Oum Dara was once the songwriter, composer and violinist behind some of Cambodian music's most legendary singers like Sinn Sisamouth and Ros Sereysothea. Today, he has little to show for it materially, but happily looks back on his nearly eight decades.

Oum Dara lies on a hard wooden bed in his family's hole-in-the-wall apartment in the capital, listening to the tinny notes of Rob Oun Neng Hery ("That's you, My Dear") playing from his cellphone. It's a song he wrote for the iconic singer Sinn Sisamoth in the 1970s.

"That's you, my dear, who is my fate . . . Please show mercy, and keep it meaningful, until the last day we breathe," Sisamouth croons.

Dara wrote the song for a beautiful woman more than 40 years ago, but that now feels like a past life. The pictures on his wall show the other famous singers he used to work with, including Pen Ron, Ros Sereysothea, and Meas Hok Seng, from when he was a violinist, music composer and lyricist during the Kingdom's Sangkum period, commonly known as the Golden Age.

"My life at that time was almost perfect," Dara says. "I could enjoy doing what I was passionate about while earning big money, enough for me to have a big house and a modern Kawasaki, while many people recognised me outside. But, now, they are all gone."

Born in 1940 in Koh Sotin district in Kampong Cham province, Dara was the son of a customs official and first learned to play violin at the age of 14 from a forest ranger named Keo Vokrat. His father later hired a French violin tutor to come to his house. After a stint as an elementary school teacher, he took up the violin professionally, just as the popular music scene was beginning to flourish.

During the early '60s, Dara moved to the capital to play for National Radio of Cambodia, and became well known when in 1966 he was asked to compose the music for Lolok Nhy Chmol ("A Couple of Doves"), sung by Meas Hok Seng. Within a few years, Dara was not only writing music but the lyrics as well, and his songs are still listened to today across generations.

The stories in them, typically of love gone wrong, are from his own experiences, like Os Sangkhem ("Out of Hope"), in which Sinn Sisamouth channels Dara's unrequited love for a female colleague at the National Radio station.

Chhob Srolanh Oun Tov ("Please Stop Loving Me"), sung by Ros Sereysothea, describes his sadness when his first wife asked him for a divorce in 1973 because, he says, of his focus on his career and not on her.

"My own experience and the story of people I know add colour to the song and music," Dara says.

When the Khmer Rouge came into power in 1975, Dara was forced out of Phnom Penh to Kandal, and was treated as one of the "new people" – the corrupted urban elite who had strayed from the Khmer Rouge's peasant ideal.

He was alone and did not bring anything with him – and certainly not a violin. However, unlike many Cambodian artists who were killed by Khmer Rouge cadres because of their professions, Dara was able to escape the killing, starvation and even hard labour thanks to his musical skill.

"A Khmer Rouge cadre recognised me, and asked me to join their troupe as a violinist," he said. "I was ordered to play songs about communism and revolution, especially in front of the diplomats from China. I did not like it at all, but this job helped me survive, and I even had enough to eat since I always got to eat with the cadre."

After the fall of the Pol Pot regime, Dara moved from one job to another and spent a short time living at a refugee camp along the Thai border, before resuming his career as a musical instructor and composer for the Ministry of Information.

But he never recovered professionally from the destruction of the Khmer Rouge and today he is living in poverty. All that is left of his career is a violin and a cache of unreleased songs. A traffic accident 10 years ago immobilised the legendary violinist and impaired his ability to play the violin.

Dara's wife, Sam Vanna, 60, says her husband's humility, and lack of sociability, prevented him from moving up the ranks of society.

"Unlike many artists, he is not a boot-licker," Vanna says. "He would not write a song that promotes or praises anyone, or copies other's works. I am angry with him sometimes for that, but I am also proud of him."

Oum Tharath, Dara's younger daughter and a successful mixed martial arts fighter, said she is disappointed that she could not carry on her father's legacy.

"Despite our hard life, I am proud of having a father who is a famous musician who created masterpieces and originality," Tharoth said. "As a child, I also wanted to learn to play violin, but I am not keen on it, and more into sport."

Dara, meanwhile, said he has lived a life of happiness, and if there is another to come he would like to be born a musician again.

"I want the next generations of Cambodians to strongly promote music, like how people do in developed countries," Dara said. "It is one of the things that make life enjoyable."

Across the street from Wat Botum earlier this week, musicians Julien Poulson, Jean-Luc Jousse and Hollie Lewis were lounging by the pool at the guesthouse Villa Grange, the headquarters for the Phnom Penh portion of the inaugural Folk Art Blues Fest Cambodia. An electric guitar sat next to veteran French rock 'n' roller Jousse, who since the early 1980s has been playing blues, psychedelia and punk-oriented rock 'n' roll for the many incarnations of the group The Kleps. Founded as The Psychedelic Kleps, they have played under the name the Klepstones, Kleps Revisited, the Justesse Social Kleps as a folk duet and The New York Kleps.

"And now, the Phnom Penh Kleps", Jousse jokes.

Jousse, who has worked as a tour manager, sound engineer and even driver for some legendary rock acts like Guitar Wolf, the Fleshtones and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, is in Phnom Penh for the nascent Folk Art & Blues Fest, which is really more of a travelling revue of psychedelic, garage and folk art acts over the next five days. It was organised by Poulson, one of the founders of Cambodian Space Project, as a musical spinoff of the Kampot Readers and Writers Festival.

"The [Kampot Readers and Writers] Festival has always had a very strong musical program, to the point where a crescendo of critics were saying it's too much music in the second year," Poulson said. "We probably need to separate these things a little bit along the way. So this time it's a very small thing and it's not in a fixed place – It's rolling across Cambodia like an oldtimey revue."

Those of you imagining acts reminiscent of BB King or Mississippi John Hurt may be disappointed. The "blues and folk" moniker is meant more in spirit, as the roots of each act's brand of rock 'n' roll. "Let's be broad about our definitions, in the way that Louis Armstrong once said ‘All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song'," Poulson said.

The festivities begin tonight at Villa Grange, where five bands will be playing. Among those are local legends Cambodian Space Project and juggernauts The Kleps.

Electro-psychedelic British band Frankie Teardrop Dead, Australian folk band the Justin Frew Trio and enigmatic Saigon-based duo OPNAIRDRGMKT will also hit the stage.

On Friday, musicians will be at the guesthouse all day, playing acoustic singer-songwriter sessions led by local troubadour Scoddy Bywater before the revue hits the road southwest to Kampot.

There, the lineups change slightly for two nights of shows, and there will also be art workshops in the day, including from Borneo-born woodcut printmaker Rico Leong and with the all-women's Srey School of Rock and its Sou Sou Band. The tour heads up the coast for a gig in Otres near Sihanoukville before a whittled-down version of the revue will then make its way to Siem Reap for a Tuesday gig.

On top of getting to play in good company and have some fun, the festival is a chance to build the network of musicians living abroad with connections to Cambodia.

"These are people who are likeminded or want to volunteer or bring skills and talent to make something happen," Poulson said. "We've all seen over the last 10 years a very big opportunity in Cambodia for creative industry. And not just a community but real opportunities – making things locally and building international distribution."

The Folk Art & Blues Fest begins tonight at Villa Grange at 7pm. Tickets for Friday are $7 at the door for foreigners and $3 for Cambodians, plus a free drink. Singer-songwriter sessions begin at 2pm and last until 8pm Friday. For a full schedule, including in Kampot, Otres and Siem Reap, visit the Facebook page Folk Art & Blues Fest Cambodia.

They're kept in metal bowls, plastic buckets and in jars, and often found on the side, or even at the centre, of Khmer dishes. Sometimes they are vegetables, other times fruits, and even fish, crabs or ants.

Whether the tradition is imported or homegrown, one thing is certain: pickled foods are everywhere in Cambodia.

This was apparent on the north side of Kandal Market, where The Post recently found Pech Srey selling fresh limes and their pickled and preserved equivalent, Ngom Nov. Decidedly unappetising in appearance, and sold by her at 30,000 riel ($7.50) for a vat of 170, the brown and shrivelled limes are first dried in the sun for one to two days, before being boiled in sugar and salt water, and then further preserved in water for three to four months. They can end up in chicken or duck soup, in sauces with grilled fish, or be turned into drinks, Srey says.

And true enough, a nearby drink vendor was squeezing a pickled lime into a bag of ice, pouring in some fresh lime juice, soda water and a tablespoon or two of sugar, and for 2,000 riel, or about 50 cents, the result was a refreshing and astringent beverage.

But going from stall to stall, The Post soon found itself in a pickle trying to delve deeper into the history and place within Khmer cuisine of preserving foods in vinegar or brine. Pickles and similarly preserved foods are as integral to Khmer food as prahok, vendors said, but the back story, and the reasons for their popularity, remained unclear.

So The Post called on the expertise of Cambodian master chef and Thalias Director Luu Meng.

According to Meng, the local pickle paradigm has French and Chinese influences – particularly from the Teochew people who made contact with Cambodia centuries ago.

"In Guangdong, one of the areas is Teochew, and they pickle a lot of things because they are fisherman families, so when they go out they need to get their food and stock it up . . . either they put it in preserve or they do it pickled," he says, noting that typically fish and meat would be preserved in salt.

Meng notes a difference between pa'ap or palak brai foods, which are preserved through salting or fermentation, as opposed to chhrua, or pickled food. In some cases, they are combined, for instance with turnips preserved in salt and then pickled to improve the flavour – or chrua chai tov in Khmer.

Similarly, prahok or kdam brai (salted crab) can also straddle the two techniques.

Cambodian pickling, Meng says, always starts with sugar, salt and vinegar. MSG is common in market and street pickles, and herbs and spices are added according to individual recipes.

"You need to have the balance between the caramel and lemony [flavours], and of course other seasonings," he said.

In the spirit of showing rather than telling, Meng guided The Post through the Boeung Keng Kang and Toul Tompoung markets to meet some of the longest-running pickle vendors in town.

On the north side of BKK market at #17 Street 380 is a hole-in-the-wall shop identifiable by a glass case outside filled with fruits and marked "888" in red.

"This is the oldest pickle shop of BKK market," Meng said, though it specialises in what he calls a "modern" pickling trend – assorted fruits pickled with chili and garlic eaten as a snack. Also for sale is cut fresh fruit, which can in turn be dipped into a pickled chili, garlic and prahok sauce. Prices are about $3 per kilo of whichever fruit one fancies, from pickled tamarind to grapes to pineapple.

Owner Suos "Mom" Vanna says she has had her shop for 13 years and sells about 300 kilograms each day.

Meng says this kind of pickled fruit snack has been a growing trend for at least 20 years, and has especially taken off in the past decade.

"Mostly the young [and] the pregnant ladies eat these," he says, in part because it's considered a home-remedy to morning sickness. "They share it with people and it's become trendier".

For the "traditional" pickle, Meng takes The Post through the narrow pathways of Toul Tompoung Market. He's recognised by the odd passerby, happily surprised to see the well-known entrepreneur in such a setting. At the end of the butcher's row, Meng finds Men Thida, who has been selling pickles since she was 12 years old, before she took the business over from her mother.

Here, she sells Khmer-style pickled cucumbers. She also has a choice between pickled mangoes and half-ripe papayas, each flavoured with rice water, brown palm sugar and vinegar, with bean sprouts and lotus roots. She also has Chinese cabbage and other leafy greens, though Meng notes these are done in the Chinese style. For that, he recommends an old lady in O'Russey Market.

Luu Meng talks pickles in the market:

In Cambodian cuisine, Meng notes, pickles can serve as an appetiser, digestif or as a side dish.

"For Western people you eat your grilled pork or lamb chops with salad, we eat it with pickles," he said, sitting down for a plate of grilled chicken and rice with a side of pickles.

They also transcend class boundaries, Thida says, with more thrifty construction or garment workers making pickles a main course with rice, while the wealthier tend to have them as a garnish.

"We eat them every day, no matter if you are rich or poor," she says.

In Shaun Rein's The War for China's Wallet, the author offers a roadmap for navigating relationships with China, both for foreign countries and international companies. He recently spoke with The Post's Hor Kimsay to discuss the potential benefits and pitfalls of Cambodia's increasingly friendly relationship with the regional giant.

What is the main message in The War for China's Wallet?
As China supplants America as the world's economic growth engine, countries and companies can benefit if they understand how to navigate China's political system and understand the wants of Chinese consumers. Companies that get it right can make billions of dollars – China, for example, has already eclipsed America as the largest market for fried chicken chain KFC. It has become the largest market outside of the US for Starbucks and Nike and is the main driver for those companies' growth.

However, the ability to generate profits has some downside. Countries and companies alike cannot cross China politically and must do the Communist Party's bidding or else run into trouble. For example, the Chinese government punished the hotel chain Marriott by blocking its Chinese-language website and apps in China for a week, costing them millions of dollars, because Marriott had promulgated a survey that listed Taiwan as a separate country, enraging Chinese consumers and government mandarins alike.

In the book, you define three categories for a country's relationship with China: Hot Partner, Warm Partner and Cold Partner. What is the difference between these groupings?
Many American foreign policy analysts criticise China for not having true allies in the American-Canadian sense. One day China is taking photo-ops with leaders from neighbouring countries, the next day lashing out at them for crossing them politically and thus say that China is failing in its foreign policy aims.

I view it differently – I don't think China is trying to forge alliances; instead, it is looking to use economic carrots and sticks to convince countries to either do its political bidding (a Hot Partner country like Hungary, Ethiopia or Cambodia) or to punish countries that cross it politically (a Cold Partner country like India or the Philippines and the Aquino administration). It knows it can never be truly close with any country in the long-term, so instead it tries to dole out low-interest loans and infrastructure investments to countries to make them open to China's political aims in the short term. Meanwhile, countries that cross China politically, as South Korea did by installing Thaad missiles, get punished. China blocked Chinese tour groups from visiting South Korea last April, causing a 40 percent drop in annual tourist visits and crippling the South Korean economy.

If Cambodia is a ‘hot partner' with China, what does this mean for Cambodia's economy and development? And what does China gain from the relationship? 
Cambodia's [Prime Minister] Hun Sen has been quite savvy in his dealings with China over the past decade. He has supported China's views on the South China Sea during summits of Asean. Having a supportive country in Asean like Cambodia is to counter criticism of China's policies by countries like Vietnam or the Philippines, and causes China to look to invest more in infrastructure development in Cambodia and to give it low-interest loans.

Moreover, the Chinese government uses its control of the state-owned media to tout the historical landmarks in Cambodia like Angkor Wat. Right now, Cambodia is one of the top destinations Chinese tourists want to visit. I am very bullish on Cambodia's ability to attract Chinese tourists to its landmarks and high rollers to its casinos. This is all gained by being a friend of China in the "hot partner" category.

One of the problems of becoming a "hot partner" country is that these countries often become too dependent on China economically and start to lose political independence. China's economy is so large that if a country gets punished for crossing China politically, then it will have a real impact, as in the South Korean case.

On the one hand, it is good to get close to China politically, as nations will reap economic benefits, but it comes at a cost of losing political independence so countries should try to be close to China but also distance itself at times, as the United Kingdom or France has done, so that they are not viewed as lackeys of the Chinese government.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Construction began yesterday on a $10 million factory in Kampong Speu province to process fresh fruit for international export, a first for Cambodia, though Agriculture Ministry officials could not confirm it would meet international standards yesterday.

South Korea's Hyundai Corporation Group broke ground on the 3-hectare factory in Phnom Srouch district yesterday, in the hopes that it would enable Cambodian fruits to be shipped abroad without first being sent to Vietnam or Thailand, as is currently common practice.

The factory is set to open in September and will process 1,700 tonnes of fruit in its first year of operation, according to Hyundai representative Lee Changhoon.

"First of all, we will start from mangoes," Changhoon said, adding that the company hoped to eventually process 50,000 tonnes of fruit annually, including coconut, durian, and mangosteen.

"Our market is not only Korea. Hyundai has 44 branches in worldwide, that is the strong network for export our high quality food of Cambodia," he wrote in an email yesterday.

Hyundai Corporation inked a deal with local mango producer Mao Legacy Co Ltd in November 2016, and the two companies combined have about 2,400 hectares of mango farms in Kampong Speu, but there has never been a sanitary and phytosanitary processing plant to enable international exports.

"It is not easy work, however we are getting support from Korean government and Cambodia government, [and] we are sure that we can comply to Sanitary and Phytosanitary [standards]" Changhoon said.

Hean Vahan, director general of the general directorate of agriculture at the Ministry of Agriculture, was less sure yesterday. He attended the factory's groundbreaking ceremony, but said that he could not comment on the SPS certifications because the company had not sent the ministry its master plan.

"I was just invited to join for the opening of construction, but I haven't seen any details of the construction or its capacity," he said yesterday. "I have no idea whether it will comply with the SPS procedure or not."

In Chayvan, president of the Kampong Speu Mango Association, was optimistic that the plant would be a boon for the province's fruit farmers.

"We have been waiting for this for years," he said yesterday. "Our mangoes will have more value when we can reach the market directly."

What started as an idea to better coordinate pick-up soccer games has become an award-winning application, and now the five Cambodian university students who developed it are set to fly to Singapore and meet with high-powered tech executives.

The GoSoccer application was declared the winner of the SmartStart competition in Phnom Penh yesterday morning, earning the app's creators the contest's top prize: an all-expenses-paid trip to meet with representatives of technology giants Facebook, Google and Microsoft in their Singapore offices.

According to Sengkhun Lim, one of GoSoccer's founders, he and his friends created the app to help users find like-minded soccer players and reserve spaces to play in Phnom Penh.

"We came up with the idea for finding matches to play, and then decided to include bookings for fields, too," Lim said, adding that GoSoccer's profits would hopefully come from the field-booking aspect of the application. While they have not yet officially launched the app, the five co-developers plan to charge a 5 percent commission on each field booking and sell membership packages to field operators.

The SmartStart contest was sponsored by mobile operator Smart Axiata, which gave five teams of young developers $4,000 each six months ago to further develop their ideas. The five teams pitched their products to a panel of five judges in Phnom Penh yesterday morning, with GoSoccer coming out on top.

Smart has kept open the possibility of additional funding for the app in the future, though GoSoccer's developers seemed more interested in the trip to Singapore than in any additional financing.

"Right now, we're not thinking about money, we're just excited to learn from these companies [in Singapore] and use the knowledge to help us scale our platform," said team member Ratanak Hang.

"Singapore is a high-tech country, and we can learn a lot from them," added Sovann Lyhour, another GoSoccer developer and a computer science major at Zaman University in Phnom Penh. "We look forward to visiting these big companies and allowing them to inspire us to work even harder on our own projects."

Other ideas pitched at the final round of the contest included Ligo, a mobile platform for learning basic Khmer language and etiquette; Prestige Gift, a gift-wrapping and delivery service; Spare, a digital platform for renting available office and conference space; and Propey, a digital wedding planning service.

The General Department of Taxation (GDT) collected $1.93 billion in tax revenue last year, a 30 percent increase over 2016 and well above the government's own projections, according to the department's director, Kong Vibol.

Following the GDT's annual meeting in Phnom Penh yesterday, Vibol told reporters that the government expected to collect $1.71 billion, but reforms to the tax collection agency had resulted in the higher haul.

"It is a good result for the GDT and for the government, which reflects the efficiency of the reformat of the tax system," he said, referring to the GDT's tax overhaul in 2015.

According to Vibol, income-tax revenue and VAT collections increased by 31 percent, while real estate tax and salary tax increased by 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Anthony Galliano, CEO of Cambodian Investment Management, said yesterday that the increase in revenue could lead to a decrease in the Kingdom's reliance on foreign donors.

"If this performance continues, I expect the Kingdom can substantially fund its annual budget within 3 years with the combination of GDT and customs revenues," he said.

Galliano added that some taxpayers remained concerned regarding the "assertiveness of audits", and said it would be helpful if the GDT would continue to improve its application of tax laws and registration processes.

Clint O'Connell, head of Cambodia Tax Practice for foreign investment advisory and tax firm DFDL Cambodia, called the revenue number "truly remarkable" and credited GDT officials for their reforms to the department.

He also cautioned against predicting self-sufficiency in the annual budget, noting spending increases could accompany gains in tax revenue.

"There are a number of variables that need to be taken into account, such as the growing expectations of Cambodian citizens to see some return on the State revenue that is being collected," O'Connell said.

Customs tax collection also increased last year, up 10.4 percent to $1.9 billion, according to a document dated January 23 from the General Department of Customs and Taxation.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting Cambodia grew by 46 percent last year as China leapfrogged Vietnam to become the top country of origin of visitors to the Kingdom, according the Ministry of Tourism's annual report.

China sent 1.2 million visitors to Cambodia last year, accounting for more than 21 percent of the total 5.6 million international visitors. That put China well ahead of second-place Vietnam's 835,335 visitors, Laos' 502,219 and Thailand's 394,934.

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
Click to enlarge. Jenni Reid
The total number of tourists visiting Cambodia grew by 11.8 percent, an increase over the 6.1 percent and 7 percent growth rates from 2016 and 2015, respectively. That was largely driven by the boom in Chinese tourists, as the number of Vietnamese tourists – historically the largest group of visitors to Cambodia -- fell by 13 percent compared to 2016.

Ho Vandy, Secretary General of the Cambodia National Tourism Alliance, praised the fact that Chinese tourists were helping grow Cambodia's tourism sector, but also said that the benefits of Chinese visitors were often concentrated in the hands of Chinese companies and business owners.

"The growth of Chinese tourists doesn't mean it will bring [Cambodians] good business and increase profits, because most of the investments are done by Chinese people," he said yesterday. "The government should look at this case to protect the benefits for local businessmen."

Similar concerns were raised by construction agencies earlier this month after the Land Management Ministry announced an increase in the number of new construction projects. Several company representatives said at the time that the money was largely staying with Chinese companies and not trickling down to Cambodian workers.

Last year also saw a big boost in Cambodia's tourist traffic coming from Laos, which increased by more than 36 percent, while then number of tourists from neighboring Thailand decreased by about one percent.

The total share of tourists in Cambodia hailing from Europe and the Americas was similar to 2016, with European visitors accounting for 15.3 percent and the Americas holding steady at 7 percent.

Outbound tourists from Cambodia also increased by 22 percent to 1.75 million, which is a slight increase from the 20 percent growth rate in outgoing visitors in 2016.

Men Phearom, director of the planning department at the Ministry of Tourism, said the government expected to host more than 6 million tourists in 2018.

China, which is the number one source of foreign direct investment in the Kingdom, has cultivated an increasingly cozy relationship with Cambodia in recent years. Following the September arrest of opposition leader Kem Sokha, China expressed support for Cambodia's decision to "protect national security and stability", while the US, EU and Japan all condemned the crackdown.

More recently, a January 11 visit to Phnom Penh by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang resulted in the signing of 19 agreements between the two countries, most of which involved cooperation agreements or Chinese financing for infrastructure projects.

The two-month pilot program for Sustainability Map, a new software tool intended to help business owners monitor their suppliers and track sustainability, has proved successful, according to panelists at the program's launch event yesterday.

The Sustainability Map is a highly detailed interactive site that can be used by private companies to tailor their sustainability analytics, monitor and track the sustainability of their suppliers, connect with partners to share sustainability profiles or monitor up-to-date market trends.

When asked what "sustainability" meant in these contexts, Kif Nguyen, a consultant with the program's co-developer the International Trade Centre (ITC), said that the word meant different things for different companies.

Among yesterday's panelists was Helene Obry, a quality manager at Cambodian specialty food producer Confirel. Obry said that during her company's two-month trial run with the program, they trained nine staff members to administer the program's Farmer Sustainability Assessment – a survey intended to highlight potential areas of improvement within individual farm operations – at three farms across the country.

"The assessment was really comprehensive," she said. "We feel it will help us to choose what standards and certifications are right for us," and it also improved the company's audit management, training needs assessment and market access, she said.

The program became available yesterday for private companies to use free of charge after they register with ITC, according to Kif.

"If [the Sustainability Map] doesn't translate into useful business practices, it's not a good tool," he said. "In the end, it boils down to making sure that private companies find it helpful, and so far, they have."

The program was co-developed by ITC, the UN's technical trade assistance body, and the United States Agency for International Development. The Cambodian version of the Sustainability Map was created after consultations with local companies and NGOs.

The Electricity Authority of Cambodia (EAC) is preparing a proposal to further subsidise electricity prices ahead of July's national elections, according to two senior energy officials – a move that, if approved, would be in line with numerous populist promises made by ruling party officials in recent months.

The remarks came from EAC President Ty Norin during the regulatory authority's annual meeting yesterday in Phnom Penh, which was also attended by Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem. The government has undertaken an annual evaluation and reduction of electricity prices at the end of March for the past two years, but this year's cut would likely be larger than previous ones, according to Norin.

"We will see the change [in electricity price] before the national election, as we are studying the fruitful result that we may gain from the price reduction," Norin said yesterday, without specifying what that "fruitful result" might be.

The minister, too, encouraged a reduction in energy prices and urged officials to create a proposal he could then pass to Prime Minister Hun Sen for approval, also pointedly noting the step be taken ahead of the vote.

"I want the authority and EDC to do an internal study, or consider if the electricity price for factories and enterprises can be lowered a little bit more before this upcoming election," Sem said.

In addition to lowering prices, Sem encouraged officials to be extra diligent and avoid blackouts in the run-up to the July contest, suggesting that unspecified saboteurs may cause blackouts "to make people get angry at the government to lower the popularity of the ruling [Cambodian People's] Party".

The CPP appears set to compete in the upcoming election unchallenged by its main competitor, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which was dissolved by the CPP-stacked Supreme Court in a widely condemned decision in November. Even so, officials up to and including Prime Minister Hun Sen himself have been doling out populist favours to voters in recent months, including free public transportation for garment workers, and cash bonuses to certain mothers upon giving birth.

According to Norin, the government's state-run electricity provider, Électricité du Cambodge (EDC), already subsidised electricity prices in 2017 to the tune of $51 million, about half of the company's total revenue. The remaining revenue goes to the statue budget to fund other infrastructure projects or government services, he said.

"I am preparing a few scenario proposals for the government for approval. One is [more] beneficial to residents, compared to businesses and enterprise, while another one is [more] beneficial to businesses and industries," he said. "Then the government can decide which option to choose, or choose both of them."

High electricity prices have long maligned Cambodia's industrial sector. In February, National Bank of Cambodia Director-General Chea Serey called high energy prices Cambodia's "biggest challenge on a macroeconomic level", and evaluations of Cambodia's investment potential regularly ding the Kingdom's competitiveness score due to the relatively high cost of power compared to regional neighbours.

Chan Sophal, an economist and director of the Centre for Policy Studies, welcomed any reduction in electricity prices as a smart move that would boost the country's economy.

"Even though the government will lose some revenue, it benefits the private sector more," he said. "The advantages could be bigger than the government's losses."

San Chey, head of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability Cambodia, said yesterday that while any subsidy might be motivated by politics, it would still benefit the average Cambodian citizen.

"Any decision or any gift for people before the election is unavoidable, from the view that the government wants to gain political benefits," Chey said. "I cannot predict how much the government can gain from this decision . . . but I think there are many things that the government needs to do, such as solving corruption, combating smuggling, improving the health sector and other infrastructure improvements."

Prime Minister Hun Sen departs today for the India-Asean Summit hosted in New Delhi, aiming to boost cooperation and expand a historically minor trade relationship with the world's seventh largest economy.

The two-day summit begins on Thursday and comes on the heels of a draft agreement passed by Cambodia's National Assembly on January 15, which seeks to facilitate further economic cooperation between the two nations, particularly in the communication, construction and tourism sectors. During his visit, Hun Sen is scheduled to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as deliver a keynote address to an India-Cambodia business group.

Indian government data show that annual trade between the Cambodia and India has lagged of late, decreasing by nearly 30 percent to $141 million during the last Indian fiscal year, which ran from April 2016 to May 2017. That's the lowest level since the 2012-2013 fiscal year.

"Merchandise trade between India and Asean is not very important at present, partly because of geography and partly because of India's traditionally protectionist policies," said Miguel Chanco, lead Asean analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The slump in bilateral trade is likely a result of India's slowing economic growth, according to Chanco, and was unlikely to improve in the near future.

"The EIU's current growth estimate for India for the 2017-2018 fiscal year is for a further slowdown, so I wouldn't be surprised if the country's trade with Cambodia remained weak," he said, adding that another reason for relatively weak trade was that both India and Cambodia largely export the same products, such as rice and textiles.

Seang Thay, a spokesman at Cambodia's Ministry of Commerce, said that there had been little Indian investment in the Kingdom and limited overall trade between the two countries, in part because India is geographically farther – and therefore more expensive to trade with – than Cambodia's Asean neighbours.

"We hope that having these talks will enable us to address any obstacles that could potentially disrupt trade relations, and to find appropriate solutions to further strengthen two-way trade and investment," he said.

Thay added that the majority of Indian products to Cambodia are medical or health-related, and World Bank data show India's main exports to Cambodia largely fall in the chemical and textile categories.

New proposed rules from the European Union restricting the import of palm oil would likely affect Cambodia's nascent palm oil sector, but the country's main exporter is hoping that demand from India and China will cushion the blow.

Cambodia's palm oil exports rose by a whopping 143 percent last year, according to Ker Monthivuth, a sanitation expert at the Ministry of Agriculture. The country exported more than 44,000 tonnes of crude palm oil in 2017, up from nearly 19,000 tonnes the year before, he said.

But the booming industry could slow down due to a decision from European lawmakers last Wednesday to reform the bloc's regulations surrounding palm oil imports, and specifically ban the use of palm oil in biofuels by 2020.

Environmental groups have long been critical of the deforestation and ecological consequences caused by many palm oil plantations globally.

The EU's new rules could have a devastating effect on the global demand for palm oil if they are ratified by European governments, and the move has elicited protests in major palm oil exporting nations such as Malaysia.

Cambodia's largest exporter of palm oil, a joint venture between the Mong Reththy group and Thailand's TCC Group, exported around 37,000 tonnes of crude palm oil last year, mainly to Asian nations but with 15 percent of the exports headed to the EU as well, according to Prachak Kongtanomtham, vice president of sales and marketing at the Mong Reththy Investment Cambodia Oil Palm Co Ltd.

While the company's exports grew by 73 percent last year, Prachak cautioned yesterday that the EU ban would likely decrease the price for palm oil and could present challenges for the industry.

"We will look to what happen in India and China, if they increase [consumption] volume," he said. "We should find how can reduce our production cost, especially logistic cost and utility," he added, noting that costs were "very high" in Cambodia.

The winners of the 2017 Metfone C-League championship and the much coveted Hun Sen Cup received their well deserved rewards, along with the season's star performers, at a glittering function at Koh Pich Theater held by the Cambodian National Competitions Committee (CNCC) on Thursday evening, while news of prolific Phnom Penh Crown scorer Shane Booysen moving to Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng filtered in over the weekend.

In a marked departure from the Football Federation of Cambodia's convention over the years of handing out the trophies and awards at the end of each competition on the day of the final, the CNCC set a new precedent by staging something similar to an awards night to bring glamour to the end of the season in the presence of some special invitees, including secretary-general of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia Vath Chamroeun, with the FFC President General Sao Sokha presiding over the nearly two-hour event.

As newly promoted Visakha FC look forward to their debut when the season starts in early March, one of Cambodia's star players of the past, Hok Socheatra, who briefly served as the national head coach between July and October of 2012, was showcasing the strength of his squad the same morning by announcing the signing of talented Pak Song-chol, reinforcing North Korean power after signing the quartet of Choe Myong-ho, Kim Kyong-hon, Ri Hyok-chol and Jang Song-hyok, who served National Defense Ministry so well in the just concluded season.

Phnom Penh-based Visakha are currently training in Thailand and are scheduled to play a friendly against Chanthaburi FC in Phnom Penh early next month before playing two more warm up games against Thai teams during the League season in June.

With Cambodian "muscle power" draining out with Chantha Bin Theary, Hok Sokpheng and Chan Vathanaka moving to the Malaysian league, which starts this Saturday, and Prak Mony Udum reportedly contemplating a similar move, the arrival of Pak, part of North Korea's World Cup qualifying campaign, could bring some star power to the second-tier winners, who on the strength of their foreign component and some worthy local recruitment will be out to trouble the best.

But the ensuing season may also see the league's Golden Boot winner, Rwandan Atuheire Kipson, who scored 26 goals in 23 appearances for NagaWorld, leave the club and head to the Malaysian top flight, crossing paths with some of the Cambodian players he has played against during a highly successful stint in the Kingdom.

While Crown's loss of South African Shane Booysen will be Svay Rieng's gain, musical chairs are currently underway with the movement of some national team players, most prominently Chreng Polroth of Army, who was named Most Valuable Player of the Metfone C-League season.

Metfone C-League 2017
WINNERS: Boeung Ket
RUNNERS-UP: National Defense Ministry
FAIR PLAY: Cambodian Mines Action Center
BEST REFEREEing TEAM: Khoun Vireak, Lim Bunthoeun, Sun Chan Phearith and Heng Sokly
BEST GOALKEEPER: Sou Yaty (Boeung Ket)
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Chreng Polroth (ARMY)
GOLDEN BOOT WINNER: Atuheire Kipson (NagaWorld – 26 goals)
BEST COACH: Hao Socheat (Boeung Ket)

HUN SEN CUP 2017
WINNERS: Preah Khan Reach Svay Rieng
RUNNERS-UP: Nagaworld
FAIR PLAY: Boeung Ket
BEST REFEREEing TEAM: Chy Samdy, Sun Daravuth and Chy Sopheap
BEST GOALKEEPER: Om Oudom (Svay Rieng)
GOLDEN BOOT WINNER: Khoun Laboravy (Boeung Ket – 16 goals)
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Prak Mony Udum (Svay Rieng)
BEST COACH: Sam Vandeth (Svay Rieng)

Individual awards
BEST SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHER: Soeurn Sayonsonya (Post News)
BEST SUPPORTER: Biv Tola
Most POPULAR COACH: Meas Channa (Nagaworld)
Most POPULAR PLAYER: Ly Wahed (Boeung Ket)

Cambodian mixed martial artist Meas Meu has vowed to keep his focus and his fighting spirit when he steps into the cage to meet home favourite Edward "The Ferocious" Kelly at ONE: Global Superheroes in the Philippine capital Manila tonight, from 7:30pm Cambodian time.

The 28-year old fighter also claimed he is well prepared both physically and spiritually for his fight at the 10-card event at the Mall of Asia Arena. His featherweight bout is his first fight abroad in ONE Championship.

Meu, who departed from Phnom Penh International Airport on Monday, told The Post from Manila: "Now I can say I am ready for the fight. I don't feel nervous and I want to show my MMA skills on the international stage after a hard training regime in Cambodia with my club. I want to give much credit to my coach as well."

The Kampong Thom-born fighter, who has been spent three months in training with Cambodian Top Team, said: "Training and a real fight in the cage are completely different, with different mental set-ups. I have to collect all my spirit and strengthen it during a fight. I will meet a strong opponent and a good MMA fighter but I am not nrevous. My feeling is the same as for any bout."

Filipino warrior Kelly is an experienced fighter with a nine win and four loss MMA record, with four of his victories coming by way of knockout. Kelly said ahead of tonight's fight: "I am looking to dominate him for the three rounds, but hopefully I can get the finish.

"A finish will be the perfect way to tell the world I am back [after a loss to Emilio Urrutia in ONE in August]."

Cambodian Top Team trainer Hun Chanreach, also in the Philippines, told The Post: "Kelly does not have many weakness and is an experienced fighter. He has been training with the biggest MMA gym in his country. But I don't think Meu is intimidated because he is also good at groundwork."

Meu said: "I will go into the fight calm. My opponent's style during the fight is to give his enemy a chance first. He is not the kind of fighter who wants to attack first. So I will follow his style – I will not attack him and be patient and wait to take the best chance."

The father of two is unbeaten in his MMA career, with three submission wins in his five professional fights, with one victory via TKO and the other by decision.

Cambodian fencers brought home a silver and two bronze medals from the 2018 South East Asian Fencing Federation Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships in Malaysia this week, with the national trainer claiming the success had stunned the Kingdom's regional rivals, who he said had underestimated his team.

Grand epee trainer Sok Ang told reporters on arriving at Phnom Penh International Airport on Tuesday: "This time we finished the competition with good results and also gained a lot of experience.

"On previous occasions, some rival countries had underestimated us and thought us at the lowest level and not as strong opponents.

"However, this time round we gave the Philippine team a big surprise because they expected to be stronger than us but lost to our female athlete Chhay Linly on her way to the final.

"Indonesia and Singapore as well as the host country also hailed us as having improved a lot.

"The President of the Malaysian fencing federation even came up to me and said he will come to visit us at our training facility."

The Cambodian Federation sent nine athletes including three women to participate in the 2018 championships, and the team won silver medal in the women's singles category through Chhay Linly.

She beat a Philippine opponent in the last 16, then beat a Singaporean in the quarterfinal and another Singaporean in the semis before losing to an Indonesian in the final.

Cambodia also took home bronze in the women's and men's team categories.

Ang, who is the general-secretary of the Fencing Federation of Cambodia, described the medal haul from the Southeast Asian event as a remarkable achievement, one following the master plan set in place by the federation ahead of Cambodia hosting the Sea Games in 2023.

Cambodian mixed martial artist Rin Saroth blamed rushed training for his defeat in his first bout on foreign soil after he was forced to tap out for a submission by home fighter "The Terminator" Sunoto at ONE: Kings of Courage in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Saturday.

Saroth defeated compatriot Mission Ali on his ONE debut in December 2015 at ONE: Kingdom of Khmer, winning by first-round armbar submission, and was called in as a replacement just two weeks before the Jakarta event after an injury to the scheduled fighter.

However, in the bantamweight fight at the Jakarta Convention Center, Saroth almost won his second ONE bout, surprising Sunoto with an inverted triangle choke after being slammed to the ground.

Sunoto tried to dominate his Cambodian opponent from the start with his wrestling and grappling skills, but Saroth avoided all traps and fought back with a newly honed grappling style, and nearly pulled off an impressive win in the first round before the home favourite escaped.

But two minutes into the second round, Sunoto took Saroth to the mat before forcing him to tap out with an Americana lock.

After the fight, the 24-year-old Cambodian Top Team fighter told The Post at the Jakarta Convention Center: "He nearly lost the fight because of my improved grappling skills taught by my coach.

"It is a big regret that I missed the chance for victory because my fitness was not better than his. He showed a strong spirit because he fought in his home."

Saroth's trainer Hun Chanreach did not blame his fighter as he had only two weeks to prepare for the fight after replacing compatriot Thai Rithy who suffered an injury in training.

Chanreach said: "We have no regrets but we have to train harder to get full to fitness because Saroth still has six fights to come in ONE events."

With coaching education becoming vitally important and competence-based, the Khmer Athletics Federation (KAF) has embraced the support of the IAAF's newly introduced Level I Coaches Education and Certification System (CECS) course, taking advantage of the World Governing body's offer of this service to member nations.

As many as 24 participants drawn from nine provinces have already completed their first week of lessons and practicals as part of the 12-day course, which ends on Thursday at Olympic Stadium.

The course began at the Kingdom's national stadium under the supervision of IAAF named instructors Rafiq Ahmed of Pakistan and Bo Puth Reatrey of Cambodia, with KAF President Bun Sok also playing an active role.

The main objectives of this basic course are to produce qualified youth coaches who will be able to train and prepare teenagers, and to build a bridge between kid’s-level running, jumping and throwing to the real world of athletics.

The Level 1 syllabus covers all event groups and places importance on the practical skills of coaching. The trainees have been going through several outdoor activities related to the trade skills of coaching and monitoring
performance.

'It is heartening'
It also provides a theoretical base which allows coaches to continue learning either on their own or within the CECS scope, according to KAF secretary-general Pen Vuthy.

While IAAF accredited experts and standardised course materials are regular norms, the structure and timetable have been kept flexible to suit local conditions and needs.

"In regional athletics, Cambodia has long struggled to raise its performance standards," NOCC Secretary-General Vath Chamroeun said.

"It is heartening to note that the athletics federation has taken this important step to encourage youngsters to pick up vital coaching skills and help the sport grow."

While many of the Cambodian long-distance runners have made a mark in the local half-marathon circuit, in higher level competitions like the SEA Games they have almost always been towards the back.

The KAF is confident that this Level 1 course will inspire the participants to keep going and get to the next levels and help build up reserves as it embarks on one of the greatest sports spectacles the Kingdom has ever hosted – the 2023 SEA Games.

The CECS is operated at three levels in seven languages – English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Portugese – and its financial resources are drawn from Olympic Solidarity and other partners at both international and national levels.

The course concludes on Thursday, which features the certification of those who pass muster and step up to the next level.

The closing ceremony has been scheduled for 5pm at Olympic Stadium.

The second edition of the National Games, strategically planned as a crucial stress test for federations and a trial of strength for athletes in an effort to build a strong squad for the ensuing Jakarta Asian Games, has been expanded to 27 disciplines spread across 282 events to be staged mainly in Phnom Penh, with the newly introduced baseball touching base in Kampong Thom and triathlon going all the way to the coastal town of Kep.

The biggest multi-discipline event the Kingdom has ever staged in the last few decades will run from May 25 to June 5, nearly two years after the concept of nationally structured competition led to its launch two years ago with just 15 disciplines.

Though the opening and closing ceremonies went well, the competition as a whole was roundly criticised as confusion-riddled and at times even chaotic with the media getting poor or no access to results and several competitors unhappy over staying conditions and travel arrangements.

There were also several logistical and organisational shortfalls, prompting both the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS), which controlled the competition component, and the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, which owned responsibility for both the opening and closing ceremonies at the Olympic Stadium, to conduct a comprehensive review.

“We weighed both the positives and negatives from the first Games and after thoroughly processing many areas where there were mistakes or misteps we have now addressed those issues and I can confidently say that the second edition will not only be bigger but it will be better and more efficiently run,” NOCC Secretary-General Vath Chamroeun told The Post yesterday.

“We will build on the positives and We will put the lessons learnt from the 2016 experience for good use this time,” Chamroeun added.

Representatives from all the participating federations were summoned by MoEYS and NOCC for a joint meeting a couple of weeks ago to make sure that each one of them played an efficient part in the event under its control both in terms of quality of competition and the technical back up that is so vital in the form of equipment, resources, referees and judges.

With the NOCC creating a new digital avenue by vastly upgrading its website and extending its regular coverage through a mobile app and other social media outlets, the prime sports body is confident of a wider and better news and picture coverage of the games.

The national federations have also been encouraged to interface with the web platform on an individual basis.

ITF taekwondo debut
While bringing back baseball to the mainstream went on expected lines, the introduction of ITF-style taekwondo has come as a pleasant surprise since Kukkiwon and WTF enjoy a popular following in the country.

The original International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) was founded on March 22, 1966, by General Choi Hong-hi in Seoul, South Korea. The ITF practises a style of taekwondo known as Chang Hon taekwondo, though colloquially this is often called ITF-style.

During the 1960s, the goal of the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA) was to promote a unified style of taekwondo, as opposed to the nine separate martial arts styles. By creating ITF, Choi isolated himself but the KTA established Kukkiwon and WTF

The fledgling Shooting Federation has been given an opening to showcase its new found vigor in promoting the sport. For well over a decade shooting as a sport had suffered because of a weapons ban but following a healthy revival of the federation nearly three years ago, this popular Olympic discipline gets its due after narrowly missing a chance to send a team to last year’s SEA Games in Malaysia. Along with most of the Olympic events, the Games will also have soft tennis, petanque, bokator, kun Khmer, kempo and karate.

The opening ceremony on May 25 and the valedictory on June 5 will be at the National Sports complex under the supervision of the NOCC which is going all out to make it a spectacular show. The Post has reliably learnt that the Games torch will be lit by King Sihamoni at the Royal Palace and carried in relay a short distance away to the main Stadium where Prime Minister Hun Sen is to light the cauldron by remote control with the press of a button which will set off five specially made fire arrows that will set the flame.

The NOCC top brass recently had meetings with technical experts from Malaysia and China to seek their advise and help regarding a high-tech laser show, special sound and light effects and a fireworks display at the end of the Games.

Cambodia's five-member squad of fresh faces drawn from its grassroots program got a first taste of regional competition earlier this week at the ongoing ITF under-14 event in Ho Chi Minh City.

With four out of the five travelling outside the country for the first time, the players were understandably edgy in the first of the two tournaments and ended up with no wins.

But they are eager to put the lessons learnt in those matches for good and get better results when they move into the next event, predicted travelling coach Run Dun, who is more popularly known as Coach Som and for whom this is also his first big break.

For the first time, Tennis Cambodia chose two female players, Nyem Srey Noch and Lou Reaksmey, both of whom are from Siem Reap’s booming grassroots initiative.

It highlighted the steady progress being made in the northwest region headed by head coach Scott Windus, who also mentored Som to fit the role he is playing in the development.

Also on the team are Chhieu Chaya from Phnom Penh, Rouert Sampun from Battambang, and Soum Rootha from Siem Reap.

The ITF Asia 14 and Under Development Championships is being played out at Phu Tho Tennis Club.

With the first event now out of the way, the Cambodian players are looking for the start of the week to compete again and improve their record before they return on January 20 all the wiser for this unique exposure as never before have so many players been sent to another country for a similar ITF event.

Results from Event 1

Boys singles
Soum Rootha lost to Namiq Shahid from the Maldives, 4-2, 4-1
Rouert Sampun lost to U
Purevdorj from Mongolia, 4-0, 4-0
Chhieu Chaya, after receiving a bye in the first round, lost to 16th seeded Quang Vinh Nguyen from Vietnam, 6-0, 6-0

Girls singles
Lou Reaksmey lost to 5th seeded Polina Yancharuk from Kyrgyzstan, 6-1, 6-0
Nyem Srey Noch lost to Mashfia Afrin from Bangladesh 6-0, 6-1. Mashfia holds a ranking of 321 in the ITF/ATF Junior Rankings.

Situated in the charming city of Walla Walla, Washington, Whitman College is a private institution founded in 1883 that competes athletically in the NCAA Division III North West Conference.

The college has given its entire roster of 20 tennis players a dream trip to Cambodia to widen their game, but more significantly to soak up the cultural experiences from a historical perspective.

It was in early May last year that Whitman alumnus Phalkun Mam, a member of the Kingdom's Davis Cup squad since 2013 and head of junior development, received a simple message from his former coach Jeff Northam: "I have a crazy idea that I need your help with."

That first serve was indeed an ace as Northam worked out a plan for a "match" with the Cambodian national tennis team as part of their winter vacation break.

After months of correspondence back and forth, and some solid groundwork at both ends, Northam and volunteer assistant coach Tom Sawatzki landed with their entire troupe of 20 players in Cambodia on Sunday.

They are now in the middle of a hectic schedule that includes tennis contests against the national team and rushing off to visit places of historical and cultural significance in their free time away from the court.

'A dream come true'
It was at the Killing Fields that the Whitman group realised the depth of the tragedy that struck tennis during the Khmer Rouge reign of terror, with nearly 40 registered players at the time slain for just being tennis players, with many of them buried in those shallow graves.

While magnifying the total destruction of the game, it also served to show the young players the resilience with which Cambodian tennis was gradually revived, and after nearly two decades of hard work by Tennis Cambodia restored to the level of being recognised for the International Tennis Hall of Fame's award late last year.

The green light for Jeff Northam to take the team to Cambodia was given by the college's study abroad department, with the entire touring party listening with rapt attention to a lecture from Bruce Magnusson, a genocide professor, to prepare the players for the upcoming trip.

"Everything has gone so smoothly. This trip has been a dream come true. To be able to bring 20 guys to Cambodia is just something I never could have imagined for my program. A big thank you to Tennis Cambodia for helping to organise this and have their players match up against my team," Northam told The Post yesterday.

"They seem to all be having a great time both on the court and learning about the history of the country and Tennis Cambodia. I hope this is the start of something that we could potentially organise every few years," Northam said.

Tennis Cambodia Secretary-General Tep Rithivit said: "It's not so often that we can organise something of this scale – just to think of 20 college players of good standard coming to our country to play against our national team.

"It's a great honour to have them travel here, see our country and spar with our players just as we are looking ahead to our Asia/Oceania Group III Davis Cup campaign. Last month we hosted a preseason training camp with ATP players, and now a top NCAA Division III school from the US – what a treat it has been."

During the first day of matches, the country's No1 player Bun Kenny was able to play a modified match against Zach Hewlin, Whitman's top player, who is in his senior year and had made it as far as the semifinals of the NCAA Division III Men's Singles Tournament as a sophomore. Kenny managed to wrap up the set 6-4 from 0-2 down.

Long Samneang had a tough time against Whitman's likely No2 player, with Ben Kirsh edging him out 9-7 in a tie-break. For Phalkun, who played four years of college tennis at Whitman under Northam, it was a throwback to the old days. He faced Adam Rapaport and won 6-3 in a set that was closer than the score indicated.

"When I was at Whitman, I had no clue that 10 years later I would be in Cambodia working and playing. And now to have coach Northam bring his current team here, training with our national team as they prepare for their 2017-18 spring season, is definitely something I never thought would have happened," Phalkun said.

"During my time at Whitman, Jeff was not only a coach but a mentor as well, and I'm so happy to see his team here with him experiencing the same love and care he showed me and my team 10 years ago."
The second day was all about the doubles, with five courts in use for a bump-style game with winners moving up and losers sliding down. The final day yesterday was spent with more singles practice matches.

Tennis and Wine Camps
The first ever international trip bringing the whole squad of 20 players to Cambodia would not have happened but for a unique marketing idea flouted by Northam with Boise State men's tennis coach Greg Patton seven years ago.

The two started what they called Tennis and Wine Camps in Walla Walla. From its very first camp of 12 participants, it has grown all over the US and around the world.

Every summer now eight camps are held with anywhere from 24 to 30 participants, with proceeds going directly to the Whitman Men's and Women's Tennis Programs, which has now created a fabulous opening for players to travel overseas.

Having seen most of the tourist attractions in Phnom Penh, the Whitman touring party will spend the next three days in Siem Reap winding down their exciting trip with a visit to Angkor Wat.

The most precious memories for the Cambodian juniors are the dozen or so racquets some of the Whitman players generously donated – and for Tennis Cambodia it is heartening to note that they now have a new outpost of well-wishers in Walla Walla.

Even as the formidable pairing of Indian cousins Amish Jaitha and Khusaal Thackersey work out their travel plans to seek an unprecedented hat-trick of wins in Cambodia’s most popular pairs golfing challenge, entries have been thrown open for the fourth annual Angkor Four-Ball Championship.

The tournament is to be contested over the Sir Nick Faldo-designed course at the Angkor Golf Resort in Siem Reap from April 6-8.

Last year Jaitha and Thackersey fired on all cylinders to fight back from a four-shot deficit over leaders Stephen Kennedy and Mark Penfold of Australia to complete memorable back-to-back triumphs having dominated the event the previous year.

With the cousins clearly bringing with them another winning threat if they choose to defend their title, the event is expected to be an even bigger hit than last year.

The pairs format has been very well received, with the players feeling a lot less pressure compared to singles strokeplay where every shot counts.

A four-ball contest consists of two teams of two golfers competing against each other. Each golfer plays his own ball throughout the round, so that four balls are in play. A team’s number of strokes for a given hole is that of the lowest scoring team member.

Four-ball is a style of team golf often used in group competitions, including the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup.

Because the rules permit excellent play by one teammate to offset less than effective play by their partner, it is often a sound strategy to pair an aggressive player with someone who is steady rather than spectacular.

This has been a tactic that has worked to the advantage of the Indian cousins as reflected in their results over the past two years.

Heineken will continue as main sponsor in 2018, combined with the hospitality the AGR will be laying out.

The event has considerably grown in popularity among players in the region and further, drawing hopefuls from as far afield as Australia and even the United Kingdom.

Award for AGR in Spain
For the second consecutive year, the Angkor Golf Resort was recently voted as the best course in Cambodia at the 2017 World Golf Awards, confirming its status as one of Southeast Asia’s must-play courses. The award was given at La Manga Club, which welcomed the world’s elite golf hospitality industry to Spain.

In an industrial pocket of Phnom Penh, just north of the Chroy Changvar bridge, Mark and Jefferson Huang have built a paradise for artists – and for the wannabes too hesitant until now to put themselves out there.

The Art Bar, which despite the name is not an actual bar, is in a gorgeous repurposed warehouse hidden from Street 45. Go through an industrial parking lot and to the right down an alley and visitors will find a sun-filled space with floor-to-ceiling windows and steel beams alongside easels and canvases ready and waiting for colour.

The two Filipino brothers are seemingly straight from central casting, with Jeff – a painter and street artist with tousled hair – the creative lead, and Mark – a more straight-laced businessman who also manages a garment factory – in charge of operations. The vision at The Art Bar is to connect professional artists and amateurs, initially through painting courses, but also in other media in the future.

“I’m not an artist – I never would have thought that I’d be painting in my life,” Mark says. “But the activity we’re offering is a way for us to bridge that gap between someone like me and the art world.”

For Jeff, who is one of two resident teachers at The Art Bar alongside celebrated local street artist Daniel Ou, the goal is to chip away at most people’s built-in barriers.

“First, it’s to breach that wall of ‘I can’t do it’. Actually, you can do it. Step by step we break it down how to build a composition, then it’s up to them what they feel,” he says “Some people come back, and I’ll say, ‘Let’s not do this anymore. Pick an image and let’s do something about you’. Are they getting into this? Then I’ll feed them more.”

While the main activities are “Sip ’n Paint” sessions – in which participants follow step-by-step instructions from a teacher on the basics, with a beverage for enhanced creativity – the Art Bar is also a venue for professionals or those looking to move beyond an amateur level.

It offers reasonable open studio rates to local artists, at just $49 each month, not including materials, and open sessions for people who want to come in and work on their own projects with a professional close at hand to give advice. A large canvas costs $100, including paint, and an artist can come back as many times as is necessary to finish a piece. A “Sip ’n Paint” course, meanwhile, is $25 per person for a two-hour session.

In the future, there will likely also be ceramics courses, though Jeff says fine-tuning in the instruction is needed since the “failure rate” is higher than for painting. Classes in other media, like photography, are also on the table in the future.

But for now, it’s a place for newbies to get creative and a potential home for local talent in a city with few large studios.

“Most of the artists we have just try to do things in their own home, which is not a very positive environment. If you put them around other artists they get inspired or they inspire others,” Mark said. “Come down here and collaborate and let’s brainstorm some s— and come up with something nice.”

The Art Bar is located at #225, Street 45. It is open every day from 10am until 9pm, with bookings available online at theartbarkh.com, or by phone at 088 529 9188 for English and 069 569 888 for Khmer.

The first novel by George Groslier, the French writer who devoted his life to studying and documenting the Kingdom, is finally available in English, 92 years since its publication. The Road of the Strong, or La Route du plus fort, centres around a French administrator tasked with developing the road system in northwest Cambodia, as well as his intertwined fate with car manufacturer Roland Gassin and his wife Hélène.

With Roland staying behind in Vietnam for business, Hélène visits the rural province of Battambang and is soon absorbed by its rural way of life and Cambodian culture – as well as by Ternier himself.

In the novel, Groslier gives a vivid account of the cultural, historical and geographical aspects of Cambodia and its people, providing a truthful look at life in the early 20th century French protectorate, including its Royal Ballet.

“Groslier was a talented artist and in his writing he began painting with words,” said Kent Davis, the publisher and editor of DatAsia Press. “His rich descriptive style added visual depth to all his books, including his non-fiction works.”

The 396-page book also includes maps, 100 illustrations, the complete original 1925 French text, and an essay by Tom Kramer called Colonial Battambang Today.

Davis encountered Groslier’s first novel when he was working with Paul Cravath, an expert on traditional Asian dances, on the project Earth in Flower about the Royal Ballet of Cambodia.

Davis’s personal mission of bringing forgotten books back to life, combined with his discovery with Cravath, inspired him to translate Groslier’s works, with The Road to the Strong the last of four books published. Kent’s discovery of Groslier’s daughter Nicole, just 20 minutes from his house in Florida, helped in the process of restoring and reprinting the books.

A grant awarded from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2012 allowed Kent to work with translator Pedro Rodríguez on In the Shadow of Angkor – Unknown Temples of Ancient Cambodia, a description of Groslier’s trek in 1913 and 1914 to document the country’s monuments; the novel Return to Clay – A romance of Colonial Cambodia; and Water and Light – A Travel Journal of the Cambodian Mekong, a record of his voyage on the river in 1929.

Groslier was born in and died in Cambodia after spending most of his life in the Kingdom and was the first Western scholar to write extensively about Cambodia’s royal dance tradition, among many other topics.

Like other books by Groslier, though this one is fictional, Davis sees it as an important historical document, which could help to understand the French view of Cambodia and its culture, and to piece together a picture of life in the protectorate.

“For a true understanding of any era, people or culture, the most important accounts come from eyewitnesses who saw and experienced their topics,” he said.

“How familiar is that person with the local culture? Do they speak the language? Groslier spoke Khmer and immersed himself in the culture.”

Henri Copin, a professor of humanities at the University of Nantes and a specialist in French colonial literature, even calls Groslier “a Cambodian Author”.

“Groslier built his fiction on his experience of reality and his vision of the colonial endeavour . . . This affords us a first reading of the novel as the reflection of a certain reality,” Copin writes in the foreword.

“I reread this book many years after discovering it and am struck by the marvelous opportunities it provides to arrange symbols, or even create myths, that coexist with their differences, and their contradictions, and their contrary meanings,” he added. “Road versus path. Civilisation versus nature. Progress versus liberty.”

The Road of the Strong: A Romance of Colonial Cambodia (396 pages) can be purchased on Amazon.com for $24.95.

Agriculture Minister Veng Sokhon said he would ask Prime Minister Hun Sen to take action to help farmers compete against neighbouring countries, including further measures to address high electricity costs, as the sector mapped out its challenges for the year at a ministry-led forum in Phnom Penh yesterday.

The annual forum, held at the Phnom Penh Hotel, brought together businesses, farmers and government officials to discuss the sector’s ongoing challenges.

Addressing the forum, Sokhon said Cambodia had the potential to increase its agricultural production, but poor irrigation, infrastructure, technology and access to finance was compounding productivity woes. High electricity costs also remained an impediment to the sector’s competitiveness, he added.

“The main issues are costs and access to markets,” Sokhon said. “We need to seek investors who will work with the potential of our agricultural sector.”

The government was working to reduce the costs of electricity and transport, and had plans for developing a new seaport, expanding airports and capping electricity prices for SMEs and industrial users. However, electricity prices would still remain higher than in neighbouring countries, he said.

“We will prepare and send a report on the challenges to the prime minister to take action soon,” he said. “Even if we can’t solve everything immediately, we have to try our best to solve it step by step.”

Cambodia Chamber of Commerce Vice President Lim Heng, who attended the forum, reiterated that the main issue for the sector was the cost of production, which prevented enterprises from being able to compete with imports.

“The Ministry of Agriculture and the private sector have to work closely with each other in order to speed up [the development of] higher production,” he said after the forum. It was necessary to “reduce the cost of electricity or [be granted] tax exemptions in order to compete with imported products”, Heng added.

Among the forum’s participants was Chet Phirum, deputy director of the Cambodia Livestock Raisers Association, who said afterward that it was important to keep highlighting the challenges that hindered the sector’s development.

“The meetings have not yet led to satisfying results – the issues are still the same,” he said. “But at least we can raise our issues and hope they find a solution soon.”

In his niche, illegal pig imports were hurting local pig farmers, he said.

“We hope the government will take action,” Phirum said.