VZCZCXRO8286
OO RUEHHM RUEHJO
DE RUEHPF #0318/01 0580115
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 270115Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8073
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA IMMEDIATE 1576
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000318 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/ILCSR--MARK MITTELHAUSER, AND 
EB/TPP/ABT/BTT--THOMAS LERSTEN 
GENEVA FOR LABOR ATTACHE JOHN CHAMBERLIN 
LABOR FOR ILAB--JIM SHEA, ZHAO LI, BILL BRUMFIELD, AND JONA 
LAI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KJUS ELAB KTEX CB
SUBJECT: A VIOLENT WEEKEND IN CAMBODIA:  POPULAR SINGER 
SHOT; UNION LEADER KILLED 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  On February 23, popular singer Pov 
Panhapich was shot by an unidentified gunman and later 
evacuated to Vietnam for medical treatment.  She is in stable 
condition, and media reports speculate that she was linked 
romantically to a high-level RGC official and vengeance may 
have been the motive.  In a separate incident, the president 
of a factory-level union loosely affiliated with the 
opposition Sam Rainsy Party was gunned down on February 24. 
FTU President Chea Mony accused a rival union of 
responsibility, but there is no evidence linking anyone to 
the crime.  Police admit that robbery was not a motive in 
either case; civil society organizations compared these 
recent attacks to previous unsolved killings of female 
entertainers and union activists, noting that in all 
instances the government security services failed to identify 
those responsible.  End Summary. 
 
Famous Singer Shot by Unidentified Gunman 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U)  At roughly 0630 on Friday, February 23, an 
unidentified gunman shot popular singer and television 
personality Pov Panhapich as she left her parked car and 
walked to a local school.  The gunman, who was riding a 
motorcycle, shot the singer two times at close range, and 
then fled on the motorcycle.  Witnesses claimed that another 
motorcycle with two men appeared to have accompanied the 
gunman, and left the scene at the same time.  Initially taken 
to a local hospital, the singer was transferred to Vietnam 
for medical treatment.  She is reported to be in stable 
condition, but there are concerns regarding her long-term 
prognosis, according to press reports. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Unidentified relatives of the injured singer told 
the press that Pov Panhapich received telephone threats prior 
to the shooting.  Rumors suggest that the entertainer was 
romantically linked to a high-level government official, and 
National Police Commissioner Hok Lundy has been named as a 
possible love interest.  Police have ruled out robbery as a 
motive, given that nothing was stolen from the young singer 
when the gunman fled the scene. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Cambodia's entertainment sector has been plagued 
with other attacks on female singers.  One of Cambodia's most 
popular actresses and classical dancers, Piseth Pilika, died 
in 1999 after being shot and killed.  Rumored at the time to 
be PM Hun Sen's mistress, many observers speculated that Hun 
Sen's wife was behind the actress's death.  Touch Srey Nich, 
a female singer, was shot and paralyzed from the neck down in 
2003; her mother died in the same attack.  Another young 
singer, Tat Marina, suffered an acid attack in 2000; the wife 
of a high-ranking government official and her two bodyguards 
were implicated in the affair.  In all these cases, no one 
has ever been charged with the crime.  The two latter victims 
relocated to the United States. 
 
Union Leader Shot and Killed 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) At approximately 0515 on February 24, two 
unidentified men on a motorcycle shot Free Trade Union (FTU) 
factory-level union leader Hy Vuthy, age 36, three times 
before escaping.  Vuthy was about one mile from the factory 
on his way home after working the nightshift.  Police have 
not made any arrests but have ruled out robbery as a motive 
because Vuthy's motorcycle was not stolen.  On February 20, 
Vuthy had written to factory management asking for an 
additional day off in celebration of Khmer New Year in April. 
 The FTU reported that two Cambodian Union Federation leaders 
had angrily approached Vuthy the next day and rebuked him for 
sending the letter. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) On Sunday, FTU national president Chea Mony called 
a meeting of all factory-level union leaders to discuss the 
killing.  Mony exhorted the government to investigate the 
case.  Noting that three other FTU leaders have been killed 
since 2003, he called on the government to stop the killings 
of union leaders, threatening to lead a general strike or 
public protest if another union leader is killed.  (Comment: 
Mony told us privately that he has no plans to take any 
action until after local elections are held on April 1.  End 
Comment.)  Mony also reminded union leaders of their need to 
behave honestly and to serve the workers, noting that 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000318  002 OF 002 
 
 
corruption fueled many labor problems. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Bright Sky and Suntex, two factories sharing an 
owner and a compound, have been the site of Cambodia's worst 
labor violence in the past year.  Together, the two factories 
lost more than 30,000 working days due to seven separate 
strikes in 2006, accounting for nearly 10% of all working 
days lost in the entire garment industry.  In October 2006, a 
dispute turned violent when anti-riot police shot into the 
air to disperse illegal strikers; a bullet reportedly struck 
a garment worker from a neighboring factory.  Scores of other 
workers reported that they had been beaten by police, some 
with electric batons.  In response, Bright Sky permanently 
closed its night shift in November, saying privately that 
nightshift workers were responsible for a disproportionate 
share of labor unrest.  The Suntex nightshift remained open. 
 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  This past weekend's shootings were a chilling 
reminder of past violent crimes that remain unsolved to this 
day.  The Pov Panhapich case may indeed involve a ranking RGC 
official; an advisor in the PM's cabinet told us Friday 
morning about the shooting, noting that he had been directly 
called upon (nfi) to facilitate the medical evacuation of the 
injured entertainer to Vietnam.  The slain union leader's 
death, while unrelated to the attack on the female singer, 
follows the familiar pattern of gunmen on the backs of 
motorcycles shooting their victims with little fear of 
capture.  While there were two arrests in the case of slain 
union leader Chea Vichea, those convicted are not believed by 
the murdered leaders' family members nor human rights 
community leaders to be the real killers.  The other cases 
remain open case files in the Ministry of Interior, and a 
silent reminder of Cambodia's continuing culture of impunity. 
 End Comment. 
MUSSOMELI