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. Last week, I had the honor of getting a shout-out from Mekong Review Weekly. Thank you very much!
I am back in Phnom Penh after twenty four hours plus of traveling, going through three empty airports, and countless pondering on society and human interactions. It feels surreal traveling during a pandemic, especially alone. I found myself in vast terminals with no people around. It makes me feel very small in those times but not the same small feeling that I get while standing in the valley of a fjord. The feelings I had at the pandemic airports were loneliness, fear and uncertainty, whereas the one I had while standing in the valley of a fjord is a sense of awe, in a good way. As an individual who enjoys spending a lot of time alone, that was a shocking discovery. It also makes me realise how much we need each other although it doesn’t always feel like that. In my case, strangers’ mere presence gave me a familiar feeling like a warm blanket.
I’m now in a quarantined hotel (5th day by the time this newsletter hits your inbox) and boy, was it a ride to get here. However, that’s a tale I live to tell another day. Arriving back in Phnom Penh was both shocking and awakening for someone who had lived in New Zealand for the entire pandemic era. I haven't been vaccinated yet and after what I saw briefly after touching down in Phnom Penh, I would be lying if I told you I’m not scared for my health. People seem to think that a little bit of face mask and alcohol spray can keep them safe. There’s also this sense of the virus being something that happened to other people. I’m worried for Cambodia as we’re heading into a very dangerous curve. Let’s hope that I’m wrong.
- Darathtey
In this issue: the 13th ASEM Summit, Covid-19 and vaccination, interesting podcasts in the region, and more...
Looks like the 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit that Cambodia has been preparing for in the past two years is not going to happen, face to face at least. Early this week, the announcement was made that the ASEM Summit which Cambodia was scheduled to host this November, after being postponed twice, will be conducted virtually due to Covid-19. Cambodia has prepared for this event for the past two years and I must say, it is a shame to see all those preparations go untouched. I’m also waiting to see if the ASEM Culture Festival, an official side event of ASEM, is going to be online as well or scrapped completely.
On a separate note, it seems the US finally retaliates against Cambodia’s unresponsiveness to their regional security concerns. Six Cambodian cadets, who were awarded scholarships under the U.S. military service academy program, saw their scholarship withdrawn due to sour relationship between Phnom Penh and Washington DC. The Cambodian government had to step up and pay for the tuition so that the six cadets could graduate.
Time flies. It’s already been 5 years since the assassination of Dr. Kem Ley. I remember that day vividly. I was hanging out with my sister, drinking coffee at Aeon Mall and the news popped up on my Twitter. I was hit with the same feeling and emotion I experienced some years ago when I found out about Chhut Vuthy’s death -- resignation and hopelessness. Things have not changed since the passing of these two impactful figures but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about their legacy.
I hate hate hate writing about the pandemic, but I have no choice if I’m going to keep you informed. So, here it goes:
The somewhat good news in this pandemic context is the 1 million doses of AstraZeneca donated by the Japanese government to Cambodia under COVAX. It is worth noting that more than 5 million Cambodians have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of July 13. However, the number of cases keep rising, and as of the same day, Cambodia sees more than 63 thousand cases and over 900 deaths in total. It is apparent that despite the fast vaccination rate, the outbreak doesn’t seem to slow down. There have been many cases in which people are diagnosed with Covid-19 despite being vaccinated twice. Officials from the Ministry of Health urged people to be cautious, reiterating that vaccines can only help to ease the severity and symptoms of the virus. Yesterday, the government announced that there will be a one-month travel ban across the Vietnam border, according to CamboJA News. The suggested period between the first and second dose of Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines has also been extended from two to three weeks.
In late June, standard operating procedures (SOP) were introduced by the Ministry of Health in order to allow for care and treatment of mild-symptom Covid-19 patients at home. Meanwhile, migrant workers returning from Thailand are facing many challenges in quarantine facilities. Quarantine centers along the border of Oddar Meanchey province are not equipped with enough basic facilities to deal with issues such as mosquitos, rain, defecation...etc. Migrant workers complain of leaking roofs, as well as a lack of toilets and hygienic bathrooms. And here I am, writing this newsletter from an air-conditioned one-bedroom apartment in a quarantine hotel....
I’m going to end this pandemic section with an article analysing what is missing in the Covid-19 strategy for the entire Southeast Asia region. The author suggests that the region can only return to pre-pandemic normalcy when herd immunity is achieved.
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
🎬 I’m very particular about watching Khmer Rouge-related films, but if I have to pick a really good one to recommend to people, “The Missing Picture” by Rithy Panh is one of them. As part of its regular Ciné-Saturday, Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center will screen the movie live on Facebook, free of charge.
📰 How often do you associate arts with solving social problems? Many Cambodians tend to think of arts as either old things to preserve or arts as entertainment, but not as a tool to solve societal issues. ArtsEquator spoke to five creative practitioners working across different local community contexts across the region and asked them this very important question: “Can the creative society in Southeast Asia support each other in finding solutions to problems in our communities, powered by compassion and empathy?”
🎙️ Worthy Listen
I find Rithy Thul’s experience very inspiring, not only because of what he accomplished but also due to his non-linear journey of getting there. Rithy is a co-founder of Koompi, the first-ever Cambodia-branded laptop, and SmallWorld venture. Listen to Rithy’s journey in the “Young and Innovative Cambodian Entrepreneur” episode of Doing Business in Cambodia podcast by BritCham Cambodia.
Rising Giants podcast, by Max Thornton and Dominic Kalousek, speaks to inspiring entrepreneurs and investors in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Cambodia. If you’re interested in the startup ecosystem in the region, this is the podcast for you.
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