Sou Sdei and welcome to Campuccino, your fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia.
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In this issue: Minority political parties contemplate what’s next for Cambodia’s politics, rights report finds suspects were tortured to confess, Cambodia’s poor struggle as debts mount, and more.
As of Monday, November 16, it has been three years since the dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). I was never the biggest fan of CNRP but at least they were something other than the ruling CPP. To many people, including myself, the CNRP was a tiny glimmer of hope, a small sign to show that there was a small possibility of changing the system.
An article by Mech Dara, Ouch Sony and Matt Surrusco for VOD has done a great job in giving voice to minority party leaders who we, otherwise, would never hear from. The discussion on how Cambodia should do politics moving forward is promptly and sorely needed. In the article, there was one statement with which I couldn’t agree more:
The CNRP has always been a means to an end: challenging the government and giving the people a voice, say opposition politicians who stand apart or have broken from the outlawed party. For them, waiting — whether for the international community to save them, or for popular party co-founder Sam Rainsy to return — is no solution.
I think it is time for Cambodian politicians and the general public to start thinking of what is next. I’m aware it is not an easy thing to do but we need to move on from the dream that the CNRP was going to fix the country, and look for new sources of hope, no matter how small. After all, we don’t have a choice, do we?
Whenever I have to write this section of the newsletter which I label “Human Right & Freedom”, I often let out a deep sigh…In a nutshell, it’s grim and getting grimmer every day. If I tell you to think of a time in Cambodia when people were arrested for no valid reason, forced and tortured to make false confessions, what period springs to mind? Email me (or send me a DM on Twitter) your answer, and I’ll let you know if we’re thinking of the same thing. Now, on to the news.
Cambodia Center for Human Rights’ trial monitoring report issued on November 16 states that authorities tortured at least 26 defendants to force confessions over a period of two years(2018-2020). According to a report by Nhim Sokhorn for VOD, National Police spokesman Chhay Kim denied this and said ‘it was just suspects’ words against police officers’. It is also worth noting that based on Cambodia’s Criminal Procedure Code, detained suspects are only allowed to request lawyers 24 hours after their arrest.
As Covid-19 continues to hit countries around the world and Cambodia, Cambodia’s loan crisis continues to deepen, affecting the country’s most vulnerable population. AsiaTimes’s article, written by Suy Se, highlights a vicious debt cycle Cambodia’s poor are facing and struggling to get out of. While their suffering is worsened by the pandemic, distressed borrowers are forced to pay annual interest rates of up to 30%. The inability to pay has caused them to lose, one by one, their lands, livestock, and eventually their houses, the very means for them to make a living in order to repay their debt.
While our poor are struggling to barely make a living, the government thinks it is a great time to start building a theme park resort in Siem Reap. You gotta be joking.
According to VOD’s report by Mech Dara, NagaCorp, the biggest casino operator in the country, is behind the tentatively named “Angkor Lake of Wonder” theme park resort. The project will sit just 500 meters from the protected archaeological ground. The announcement expresses NagaCorp’s vision to promote Angkor Wat and NagaWorld as twin tourism icons in Cambodia. According to a report by Shaun Turton for Nikkei Asia, the project’s first phase includes a water park, two 500-room, five-star hotels, a canal system, a "Chinatown" and an indoor "high-tech" theme park. Now, I’m all for a shift for Cambodian representation of temple and trauma, but I did not see temple and NagaWorld coming. It is a huge disappointment, I honestly feel like NagaWorld is running the country. Kudos to all my leaders! (That’s not a compliment.)
I’m aware that I’ve talked about the disappearance of wetlands in Phnom Penh frequently and I’m going to talk about it again today because it is a major issue that can still be resolved if the government decides to. This article by Southeast Asia Globe looks at how Phnom Penh can learn from Bangkok’s experience, and lessons learned about how flooding is the direct result of filled wetlands. While Phnom Penh is still in its early stage of development, it would be wise to pause and rethink the direction the city is heading, especially when its neighbouring Bangkok is recreating spaces to function as wetlands.
Arts & Culture
🎨 Treeline Gallery is organising an exhibition titled Invisible Voices in Siem Reap. Six talented emerging local artists, grantees of Treeline Artist Grants 2020, were selected and given the platform to produce original artworks and present a collective exhibition. Exhibition dates: November 22, 2020 – February 28, 2021.
🎥 I’m a massive fan of clothing from Dorsu. Not only do I admire the value and ethic behind the brand but the clothes are super comfortable. Hence, I’m very excited to see this social enterprise being featured in episode 3 of The Conscience of Clothing, a documentary film project looking closely at Cambodia’s garment industry by independent filmmaker Patrick Kohl. I’m very impressed with the whole documentary (total of 8 episodes) because of its format, music, and cinematography. It’s refreshingly free from stereotypes. The documentary is in both English and German (subtitle available).
Overheard on Twitter
Campuccino is a fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia, written by @DarathteyDin from Word & Visual.
I’d love to hear from you. If you have feedback or content ideas, please reach out via tey@wordandvisualmedia.com
Special thanks to Maryam Jillani for being my editor.
Hello brave lady! Congratulations for publishing the truth. Cambodia can return to being the Land of Smiles; it has the resources and the people. Now all it needs is for the people to stop sitting around staring at their phones and get to work. Way too many tuk-tuks, guesthouses, and restaurants. Not enough people growing oranges and other high-value crops. Education is the key, and I don't mean Western-style indoctrination.