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Phnom
Penh (Ah!)
- HAPPY
NEW YEAR
D. J. Ken - National Radio Text Service
BUSINESSES ON THE MOVE - One of the joys of traveling is meeting the locals and talking to them to find out what they think - BEWARE of counterfeit money - TOP 5 PHNOM PENH STORIES +
Wednesday December 30, 2009
DON'T KNOW One of the joys of traveling is meeting the locals and talking to them to find out what they think. While eating at a Khmer restaurant and Khmer student became very inquisitive about my background which usually starts out with where are you from. His machine gun pace of firing off questions prompted me to turn the beat around and ask him why he was off from school that day. "It's a holiday," he replied. The problem was that he didn't know the holiday was for Cambodia's Independence from France. A 30 year-old Khmer was saying how the United States takes care of its people and gives them money when they get old. He then informed that the government takes a portion of US citizen's earnings throughout their working career and then pays them back when they are elderly. He was then briefed how a good Democracy should work and take care of their people but it was up to the voters to make good choices who would be responsible for running the business of their own government or the United States of America. He learned that US politicians have to disclose their wealth and how they made it. He was then informed that the US president's salary was $400,000 a year. He looked stunned and wrote the figures down on a piece of paper and said, "You mean a MONTH RIGHT." FYI - US President Barack Obama earns a $400,000 annual salary, along with a $50,000 annual expense account, a $100,000 non-taxable travel account and $19,000 for entertainment. A salary raise must be approved by the United States Congress. After being elected a US president can only sever a term of FOUR YEARS but can be reelected for only one more 4-year term thereby can only serve as president for a maximum eight years. Retired presidents now receive a pension based on the salary of the current administration's cabinet secretaries, which is $191,300 as of 2008. The Khmer wasn't aware that US politicians are PUBLIC SERVANTS and not the other way around. As Noam Chomsky an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, political activist, author, and lecturer said on a BBC report "To form an opinion you need a framework of understanding." Chomsky is also an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The main line of reasoning is that if someone wants to learn about a subject much of this information is on the Internet and television networks such as National Geographic, Discovery and The Australian Network. The point being does an individual prefer to search for porn or knowledge BUSINESSES ON THE MOVE The Bayon Market has moved to a new location next to TV-3. Their previous site on Monivong Blvd. is shuttered. The Nokia Care office is moving to a new location Wednesday December 30th to a new location near the Intercontinental Hotel. Their new address is 147 Monireth Street 217. Tel: 02-01-2010 & 023-994-4828. The K-FOUR electronics/appliance store has opened up its third location. This past week they opened a spacious sales room at the City Mall which for those that don't know is on the corner of Sihanouk Boulevard at Olympic Stadium. The address is No. City Mall (Block B 2nd Floor) Street Moniret, Sangat - Vel Vong Khan 7 Makara - Tel: 023-210-642 City Mall's other major tenant is Lucky Markets. The four story Mall has numerous shops throughout the complex. The still in the growth stage it features plenty of fast food shops including KFC, Lucky Burger, Pizza World and BB World among others. The Paragon Mall is not doing so well due to the lack of business on the premises. The result is that many of the tenets are leaving the location prior to completing their stringent long term lease. In doing so they taking a hefty financial hit from the deposits they had to make when they signed their lease. As one business owner said though they lost a lot of money it was better to move and take the loss since they would lose more on their inventory that was not selling due to the lack of customers at Paragon. BEWARE A Nigerian living in Phnom Penh was recently sentenced to 12 years in prison for possessing $10,000 worth of counterfeit US $100 bills and a large quantity of heroin. The counterfeit problem also extends to small denominations of Cambodian riel. A Khmer money changer showed us a counterfeit 5000 riel note (US1.25).
TOP PHNOM PENH STORIES Four of the top five Phnom Penh stories remain on the top Stories list with a few changing positions. Phnom Penh Burning dropped from second to fourth place. A new entrant at # 5 is a column for May 2006. The focus is what's going on in the city with beauty contests and film festivals. As a new feature we will enter an Archive story each month. The feature this month is Cambodia's attempt at organizing a youth football league.
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