting of maids whose employers try to renew their visas, there were no concrete guidelines and more than one way to circumvent the system.
“We know that the embassy, before they make extensions, needs to interview the maids first to see if they want to continue working, and to clarify their salary and so on,” he said, adding that there are no rules or strict controls.

“It’s not only the embassy in Kuala Lumpur that can make an extension. Employers can also send passports to Cambodia to make extensions at the Ministry of Interior, and at the embassies in Vietnam and Thailand. So if the employee doesn’t want to follow [the rules], they can escape it. That’s why we need clear guidelines, so other embassies and employers can’t make extensions.”
For a few women, such as Toch Nai, 24, who were able to return from Malaysia after suffering under abusive employers, the embassy in Kuala Lumpur did offer help.
“My boss beat me and made me work long hours. I got injured on my body and eyes, so I ran to the embassy and stayed there until they helped me come back,” she said. “I want to forget my time there. I cannot see properly, but I came back to start a new life.”
Others have been less fortunate. Soum Saroun, 53, lost touch with her daughter two years after she went to Malaysia in 2010.

“For two years, I’ve not had contact with my daughter,” Saroun said. “I’m so worried about her. I don’t want her money, I just want her back.”A moratorium was placed on sending domestic workers to Malaysia in 2011 amid mounting concerns over abuses, including rape and the withholding of salaries.In a bid to restart the program, a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been drafted and is awaiting approval after consultations between employers and the Malaysian and Cambodian governments.Datuk Raja Zulkepley Dahalan, president of the Malaysian Association of Employment Agencies (PIKAP), told the Post yesterday that there were several points in the new draft that will help protect workers.

“I understand the MoU is finished now, or very close to finished. I understand we are only waiting for the green light from Cambodia,” he said. “Under the MoU, there will be proper training of at least 200 hours before they come to Malaysia. That’s the same as Indonesia. They must understand our culture and immigration procedure.”He added that some of the other requirements included the drafting of legally binding contracts that included the maid’s salary, the “responsibilities and rights” of both parties and a day’s leave per week. Employers, however, will be able to hold the passports of the maids in their employ, he added, “and that is OK, I think”.Dahalan is concerned that if the MoU is signed, it will include a minimum wage for the maids, whereas he believes that employers and agencies should be able to offer “market rates”.“We prefer that salaries are limited only by the market. It’s no problem; it should be a market rate. They shouldn’t fix the price,” he said.

VN rallies ’round the flag

 
The Vietnamese government has condemned the burning of its country’s flag by protesters outside the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh earlier this week, labelling it a “perverse” act and calling on the Cambodian government to take action.A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Hanoi said Vietnam strongly protested “illegal demonstrations” that saw hundreds of angry protesters from the Kampuchea Krom community gather outside the embassy on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
They have been demanding an apology from Vietnam after an embassy spokesman said in early June that the former Kampuchea Krom provinces in the Mekong Delta – still home to many ethnic Khmer, and a sensitive topic for many nationalists – belonged to Vietnam well before being ceded by colonial power France in 1949.

The flag was burned by a monk at the protests on Tuesday.“The acts by the Khmer Kampuchea Krom extremists are perverse, with the intention of seriously insulting the good traditional friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said in a statement on Wednesday that was released in Vietnamese on the ministry’s website.
“We request Cambodia strictly deal with the case in line with the law and adopt effective preventative measures so as to avoid similar action [in the future].”Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong could not be reached yesterday to confirm whether the government had received the message directly.

But Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said that the government did not support the burning of any nation’s flag and would “take appropriate action” after Vietnam’s statement, but could not confirm what such “action” would entail.“If we feel that the public order has been offended we are going to manage it,” he said.After clashes between protesters and security forces outside the embassy on July 9, Vietnam accused demonstrators of interfering in its internal affairs.
Embassy spokesman Trung Van Thong, who made the original comments, has been unreachable in recent days, but has repeatedly stated that he has “no interest” in apologising.
Thach Setha, executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community group, which led this week’s protests, said Vietnam’s statement represented the country “wanting to flex its muscles and show that it is the boss of Cambodia and can order Cambodia to do what it wants”.
Setha said that the protests would continue unless an apology was forthcoming.
“If Cambodia takes any action to ban its own people [from having] the right to protest, it means Cambodia is a puppet of Vietnam,” he said, before praising the authorities’ handling of the recent demonstrations.

Setha, who is also a senior opposition party official, said he did not condone the burning of flags, though he questioned why Vietnam was condemning it, given Chinese flags were recently burned in that country.Separately yesterday, Um Sam An, an opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmaker in Siem Reap province, said he planned to summon Foreign Minister Hor Namhong to parliament to answer questions on the issue.“I would ask Hor Namhong why he didn’t react to the Vietnamese spokesman in Cambodia … and I want him to invite the Vietnamese ambassador to Cambodia to answer some questions about why the Vietnamese government did not reply to [our] petition,” he said.

Vietnam’s official line on the flag burning was reported widely in the local media there, but online, netizens expressed differing reactions to the incident.On one forum, Vietnamese weighed in to back Cambodians’ right to public protest.“It looks like [Vietnam] is overreacting and its attitude is interfering in other countries’ internal affairs. [Cambodia] absolutely has the right to burn the flag. VN cannot ban people like Iraq, Iran, [North] Korea and so on,” one user posted.
But a Vietnamese nationalist Facebook page with almost 200,000 likes called “Patriot’s Journal” said that Khmer Krom activists were treading on Vietnamese sovereignty.
One comment referred to Khmer Krom as “Vietnam’s land raiders”.

Saigon-Vung Tau hydrofoils to resume operation

The hydrofoil was on fire in January.

Their operations were suspended by the city for seven months after a fire broke out on a hydrofoil on Saigon River.Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has directed relevant agencies to re-license hydrofoils on the HCM City-Vung Tau route which meet safety standards."The resumption will depend on repair work and registrations that help ensure that hydrofoils will ensure safe services," said Nguyen Van Thuan, head of the Safety Transportation Department, at a meeting in HCM City on Monday.Operators have been ordered to make all repairs and equip their hydrofoils with more fire-fighting devices. Thuan said the hydrofoils would resume service if they passed inspection.
These boats will have to be equipped with modern devices to control fires and explosions and have safety equipment for passengers, including anti-flammable clothes and anti-poison gas masks.
Mr. Tran Ky Hinh, Director of the Vietnam Register, said that the agency would carefully check hydrofoils before re-licensing.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Cong said the ministry’s inspectorate will conduct a number of unexpected inspections. If technical faults are found, hydrofoil operators will receive a warning for the first infringement, followed by a suspension for one month and one year for the second and third violations respectively.Bui Cong Trung, chairman of Vina Express, said the hydrofoil operator had paid over VND200 million (US$9,400) per month in salary for the company's staff, and VND200 million in docking, office and maintenance costs because of the prolonged service suspensions.Three companies provide hydrofoil services on the HCM City-Vung Tau route, including Vina Express, Greenlines and Petro Express, with more than 20 hydrofoils.
Tran Quoc Hieu, deputy director of PetroExpress, meanwhile said the company has spent over VND300 million a month on relevant costs over the past six months and its budget has almost run dry.

Most of the hydrofoils are old and were imported from Russia and Eastern Europe. Some boats have been used for over 20 years.In June, the Vietnam Register disciplined the six officers of the vehicle registration bureau No. 6 in HCM City for granting the operation certificates for hydrofoil Vina Express 01 even though the vessel had defects and then caught fire on the Saigon River in January.
The officials were also blamed for making mistakes during the registration of two other hydrofoils running on the HCM City - Vung Tau route.At noon on January 20, the Vina Express 01 hydrofoil departed the Bach Dang Wharf in HCM City to Vung Tau City, carrying 85 passengers, including 37 foreigners and seven crew members.

About 2km from the Phu My Bridge, sailors discovered fire from the hold. Passengers and the crew members jumped off the ship and were rescued in a timely fashion so there were no casualties.
After the incident, the city government suspended all hydrofoils operating on the Ho Chi Minh City - Vung Tau route from January 22 and established a joint working group to investigate the incident and check all hydrofoils.In late April, the Ministry of Transport asked the Prime Minister's approval for the suspension of hydrofoils in HCM City because these vessels were too old and did not meet safety standards. All of the hydrofoils that ran on the HCM City-Vung Tau route were not allowed to resume operation.

Fake monks in Mekong Delta

Fake monks demanding money is very common in the southwestern region. Below is a photo story about a group of fake monks in Can Tho City.

In a boarding house near the old bus station in Long Xuyen City, An Giang province, there is a group of people who shave their heads and wear clothes like Buddhist monks. In the morning, they take a bus to Can Tho City and then go to markets to beg for money. Two fake nuns are named Ha and Nam.   The two fake nuns and a fake monk in the market.  At noon, this fake monk enters a toilet to take slippers on.    He then takes a motorcycle taxi to National Highway 1A to catch a bus to An Giang. Along the way, he smokes cigarettes.   The fake monk buys rice to eat on the bus.   On the same bus are fake nuns Ha and Nam. They count money after a morning of begging for money.   Ha puts change in her bag.   A day later at another market, reporters discover Nam begging for money, without Ha. Nearby is another fake monk who collects a lot of money. According to Venerable Thich Binh Tam, Vice Chair of the Can Tho Buddhist Sangha, all monks and nuns must be allowed by the shangha to beg for food only. Those who beg for money are fake monks and nuns.

Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad stripped of gold for impromptu strip

 

It may have seemed like a good idea at the time but Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad's bizarre celebration in the home straight of the men's 3,000m steeeplechase at the European championships was to cost him dear.Approaching the final barrier, the Frenchman had the race and gold medal in the bag, having a enough time in hand to showboat by stripping off his running vest before putting it into his mouth and waving to the crowd.Fans in the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich jeered as he crossed the finishing line clear of his teammate Yoann Kowal in eight minutes 25.30 seconds -- his third straight victory in the event at the championships after 2010 and 2012.

The 29-year-old had the presence of mind to put his top back after the finish, but the damage was done.

He was initially shown a yellow card as a warning by an official, but an appeal by Spain on behalf of fourth placed athlete Angel Mullera led to his disqualification.His French team lodged a counter-protest but that was rejected, with Mekhissi-Benabbad disqualified under IAAF competition rules 143.1, 143.7.Mullera was promoted to the bronze as result of the ruling."I find that the protest lodged by the Spaniards is anti fair-play," Ghani Yalouzsa, the technical director of the French athletics federation, was quoted by AFP.But the double Olympic silver medalist is no stranger to controversy. After winning his 2012 Euro gold in Helsinki he was criticized for shoving a mascot who offered him a gift.The year before, Mekhissi-Benabbad was involved in a punch-up with French teammate Mehdi Baala at the 2011 Monaco Diamond League meeting, trading blows while they were still on the track and earning a five-month suspension from their federation.

A Thousand Protesters in Myanmar Demand Court Drop Charges on Farmers

Around 1,000 farmers demonstrated in Myanmar’s northern Sagaing region Wednesday demanding that the authorities drop charges against comrades who had held protests calling for the return of land confiscated by the previous military junta.

Farmers in Kantbalu township held posters and shouted slogans calling on the government to drop charges against more than 300 who had also protested in May against the land grab, including 60 who had been convicted of trespassing on the disputed property.

The junta had seized their land covering 3,500 acres (1,416 hectares) and handed it to sugar companies in the 1990s, according to the protesters. 

Protest leader Tin Tun Naing said they wanted the Sagaing Regional Court to overturn last month’s sentencing by a lower court of about 60 farmers to between three months and three years in prison for the May protest, in which they defiantly tilled land used by the sugar companies.

“We are protesting because farmers were detained and sentenced unfairly, as there is no rule of law for us,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

Tin Tun Naing said that the group, which had obtained official permission to hold Wednesday’s gathering, “will continue our protest at the district and regional level.”

The Irrawaddy online journal quoted protester Aung Khaing, among those facing charges, as saying that the farmers had complained to the Kantbalu District Court about the sentencing of their comrades, but that their grievances went unheard.

“We just want justice, our lands back and the release of our friends,” he said.

The farmers had expected to gather thousands of people for Wednesday’s protest, which involved a march to the township government office, but heavy rains prevented many from attending, local reports said.

Roughly 240 other farmers are awaiting their verdicts in the trial over the May protest in coming weeks and many could face imprisonment, according to the Irrawaddy.

The Kantbalu farmers have been trying to reclaim their land for several years and have filed several complaints with authorities.

Land seizures by the army were widespread during the military junta rule stretching five decades until 2011.

After President Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government took power following elections and began enacting democratic reforms, the Ministry of Defense announced it would return confiscated lands to farm communities across the country.

After the announcement, the Irrawaddy said, around 100 farmers in Kantbalu were told by local authorities that they would receive several acres of land each.

However, the companies which leased the land has reportedly refused to vacate their sugar plantations and only a few farmers received back some land, sparking the May protest.

Support for farmers

On Wednesday, Nyi Pu, a central committee member of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, called on the authorities to return the land to the Kantbalu farmers.

“They are already poor and their lives are getting worse … [Before the current administration] they couldn’t do anything to get it back as they lacked laws to protect them under the former military government,” he told RFA.

Nyi Pu said that the farmers were now pushing for the land they had been promised would be returned to them and exercising their right to protest under the new freedoms afforded by Thein Sein’s administration.

“They were happy because they were told that their lands would be returned to them but, actually, [little land was returned] and more farmers were … charged. That’s why they are protesting,” he said.

“In my opinion, their lands should be returned to them as soon as possible.”

Su Su Nway, an activist championing the cause of the farmers, said that while the government and sugar companies said that they had given land back to the residents after the decree by the Ministry of Defense, “it was only about one-third of what was confiscated.”

“[Also], when the farmers reported the confiscation, the authorities never took action against the offenders,” she said.

“That’s why the farmers’ anger is growing—it is as if the government is creating instability in the country.”

Local law

Aung Thein Lin, a lawmaker for the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and a member of the parliamentary Farmland Investigation Commission—which was formed in 2012 to look into allegations of land grabbing—said disputes like the one in Kantbalu were caused by local authorities disregarding central laws.

“We have laws for these land problems and they could be resolved if the local level authorities approach them according to law,” he said.

“According to [the existing] land law, there is no right to lease these confiscated lands to others. If someone does it, it is breaking the law.”

Aung Thein Lin said that his commission had received thousands of complaints over land confiscation since it was formed two years ago and that the government had already resolved many of the cases.

“Some received compensation and others did not … We have to investigate each individual problem to decide whether the petitioner is right or not,” he said.

In December, the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) accused Myanmar's military of grabbing land and hiding the seizures under a false veneer of legality, saying the actions cast doubt on the country’s commitment to political reform after decades under military rule.

Activists also say Myanmar is facing a scourge of land seizures by the government, private companies, and the well-connected as the former pariah state opens up to global foreign investment.

Some of the disputes involve residents displaced from their homes, while many involve farmers kicked off their fields.