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Archive for July, 2010

Traffic Camera

Video footage from recently installed cameras capturing the traffic flow at four of Phnom Penh’s busiest intersections will not be recorded for police to use in investigations, the chief executive officer of the company that installed the cameras said yesterday.

EZECOM CEO Paul Branche-Horgan said yesterday that the cameras his company installed in partnership with television network CTN had never been intended for police use.

“It is just a live feed from the four cameras,” Mr Blanche-Horgan said. “CTN wanted to do traffic program… We  are not doing any security.”

Last week, CTN started broadcasting live early morning feeds from cameras at the intersection of Russian Boulevard and St 289, the intersection of Mao Tse Toung Boulevard and Monireth Boulevard and the trhee-way intersection of St 154, Sisowath Wuay and Sothearos Boulevard.

Mr Blance-Horgan said the joint project with CTN cost about $15,000 and was purely intended to provide CTN viewers with a better idea of the traffic situation around the city.

The installation of police security surveillance cameras in Cambodia, however, appears to be on the government’s agenda.

Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak, Interior Ministry spokesman, said yesterday that the government was investigating the possibility of placing security cameras around the Cambodia.

“These four new cameras are just CTN cameras… But we plan to also [place cameras] in the future,” Lt Gen Sopeak said, adding that they did not know when the government would start work on the project.

Traffic Camera

Touch Naruth, Phnom Penh municipal police chief, said yesterday that the police department had already made plan to place surveillance cameras at strategic points around the city.

“The project is good,” Mr Naruth said. “It will serve to ensure the public’s safety and help fight against crime.”

But Mr Naruth said the high cost of installing cameras meant that City Hall would have to appeal for more funding from the government.

“I do not know when [installation] will happen yet,” Mr Naruth said. “It will cost a lot of money [and] the municipal governor will request to Samdech Hun Sen.”

University Logos

More than 100,000 12^th-grade high school students around the country finished their national exams yesterday, with many immediately considering their future.

“I want to go to NUM [Nation University of Management] if I get high marks,” said Visal, 17, a student at Phnom Penh,s Chaktomuk Hight School, adding that the cost of tuition may force him to look at cheaper options.

Representatives from higher schools to help students make their decisions, and tout for potential customers.

There are a total of 88 higher education institutes in Cambodia, including 34 public establishments, according to Mak Nag, deputy director of the department of higher education at the Education Ministry. She said that around 40,000 student in each of the past two years.

“In the last two years there were a lot…but I think this year, maybe more than before,” she said. Based on previous years’ result, she expected around 70 percent of the 108,433 students who sat the exams to pass.

Bu Thorn, 43, spent yesterday morning outside Chaktomuk High school, waiting for his 18-year-old daughter. He said he was very proud of how hard she had worked to prepare for the exams.

“I plan to send her to study whatever university she wants,” he said.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodia Independent Teachers Association, said that he had observed many instances of cheating and corruption during the two day a half days the exams lasted.

“We saw that the terrible situation of bribes being given [to examiners] to allow cheating during the exam is still continuing,” he said.

Traffic Camera

In a bid to help commuters prepare better for their journey to work each day, a local television network has begun screening live early morning footage for new cameras installed at four major intersections in Phnom Penh, a network official said yesterday.

It was not immediately apparent yesterday, however, whether the footage from the new cameras would be recorded and saved in case police request it for their criminal investigations around the city.

Som Chhaya, deputy director-general at CTN, said yesterday that the four new traffic cameras had been set up at the intersection of Russian Boulevard and St 289, the intersection of Monivong Boulevard and Sihanouk Boulevard and the three-way intersection of St 154, Sisowath Quay and Sothearos Boulevard.

Mr Chhaya said the footage from the live cameras, shown at 7 am, would provide opportunities for commuter to plan ahead for their trip to the office.

“The number of vihicles has increased in Phnom Penh and at some locations there are traffic jams,” he said. “We can show the real traffic situation and [commuters] can see it before they go to work…and can select a street to travel on.”

Mr Chhaya also said that the cameras could potentially be used by police investigating criminal behavior, but added that he did not know whether the footage from the cameras would be recorded and saved. Officials from Internet provider Ezecom, who partnered with CTN to set up the cameras, yesterday said they would be provide more details about their operation today.

Touch Naruth, Phnom Penh municipal police chief, said yesterday that he was aware of CTN’s cameras, but stressed that there was no agreement between CTN and the police about the footage.

“We do not have cameras yet, these are CTN’s cameras and not security video cameras,” Mr Naruth said, adding that plans were afoot for City Hall to install its own surveillance security cameras.

Mr Naruth said he met with Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema last week to discuss the possibility of installing cameras and he was waiting for decision.

“The municipality has planned to set up security cameras at important areas [around the capital]  to help guarantee the safety of the public,” he said.

Municipal traffic police chief Heng Chantheary said yesterday that CTN’s new cameras would help improve the traffic situation in the capital, where traffic jams occur on the city’s major arteries most mornings.

Do it today!

Chan Pisey, Chea Chakrya ,and Long Vipich Bolreach

THESE days it seems like every student who hopes to continue his or her study abroad or land a highly-skilled and highly-paid is studying at two universities. On top of that, there is life outside of school: family, friends, volunteering or interning and, for some, holding down a job on the side to support themselves.

Cambodia is becoming part of the global economy and graduates increasingly have to compete on the international job market. As the Kingdom evolves, top students are facing the same intense study regimen and accompanying stress levels as students in Western countries, where heavy academic workloads have been linked to high rates of anxiety and depression.

With all of this stuff on our plate, it is no wonder that we are tempted to procrastinate when something does not have to be done immediately. We think that we can do it tomorrow, or the next day, and then before we know it we have limited time to finish something and the quality  of our work suffers. Although it might seem like putting things off until the last minute is inevitable for today’s hyper-competitive college students, we at AIESSC are here to help you cut down your procrastination.

In our own efforts to achieve success at two schools, as well as participate in extracurricular activities, the three of us on the AIESEC media team have a few techniques that we would like to share:

First, you have to be well-prepared. Decide on the best place and time for you to get work done before you set out to accomplish you task. A few extra minutes of planning can save you a lot of more time, as being in a comfortable environment will help you complete your work much more quickly.

Secondly, when you do decide on a goal that you want to reach in the future, whether it be in the next few hours or the next few years, write it down in a notebook. It might not seem like a big deal, but writing something down make it more memorable and it will not fade from your mind as soon as you move on to your next task.

Thirdly, make a schedule that gives you some free time and stick to it. By putting together a schedule each week that includes some time off, you will actually be able to see the open space in your schedule. So students are evry successful in their studies but forget to live their lives on the side. Take some time to relax and have fun.

While it may seem like free time is indistinguishable from procrastination, it is actually the opposite. Occasionally doing something fun and relaxing will help you return to your work with energy and enthusiasm. Schedule you free time and use it wisely ,and this can be the procrastination anecdote that you have been looking for.

English poet Edward Young wrote that “procrastination is the thief of time”. If you plan a head and give yourself some time to relax every day, you can be sure that nothing will steal your valuable time.

Trees fall down after Typhoon

Around 200 families in a commune in Stung Treng province’s Sesan distrit are facing an acute food shortage after losing much of their harvest and food stocks in Typhoon Ketsana last year, a representative of the villagers said yesterday. A district official, however, played down the seriousness of Sesan district’s food situation.

Pai Thnong Nhut, who said he represents villager in Talat commune, said about 200 out of 752 families living in Talat had run out of rice, and another 100 families. Would deplete their provisions by September.

Mr Thnong Nhut said they had finished their stocks earlier than usual because the folds brought on by Typhoon Ketsana had wiped away much of last year’s crops and rice stocks.

“Two hundred families are lacking food after their rice farms were destroyed by floods last year,” he said. Around half of these families were trying to cope by selling livestock and collecting wild vegetables from the forest to barter for rice.

Ty phoon Ketsana wreaked havoc in Cambodia last year. The government estimated that 48,000 families across 11 provinces lost their rice stocks and 62,000 hectares of paddy were destroyed with total damage calculated at $140 million.

However, Sesan district governor  Bour Keo Sovann denied the seriousness of the villagers’ food situation, saying it was part of the annually recurring lean season – a time during the last  three to four months of the year when many Cambodian farmers deplete their rice stocks before the next rice crop is harvested.

“Every year villagers have trouble with food shortage for two, three months, but they go to the forest [to collect vegetable] or go to work for local companies,” he said, adding. “It’s not really a shortage of food.”

Ms. Chhin Raksa "I passed the exam now!"

This is my beloved youngest sister Ms. Chhin Raksa who has recently passed her secondary school grade 9th of the National Examination which conducted about a month ago.

Lately she called me with her exciting news “Brother! I passed the exam now! Will you give me gift?,” she said. I was so surprise to hear this from her. Anyway, I am thinking what sort of gift I should buy for her.

She is now going to study in grade 10 in the next coming year.  I really proud of her effort. She is not really a clever student, but she is a hard learning student. She is not only working hard on her study, but also housework.

Being the youngest sister in family, my Raksa never act like a spoil child. She is strong both emotional and physical. She is a good student, good friend, and good child.

Being a brother of her, I am so proud and I will support her study until she finish the university. This is my commitment.

90 Percent of Ninth-Graders Pass the National Examinations

The pass rate of this year’s ninth-grade national examinations reached over 90 percent, Ministry of Education officials said yesterday.

Chea Cheat, director of the Ministry’s education, youth and sport department, said that this year’s number of ninth-graders passing their exams surpassed last year’s 82.18 percent.

“The reasons many students passed the exam is because they’re studying harder,” said Mr Cheat, adding, “every student that passed the exam did so because they have good discipline and showed ability at the examination, not because they pad a bribe to a proctor to be allowed to cheat.”

Mr Cheat also said it was just as difficult to pass this year’s examinations as it was to pass last year’s, adding that the questions on this year’s and last year’s exams were equally challenging and students this year had to answer a similar percentage of questions correctly in order to receive a passing score.

The ninth-graders’ success on their examinations is also due to the municipal and military police’s crackdown on youth crime, pushing so-called gangsters off the streets and into school, he added.

“I’m very happy to have passed the exams, said Dol Vantha, 15, a secondary student at Chaktomuk Junior High School in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district, adding “I did not cheat on the exams.”

A 16-year-old student who declined to give his name, said he failed the exams, adding that he had seen other student pay off the proctor to allow them to use cheat notes and copy off others’ papers.

Rong Chhun, president of The Cambodian Independent Teacher’s Association, said the exam’s high pass rate did not necessarily mean that students were getting smarter.

Mr. IN Channy, President & CEO of ACLEDA Bank Plc.

Acleda Bank became only the second bank in the country to offer banking through mobile telephone software with the launch of its new “Unity” service on Friday.

The new mobile telephone service will allow payments, fund and account transfers, balance inquiries, and access to multiple currencies for customers at the bank, which has 670,383 acconts holding a total of $793 million in deposits, according to a statement from Acleda.

In Channy, president of Acleda, said the new technology would help modernize the bank and help the financial institution  penetrate further into the county.

“We need to be at all times ahead of the industry, “ he said, adding that the service is also accessible through the internet. “We want customers to have their savings with the real bank.”

Tal Nay Im, director-general of the National Bank of Cambodia said Acleda was joing ANZ Royal Bank in offering mobile telephone services. The move is important to the banking sector, she said, as she expected foreign banks that work in the country to being expanding electronics service as well.

“I hope that in the future there aere more banks that provide electronic services, e-banking infrastructure in Cambodia must make more progress in terms of check clearing and interbank transfers.

Stephen Higgins, president of ANZ Royal, said that the demand for mobile services in Cambodia is not yet very high but that bank needed to be ahead of the curve as the country develops.

Mr. IN Channy's hospitality to distinguished guest

“It’s something that in the future that if you do not have it, it is going to damage your competitive position,” he said. “This is something that happening in every market around the world. Customers eventually have an expectation that they can do their banking online. It will happen here at some stage.”

He added that several banks in the Cambodia market now had Internet banking serices but that some of these were still limited to simple procedures such as balance inquiries.

So Phonnary, executive vice-president of Acleda, said that the new mobile telephone services would be a boon to customers.

“A customer has more expectations that they can transfer multiple currencies for business and household can [also] use this support their relatives,” she said.

Tonle Sap Lake

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday urged officials to continue to carry out his orders to demolish man-made irrigation reservoirs around the Tonle Sap lake as part of the government’s ongoing effort to protect the floodplains and flooded forests on the lake’s periphery.

Official said yesterday that they had completed dismantling an additional five reservoirs around the Tonle Sap last week and were making rapid progress on demarcating a protection zone for the lake’s flooded forests.

The Council of Ministers said in a statement that during its weekly meeting Mr Hun Sen told officials that the Ministry of Agriculture, the Tonle Sap Authority and provincial authorities needed to cooperate and carry on with the removal of the dozens of irrigation reservoirs that have been built in recent years.

Council of Minister spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday that he prime minister had “encouraged the authorities, especially local authorities in the six provinces, to keep checking if the reservoirs are being destroyed.”

“These reservoirs are not proper,” he added. “It damages the fish and water flow regime.” Tonle Sap Authority Secretary-General Chan Youttha said another five reservoirs have been demolished and four more had been downsized.

Mr Youttha said 29 reservoirs had been destroyed since April. He added that the reservoirs, which are used to irrigate large-scale commercial rice farms in the dry season, covered 1sqare kilometer on average.

Flood Forest in Tonle Sap

He said officials expected to complete the zoning and marking of 640,000 hectares of the lake’s floodplains for conservation of flooded forest by July 25. Last months, the government designated this area to be protected, as the forests are important wet season habitats for the lake’s rich fisheries.

Battambang province deputy governor Sieng Sothang said only one reservoir remained to be destroyed in his province, while his officials had finished demarcating 220,000 hectares for protection last week. “We are carrying out Samdech [Hun Sen]’s order very seriously. We need to protect the flooded forst,” he said.

Che Syvutha, director of the Kompong Thom provincial water resources department, said he expected officials to finish demarcating 128,000 hectares of protected forest in his province on Tuesday.

Last week the Tonle Sap Authority announced that research using aerial photography had found that about 160,000 hectares of flooded forest had been destroyed since 2005, when the forests covered around 700,000 hectares. (Posting for V-Roeun)