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.
A big thank you to Cambodian photographer Lim Sokchanlina who generously allowed me to use some of his amazing photos for this newsletter.
In this issue: new UK variant of Covid-19 in Cambodia, Sinopharm vaccine, ocean filling, shift of gender roles in Cambodia’s marriages, and more.
Ahh Covid-19, how I love talking about you, especially when we have just come out of a three-day lockdown here in Auckland due to community transmission with the arrival of the new UK variant. It was our third lockdown and I finally started doing yoga 😅. And….we’re not alone to get this special visit!
The Cambodian government just reported its first cases of a more infectious coronavirus variant, according to a report by Ouch Sony for VOD. In a statement published by the Health Ministry, the variant was found in three international passengers entering the country earlier this month and staying in managed isolation in Phnom Penh.
Meanwhile, the nation is rolling out its vaccination process with the arrival of 600,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine earlier this month, reports Torn Chanritheara for Cambodianess. The first batch of vaccines is available for Cambodians between the ages of 18 and 59. On February 10, the vaccination commenced with senior government officials including the PM’s families.
While the pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the globe, life goes on, and so do other social issues and the people who are working tirelessly to fight them. As we’re all trying to catch up with the latest, most breaking news every day, I think it is important to sometimes look at the ongoing and often time overlooked issues covered by a longer type of reporting.
A New Naratif’s report by Gerald Flynn, Andy Ball and Sorn Srenh takes a closer look at the issue of electric fishing and how a community of volunteers living along the Mekong are hoping to tackle it. The report illustrates just how far people are willing to go to commit the act and how hard the volunteers are working to stop them. The problem of electric fishing illuminates other underlying issues such as ethnic tensions, weak law enforcement, limited resources and so on.
Now, this next article is part of VOD’s Giving Up the Coast series by Danielle Keeton-Olsen and Mech Dara looking at a bunch of state land deals that divide a valuable corner of Preah Sihanouk Province for the benefit of powerful individuals in the country. These are the kind of articles that, as I mentioned in a previous issue, make me feel very frustrated and powerless. We know that it is affecting innocent people but I feel like all I can do is reading about it until the next news comes along causing the frustration all over again. (Apologies if I sound a bit melodramatic. I blame it on my last night’s insomnia.)
Hundreds of hectares of ocean off Ream Bay are granted to private companies by the government without specific information on their uses, reports VOD. In September 2019, 427 hectares were granted to a company associated with Prince Group. In March 2020, 407 ha more were mysteriously turned into state private land. A Chinese communications and construction company has since won a $308-million contract to reclaim 408 hectares in Preah Sihanouk province and started to pour sand early last year. Despite various officials and investor representatives claiming that social and environmental impact studies are still being conducted, the sand pouring operation has already started and the locals are being forced out of their homes. There you go, another day, another land/ocean concession in the Kingdom of Wonder Why.
While we’re pondering many questionable things about Cambodia, this next article either helps to answer some of the questions or raise even more questions, or both. Mao Sopha and Phoung Vantha did a piece for Cambodianess questioning indecisiveness of government officials which leads to a “broken system” in the government. Citing a few incidents as examples, the article highlights the case of officials with decision-making power who dislike making decisions and relying on the Prime Minister’s final say causing delays in law enforcement. Asking why those officials do not want to make decisions (are they unable or don’t want to?) is a legit question. It leads to a bigger question about the overall governing style of the government. Yes, I agree, the system has been broken for quite some time, but is this the result or the cause of government officials’ inability to make decisions?
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
💑 Theang Soriya, a junior gender researcher at Future Forum, wrote an excellent opinion piece for VOD on a shift of husbands’ roles in marriages due to changing views in society and how that shift impacts the marriages. Soriya underlines marriage expectations, relationships and their ongoing changes in Cambodia while emphasising societal pressures on male partners potentially causing “masculine discrepancy stress”. I find the article very insightful and I love that the author didn’t just present the issues but offers possible solutions as well. Definitely worth a read!
🎪 Phare Ponleu Selpak is organising a virtual gala called Phare into the Future on March 7th. The gala is claimed to be a record-breaking World’s Longest Circus Performance spanning over the period of 10 hours. The event is free to attend and it is a good opportunity for those who are interested in the Cambodian art scene and the works of Phare Ponleu Selpak. I definitely can’t wait. Join me! Grab your free ticket here.
🍳 Now, for those of you foodies out there, I have a recipe for you this week – Khmer Beef Salad or ភ្លាសាច់គោ (Plea Sach Ko). It is one of my all-time favourites and a crowd pleaser (sorry vegetarians). In case you’re wondering, Kitchen Story is a mostly Khmer-food cooking channel run and curated by a Khmer woman with English subtitles. The channel is very well produced, and I think her voice is kinda therapeutic which is a plus!
Overheard Tweets
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
Do your research before becoming part of a vaccine experiment: http://sco.lt/7lY9RY