Sou Sdei and welcome to Campuccino, your fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia with a dash of opinion.
To new subscribers, welcome!
Some of you may have noticed that the interval between each issue of Campuccino has become quite sparse in the last few months. If I’m being honest with you, I’ve been quite overworked. I’ve come to a realisation that working an 8 to 5, writing a book at night and on the weekend, doing and contributing to research on cultural topics as they come in, and maintaining quality curation and publication of this newsletter is a lot. This is not a complaint as I love all of these things, but I also need to draw some boundaries for the sake of my overall wellbeing and life balance. Therefore, I would like to make a small adjustment to Campuccino publishing schedule. I still intend to publish it fortnightly but from next issue on it will be on the 15th and 30th of each month. I will try my best to keep the schedule, but I can’t promise there won’t be any delay in some months. Lastly, let me emphasise again that your readership is very valuable to me, and I appreciate that you take Campuccino as it comes. Thank you!
- Darathtey
In this issue: commune election, sand dredging, large-scale logging, looted Cambodian antiques and more…
Cambodia is getting ready for its commune election which is scheduled on June 5. There are 17 political parties contesting but if you are familiar with Cambodia’s politics, you would know that not all of these parties are really competing or standing a chance. So far, the apparent competitors are ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and the Candlelight Party, previously known as the Sam Rainsy Party. What does this mean? Why am I telling you this? To be honest, I’m not entirely sure myself because this election feels like one of those bad action movies with predictable ending. Therefore, excuse my indifference for this national event and the election campaigns which started last week causing nothing but traffic jams and noise pollution. The only interesting part is that the Candlelight Party has managed to stand in 1,623 of Cambodia’s 1,652 communes making it the largest opposition party to date. I’m also interested to see where will Kem Sokha fit into this political space when they wrap up his trial (whenever that might be!).
Here are your supplement readings if you want to immerse deeper into this commune election:
Across Cambodia, Ruling Party ‘Teaches’ How to Vote CPP | VOD
Candlelight Party says CPP Complaints Hampering Election Campaigning | CamboJANews
Inside an Opposition Councilor’s Five Years as Commune Deputy | VOD
Phnom Tamao was part of my childhood memories. I haven’t been there for over a decade so I’m not going to pretend that I have recent memory of the place, but I was too naïve to think that this place wasn’t going anywhere. A zoo and home to a wildlife rescue centre, Phnom Tamao forest now seems to stand in the way of development. Planned destruction is on its way. Some parts of the forest and conservation areas will be changed from state land for real estate.
Now that we’re on the track of environmental destruction, let’s continue the downward spiral. For this part, I’m going to list down a few articles that I think worth your time on this topic because my opinion on the environmental issues in Cambodia remains the same – we are heading toward an irreversible destruction.
Roar on the River: A Torrent of Sand Shores Up City’s Rise | VOD
Takhmao Riverbank Collapses, Gov’t Blames Heavy Rains Upstream | VOD (this one hit very close to home for me because Takhmao was where I grew up)
Large-scale logging in Cambodia’s Prey Lang linked to politically-connected mining operation | Mongabay
If you want to feel slightly better, Cambodia has slowly begun to build up its electric vehicle infrastructure as the country aims for 40% of all cars and urban buses and 50% of motorbikes to be electric by 2050. Ambitious but here I am waiting to see if this goal can come true.
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
📻 Cambodia: Returning the gods is a documentary podcast talking about Cambodian looted artifacts and the Cambodian government legal campaign in the UK to get some of its prized statues back. The length that some people go to make money never fails to surprise and disgust me, but what angers me the most is that institutions such as some museums in the UK are part of the transaction with these looters.
🌈 I read this article on Cambodia’s queer language a while back and found it very interesting. Pia Saa Sor is often used among queer people in provinces but is not unknown among non-queer people. The language is dated back as far as the Khmer Rouge time. I was answer of the language before reading this article but fascinatingly, my sister does know the language and can even speak some of it! She’s in her 20s and not queer. According to her, some of her friends (queer and non-queer) use it from time to time usually for gossiping 😄
Worth Reading
I finally got my hands on and finished reading Afterparties, a collection of short stories by the late Anthony Veasna So. I love it! If you know me, you know that my research interest lies in the topic of identity and one of the things that I’m always intrigued by is the “Cambodianess” in second generation diasporic Cambodians. In this book, Anthony had a unique way to express the past, present and future with such nuance that it is very relatable even to me who is not part of the Cambodian diaspora. I love that the author presented you the complexity of many intimidating topic such as trauma, generational difference, homosexuality, violence and death in a way that is simple, unthreatening, open, honest, and humorous. My favourite story in the book was The Shop.
Overheard on Twitter
Things I Love
I’m very glad that Chef Mengly reopened Pou Restaurant although this time at a new location, still in Siem Reap though. I tried his set menu served on a whole banana leaf cut right in front of me in the garden. It was a curated Cambodian food journey from Khmer noodle made in Prek Dak village to Cambodia’s beloved Nom Krouk, to Kampot crab served in an omelette form with vegetable fried rice. It was a fun, unique and obviously a very delicious experience. My favourite was the crab omelette and the tamarind sauce that was served on top of the Khmer rice noodle. Yum!
Campuccino is a fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia, written by @DarathteyDin.
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