#42 - 'Till I Collapse
When a shameless scheme of scam syndicates in Cambodia leave you speechless
Sou Sdei and welcome to Campuccino, your fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia with a dash of opinion.
To new subscribers, welcome!
I’m down with a cold this week but thankfully it is not Covid-19, considering that the number of cases has picked up again over here. It has been a rough week for me as I find myself fleeing my own home due to loud and vibrating construction noise that drowns all my ability to think and act like a normal nice human being. Apparently, living in a gated Borey does not rid me of this problem. So, with great excitement, I’m crawling back into my former apartment building in central Phnom Penh (hence, the delay of this issue).
- Darathtey
In this issue: constitutional tweak on succession, CPP’s extraordinary meeting, new visual art space in town, and a whole lot of scam stories from Shitville.
Not everyday do you get to hear about constitutional amendments. This week, the government released a draft amendment concerning Prime Minister appointment processes and succession. The first group of articles for amendment are Articles 19, 89, 98, 102, 119 and 125. The second group of articles are 3 and 4 from the Additional Constitutional Law. I’m not going to pretend that I am a law expert and giving you my two cents, but honestly, I don’t find this exciting at all. However, VOD did a side-by-side comparisons of each proposed amendment and the original articles in the news article I linked above if you would like to read a bit more on the matter. Long story short, if you have dual citizenship, you won’t have a political career in Cambodia if this amendment gets passed.
What is more grand than the above constitutional amendment is the CPP’s two-day extraordinary meeting on July 16-17. The Extraordinary Central Committee Conference was intended to approve the party’s strategy for the next election in which the party supported PM Hun Sen as the sole candidate and his son Hun Manet as future candidate. Long live democracy! 🥱 You know what else was so extraordinary about that meeting on the weekend? The incredible traffic congestion it caused for the whole two days (especially on the east of the city) due to road blockage around the extraordinary CPP headquarter.
Remember Tamok Lake? It is one of Phnom Penh’s last remaining lakes that has been chipped away and given to private entities/individuals. According to VOD, a sub-decree seen on July 11 stated that two plots added up to 6 hectares have been handed to a four-star general in charge of the Interior Ministry’s finance department. Residents living around the area continued to protest due to unfair settlement. Seven women who protested were hit with court summonses for “obstruction and incitement to cause chaos on a public road”.
A bit on Covid-19, Omicron sub-variants have been detected among reported cases in Cambodia since June 28. According to the Ministry of Health spokesperson Or Vandin, the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants are spreading more quickly and can affect those that had Covid-19 before as well as those vaccinated. Meanwhile, the government has begun the 5th booster shot campaign. To be honest, this doesn’t seem to change the business-as-usual lifestyle here though.
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
🍲 It’s been a while since I featured a food-related story, and I know some of you must have missed it because food is the most-clicked link among my readers. This week’s food story features an 86-year-old grandpa known as Ta Venta (translated to Grandpa with glasses) who has been running his traditional restaurant in Kampong Thom province for over forty years. This kind of restaurant reminds me that sometimes the best food can be found in the simplest places. The video is in Khmer only.
🎨 Phnom Penh recently saw an opening of Rong Cheang, a community art studio initiated by Sa Sa Arts Project. Rong Cheang provides free shared access to the Cambodian visual art community while hosting series of workshops led by renowned Cambodian and international artists and practitioners. I missed the opening but I saw photos. The space looks great!
Worth Reading
This week’s reading list is brought to you exclusively from Preah Sihanouk province. I know I constantly include news articles about people trafficking, gangs and crimes in Sihanoukville, but it is a real issue. Also, it might be a pure coincidence but all these articles I mentioned in the list broke this week, but of course, as @geraldrflynn rightfully put, VOD has been chasing these stories for months.
White-Hat Hacker Infiltrates Cambodian Scam Operations | VOD
In Cambodia, a Network Rescuing Trafficked Chinese Teens Is Unraveling | Sixth Tone — This one is slightly different because it is being told from the perspectives of Chinese victims, rescuers and reporters.
From Industrial-Scale Scam Centers, Trafficking Victims Are Being Forced to Steal Billions
Lastly, if you’re not much of a reader, you can also watch this documentary about the the scamming operation from the same province. To be honest with you, this documentary took me through an emotional rollercoaster of rage, disbelief and hopelessness. I’m also curious to see how everyday Cambodians would react to this documentary if it was being dubbed or subtitled in Khmer and pushed to Cambodian Facebook?
Overheard on Twitter
Campuccino is a fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia, written by @DarathteyDin.
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