All the News Without Fear or Favor The Cambodia daily Volume 64 Issue 12 Friday, April 1, 2016 2,000 riel/50 cents Seized Timber Will Be Used For Schools Hun Sen announces new protected forests By Kuch NareN The CamboDIa DaIly Prime Minister Hun Sen yester- day abolished the country’s flawed system of auctioning off seized il- licit timber, saying that in the future all confiscated wood would be handed over to the Education Min- istry to build schools and desks for pupils. The premier also announced that Prey Lang, Southeast Asia’s largest deciduous lowland forest, which stretches across four prov - inces in central Cambodia, would become a protected area, along with Phnom Kravanh forest in Pur- Siv Channa/The Cambodia Daily sat province. Outspoken land rights activist Tep Vanny shouts at police during a rally in Phnom Penh yesterday morning. Speaking at the annual meeting Some 200 protesters from dozens of lakeside communities gathered to call on authorities to stop filling in of the Education Ministry in Phnom the city's lakes. (Story page 5) Penh yesterday, Mr. Hun Sen said the new wood-recycling initiative was his solution to Education Min- UN Envoy Sees Rights Deteriorate in Absence ister Hang Chuon Naron’s com- plaint that the ministry did not have By ZsomBor Peter been issued an arrest warrant over ment and sentenced to a year and a enough resources. The prime min- The CamboDIa DaIly a years-old defamation conviction half in prison for a Facebook post ister said the country’s current sys- The U.N.’s human rights envoy widely seen as politically motivated. suggesting a “color revolution,” a tem of dealing with confiscated to Cambodia said the political cli- Two CNRP lawmakers were se- phrase generally understood to timber was simply not working. mate had clearly deteriorated in verely beaten outside the National refer to regime change through “In the past, whenever we con- the six months since her first fact- Assembly during an anti-opposition peaceful protest. fiscated, we always found a bidder finding mission and that the coun- protest. CNRP vice president Kem “I think there is undoubtedly a for exporting. But when they re- try remained at a “dangerous Sokha is facing a corruption inves- difference between my mission in ceived the export rights, logging tipping point” ahead of commune tigation on the back of mysteriously September and now,” Ms. Smith still occurred,” Mr. Hun Sen said and national elections. leaked re cordings of private tele- said yesterday during a press con- yesterday. Since Rhona Smith’s first visit as phone conversations allegedly be- ference in Phnom Penh capping a “From this day on, all wood that special rapporteur in September, tween him and at least two two-week mission to the country. is illegally felled and later seized opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who mis tresses. And a university stu- “There have been a number of Continued on page 2 remains in self-imposed exile, has dent has been convicted of incite- Continued on page 2 In Cambodia, ‘Who Does Not Have a Mistress?’ By alex WillemyNs “To show the ethics of a law- ings trickle out online, Mr. Vun’s aNd Kuch NareN maker, he should resign from his denunciation seemed overly pious. The CamboDIa DaIly parliamentary position if it’s true.” “If what he says is true, 60 per- For ruling party lawmaker Warning of an inquiry akin to the cent of the men in Cambodia could Chheang Vun, the claim that deputy impeachment proceedings against be accused of violations of wom - opposition leader Kem former U.S. President Bill Clinton, en’s rights,” Thida Khus, a promi- News Sokha took a series of Analysis Mr. Vun said the state was obliged nent advocate for women and head young mistresses is a to investigate the leaked phone of the Committee to Promote simple moral issue. calls supposedly proving Mr. So - Women in Politics, said on Voice “He should be held responsible Police Block Families of kha’s affairs. of Democracy radio. Mother Nature Activists for this scandal since the value of For a public already tiring of a “This is a private issue; it doesn’t Page 3 the Khmer women he cheated has monthlong moralizing crusade need to be taken out in public like fallen,” Mr. Vun told reporters on against Mr. Sokha, which has seen this,” she added, before raising cambodiadaily.com Tuesday. dozens of sometimes lewd record- Continued on page 7 មានដំណឹងបែែសមែួលជាភាសាខ្មែរនៅខាងក្នុង The Daily Newspaper of Record Since 1993 2 The Cambodia daily friDay, april 1, 2016 and also newsmaker Filled to the Brim With Heroin n CAIrO - World Footballer of the Year lionel meSSi found himself the un- reuTerS hicle violations. During the stop a likely figure of controversy in Egypt after a local politician and a football of- A New York man was charged sniffer dog indicated the presence ficial reacted angrily when he donated a pair of his boots to raise money for with drug trafficking and other of drugs, Vermont State Police said charity. The MBC Masr channel broadcast an interview last Saturday with crimes after authorities in Vermont in a press release. Barcelona’s Messi on the television program “Yes I Am Famous,” but the discovered the equivalent of more No drugs were found in the ve- announcement that the Argentina forward would auction his boots for char- than 1,400 bags of heroin hidden hicle, and police sought a warrant ity provoked an unexpected response. Member of parliament and television in his body, state police said on for a body cavity search of Estrella, presenter Said Hasasin, appearing on his own talk show, took off his shoes Wednesday. the release said. and said he would donate them to the poor of Argentina. “Whose shoes do Fernando Estrella, 41, of the At a nearby hospital, “approxi- you want to sell, Messi? How much do you think it will get? You don’t know Bronx, was pulled over by officers mately 1428 bags worth of heroin that the nail of a baby Egyptian is worth more than your shoes? Keep your in St. Albans City, Vermont, on was located in Estrella,” the release shoes to yourself or sell them to Israel. Messi, we Egyptians are 90 million Tuesday for numerous motor ve- said. people, who have pride, we have shoes.” (Reuters) tablished in January to root out per- Timber... sistent illegal logging in the coun- try’s northeast. continued from page 1 “From this day on, we will transer all seized wood to “If the wood is 30,000 or 40,000 will no longer be for sale,” he said. cubic meters, please, Excellency use in the education sector.” “Now stop.... From this day on, we Hang Chuon Naron, manage to use —Hun Sen, will transfer all seized wood to use it for building schools—or windows prime miniSter in the education sector.” or chairs or tables or building ac- Although the 2002 Forestry Law commodation for teachers. It’s up to stipulates that the government must the Ministry of Education,” he said. local residents—who have held can keep our forests,” he suggested. put all wood seized from illegal log- Mr. Hun Sen also announced many high-profile marches through Hoeun Sopheap, a member of gers up for public auction, there is that he had granted a joint request Prey Lang to call attention to defor- the Prey Lang grassroots network, no evidence the auctions are actually from the ministries of environment estation and environmental depre- applauded the decision to desig- being held, despite the fact that Mr. and agriculture to designate Prey dation—should join with the nate the forest as a protected area Hun Sen’s personal assistant heads Lang and Phnom Kravanh forests gov ernment to ensure the protec- but said that it would be best if the the committee that arranges them. protected areas. Activists have for tion order is respected. grassroots network was allowed to Instead, timber magnate Try Pheap years been pushing to have the “Those who have ordained trees continue its work—including reg- has received first rights to purchase 650,000-hectare Prey Lang forest or civil society [groups] who have ular forest patrols during which ac- all seized wood in exchange for a ne- receive formal protected status, ar- ordained trees by tying monk’s tivists confront loggers and seize gotiated payment to the state. guing that it is an irreplaceable nat- robes [around them], get all of their equipment. The school- and desk-building ural resource. them to join in the movement to “We have seen many protected will start, the prime minister said, “We decided to make a number protect the forests,” he said. forests with the signature of the with a haul of 30,000 to 40,000 cubic of forests into protected forests, He encouraged the Environment king suffer from deforestation for meters of wood that has been con- such as Prey Lang forest, which Ministry to continue suggesting new logs, so communities and activists fiscated by a special task force led cannot exist like this, so it is now forests as candidates for protection. should be allowed to work with the by National Military Police Com- made a protected forest,” he said, “Any good forests, just make government to protect the pro- mander Sao Sokha, which was es- adding that forestry activists and them a protected forest, so then we tected forest areas,” he said. now than in September,” she said. irrespective of the political affilia- and fairly to all political parties and Envoy..