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 would like to address the elephant in the room – what happened in Myanmar. I find it shocking, yet unsurprising. If anything, it is a sign that this might be where the region is heading. It’s just sad and unsettling.
Also, a quick disclaimer: this week’s issue is shorter than usual because I’m taking a mini-break from dwelling on news reports that make me feel very powerless, for the sake of my mental wellbeing.
In this issue: Cambodia’s politics and where it’s heading, Corruption Perception Index, Tonle Sap, framing Cambodia through photography and more.
Politics is ugly and I wish humanity could rid itself of it, but that’s impossible, so here we are. I run out of opinions to give when it comes to Cambodia’s politics. It’s like watching a really bad and long sitcom drama which I wish would be over soon. Here goes this week’s episode:
I’m loving the piece by David Hutt in AsiaTimes titled “Kem Sokha Suddenly Holds All the Cards in Cambodia”. Hutt summarises and analyses Cambodia’s current political climate while outlining a few possibilities of where it can be heading. It is a great read for those of you who would like to explore the web of Cambodia’s political realm.
While we’re on politics, Sameang Chea, Ket Eyean, Ananth Baliga and Ouch Sony did a summary article for VOD on all the recent cases and controversy around the CNRP mass trials. They also produced a one pager infographic summarising each case, its defendants, charges and date of hearings.
On the corruption front, Transparency International Cambodia just released its Corruption Perception Index in which we scored 21 out of 100, reports CambojaNews. Cambodia only improved one point compared to last year’s ratings. You got to love the responses by Cambodian officials. Chairman of Anti-Corruption Unit Om Yentieng could not be reached for comments; chairman of National Council for Anticorruption Top Sam and spokesperson of the National Council for Anticorruption Keo Remy declined to comment on the report findings. Sok Eysan, a CPP senator, questioned the “transparency” of Transparency International. Gold! 😂
I’ve always been sceptical when it comes to Cambodia’s response to Covid-19. Regardless of whether it was luck or something else, I’m glad the case numbers remain low. As if reading my mind (and possibly others’) Alastair Mccready writes a piece for Southeast Asia Globe analysing if Cambodia has been given enough credit for its response to the pandemic. According to American medical epidemiologist Dr. Michael Kinzer, technical, political and possible environmental factors are all at play in pandemic management along with luck. He suggests that early response around Pasteur Institute set an early effective groundwork along with the government’s early national border closure. Then, Dr. Kinzer went on to add that viruses don’t like heat which is not a consistent argument when you look at other countries such as Indonesia and Myanmar. I also find his argument on Cambodia’s lack of crowded places, close-contact settings and enclosed spaces flawed. It’s true we don’t have a complex public transportation system for people to share space but we have massive weddings with hundreds of people cramped into air-conditioned conference halls and shopping malls where Cambodians go to eat. So, I don’t think that last argument makes much sense. Whatever it is, I’m counting the country’s blessing.
Now and then, I like to indulge myself with slow news. Like I mentioned in my first issue of this year, longer news reporting is so much better in terms of quality, yet they don’t always get a mention when competing with other time-sensitive titles. I recently came across this article on the Tonle Sap written by Abby Seiff for Mekong Review back in November 2020. Seiff vividly described the mighty Tonle Sap Lake by giving multiple points of reference to contextualise how special and significant the lake is. She also went on to explore an implacable connection between water and Cambodian culture. Of course, Seiff also addresses how all of these wonderful things brought by the Tonle Sap Lake are rapidly disappearing to greed, mismanagement, confused priorities and petty corruption.
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
📸 A dear friend of mine, photographer Charles Fox wrote a much-needed article for the Diplomat discussing how to best present Cambodia to the world through photography, recognising photography education and the significance of Cambodian photographers. Fox examines the historical representation of the Khmer Rouge and the problems with current international photographers. He also suggests that photography is a shifting landscape in which photographers need to constantly question themselves: “what is the function of my practice?”
📷 Speaking of photography, Sa Sa Arts Projects is launching a photography exhibition titled Adaptation? on February 4th. The exhibition explores the topic of nature and environmental issues, social structure, urbanisation, human connection and identity.
🎨 FT Gallery is also hosting an art exhibition called From Disability to Visibility. It is an awareness campaign to share inspiring and empowering stories of people with disabilities. The exhibition opens on February 20th.
🎶 I went down a YouTube rabbit hole yesterday listening to a bunch of new Khmer songs. I came across VannDa, a rapper and songwriter in his early 20s. Although I’m not a fan of all of his songs, I must admit that they stand out for their distinguished style, nuance and meaning compared to what I’m used to hearing in Cambodia. I find them refreshingly different. It prompts me to reflect that this is what is happening inside a country which the world still feels the need to firstly introduce with either a temple from a thousand years ago or a trauma. Can this become an evolving new representation of Cambodia? That's a whole new conversation for another day. If this is something that you are interested in reading more about, I would like to shamelessly present you with the latest piece of research I wrote for Future Forum’s Cambodia2040 on Cambodian Identity, Culture and Legacy. Otherwise, have a listen to one of VannDa’s song called Solo, one of my favourites.
Overheard Tweet
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