Some 200 surveillance cameras installed at Phnom Penh’s traffic lights were switched on for the first time yesterday, the National Police and Ministry of Interior announced.

“These cameras will send data immediately to us, and we will be able to command our forces [to respond to] traffic crimes and other crimes that happen unexpectedly,” said Min Vanna, department director of the National Police’s radio centre.

The cameras are part of a $3 million equipment package offered from China’s Public Security Ministry. Hu Bin Chen, deputy director of international cooperation at the Chinese ministry, yesterday said China plans to donate additional HD cameras, along with fire engines and water cannons in 2016.

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“I believe that the cooperation of both countries’ ministries of interior plays an important role in security for both countries’ populations,” he said.

Vanna confirmed that his department will get between 400 and 500 cameras to install in streets, parks, tourist locations, VIP’s homes and other high-traffic areas. “Only 200 [cameras] in Phnom Penh is not enough,” Kirth Chantharith, National Police spokesman, said yesterday. “We need them across the whole country.”

He dismissed concerns that growing surveillance will lead to misuse. “We are a free country and human rights will be protected, don’t worry about that,” he said. “Surveillance cameras are used everywhere in the world. Our purpose is control and safety.”

Additional reporting by Igor Kossov

The head of the youth group seen leading a protest outside the National Assembly in October – attendees of which brutally assaulted two opposition lawmakers– is an assistant to Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to a decree released online.

Pankhem Bunthan, executive director of the Youth Federation of Senaneak, whose members in June swore an oath of fealty to the premier, was appointed to the role in May, according to a directive signed by the premier and obtained yesterday.

Bunthan is shown in pictures, circulated on social media, holding a megaphone in front of a crowd of protesters, who gathered outside parliament on October 26 demanding that Cambodia National Rescue Party vice president Kem Sokha be removed as the parliament’s first vice president, an ousting that occurred soon after.

After most of the 2,000-strong crowd dispersed, a group of protesters – including one man pictured standing near Bunthan – viciously attacked opposition lawmakers Nhay Chamroeun and Kong Saphea.

Bunthan, who was unavailable yesterday, has previously downplayed his group’s role in the rally – which was foreshadowed by Hun Sen the night before – saying about a dozen members merely attended to observe the demonstration.

Though evidence has emerged linking at least two of three suspects charged to the prime minister’s personal bodyguard unit, the group has denied involvement.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan yesterday said he was unaware of the Bunthan’s appointment but added that the premier’s assistants were vetted to ensure they had no criminal history.

The National Assembly will on Thursday decorate lawmakers from both the ruling party and opposition with medals for their hard work for the nation.

Even opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who remains in self-imposed exile to avoid jail on incitement charges and was last month stripped of his lawmaker status by the CPP, will receive the honour, according to parliament secretary general Leng Peng Long.

Peng Long said the medal, and an accompanying certificate, was automatically given to parliamentarians twice during each mandate, with Thursday’s batch the first such decorations handed out during the current fifth legislature.

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said the party’s 55 legislators deserved the medal for their efforts, though no one would be forced to attend the ceremony.

CPP spokesman Chheang Vun said Rainsy was still eligible for the decoration as it was planned “before he had a problem”.

The disputed 2013 elections sparked an almost year-long parliamentary boycott by Cambodia National Rescue Party candidates, who took their seats following a political deal in July last year.

Two Phnom Penh residents were convicted of drug trafficking at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday.

Heng Lili, 38, and Chhim Kakruna, 34, were arrested in a March raid of their rental home in Trapaing Chhouk, a village known by authorities for its rampant drug trade, in the capital’s Sen Sok district, according to Kor Vandy, the presiding judge.

The March 19 raid resulted in the seizure of 27 packages of powdered methamphetamine and 749 pills of yama from the pair, who were convicted under Article 40 of the Anti-Drug Law, which carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison along with a 10 million riel fine (about $2,500).

“The court sentences Heng Lili, alias ‘Srey Oun’ [little sister], to five years, but the term of her punishment to be implemented is only three years. The rest of her sentence was suspended. And she is fined 10 million riel,” Vandy said, reading the verdict.

“The court sentences Chhim Kakruna to two years in prison, and a fine of 4 million riel [about $1,000],” the judge continued.

According to the court, Lili received a reduced sentence as she is a mother of twins under a year old. Lili was believed to be the main distributor of the drugs in this case, while Kakruna worked for her as a pusher seeking out clients.

The defendants could not be reached for comment.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, who lost an eye fighting for the Khmer Rouge during the April 1975 battle for Phnom Penh, is sick and tired of being called “a blind eye guy”.

Speaking at a charity event for the disabled yesterday, the premier said he began to use social media such as Facebook to “educate” people, and said a slew of negative comments poking fun at his disability had not gone down well.

“I have had enough of insults from people, such as ‘blind eye guy’, even though I am the incumbent prime minister,” he said. “This is seriously insulting, and now on my Facebook page.”

He added that he had instructed his aides to record all instances where the slur was used and post comments in response, rather than blocking users, “as a way to educate people not to use this kind of language”.

Hun Sen announced in September that a Facebook page long believed to be his official account was indeed authentic, shortly after it passed 1 million “likes”.

At yesterday’s event – the 20th anniversary of Hun Sen’s support for deaf, blind and mute charity work – he added that many of the disabled children in the audience were adept social media users, proficient in programs such as Line and Whatsapp, whereas even some senior Cambodian People’s Party officials struggled to come to grips with the digital age.

The government is failing to enforce, or even make landlords and tenants aware of, the new rent-control law, even as rents begin to creep up in anticipation of garment workers receiving their annual wage raise next month, labour advocates say.

The legislation, which went into effect in August after being publicly pushed for by Prime Minister Hun Sen in a February speech, requires landlords to negotiate prices with low-income tenants – like students and garment workers – then sign an agreement to lock in the price for two years. The pacts must be endorsed by the local commune chief.

However, those in the garment sector have long complained that their rents rise with their wages. And as workers in the garment industry prepare to receive a 9.3 per cent pay bump when the minimum wage increases to $140 next month, reports are already emerging that some landlords have increased rents by 10 per cent – without providing guarantees that prices won’t rise further – according to union leader Pav Sina.

“Since the law was passed and approved for implementation, the authorities have done nothing to enforce or spread information about it to landlords or workers,” said Sina, president of the Cambodian Union for the Movement of Workers. “Workers have not received any benefit from the law; whenever the minimum wage increases, the rent will increase too.”

With average rents between $40 and $50, “some areas have already increased the rental fee by $4 or $5 per room, especially in the Veng Sreng [Boulevard] area”, Sina said.

Yesterday, Hem Dararith, governor of Por Sen Chey district, which includes parts of Veng Sreng, said authorities had informed landlords and tenants about the legislation.

“We have announced the new contract law already, but the rental fee can increase depending on what the two parties agree to in the contract” he said.

But many still appear unaware of their rights.

Lao Samnang, a 23-year-old garment worker from Prey Veng province who shares a room with four people, said their rent increased $5.50 in October to $60 without any negotiation.

“I did not know why the house owner increased the rental fee; I also heard from a friend living in another area that theirs increased too,” she said. “I was not aware of a rental contract; I just only follow the requirement of the house owner.”

Landlord Sok Pich, who owns 150 rental rooms in Meanchey district and charges between $35 and $40 a month, said he had not received any official information about the law, though had heard about it “on the news”.

“I don’t have any plan to increase rental fees, even though I know other landlords now are increasing theirs,” he said, adding that he had not negotiated any rental contracts with his tenants.

Bun Van, a representative of around 4,000 workers in the Canadia Industrial Park, said rent for about 80 per cent of rooms in the district had increased between $5 and $7.

Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, slammed the new law as ineffective, saying rent and utilities were still squeezing workers.

“Rental room fees have increased in almost every area. I have got many complaints about this problem,” Thorn said.

Speaking yesterday, Ministry of Labour spokesman Heng Sour said local authorities were responsible for enforcing the law, which he said was effective 30 days after its adoption.

Phnom Penh municipality spokesman Long Dimanche, however, said he was unaware of the legislation, but said the city would take action.

“If the rental contract law was signed by the King, we will make the announcement for authorities to enforce it,” he said.

According to a copy of the legislation on the National Assembly website, King Norodom Sihamoni signed the bill on July 29.

Banteay Meanchey provincial authorities yesterday promoted a new director of Provincial Customs and Excise to replace his predecessor, seven months after an office under his jurisdiction was at the centre of a riot.

Thorng Phosokhamphu, the previous customs director, was transferred to Kampong Thom province. His replacement, Chher Sophea, the Oddar Meanchey provincial director of customs and excise, was tapped to replace him.

Phosokhamphu was in charge during a demonstration by porters against customs officers at the Poipet office in May that turned violent and left four people injured. The protesters said that import taxes and unofficial fees exacted by police were cutting into their livelihoods.

But Hiv Kemheng, deputy director of the General Department of Taxation, said that Phosokhamphu’s replacement was unrelated to the riots.

“It is a normal change in the state’s working system,” he said.

However, Korsum Saroeuth, Banteay Meanchey provincial governor, alluded to Phosokhamphu’s shortcomings, even as he expressed his confidence in Sophea yesterday.

“I hope that the earlier inactiveness [by the customs leader], which led to the criticism from the public, will never happen again,” he said.

Phosokhamphu told customs personnel to cooperate with the new leadership, and vowed to work harder at his new position.

Separately, Hou Puthvisal, the director of Phnom Penh’s PJ Prison will be replaced today by Pich Chorn, deputy director of the General Department of Prisons at the Ministry of Interior.

Puthvisal will be transferred to work at the prison department.

Officials did not explain the replacement. Neither Puthvisal nor Chorn were available for comment.

Representatives of 253 families embroiled in a land dispute with government officials in Preah Vihear province yesterday came to Phnom Penh to seek intervention after being ignored by provincial authorities, they said.

Officials including CPP lawmaker Sous Yara and local authorities colluded to grab the villagers’ 3,353 hectares of land in 2010, according to Kan Ngem, the village chief of Svay Chrum, where the dispute is ongoing.

Officials say that the area is protected, but villagers, most of whom were forced to move out, suspect that this is a lie.

"[Yara] asked for my land; I do not know what he is going to do with it, but I replied that I cannot hand it to you since it’s not only my land but will affect 70 other families," said Ngem.

"After that, [Yara] said if you do not give it to me, you will not live peacefully."

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday denied the bail request of alleged British fraudster Gregg Fryett, despite his defence presenting new evidence from the Ministry of Interior that appears to clear him of at least one of the charges of which he stands accused.

Fryett – who is also wanted in Britain for allegedly cheating elderly investors – has been charged in Cambodian court with fraud with aggravating circumstances, bribery, faking public documents, using the fake documents and clearing and occupying state forests illegally.

However, according to Ministry of Interior documents presented by his defence yesterday, the forests in question had already been cleared upon their sale to Fryett by Mao Maley, a businesswoman and the wife of Deputy Prime Minister Ke Kimyan.

The ministry’s investigation said nothing about the other charges against Fryett, and presiding judge Chuon Soreasey ruled that it was still necessary to keep him in jail to ensure his presence at his upcoming trial.

“If he does not accept this court’s decision, he can appeal it to Court of Appeal under the procedures of Cambodian law,” Soreasey said.

In an email yesterday, Fryett said he would do just that, and called the case against him “a clearly illegal prosecution” in light of the new evidence, of which there would be more to follow, he said.

“There is more evidence to come to court,” he said. “We shall see how far the current court wants to go.”

A police officer was tried yesterday at Phnom Penh Municipal Court for allegedly selling methamphetamines in the capital’s Prek Thmey commune, in Chbar Ampov district.

Tork Chanthy, 30, a police officer working with the special intervention unit at the Ministry of Interior, was arrested on February 11 and later charged with drug trafficking under Article 40 of Cambodia’s Anti-drug Law, judge Ros Piseth told the court.

“He was arrested after he had sold drugs to drug users in a tree farm in Prek Thmey commune,” he said.

“Police seized three packages of methamphetamine powder weighing 1.2 grams, scales for weighing drugs, a pistol, a motorbike, and other drug-related material.”

Chanthy denied the charges but admitted he was a drug user, saying the drugs found on him had been purchased for his personal use. The court should drop the charges and let him go free, he added.

“I was not a drug seller, I was only a drug user. I have bought these drugs for my own use only,” he told the court.

The verdict is due on the morning of December 28.

The Ministry of Heath on Monday ordered pharmacies to halt the sale of unapproved diet pill Mazeta Slim, a purportedly American drug that the ministry said actually likely originates in China.

In a statement from Health Minister Mam Bunheng, the Kingdom’s pharmacies are advised under threat of the law to stop sale of Mazeta Slim, produced by Greatwallbuy International Trading Co, Ltd, whose listed address is a house in a California suburb.

While the pills’ packaging – complete with an American flag – suggests the product was made in the USA, inspection by officials revealed the distributer is based in Hong Kong, according to ministry secretary of state Chou Yinsim, who also said the product can be purchased online.

Online ads can be easily found touting the product at $18 a package, as can additional addresses for the producer listed in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China.

Yinsim said that the ban on sale was issued because “we are afraid of [Mazeta Slim] harming the user’s health”.

“We are still searching for this medicine throughout the provinces,” he continued, although he could not say how much of the product was on the market.

The ministry released a warning letter the same day to Phsar Tapang pharmacy – in the capital’s Phsar Thmey I commune – which was found carrying the supplement, saying it would be shut down if the pills were found there a second time.

A Phsar Tapang pharmacist, who declined to be named, said it was the ministry’s responsibility to crack down on importers, and that his pharmacy had been unfairly singled out and “fined a lot of money”.

“The Ministry of Health should take action on the medicine importer,” he said, adding that the weight loss supplement “was not only sold in my pharmacy; other pharmacies also sell it”.

What’s more, according to the pharmacist, Mazeta Slim is an “effective and popular medicine, as well as a best seller”.

Indeed, a box of the “Best Weight Loss product” was easily acquired for $7 at a pharmacy on another major boulevard whose pharmacist, while aware of the ban, happily defended the sale.

“That medicine is not harmful to the user, so we can sell it; this medicine is one of the popular slimming products in my pharmacy,” she said, adding that “if registered, the product would be more expensive and would be hard to sell out”.

“[The ministry] is trying to get them [Mazeta Slim] to register for their own benefit,” she said, adding that Mazeta Slim remains readily available from distributors.

According to pills’ packaging, the ingredients are all natural, ranging from household herbs, such as tarragon; to a naturally derived diuretic, Job’s tears; to psyllium, an appetite suppressant capable of causing swelling of the throat, though only in high doses.

Yim Yann, honorary president of the Pharmaceutical Association of Cambodia said that while it is the ministry’s duty to issue such a ban, “pharmacists should have the morality to follow the ministry’s order . . . to avoid any harm to user[s]” and that drug importers often avoid registration for their own benefit.

The two vast special economic zones at the centre of unruly garment strikes in the border town of Bavet sat mostly empty yesterday after local authorities told workers to stop going to work for two days, even though high-level authorities later denied that any order for a work stoppage was given.

The Post saw numerous policemen along the highway connecting Bavet’s Tai Seng and Manhattan SEZs, guarding the roads that trucks packed with garment workers usually barrel down, while workers said village chiefs informed them not to go work.

Phay Sophorn, chief of Kandieng Reay village in Svay Rieng’s Svay Tiep district, confirmed that yesterday, saying district police told him on Tuesday night to inform all 363 garment workers in his village not to go to work.

“It is to reduce tensions and give time for the higher levels to find a solution,” he said.Policeman Doung Chanty said he was informed by district police to turn around any garment trucks going towards the factories due to a planned two-day work stoppage.

Chan Saban, a 29-year-old worker at the Kingmaker factory in the Manhattan SEZ, said she could not go to work because “authorities want to reduce tension”. Numerous other workers said the same.

Despite the evidence, provincial administration director Ros Tharith denied workers were told by authorities not to go to work, blaming false rumours and the workers’ own safety concerns.

Ken Loo, spokesman for the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, echoed the remarks, saying that “in the first place, there weren’t many workers who decided to come to work this morning”.

With no place for masses of workers to organise, Bavet was quiet yesterday for the first time this week.

Bavet’s Tai Seng and Manhattan SEZs, which employ more than 34,000 workers, have been rocked by clashes between protesters and police for a week, with both sides alleging violence.

On Tuesday, simmering unrest boiled over when two military policemen were injured by rock-throwing protesters.

Authorities scrambled to find a resolution on Tuesday, promising to release four workers arrested last Friday on bail, while village chiefs received the work stoppage order that same night.

But workers remain tense about the prospects of peace following bitter clashes over demands to raise the minimum wage of $128 by $20 in the coming year rather than the $12 increase mandated by the government in October.

One major point of contention is potential strike-related salary cuts.

Ken Loo of GMAC said a “no work, no pay” policy was in place for the two days off, although factories had some discretion.

“If anybody does not come to work, that person has no right to wages. At the same time, it is the employer’s full right to provide any remuneration if they want to.”

Still, Manhattan SEZ manager Rex Lee said factories were open to discussing “incentives” for workers.

Acknowledging the situation’s high stakes, the International Labour Organization said in a statement yesterday that “recent confrontations are not constructive means of industrial action”.

“The current frictions if not addressed promptly and effectively might become a cause for concern for all parties.”

Preah Vihear provincial authorities cracked down last week on an illegal gold mining operation occurring inside a land concession belonging to a Chinese company in Rovieng district.

Unauthorised mining is common both inside and outside the 2008 concession to Cambodia WS Mining Industry Holding Ltd, known to locals as CWS, which is located near Romtum commune’s Trapang Tutem village, local authorities said yesterday.

Kong Makara, director of the provincial mines and energy department, said that following the crackdown led by the department, CWS had deployed guards to patrol the area.

“So far, the lawless mining took place on the company’s land . . . the company is deploying its guards there,” Makara said before declining to comment further.

Rovieng District Governor Eh Sarou said the families involved with the mining were warned to stop or to seek permission to mine legally.

Uk Ngar, Trapang Tuntem village chief, said the number of local miners is very low and that most are migrants hailing from Battambang, Kampong Thom and elsewhere in Preah Vihear.

“[For] about 20 years already, gold mining on a family scale has taken place, but later on, the Chinese and Vietnamese companies came and invested, they used vehicles such as excavators to dig their mines,” he said.

CWS could not be reached for comment.

A new political party has entered the election race, becoming the seventh to launch since the 2013 poll.

The Cambodian Youth Party (CYP), which claims to have 3,000 members, will hold a press conference today to publicise its platform.

Speaking yesterday, CYP president Pich Sros, a former head of NGO the United Organization for Progress, said, if elected, CYP would introduce US-inspired legislative limits on a prime minister’s power, including a maximum term of two five-year mandates.

Taking a stab at Prime Minister Hun Sen’s vast assets, Sros also proposed a dedicated residence for the country’s top leader while in office, and a reduction in the number of the premier’s assigned bodyguards.

“In which country does a prime minister have houses and millions of [dollars] like this?”

To avoid graft, “we [would] limit the premier’s living arrangements like the United States. We have seen that United States has the White House; every president has stayed there”.

Sros, who has submitted registration papers to the Interior Ministry though his party is 1,000 members short of the 4,000 required by law, said the CYP would also make youth unemployment a priority and create a new National Election Committee.

A flurry of small parties have thrown their hats in the ring ahead of commune and national elections in 2017 and 2018, respectively, with some observers saying the ruling CPP may want to encourage new entrants to split the opposition CNRP’s vote.

A former UN peacekeeper disabled while serving in Mali has requested help from the government and the United Nations to secure adequate compensation.

Pea Sophorn, 35, penned a letter dated December 11 to Claire Van der Vaeren, the UN resident coordinator for Cambodia, stating his service as a medic in Mali in 2014 where he fell ill from food poisoning, causing blindness.

Repatriated in September 2014, Sophon wrote that he sold all his property to pay for treatment.

“Now I am hopeless, since I lost everything” he said, pleading for the UN to provide redress.

Speaking yesterday, Sophon said the UN had not yet replied but added that Sem Sovanny – the general director of the National Centre for Peacekeeping Forces (NPMEC) – offered 1 million riel (about $250) and some food.

“I do not know what to do if the government is poor . . . the UN should take the responsibility because the accident happened when I was fulfilling my duty in the UN mandate,” he said.

NPMEC deputy director-general Phal Samorn said the government had attended to Sophon’s case and is preparing a request to the UN. Samorn also confirmed that Sophon is receiving his monthly army disability salary.

In an email yesterday, Van der Vaeren’s office confirmed receipt of Sophon’s letter and said a meeting with the NPMEC is scheduled for next week.

Senior officials at the Ministry of Interior have concluded a preliminary investigation into allegations that Cambodians living along the border with Vietnam have been illegally leasing land to Vietnamese farmers.

About 1,000 families owning almost 7,000 hectares of land in five provinces have rented the territory out without the government’s permission, the preliminary investigation found, according to Chan Chansopheak, director of the Interior Ministry’s General Department of Administration.

Chansopheak said the data was received this week from provincial authorities in Takeo, Svay Rieng, Prey Veng, Kratie and Kandal provinces.

In total, the provinces reported that 6,631 hectares of land had been leased to Vietnamese individuals on Cambodian territory, with more than half that total being rented by 263 individuals in Takeo province.

“Based on the data and reports that the ministry received from each provincial investigation, it shows that only ordinary people have rented the land to Vietnamese. No senior officials have been involved in this,” he said.

Real Camerin, an opposition lawmaker who has championed the border issue among opposition activists, welcomed the government’s findings, but urged the investigators to dig deeper into who was behind the phenomenon. “It is a real concern, especially for people who face a farmland shortage,” he said. “This could lead to a lowering of living standards and people will become poorer.”

Independent social researcher Meas Ny said he thought it likely that provincial authorities were masking the real extent of the problem.

“It’s a start, but I urge the government to investigate further, as it could be that more land has been rented to the Vietnamese that we know about,” he said.

A consortium of Chinese and American investors will invest $2 million to open a film school in Phnom Penh and a production studio in Kampong Speu early next year, the Ministry of Culture announced yesterday.

ZSL Amusement and Investment Network Co Ltd, which is registered in Cambodia and bills itself as an investor in real estate and technology, says it sees potential for a film industry where local talent is at times held back by a lack of training and access to technology.

“Lots of people here play around with video in their spare time and edit it on their computers,” Chinese-American Zhang Zhi Heng, the director of ZSL, said in a phone interview yesterday. “The population of interested people is quite large.”

The school’s three- to five-month courses will encompass screenwriting, directing, cinematography, lighting, acting and other subjects, initially accommodating up to 500 students. Heng said that admission costs will be similar to “other private schools in Phnom Penh”.

ZSL had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts to get support for both institutions. According to Som Sokun, the ministry’s secretary of state, the government hopes to build up the Kingdom’s human resources in the field to be able to compete with other filmmaking communities in the region and globally.

Filmmaker Rithy Panh yesterday welcomed the idea of a film school, saying that skills training is currently the most important element missing in the Kingdom’s nascent film industry.

“If you don’t have the skills, you will not exist [in this industry],” he said, adding that for a Cambodian film industry to be sustainable, it needs to tap into the international market.

Chhay Bora, a film director and president of the Motion Picture Association of Cambodia, had some concerns about the studio’s far-away location from Phnom Penh as well as the quality of instruction that will be offered.

“There were some training courses on filmmaking before but the result was not that great,” he said, referring to earlier courses offered in Phnom Penh by other companies.

Heng said that his instructors will come from the Philippines and from the US. He also said that ZSL has partnered with major American film industry equipment providers.

He said that major film producers will be willing to come to Cambodia as long as the skill base is there.

“Producers will come as long as there is HR,” he said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen stood up for Cambodia’s energy policy yesterday at the inauguration of the Stung Tatai hydropower dam in Koh Kong province, even going so far as to label opponents of hydropower technology “extremists”.

The $540 million project began construction in 2011 and was completed in August 2014.

Hun Sen said the dam was “a New Year souvenir” that would soon provide electricity to places as far afield as Battambang and Siem Reap.

Critics have pointed to impacts such as deforestation and loss of habitat and fish stocks as causes for concern.

In the case of the Tatai dam, evidence collected by officials during the clearing of the reservoir zone showed about $227 million worth of protected Siamese rosewood had been logged illegally from the surrounding Cardamom Mountains during the dam’s construction by the firm contracted to clear the site.

Hun Sen brushed aside such concerns yesterday, saying Cambodians “have to pay the price” of development.

He mocked what he dubbed “environmental extremists” by joking that the government would cut off their electricity supply and offer resin torches as a replacement.

Fourteen hydropower dams are expected to be operational in Cambodia by 2020. The largest of these, the Lower Sesan II dam in Stung Treng province, is currently under construction.

Cambodia still imports much of its electricity from neighbours Vietnam and Thailand under power purchase agreements signed in the late 1990s.

Tek Vannara of the NGO Forum said the public was still waiting to see evidence that the hydropower boom would not cause “serious impacts”.

Additional reporting by Reuters

Less than a week after a government minister said he could not say when long-awaited restrictions on smoking in public places would come into effect, one health official expressed confusion at the seemingly stalled progress, especially as compared to an overnight ban placed last year on e-cigarettes.

“I can’t understand why e-cigarettes were banned, because there was no explanation,” said Dr Sin Sovann, deputy director of the national centre for health promotion at the Ministry of Health. “The ban did not come from my office.”

The sudden prohibition of e-cigarettes and shisha came into effect at the end of February 2014, after an edict from Prime Minister Hun Sen who ordered an “urgent” ban on the products.

Deputy Prime Minister Ke Kimyan, who was also president of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, said at the time that e-cigarettes, along with shisha pipes, were to be seized and destroyed, and imports stopped, because they got young people hooked on smoking.

However, an August 2015 study by UK government health body Public Health England (PHE) has found e-cigarettes were vastly less damaging to health than conventional tobacco, which remains almost entirely unregulated in Cambodia.

“While vaping [smoking e-cigarettes] may not be 100% safe, most of the chemicals causing smoking-related disease are absent and the chemicals present pose limited danger,” the PHE report reads. “The current best estimate is that e-cigarette use is around 95% less harmful to health than smoking.”

The researchers also dismissed fears that e-cigarettes encouraged young people to take up the habit.

According to Dr Yel Daravath, technical officer at World Health Organisation (WHO) Cambodia, the global health body is not in favour of prohibition.

“WHO recommends that the government regulates e-cigarettes, the same as other cigarettes,” he said.

But whilst a law to introduce graphic health warnings on cigarette packets will come into effect in July, Daravath added, proposed legislation did not include an age restriction on smoking, and the law banning lighting up in public places had still more hurdles to jump.

“The sub-decrees [enacting the law] have two more stages,” he said. “The inter-ministerial meeting and the plenary session of the Council of Ministers.”

The WHO also wants to see a big increase in excise duty on tobacco to discourage smoking, Daravuth added.

A spokesman for the Council of Ministers could not be reached for comment on the status of the sub-decrees.

Marking the latest scion of the Cambodian People’s Party’s leadership to ascend into a prominent public position, the youngest son of late former ruling party president Chea Sim has been promoted to governor of his father’s native Prey Veng province.

Police Lieutenant General Chea Somethy, currently a deputy National Police chief and head of the Interior Ministry’s anti-economic crime department, will replace retiring incumbent Has Sareth, according to a royal decree signed by King Norodom Sihamoni on December 14 and released yesterday.

CPP officials hope Somethy will increase the party’s support base in the province where his father was born, which was narrowly captured by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party six seats to five in the 2013 election.

CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said the party’s permanent committee had backed the “capable and smart” Somethy, who is in his 30s, after considering “many” senior officials for the position.

“Truly, we selected the most capable and experienced person to take the position so that he can serve the local people and gain support from them as well,” Eysan said.

“Receiving support from people is a good thing for the government and the party, and it is our hope.”

Un Svanthy, deputy chief at the anti-economic crime department, vouched for his departing boss, calling him “responsible and friendly”.

CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said the appointment didn’t trouble the opposition.

“As long as the CPP is unable to solve the problems like corruption, land disputes and others, and are unable to provide social services, CNRP is confident it can win the next national election in 2018”.

Somethy, who did not answer phone calls yesterday, is one of Chea Sim’s six children.

Sim, former president of the Senate, died in June. He was once considered the second-most powerful man in government, though his CPP faction, the largest outside Prime Minister Hun Sen’s own supporter base, diminished in power as he grew older.

In recent years, the children of the CPP elite have been rising through the party and the government it controls.

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s sons Hun Manet and Hun Manith, both high-ranking military officers, as well as Environment Minister Say Sam Al, son of CPP secretary general and acting Senate President Say Chhum, were inducted into the party’s central committee in February.

Meanwhile, Hun Sen’s youngest son Hun Many, head of the country’s youth federation, is a lawmaker, as are Sok Sokan and Sar Sokha, the sons of deputy prime ministers Sok An and Sar Kheng, respectively.

“We are in the period where we are actually able to see the changing of the guard, the only problem is that it’s not based on merit, but mostly going to the princelings of the elite; it’s being passed on from the father to the son,” political analyst Ou Virak said yesterday.

“The next generation will be a bit better, though they’ve lived a life of privilege, which is going to be a shortcoming when dealing with issues related to regular Cambodian people.”

Outgoing governor Sareth, who took the position a year ago after serving as governor of Kep, said he was ready to retire, though has yet to receive any formal notice.

Additional reporting by Shaun Turton