#13 – Girl on Fire
Chbab Srey says “Don’t bring the outside flame into the house and then burn it.” I say we make our own flame, put the damn house on fire, walk away and be free.
Sou Sdei and welcome to Campuccino, your fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia with a dash of opinion.
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I'm fully aware that I talked about the pandemic heavily in the previous two issues. Therefore, I commit to give you a break from it this time around. Just a quick one-liner: it's not looking good. However, I know that you and I need a break from this virus sometimes, literally and figuratively.
In this issue: the challenge for women in Cambodia’s society, developments around the Mekong and their consequences, the origin of Cyclo and more.
I’m going to open this week’s issue with the topic of womanhood. Why? Because a lot has to be said and done beyond celebrating International Women’s Day. In Cambodia, only days after 8 March, two incidents dominated the country’s social media discussion. The first one was on breastfeeding and the second was on domestic violence. Both of the two cases portray so much of society and the challenges Cambodian women are dealing with. Let’s dive right in.
A police officer in Stung Treng province was reprimanded by her (mostly male) superiors for breastfeeding her child at work, reports Khuon Narim for CamboJA News. Sithong Sokha posted a photo of her breastfeeding on social media with part of her breast covered with an emoji. This prompted her superiors to summon her for a meeting in which she was made to sign a contract promising to never do that again because apparently the act negatively impacts the honour of her unit and Khmer women. After all that, they had the audacity to post the meeting and the signed handwritten apology/promise on Facebook. This, of course, caused an uproar on social media. In response, the Ministry of Women’s Affair released a statement which I not only find useless but also disappointing. The statement can be summarised as saying all the right things just to flip it upside down with one last sentence which reads “In the case where institutions do not provide convenient space for breastfeeding, women should cover herself with Krama or towel while breastfeeding in order to avoid criticism from some public members who perceive the act as inappropriate and negatively impact dignity of Khmer women”. I was mad but I’m glad that I wasn’t the only one who found the last sentence disturbing. The discussion went on and the Ministry of Education also felt the need to join in by publishing a short post stating that breastfeeding is crucial for both mother and child. I get it. Nobody questions the benefit of breastfeeding but that’s not the issue here. The issue is breastfeeding done publicly is considered shameful. The issue here is we, the Cambodian women, are being told what is right or not right for us and how we use our body. Yet, no officials are bold enough to address the issue head on.
The second case is of domestic violence committed by high-profile tycoon Doung Chhay. Storyline: he beats his ex-wife. That’s wrong. The man should be arrested and charged accordingly. Violence is violence. There should be no question asked, right? Wrong. Public discussion says otherwise. Comments are anything from outrage (rightfully so!) to support of his justification of his act to saying his family conflict should remain in his family, to saying things like it was her pride to pay for marrying a rich man. To add insult to injury, people don’t seem to take this seriously. One good example is Ministry of Justice spokesperson Chin Malin, who skilfully managed to make this about himself by writing a post pointing out that Doung Chhay’s confession live stream received more viewers than his announcement video on the Covid-19 outbreak. Suddenly, the discussion changed direction from domestic violence to popularity contest. That’s the side of my country that I absolutely despise. I must applaud the subtle messaging from the Ministry of Education this time, saying we should all come together to eliminate domestic violence. Doung Chhay has since been stripped of his honorific “Okhna” title, but if you ask me, this means nothing.
See the Twitter thread discussing the topic here.
I’m aware that was a long rant on the topic of women but I’m not sorry for merely speaking up. For those of you who have kept reading all the way through to this point, thank you for listening. Now, on to other news.
A while back I mentioned Koh Norea, one of Cambodia’s latest development projects of a huge satellite city of 125 hectares. Considering its size, you would have thought a thorough environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been conducted before the development process began. That’s not the case. One year into the project, neither the government nor the developer has released the EIA, according to CamboJa News. Unfortunately, Koh Norea is not the only project that takes part in filling part of the Mekong River. All of these projects will narrow the Mekong significantly. This will impact the health and ecosystem of the river as well as the lives in and around it. Yet, EIA is kept a secret.
In a similar vein, CamboJa News also reports that hundreds of families are adversely affected by the mega airport project in Kandal province. The project sits on 2,600 hectares of land with a budget of $1.5 billion. While a yearly 30 million passengers are anticipated once the airport is finished, those living at the planned project site are struggling to get by. Over 350 families are holding out against compensation that they deem way below the market rate. The company has been encroaching on their lands while the settlement is still ongoing.
I’m concluding this section with the latest national socio-economic survey which records rising land loss and debt burdens. The Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey for 2019-2020 was released by the Ministry of Planning’s National Institute of Statistics. It is an update from the 2017 edition. See the summary of the report by VOD’s Tran Techseng and Michael Dickison here.
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
🎥 The Last Cyclo – To be honest I was sceptical when I first came across this video because I’ve seen my fair share of barangs’ failed attempt to make woke videos on Cambodia. However, this one is different and very well made. Hats off to Conrad Richardson for making a well-researched, educational and fun piece of work that takes me down memory lane. Cyclo was part of my childhood. It was my preferred choice of transportation whenever I went to the market with my grandmother. I remember she sometimes asked me why I prefer the cyclo over a motor taxi and I recall answering that it was slower but safer while we got to see more of the city without rushing.
🎭 If you’re curious about Cambodia’s emerging young art scene, it’s worth checking out Creative Generation, a platform to launch the country’s new talents through celebration, mentorship and inspiration of young creatives.
📚 Worthy Read
Policy Pulse’s quarterly published newsletter covers updates on recent policy development in Cambodia.
Future Forum and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Cambodia recently released the 3rd volume of their Cambodia2040 series under the theme of international relations and governance. The series brings together Cambodian writers to examine 28 different areas of socio-economic development, ranging from monetary policy to the fourth industrial revolution to ecological diplomacy. All of the three volumes are free to read and download here.
Overheard on Twitter
Campuccino is a fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia, written by @DarathteyDin from Word & Visual.
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