With a line-up of local and international artists, and a massive outdoor venue booked on Koh Pich, or Diamond Island, Saturday’s Diamond Moon Festival is aiming to showcase contemporary musical and artistic talents at a scale rarely seen in the Kingdom.

But the idea for the festival, which has 13 musical artists slated to perform from the early evening late into the night, was born from a simple gig one March night at Tusk, which drew the unfortunate attention of the police for being just a little too loud.

“At about 9 o’clock at night we were closed down because we were being too loud,” recalls Casey-Leä Campbell, the director of the festival. “So we decided let’s have a big party . . . with three bands and three DJs one night here, and then it just became a little bit bigger, and a little bit bigger.”

So Campbell, along with her friends Peter Downey, who manages the band Complicated Business, and band member Ronan Sheehan – who doubles as the festival’s music director – began reaching out to artists and planning the festival, which snowballed from a passing thought into a massive project.

“It’s something that came up very, very fast, it was something that came up on a whim, and the great thing about whims, is they tend to build into something great and awesome,” says Sheehan.

Fast-forward about eight months and the organisers have booked a 6,000-person “arena tent” outdoor venue with a 16-metre wide stage in the large lot in front of the Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center. They also arranged a 50-man security staff and brought in 30 portable toilets from Vietnam. (There wasn’t a supplier who could provide enough in Cambodia.)

The driving concept is to showcase local talent, as well as provide a platform for foreign acts, and for local Khmer and expat artists to play together. “We basically went for artists who are doing their own music – that’s a big thing – not just doing the covers,” says Sheehan.

The line-up features an eclectic mix of artists, from the golden-age throwback stylings of Miss Sarawan, to the hip-hop lyrical assault of MC Lisha, to the feminist Khmer punk-rock of Vartey Ganiva.

Making their Asian debuts at the festival is French electro-pop artist Romea (Nadaje Teri) and London-based duo Willy Wang and Dick Johnson (John Wild and Peter Pahor), who play acoustic rock mash-ups and composed a song for the festival titled Down in Phnom Penh.

Also in the mix is a “live-painting” show that starts at 5pm and will go on adjacent to the concert area featuring some of Phnom Penh’s most renowned urban artists: Theo Vallier, YSK Crew, Mate 2 and David Myers from the recently opened Kbach Gallery.

This way, Campbell says, festival-goers can admire the art if they want to take a break from the music, and as they go in and out of the concert area to get food and drink, which will be provided onsite by Tusk.

According to Campbell, over half of the tickets have already sold, and at $7 each, they cover the operational costs with additional proceeds pledged to the Cambodian Children’s Fund.

“I decided if I was going do it [a festival] it would benefit charity, so that’s when I reached out to Scott [Neeson] at the Cambodian Children’s Fund,” she says.

But the long game for Campbell, who has prior experience organising large events everywhere from Vegas to Papua New Guinea, is for Diamond Moon to just be the first of a recurring annual music festival that will help put Cambodia’s music scene on the map.

“This is our trial run. Next year we’ll be a little more organised and promote a little earlier and see if we can get in some bigger names from overseas as well, but we really are here to showcase the local music scene and show what they can do,” she says.

Diamond Moon Festival takes place on Saturday November 25 on Koh Pich from 4pm to 2am. Tickets can be purchased for $7 at Tusk House, The Stage Bar and Kbach Gallery or at the venue on the day of the festival. Proceeds go towards the Cambodian Children’s Fund. For more information, see: http://www.diamondmoonfestival.com/

The Japanese take on the hamburger, essentially a patty without the bun, is what you’ll be in for at the casual bar and diner 919 Quick.

The latest Japanese eatery to open its doors in the alleyway behind the Patio Hotel, tucked away near the upscale Sushi Lab restaurant, 919 Quick serves up satisfying Japanese-style “hamburg steak” – a thick patty of ground beef seasoned with mild spices, soy sauce and miso – as well as Japanese curries and a selection of bar snacks.

“It’s not really traditional [food], but the kind of food that all Japanese people would make at home,” says Junya Goto, who co-manages the restaurant alongside Omura Shin.

“The owner wanted hamburg [steak] to be known among the Cambodian people,” he says, adding that the restaurant is actually the “hobby” of the owner of a large Japanese funeral services corporation, who first opened a location in Tokyo and decided to expand with a location in Cambodia.

But it’s been a tough break for the few months they’ve been in business, Goto says.

The issue, he hazards, may be that local patrons aren’t accustomed to being served a piping-hot plate bearing a meat patty and little else besides some sautéed veggies and a little mound of mashed potatoes. Cambodians “look at it like it’s a strange thing”, he says with a laugh.

A first-time experience for this reporter as well, The Post sampled Goto’s favourite: the Teritama hamburg steak ($6.90), which comes with a perfectly runny sunny-side up egg topped off with a light mayonnaise and teriyaki-based sauce. For patrons missing their soup and rice, they can be ordered on the side for $1.

If a hunk of ground beef isn’t really your thing, there’s a selection of Japanese curries on offer (from $4.50 to $13.50), although some also include – you guessed it – a Hamburg steak on top. Also worth a shout-out is the plate of fried chicken ($2.90) and the deep-fried cheese and minced meat croquettes ($3.90). Draft beers are only $1, which, coupled with a 2am closing time, should attract a hungry late-night crowd.

With a long metal bar counter and diner-style bar stools 919 Quick – more than being a culinary treat – provides a good environment to have a drink and eat some power food after work, and that was its intended design.

“The [original concept] is for a businessman who maybe doesn’t have a lot of time to eat,” Goto says, explaining that the restaurant’s name is a play on words. In Japanese, the numerals 9-1-9 are phonetically pronounced “que-ichi-que”, which, said speedily, sounds like the English “quick”.

So while the restaurant bills itself as double-quick, The Post encourages patrons to let time slow down and enjoy.

919 Quick is located in the alleyway behind the Patio Hotel off Street 51. It is open from 11:30am to 3pm and 6pm to 2am every day except Sunday.

As the second largest bank in Cambodia in terms of its branches and staff, Sathapana Bank reveals a new refreshing look to coincide with a promising future providing innovative banking solutions in the Kingdom.

Transparency, solidity, reliability, harmony, growth and innovation; these are the qualities conveyed in Sathapana Bank’s new logo, which form the core of the bank’s mission. The new design features the shape of a honeycomb, nature’s ideal storage of valuable assets. With its multiple hexagons one next to the other, it represents the bank’s extensive branch network, reaching customers in every province.

A blue triangle that runs through the center of the comb represents Mount Fuji, one of Japan’s symbols of solidity and harmony.

“The blue color with the relative shade is to show the transparency and modern image to utilize our latest technology,” says Chief Executive Officer Kato Norihiko.

Sathapana has been operating in Cambodia since 1995 – first as a microfinance lender for more than 20 years. It merged in April 2016 with Maruhan Japan Bank to form Sathapana Bank PLC., a fully licensed commercial bank. Sathapana Bank has expanded its branch network to 168 branches throughout the country. This is the second largest branch network of all commercial banks in the country and will only keep growing.

“We want to continue to be nice and kind to the people all over the country, and also in low income rural areas. It’s a big challenge to make such an efficient operation in rural areas but we are one of the few banks that can provide true nationwide banking products and services,” Kato says. “We’re committed to continue to providing banking services throughout the country.”

Cambodia presents the perfect landscape for financial innovation, with a developed financial sector and technological readiness, providing a unique opportunity for product-market fit – an opportunity Sathapana embraces as they look to launch a digital banking solution in the near future.

“It’s a must have product,” says Kato, cognizant of the recent uptick in digital banking solutions. “We’ve studied and are currently in the process of introducing the most modern multi-channel digital platform so that we can provide Internet banking, mobile banking, e-wallet or QR [Quick Response] code payment.” While their current plans for mobile banking are still not public, the awareness around being thoughtful around the market and consumers shows Sathapana’s dedication for putting their customers, and in this case, users, first.

Another way Sathapana shows their dedication to making sustainable, impactful digital banking solutions is through their eagerness to partner with some of the big names in E-wallet and digital payments.

“We’re positively thinking about an alliance with other types of financial services, such as money transfer companies and digital payment companies. They need banking services and a partner bank like Sathapana. There’s a mutual opportunity there for collaboration to increase the customer’s convenience as well.”

This mindset of seeing the bigger picture and creating a better banking future for Cambodia through collaboration is key to the next phase of Sathapana’s plans to service their customers better.

As Sathapana reinvents itself in the digital age, it makes sure to do so through self-awareness and social consciousness. Though there’s a rapid race towards providing the best online solution for all, Sathapana prides itself on operating at the intersection of innovation and social responsibility, a quality increasingly required around the world in doing businesses.

One of the bank’s highlighted goals is to support sustainable and green projects, as well as businesses with a positive impact on the environment, or which contribute in other socially positive ways.

This goal carries the same weight as do their other business objectives, which means occasionally rejecting clients if the business is deemed to be harmful to society. In looking to provide the best, sustainable solution for their customers, embracing both innovation and social consciousness is the unique card Sathapana plays, which sets them apart from those who may put economic development or making profit first.

“For that purpose we study what kinds of projects can be very positive and in the world globally there are such international institutions or funds that are waiting to support such activities,” Kato says, adding that this should be a “day to day effort” within the bank’s operations.

Agro-industrial giant Mong Reththy Group exported its first batch of processed pig skin leather in September and has spent the last three months testing its factory operations before scaling up exports destined for European and Japanese markets, a company executive said yesterday.

Mong Reththy Group’s pig skin factory, which is the first of its kind in Cambodia, began construction in early 2016 with the help of an unnamed Chinese partner which invested into the $30 million joint project, according to Tan Monivann, the group’s vice president. The factory is located near the group’s private port in Preah Sihanouk province.

According to Tan, the first export shipment accounted for 18 tonnes of leather.

“We are now partially operational and have already hit our goal of making our first shipment to the international market,” he said, adding that the factory imported the unprocessed pig skins.

While the group is eyeing the European and Japanese markets, an accountant for the firm who declined to be named said yesterday that the first 18 tonnes of leather went to China to be tested for quality.

Despite the group operating its own commercial pig farm, Tan said that the pigs the company raises are not suitable for leather production.

“Even though we have the same species of pigs here, we can’t use them for leather production because the size of their skins does not meet leather standards,” he said. “Plus, we do not have the experts to properly slaughter the pigs for leather purposes.”

Hort Pheng, director of Industrial Affairs Department at the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft, said that the production of leather for export is a sign of economic diversification in a country heavily reliant on garments.

“The exporting of leather shows off another industrial achievement by Mong Reththy Group and also is an indicator that we don’t need to only rely on garments,” he said. “Cambodia is on the path of transforming its industries as we gain more skills.”

Accor Hotels, a French multinational hotel group, announced yesterday that it has signed three new management contracts with Western hotel chains that will be entering the Cambodian market for the first time.

Accor’s economy brand, Ibis Styles, is scheduled to open up shop in Siem Reap sometime next year, while its mid-range brand Novotel plans to launch in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville. The Novotel hotels have not yet announced opening dates.

Patrick Basset, COO of Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines at Accor SA, explained that the decision to expand in the Kingdom was a result of healthy GDP growth, an increase in international tourist arrivals and better international flight connectivity.

Currently, Accor has management contracts to run luxury-based Sofitel and Raffles hotel brands. Basset stressed that Accor’s expansion was to help bring more affordable brands here.

“We do not have mid-scale representation here yet,” he said. “These new hotels will allow us to diversify ourselves.”

He added that the three new hotels are expected to provide roughly 600 jobs in the hospitality sector, supplementing the already 1,200 jobs offered at the four Accor-managed hotels currently operational in the Kingdom.

Kuy Vat, president and CEO of VTrust Group, said yesterday that western brand hotels establishing a presence in Cambodia shows solid progress in developing the country’s hospitality sector.

He added that an increased inflow of foreign tourists to the Kingdom has had a positive impact on the economy, and that the demand for accommodation services for tourists continues to grow.

He said this is the perfect time for western hotels and world-renowned brands to be entering the local market.

“Basic infrastructure in the hotel industry is improving very fast, and this is essential to attract new investment,” he said, adding that the tourism sector has benefitted from improvements to roads and utility services.

“Cambodia’s image is improving, and I believe that the arrival of famous hotel brands will further help our country to become more known internationally,” Vat said.

Additional reporting Hor Kimsay

A new three-year partnership between AIA (Cambodia) Life Insurance Plc and Indochina Starfish Foundation in the Kingdom’s largest community football programme may lead to an inspirational role for English Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur in shaping the future of disadvantaged children.

For the past 11 years, ISF has been running a grassroots football programme that reaches almost 4,000 children every year and the highlight of this project is the annual Youth League.

Starting from this year’s edition, which launched at the ISF ground on Sunday, AIA Cambodia will sponsor the league for the next three years.

Run in six categories for boys and girls in the age bands of U-10, U-14 and U-18, the League has also created a slot for deaf and hearing impaired players with matches held every week at the ISF Facility.

The AIA Group Limited is the global principal partner of the Spurs. One of the benefits of this partnership is that two members of the English club’s elite coaching staff are located in Asia to work with youngsters under AIA’s community coaching project.

As a first sign of how well this relationship could grow, those two coaches were present at the league launch.

“We are honoured to be invited to Cambodia to see how ISF and AIA are cultivating a love of football among children in poor communities” said one of the Spurs coaches Daniel Mitchell.

“We are especially excited about how AIA’s relationship with Spurs will enrich the development of children in our programme,” said ISF Trustee Leo Brogan.

“Together with AIA we will be able to enhance the capabilities of the league and quality of our football programme,” he added.

“Working with the ISF is a natural fit for us and we are well placed to support them. Both our organisations are committed to long term social development in Cambodia,” said Richard Bates, CEO of AIA Cambodia.

As many as 194 friendly matches involving 100 teams were played to mark the inaugural with the league getting off the ground next week.

Cambodian mixed martial artist Vy Sreykouch decided to tell the public about the difficulties she faced before losing to the veteran hometown favourite May Ooi in the woman’s strawweight meeting at ONE: Immortal Pursuit in Singapore over the weekend, while another Kingdom fighter, Sim Bunsrun, was also eliminated in the first round.

Sreykouch told The Post: “I am really disappointed. I have my commitment for the fight and told myself I have to win for my family and my country, but it was finished unexpectedly after I was trapped into my opponent’s grappling and lost very fast.”

For the fight night held at Singapore Indoor Stadium on Friday, Vy Sreykouch was not given a chance to land a punch on her opponent Ooi, who was quick to wrestle the Cambodian fighter to the ground and tried to choke her in order to tap for submission in the first round.

After the fight Sreykouch admitted, “I am not good at ground work, and I rely on my punches. But I had no chance to use them. I tried my best to escape the grappling, but after trying very hard, I was trapped into her technique of ground work before I was forced to tap with choking.”

Before the disappointing loss, however, Srykouch had to overcome difficulties with her diet, cutting down for the strawweight weigh-in one day before the fight.

The 23 year-old fighter claims she “was not eating for four to five days before the fight, and I was unconscious one day before the fight. But I did not tell this things to organisers because I really wanted to fight, and if I did not fight, I would not get money for my family.”

After the loss, the Cambodian fighter committed to train harder, particularly on ground work in order to get another chance to fight for ONE Championship in the future.

Bunsrun falls to debutante
Kicking off ONE: Immortal Pursuit was a high-octane strawweight encounter as the debuting Miao Li Tao of China shared the ONE Championship cage with Cambodian striking specialist Sim Bunsrun. In his first outing as a ONE Championship competitor, Miao delivered an outstanding performance by stopping Bunsrun in the first round. The 25-year-old native of Beijing, got the job done by catching Bunsrun with a perfectly executed right cross then went for the finish with follow-up blows on the mat.

On the main card of the night, ONE Welterweight World Champion Ben “Funky” Askren of the United States left an indelible mark in what was billed as the last bout of his illustrious martial arts career, defeating Japanese legend Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki in 57 seconds by way of first-round technical knockout.

Translated by In Sopheng

The National Olympic Committee of Cambodia and the Singapore National Olympic Council yesterday morning formally signed a historic agreement in the field of sports for greater co-operation between the two countries in promoting Olympic values, fair play and sporting excellence.

The agreement was initialed by SNOC President Tan Chuan Jin and his Cambodian counterpart Thong Khon at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Singapore yesterday morning with the International Olympic Committee Executive Council Member Ng Ser Miang countersigning as a witness for a three to six year pact Singapore and Cambodia regard as a big boost to the bilateral relationship between two fraternal Asean members.

Under the terms of the deal, the agreement will be in effect until December 31, 2020, with an open provision for another three year extension if both parties are willing.

Hailing the pact as a great step forward, NOCC President and Tourism Minister Thong Khon said with close co-operation between a sporting giant in the region like Singapore and a fast emerging nation as Cambodia, the vision of the future would be brighter on both sides.

“We are pleased to partner SNOC in an MOU to develop our sports teams and expertise together,” the NOCC Chief said.

The SNOC President Tan Chuan Jin, who is also the speaker of the Singapore Parliament, said the MOU signified opportunites present for bilateral co-operation in sports development and the progress made together as a region.
“We look forward to growing in tandem with our counterparts in NOCC” he said.

“Both NOCC and SNOC will place greater emphasis on good training and development of athletes and coaches and national federations will be encouraged to make co-ordinated efforts in lifting quality of training and competition,” noted NOCC Secretary-General Vath Chamroeun, who was part of the NOCC delegation.

The MoU creates a platform for exchange of visits, combined training between national teams and mutual visits by officials, trainers, judges, experts and scientists.

Both SNOC and NOCC have pledged in the MoU to vigorously pursue anti- doping initiatives and work for greater co-operation in sports medicine and sciences.

As hosts of multiple SEA Games and other major regional and international events, including the year ending multimillion-dollar WTA Finals, Singapore has the organisational experience and excellence that would be of vital significance to Cambodia as the Kingdom prepares to stage the 2023 SEA Games for the first time since its inception eight decades ago.

Cambodia Care Centre hosted its giving back to Cambodia society charity event to benefit 180 students and 25 widows who are currently under the care of Cambodia Care Centre. The developer and project manager wants to give back to Cambodian society by helping those in need so they they can have hope for their future. Spring CJW Development and Sanwah Project Overseas donated rice for the students and widows, as well as stationary for the kids to help them with their studies and bonding sessions with the children over two days. The kids helped paint the walls of Cambodia Care Centre, and a 32-inch TV was donated for the kids to watch educational videos on. Anthony Ong, the director of Spring CJW Development, aims to positively affect the less-privileged youth and break them out of the bondage of poverty through the provision of basic education. He said he believes not only in investing and developing the property market in Cambodia, but in helping the the people of Cambodia as well. The company’s Axis Residences Condominium is located at Street Duong Ngeap III, Sangkat Teuk Thla, Khan Sen Sok, Phnom Penh. Photos by Hong Menea

Wearing a pink hijab, Eng Aisha works away at a newly commissioned painting inside her bamboo home in Sambuor commune, on the outskirts of Siem Reap. Instead of a paint brush in her right hand, she holds a forceps, which she uses to pick up grains of rice, dyed a variety of colours. She places them on a wooden plank, smeared with homemade glue, while holding her daughter Saream – the youngest of her three children – in her left arm.

A small mistake could mean throwing away the work and starting over.

Aisha’s paintings depict a wide range of subjects, including people and the natural world – as well as Islamic symbols and Arabic script. One rice painting, called Pocahontas, shows a Native American woman with a black dove. The plank is cracked, and the painting represents “ungratefulness for mercy” on the part of European settlers.

But the main message Aisha wants to convey with her paintings is the value and importance of the country’s rice.

“Cambodia’s rice tastes really good and is the main export of the country, but its market is still small compared to that of neighbouring countries,” she says. “To give artistic meaning to our rice, I believe, will increase its value.”

The 31-year-old says she discovered the aesthetic potential in rice about nine years ago, when she was helping her mum cook num treap, a steamed snack made from sticky rice, usually served with coconut cream and sesame seeds.

“When my mother put coconut cream and sesame seeds on the black and white rice, I found them very beautiful, and wanted to turn rice into artwork,” she said.

Though she never received any official art training, Aisha was once an apprentice and assistant to a glass painter in Thailand. She says she wanted to “get out of the box” by using rice instead of water colour or acrylic paints. However, her idea did not become a reality until she divorced her Turkish husband about three years ago.

“I was handed over the custody of my three children without any child support, while I already have an old mother and almost no money,” Aisha says. “All I had were some rice paintings, which I had made for fun. I realised that I had to do something with them for my children although it was a great risk.”

Reluctantly, Aisha rented a small stall at the Siem Reap Night Market and her artwork proved successful, serving a mostly Western clientele.

In August this year, Seri Fatmawati Hambali-Yeo, a Singaporean real estate agent and art curator, came to Cambodia and encountered Aisha’s paintings. She was so mesmerised by them that she opened up Angkor Rice Art Gallery in Singapore to display and sell Aisha’s work.

“Aisha’s paintings are beautiful and very special, especially the ways she dyes the rice first and places the grains on the plank one by one,” Seri says. “This is real, unique art, which is much more than just a mere souvenir.”

Her hard work – and the meticulous process – only adds to its value, she said. “Aisha is making them every day, bearing all the hardship for her children,” she said.

Like many artists in Cambodia, Aisha has been unable to lift her family out of the daily difficulties of village life. On countless occasions, people have come to her stall to express their love for her paintings, but don’t buy them, saying that they are too expensive. The prices range from a few dollars for simple pieces to a few hundred dollars for more intricate ones.

“I cannot be angry with them, as we are in a developing country, and my painting’s price range is quite high as they are very hard to make,” Aisha says. “But I really love to see my fellow countrymen support my work, like foreigners.”

Currently, Aisha is training 14 schoolgirls in rice painting, most of whom are from poor families. They also help her in her workshop and are paid. In the future, she hopes to found a centre to teach women how to work with rice, as well as in other trades, with a focus on single and Muslim women, who she says often face discrimination in finding a job because of their faith.

“I do not only want to see rice as our staple food but also a symbol of our country,” Aisha says. “I will never achieve that if I keep this skill only to myself.”

A mix of the traditional and contemporary, and photography and dance, will be on the stage for two performances tonight and Friday, in a unique collaboration between Japanese choreographer Akiko Kitamura, photographer Kim Hak and local organisation Amrita Performing Arts.

The project was inspired by Hak’s photographs of abandoned homes in Kep, whose landscape is dotted with the remnants of once grand villas, and was originally performed last year in Tokyo.

In Cross Transit, the ghostly aesthetic, and haunted history, conveyed in the photographs is channelled in dance.

One photograph in particular, of an old home once owned by a woman who has now passed away, especially inspired Kitamura.

“Kim Hak’s photograph was about an old woman who died [who] introduced [her] house to him. It reminded me of Japanese Noh, where the main characters are ghosts,” she said, referring to a traditional musical theatre often distinguished by the performers’ masks.

Hak’s photographs will be projected during the dance, and the text that the photographer wrote will be narrated.

To Kitamura, this project is essentially about creating something new and cross-cultural, especially considering both sides’ unfamiliarity with the other’s art. Among the dancers, four are Japanese and one is Cambodian. The Japanese, she said, tend to be more familiar with contemporary dance, while Cambodian dancers – like Chy Ratana from Amrita – are more rooted in a traditional style.

The challenges arising from unfamiliarity manifest themselves across the board – in grammar, vocabulary, and even the creative process. Kitamura herself prefers a dancing style based in martial arts, something alien to a Cambodian context, where dance tends to be in a softer style.

To Ratana, Kitamura’s technique is wholly new, and through collaborating with her, and in some cases being corrected by her, he says he has found “[his] own feeling” in the performance.

For Hak, the project was also a new direction, forcing him to write as well as photograph. The text he wrote for the performance is in English, Khmer and Japanese.

“At first I didn’t know what I should write about,” he said.

“Akiko asked the dancers to show [their] movements, and I also started to write. Slowly, the piece developed [through] the text and dancers [working together].”

Amrita Executive Director Rithisal Kang, meanwhile, sees this performance as a step forward in terms of artistic possibilities and growth and a genuine “cross transit” of cultures.

“What we love is that when the artists come together, they have challenges, they have problems, because they are so different. But through the creative process, the differences are a way to open the mind,” he said.

Cross Transit will be performing tonight and Friday at 7pm at the Department of Performing Arts. Tickets are $5 and available at the door or in advance at Java Cafe.

An army of monstrous birds will be clashing with legions of divine monkeys on stage at Beltei International University on Sunday – in an interpretation of Satalong, a mythical battle from the Hindu epic the Ramayana.

Despite being a largely amateur production, the scale of the Lakhon Khol performance – a traditional form of Khmer masked theatre and dance – is massive.

“This performance takes nearly 70 artists on stage. Of all the ones we’ve done before this is the biggest,” says Khon “Mo” Chansithyka, the general manager of the Lakhon Khol Youth of Cambodia.

The group, which has put on a performance about every six months, came together a year and half ago and consists of a collection of mainly student and amateur practitioners of the craft. For the last month and a half, they have been rehearsing on Sundays at an outdoor space at the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA).

See the troupe in action:

“They are not professional dancers, but they are free on the weekend and they started learning it,” Mo says.

The 26-year-old is a lead Lakhon Khol dancer in the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, along with his brother Khon “Nan” Chansina, 24. Nan will interpret the role of the monster Satalong and also came up with the choreography for the production. A group of RUFA graduates will play traditional Khmer orchestral music.

“I performed this five years ago, for a RUFA graduation performance, but the technique and dance will be completely different,” says Nan, whose task involved choreographing two armies of 25 dancers each, plus the main characters. Many of those “soldiers” are younger members of the team such as 13-year-old Pheap Sovankakada.

“I’m a small monkey in the army of Rama,” he says. “I have to train hard like a soldier and be speedy and strong to fight the bird monster.” 

Satalong, or The Bird Monster Battle, as the group has titled the show in English, depicts a scene from the Ramayana in which the “evil” Ravana, the King of the Giants who kidnapped the Princess Sita, and Lord Rama do battle through proxies.

Of course, the good guys prevail in the end, but not before multiple epic fights after Ravana sends the “bird monster” to do battle.

Rama, meanwhile, enlists his brother Lakshmana to fight, aided by the monkey god Hanuman and his army.

The performance is free in the interest of promoting the art form, which has seen a steady decline in popularity over the decades since its glory days in the 1940s and ’50s, with only a handful of RUFA graduates pursuing the major each year. It was sponsored by the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and with private donations, including from Hun Many, one of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s sons.

“Most of [our budget] comes from private citizens . . . about 60 percent,” he says. “The volunteers, the artists when we collaborate, we try not to think about the money.”

Satalong is on at Beltei International University on October 29 at 9am and at 4:30pm. Tickets are free but donations are encouraged at the door. To reserve call: 016 505 1682 / 081 552 123/ 098 770 076.

Video by Charlotte Pert

Once a student and loyal follower of Khieu Samphan, Tran Sab’s passion for books nearly cost him his life under the Khmer Rouge

When a young woman comes to Tran Sab’s hole-in-the-wall bookstore in downtown Battambang in search of a translated Korean novel, the elderly owner begins dispensing his wisdom.

“You read Korean novels, you are supporting Korean writers; you read Khmer novels, you are supporting the writers with the same Khmer blood,” the 79-year-old says.

His shop, just south of Battambang’s Phsar Nath, contains hundreds of old books on shelves and hung on walls – some yellow with age. Above the door hangs​​ a placard that says: Grandpa Apsara – Book Rental Service.

For Sab, books have been the most valuable things in a life turned upside down by the ideological draw of the Khmer Rouge and the regime’s subsequent betrayal.

They are not just a means to make a living but are his life-long friends and teachers.

“My eyes are now too bad for reading, which really upsets me. But, I am still happy I have helped so many people to be able to read books, although they cannot afford to buy them,” he says.

Born in Kampuchea Krom, an area now part of Vietnam that used to belong to Cambodia, Sab is a fierce proponent of Khmer culture. Two years after coming to Cambodia in 1958, he attended Phnom Penh Municipal Pedagogy School with the hopes of becoming a primary school teacher. He soon met Khieu Samphan, the future head of state of the Khmer Rouge, who introduced him to communist ideology and its focus on class struggle.

“I found Khieu Samphan to be a good person and speaker,” Sab says. “He helped me become a communist.”

Sab was quickly embroiled in the politics of the era and even claims he was one of the leaders of a protest at the United States Embassy in 1965 – suspected to have taken place on the orders of then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk – in which thousands of students gathered ostensibly in response to American air attacks and an article about the prince and his wife Monineath in Newsweek magazine.

Sab says his radical politics prevented him from finding a job after graduation in 1963. His only capital at the time was in the books he had collected, so he decided to start a book rental business in Phnom Penh. His stall was located in front of the Chao Ponhea Yat High School, later known as the notorious S-21 prison and interrogation centre under the Khmer Rouge. His stand, he contends, was the first in the capital.

“Book prices at that time were exorbitant,” Sab says. “So my service was popular among students, especially those from poor families or the provinces. I was also happy because I could read books and make money at the same time.”

When the Khmer Rouge came into power in 1975, Sab was among those delighted with the communist victory. In the afternoon of April 17, while Khmer Rouge soldiers were entering Phnom Penh, Sab put on his best clothes, grabbed a white flag and took to the streets to welcome them. His excitement, however, quickly turned to desperation.

“They suddenly forced me to leave Phnom Penh, although I did not have anything on me,” he says. “They forced me to leave thousands of my books, which was the worst event in my life.”

Although Sab was a supporter, the Khmer Rouge treated him like one of the “new people”, who were targeted in purges. Like many others, Sab was moved from one place to another before eventually stopping in Battambang. In every location, he was subjected to hard labour, starvation and the threat of execution.

Yet, despite his ordeal, Sab still views Samphan – who is currently facing charges of genocide and was previously convicted of crimes against humanity at the Khmer Rouge tribunal – in a positive light.“Samphan wanted to do good by the people,” he says.

On his forced journeys, Sab says he would look for books in old houses and bring them along with him. One day, a Khmer Rouge cadre found them and accused him of being an “enemy”.

“They tied me up and wanted to kill me with a hoe,” Sab says. “To save myself, I pretended to be crazy, and performed comedic acts to make them laugh. By that, I escaped my death.”

Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, says the Khmer Rouge viewed books as a symbol of education, and a product of the lifestyle and mindset left over from the era of Lon Nol’s republic. Being caught with them would result in death. “The Khmer Rouge destroyed anything from the previous regime, not only books but also human lives,” he says. “But they created their own.”

Under the Khmer Rouge, the only reading allowed was from Pol Pot’s Little Red Book and the Democratic Kampuchea magazine. After their fall in 1979, Sab learned that all his books in the capital had been burned or repurposed.

“They destroyed my collection, and turned the school where students were my customers into a prison,” Sab says, his voice quivering. “I was wrong to support them.”

He set up shop as a barber in Battambang, but memories of all he had lost never left him.

In 2002, after many years replenishing his book supply, Sab reopened his business in Battambang. Where once he cut hair, he now stands surrounded by books. His obstacle this time was the spread of the internet and a lack of interest in reading.

Today, only four or five people come each day to rent a book, most for less than $1 for a week, whereas before the Khmer Rouge, business was brisk. Despite his financial struggles, he insists this is where he’ll be found until his death.

“Young people today would rather play on their smartphones than read books, which can provide a lot of information and moral value in their life,” Sab says. “But please bear in mind that at one time in history, you could not even look at a book, or you would die.”

Despite the massive economic gains Cambodia has made since being accepted into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2004, which granted it preferential trade status with major consumer markets, the government has not championed many positive reforms over the past six years.

According to the WTO’s second official Trade Policy Review of the Kingdom, which wrapped up last week in Geneva, the government has failed to significantly improve its export procedures, to strengthen rule of law and good governance, to promote transparency and to tackle infrastructure bottlenecks like high energy costs since last being reviewed in 2011.

While the trade review lauded Cambodia’s strengthening GDP, which since 2011 has grown an average of 7 percent annually, as playing a key role in promoting investment and alleviating poverty, it encouraged the Kingdom to formalise much of its economy.

“The informal nature of a large portion of the Cambodian economy, which is largely based on services followed by agriculture, implies that GDP is significantly underestimated, and that it undermines the effectiveness of government policy,” an executive summary from the WTO said.

The WTO also noted that Cambodia still faces several structural constraints and vulnerabilities which affect economic growth and render the economy and financial system vulnerable to shocks. These include a narrow economic base largely dependent on the garment sector, a high cost of doing business and a highly dollarised economy with underdeveloped financial markets.

While the review mentioned some regulatory gains, citing a slew of draft laws which at least made it to the floor of the National Assembly, the WTO added that “a common theme that pervades most aspects of Cambodia’s economy is the delay in drafting and implementing new legislation.”

The WTO said Cambodia needs to quickly improve business confidence and create an environment more conducive to investment by adopting reforms that address diversification and competiveness.

“These reforms would help Cambodia attain its economic and welfare policy objectives and further integrate into the world trading system,” the WTO said.

Another sore spot on Cambodia’s scorecard was a lack of investment into infrastructure and persistently high logistics costs.

“Cambodia remains characterised by low road and water connectivity as its transport industry continues to face challenges including high merchandise transportation costs – in particular, shipping – and inadequate infrastructure despite an increase in ports capacity,” the review said. “Railway transport remained of limited availability and performance due to slow progress in rehabilitation projects.”

Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak, who led Cambodia’s delegation to Geneva, said the WTO review would help Cambodia strengthen its trade-related policies by identifying its weaknesses. He added that the review process also provides the country an opportunity to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the economy and identify objectives where it should seek outside technical assistance.

“This review provided us an opportunity to listen to the WTO’s comments and concerns on our trade related policy,” he said. “This review helped us to identify clearly what kind of assistance is necessary to develop a better trade and investment regime in our country.”

However, David Van, executive director of Deewee Management, said that the Cambodian government has little excuse for its performance in the latest review seeing that it has had since 2004 to enact proper policies in line with WTO guidelines.

“Cambodia has fallen way behind on its commitments, especially when it comes to legislation it has been drafting over the last 13 years,” he said. “We are none the wiser as to when exactly [these laws] will sail through parliament, considering nothing will be achieved until after next year’s elections.”

He added that the recent government mandate which promised numerous positive reforms has been over-hyped and lacked meaningful results.

“What would be in store for the next mandate is anyone’s wild guess,” he said, adding that it was unclear if the government had the political will to implement long overdue critical reforms.

As consumer habits shift and online shopping continues to grow in Cambodia, the need for reliable and timely package delivery services is on the rise. The Post’s Robin Spiess sat down with Leakhena Long, COO and co-founder of local startup Joonaak Delivery, to discuss the importance of delivery services in the changing consumer market that is dominated by small business owners.

What services does Joonaak Delivery provide?
We offer delivery services for online shops and distribute goods like packages, gifts and letters. We also offer fulfillment solutions, which include warehousing and packaging for our clients. Our delivery rates range in price depending on size of the package and distance to delivery.

When did you launch and why did you choose to focus on delivery?
We officially launched in March of 2015. At first, we just wanted to start a business, so we looked at the market to see what type of service would be unique because we didn’t want to start a business others had already started. We noticed that e-commerce is growing in Cambodia and people are starting to buy things online, but the delivery element is still lacking.

Back then, there were only food delivery services, but after a year or so other businesses started to offer the same sort of delivery services as us and now there are maybe 20 in the market. They saw that this was a great business idea because many small businesses operate on Facebook and do not have logistical support. A lot of these businessowners don’t have their own staff, and many run their shops and also work day jobs.

For people who work multiple jobs, this delivery service can help them to sell their products and not have to worry too much about logistics. They can increase their profits by using our services.

We also have business owners from the provinces who sell their products and transport them through us. Phnom Penh is very centrally located, so you can send packages anywhere from here, but it’s very hard to do that from the provinces.

How big is your business?
We don’t make that much in profits yet because we have to reinvest our revenue back into the business. We have 21 staff in total, as well as 15 motorbikes and two three-wheelers for delivery. We only have one warehouse for now, but we just introduced warehousing services last year so we haven’t yet filled the available space. Over the past two and a half years, we have had about 250 businesses use our services to send their packages.

Do you have any plans for expansion?
We’ll be expanding soon, and are about to launch an app which we are tweaking and testing now. We will have the app for merchants and for customers, so customers can check the status of their delivery and merchants can request the pick-up of packages more easily. We are going to expand into other provinces, too. For now we’re only based in Phnom Penh, but we want to expand into one or two new cities soon.

As it is right now, we only offer transfer services to people in the provinces. We usually arrange a taxi or make use of bus services to take packages to people outside of the city, and clients can then retrieve their packages from the taxi or bus station. We charge $1 for the transfer plus the bus or taxi fee, which is normally $1.25 to $2. We can usually get a package to someone in the provinces within 24 hours.

What types of challenges have you faced?
In Cambodia, two houses might have the same address and it’s really hard to find the proper location sometimes. For now, our drivers have our client’s phone numbers and can call them to confirm location. Clients have to be present to receive packages, because we also rely on cash on delivery. We do not yet accept alternative forms of payment.

Also, this is becoming a competitive market. Other businesses like to try to compete on price, but we don’t do that as much. We find other ways to promote our services, like ensuring our high quality and offering add-on services like warehousing. We were one of the very first in the market so people know us, and we have a very good reputation.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Dozens of Cambodian college students gathered at the Royal University of Agriculture on Saturday to participate in an “agri-techathon” that encouraged them to discuss the need for sustainable and smarter technology-based solutions to support the sector.

Organised by the Belt and Road Angel Investment Roundtable, a Hong Kong-based fund that promotes startups, the techathon offered students an opportunity to hear from successful entrepreneurs in the Kingdom and learn to promote their ideas.

Pen Chanda, chairman and CEO of online payment gateway Bongloy, said during a panel discussion that the private sector needs to help push forward new ideas and find funding solutions.

“We look at entrepreneurs as the future of this country,” he said. “[Bongloy] wants to invest in ideas which it can help to push forward. The private sector is going to be crucial to developing technology in the country.”

Christine Zimmerman, chairwoman of the Association for Vertical Farming, spoke about the positive impacts of the technology, which uses less land and fewer resources to produce more food than traditional farming methods.

“We need to produce our food differently and closer to urban areas, where most people live,” she said. “You can make that happen and entrepreneurs are crucial.”

She noted that several Western countries have integrated vertical farming techniques that let farmers measure plant health and calculate the exact amount of pesticides to use.

While she was overwhelmingly supportive of the use of technology in agriculture, she warned against overuse of it.

“I mostly see positive impacts of technology in agriculture,” she said. “But the robotisation of our world is something we should be aware of, and we do have to look critically towards technology.”

Melanie Mossard, director of community at ImpactHub, encouraged the students in the crowd to be proactive about promoting their ideas and seeking help to create viable business plans.

“When you’re an entrepreneur, you have to speak about your big dreams,” she said. “Don’t be shy about asking for help. And remember that if you fail, it’s OK.”

As widely anticipated, Cambodian and Thai fighters stamped their mark on a spectacular night of kun Khmer at the Olympic Stadium indoor arena Friday in a televised show featuring eight-fight bill in which rivals from US, Russia, Brazil and continental Europe were swept off their feet.

Popular kun Khmer (known as muay Thai across the border) promotion Thai Fight brought its entourage of leading practitioners of this centuries-old fighting style to the Kingdom to provide an unforgettable experience for an eager Phnom Penh audience in the form of Khmer-Thai Fight.

It was a clean sweep for the red corner which threw up all the eight winners on the night as Cambodia’s Pich Mtes Kmang, aka Nath Seak Nin, was the only one to knock out his opponent Jonathans Silva of Brazil in the 56kg inside the first first minute to set the night’s proceedings rolling on a thrilling note.

Following his compatriot to a roaring ovation, SEA Games gold medalist Khun Dima outpointed Dmitri Mordvinov of Russia in the 63.5 kg.

Thailand’s household name Saen Chai faced off American Arthur Sorsor who took the fight all the way before the irrepressible Thai maestro, who is regarded as the symbol of the “Art of Eight Limbs” won a unanimous decision.

Ukranian Oleksandr Moisa went down on points to another Thai fighter of fame Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee while Saensatharn picked up third win on the night for the Thai camp when he overcame Thaigo Goulate of Brazil.

Cambodia’s Lao Jetra won a decision over Kazbek Alisultanov of Russia and Muen Sophea signed off in style winning the nightcap over Muhammad Khalil of Norway.