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. Also, a massive thank you to Rishad and Alan from Splice Media for giving the newsletter a double shoutout last week. It means a lot to me.
I have nothing wise to say in this week’s intro but I have a pet lion story for you. I put it here because it doesn’t really fit anywhere else. So, here’s what you’re going to do: open your Google search bar, type “pet lion Cambodia” and enter. Enjoy! You’re welcome ;)
- Darathtey
In this issue: Pet lion, jailed environmental activists, burst oil industry, the birth of industrial gold mine, the ongoing shitty presence of Covid-19, a train carriage turns coffee shop that takes you nowhere, and more...
The news of three more young environmental activists’ arrest with a charge of plotting to overthrow the government and insulting the king breaks my heart and a little bit of my spirit, to say the least. When it comes to courage, those three and others activists have more courage than I could ever have. It leads me to a daily self-questioning: am I doing enough to drive even the slightest of changes in my country? If talking about environmental impacts is a crime, what else is left to talk about then? Are we expected to live in collective ignorance pretending that Cambodia is perfect and nothing is wrong?
Here are a few additional articles you can access to read about the arrests:
CamboJA News - Environmental activists charged with plotting and insulting the king
Nikkei Asia - Cambodia charges activists with 'plotting' to oust the government
Cambodia saw its highest daily number of Covid-19 cases since the pandemic on June 28 when we recorded 1,130 cases, bringing the total up to 50,385 cases and 602 deaths. On the vaccination side, we reached 3 million people who are fully vaccinated, which is impressive. I said this before and I’m going to say it again, some people are getting too complacent just because they got vaccinated. It doesn’t seem right and I find that irresponsible.
Speaking of the pandemic, I would also like to highlight various angles of this issue beyond daily case counts, even if they are not considered breaking news. A while back, Southeast Asia Globe published an article on how important it is to prioritise vaccinations for migrant workers across the region. The recent outbreak in Southeast Asia, especially in Cambodia, brings this point to the forefront as you see a lot of movement since migrant workers had no choice but to return home when factories in Thailand suddenly closed. Migrant workers are among those hardest hit by the pandemic due to limited access to health care services, employment benefits and sanitary living environments. These factors also make them more vulnerable to the virus transmission.
On the economic side, did you know that our oil industry just burst? Yeah, it’s that same one that took decades to get the first drop, but the only company operating the oil field, Kris Energy, is being liquidated because it couldn’t pay its debt. Better luck next time, but hey, that first drop of oil encased in glass is sadly beautiful.
No oil for Cambodia for the time being, but we’re venturing into a gold mining project. In early June, the government announced the first industrial gold mining venture after over 14 years of exploration. Australian mining company Renaissance Minerals will be the first to extract ore from the Okvau Gold Deposit in Mondulkiri province. Within eight years of extraction, it is expected that Renaissance would generate annual gross revenue of $185 million, of which the government will earn over $40 million in tax and royalties. We’ll see how that goes.
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
🌈 Anakut Podcast returns for a second season with its first episode discussing the topic of the LGBTQ+ community in Cambodia. Guests speakers are Skyler Ros, a transgender fashion designer and Seng Reasey, executive director of @SilakaC. Listening to the episode, it is surprising to hear that changes haven’t happened fast enough over the years when it comes to stereotyping and discrimination happening to the community.
🚆 All aboard the Cambodian cafe train to nowhere by CNA talks about an immobile train carriage which was converted into a coffee shop where young people can go to get photos for the grams and Facebook. The title says it all. In my opinion, this article represents really well the youth culture in Cambodia these days, especially in Phnom Penh. Who cares about Covid-19 when you can cram yourself and your mates into a non-moving train to take a bunch of cool photos, right?
📚 Worthy Read
Cambodia's Young Leaders & Influencers: 21 Stories of Grit and Resilience is under the Worthy Read section because I respect and admire each and every story of the individuals of this publication. For that reason alone, I do believe that you should check it out. However, I have a few problems with this book. I find the title slightly misleading because I don’t consider half of the people in there to be YOUNG anymore. Come on, bong Kounila and bong Sopheap, we all know that we’ve been out of the youngster category a wee while ago already. 😅
I’d be okay with this book if it just said “Leaders and Influencers”, although I’m not the biggest fan of the term “influencers” either, but that is a discussion for another day. Why does it matter? Because if the purpose of this book is to inspire more young Cambodians, it misses the point because it is far from relatable to two thirds of the Cambodian population which is under 30. Also, I found the first question that KAS asked everyone to be too irrelevant. What is it with the obsession of people’s marital status?This leads me to this next piece of reflection by Melanie Mossard. Thanks Melanie for sharing this with me. Re-Imagine Cambodia 2030 is a personal reflection of what the author would like to see in the next decade. What makes this personal blog stand out to be is the deep dive into each section in which she explores each sector by presenting what change could and/or already is happening in Cambodia. And I totally agree with Melanie in saying #LetsNotReInventTheWheel
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