Sou Sdei and welcome to Campuccino, your fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia with a dash of opinion.
A warm welcome to new subscribers, thank you for allowing me into your inbox. It’s nice to have you here.
I spent a whole week away from my screen in beautiful Tairua, a small town on the Coromandel Peninsula. I hope everyone had a good holiday and is ready to cope with whatever 2021 has in store for us. On that note, Happy New Year!
(I’m trying really hard not to mention what is going on in the US right now because that’s not what this newsletter is about, but damn boy, things are f***** up bad over there!)
In this issue: national park privatisation, economic struggles of coastal and border town residents, first crude oil extraction, Prahok diplomacy and more.
I would like to kick off the year with what I call slower headlines. I’ve accumulated quite a few of them over the past few weeks because other more time sensitive stories usually make the cut if I want to keep the newsletter at a reasonable length. These headlines I have are common in a category I labelled “Environment & Livelihood”. Some of the articles are longer and more in-depth. Personally, I think they are usually being scrolled past too quick simply because they are not “breaking”. So, here they are, by titles:
In Shell of a City, Locals Pick Through a Spiritless Recovery for Work in VOD by Mech Dara and Danielle Keeton-Olsen looks at lives of locals living in Preah Sihanouk Province during the pandemic. Tuk-tuk drivers, construction workers and street vendors express challenges they are facing and different ways they are using to adapt.
As borders shut, Cambodian families struggle to survive in frontier city Poipet in Southeast Asia Globe by Christine Redmond follows a similar journey as the previous story highlighting struggles of the border town residents. Some of the main struggles for the residents of Poipet include widespread unemployment, halted migration and food insecurity.
Giving Up the Coast Series by VOD:
After Lake Gifted to Powerful Couple, Current Residents Face Upheaval reveals uncertain future of local residents living along Boeng Thom Angkep lake of Prey Nob District, Preah Sihanouk Province. The government signed over 600 hectares of land in Ream and Bit Traing communes, including Boeng Thom Angkep lake to one of the most powerful businessmen’s daughter and son-in-law.
Tracts of National Park, Disputed Area Privatized in Preah Sihanouk illustrates how easy it is for the national government to give away public land under the label of concession. In this particular case, 200 hectares of Ream National Park and flooded forest land, claimed to be disputed by local officials, were signed over to a private company and individuals.
Experts, reporters, civil society, and pretty much everyone (except my lovely government), often express concern over the disappearing wetlands in Phnom Penh. That does not seem to stop or slow down the activity of more lake filling though. I guess more lakes will continue to be filled as long as there is still “development” 😉 to be made.
With the latest cut of another 286 hectares, Boeng Tamok now has 880 hectares sliced off its surface, reports VOD. The latest cut was given to private individuals. If you’re wondering how much of the lake will be preserved, nobody knows including the Minister of Water Resource Lim Kean Hor. He did say though that “Not all lakes cannot be filled in.” 😂
I vaguely remember my father telling me about an incredible oil seminar he went to when I was a teenager, more than a decade ago. The topic that really got his attention was a curse of the black gold which looked at adverse impacts caused by the oil industry in Nigeria. Back then, it felt as if Cambodia was going to get its first drop of oil any day, and I was curious to see how that would be handled. Little did I know that I had to wait for two-thirds of my life to see concrete fruition of Cambodia’s oil exploration journey.
On Dec 29, 2020, Prime Minister Hun Sen welcomed the extraction of Cambodia’s first drop of crude oil, reports Sao Phal Niseiy for Cambodianess. The extraction was two decades in the making. A law on petroleum designed to manage, promote and develop Cambodia’s petroleum industry was passed in 2019. However, it is yet to be known how much money the new oil industry will generate for the country. It is also worth noting that the result of this early extraction of crude oil came at a time when the global oil price is fluctuating with price dropping below $50 per barrel. So, we shall wait and see if this newly found natural resource will be a blessing or a curse.
I can recall clearly of writing about the CNRP plan to return to Cambodia on January 4 this year in issue #06. I didn’t expect that to happen, and I was right. Regardless of whether they had ever intended to return to Cambodia, the government made sure that it’s not going to happen. According to CamboJA News’s report by Khuon Narim, former opposition leader Sam Rainsy was sentenced over incitement-related offences on December 30 along with four other prominent activists. Rainsy was handed a two-year prison term for a social media post calling for Cambodians to boycott loan repayments to microfinance entities. Bun Buntenh and Tum Bunthorn were given 20-month sentences for criticising Cambodia’s chief monk and the government on social media, respectively. Two former CNRP officials, Ouk Chhum and Lors Chhenglay from Battambang, were given 18-month sentences for “incitement to commit a felony”. Before you start asking how legit these charges are, they are anything but. They “appear to be politically motivated”, that’s what people like to call it.
Arts & Culture
🍳 Prahok will be one of the main ingredients to be promoted in the new kitchen diplomacy aiming at boosting Cambodia’s soft power. This is part of the foreign ministry’s new approach to nation branding through food diplomacy. The food diplomacy initiative will see programmes in which Khmer cooks will be trained to serve Khmer cuisine in Cambodian embassies abroad and ambassasdors’ spouses will receive Khmer culinary lessons. I mean…what’s not to like about this Prahok diplomacy? The government is so serious about this that they have the whole economic diplomacy team working on a cookbook!
🎥 Lake Life at Risk: The Fishing Families of Cambodia’s Tonle Sap is a mini-documentary by Thomas Cristofoletti and Robin Narciso looking at how the families are experiencing consequences caused by climate change and hydroelectric dam constructions. It is very well done and I recommend you check it out (duration: 10mn).
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