#56 - Hot in Here (Literally)

Coping with a messy political situation and overhyped nationalism in a scorching hot weather

Sou Sdei and welcome to Campuccino, your fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia with a dash of opinion.

To new subscribers, welcome! 

So, I moved again last week. While it was just a move to a different unit in the same building, it still somehow consumed most of my last week. By the weekend, I was done and exhausted. This heat doesn’t help, obviously. In this vein, I would like to say that I have nothing substantial to include in my intro this week. I’ll try to come up with something more witty in the next one. Cheers!

- Darathtey

Photo by Sodaroth Din

In this issue: Cambodian politics leading up to the election, World Press Freedom Day, SEA Games opening, and other bits and bobs.

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Seeing the result of Thailand's national election on Sunday makes me wish that our upcoming election in July was that exciting. Ours is like a race of one. Nevertheless, I know that I still need to talk about it and somewhat explain what the politics leading up to the election are like. Having had one prime minister for the entirety of my life makes a transfer of power, although through succession, rather intriguing to me. Honestly speaking, the realist in me couldn’t see it happening any other way. An article by Jack Brook and Phin Rathana very well explains the PM’s succession plan and the powerful allies around his government.

On the opposition party front, I was going to write about their struggle toward eligibility to participate in the upcoming election. HOWEVER, thanks to my procrastinating self in sending out this newsletter, breaking news today just came out reporting that the Candlelight Party (CP) will not be allowed to participate in the national election. The decision was made after the National Election Committee issued a statement officially rejecting CP’s registration. I guess the election just got even duller than I thought it would be 😴 I mean the NEC didn’t keep their records parties registration? My landlord just made me affix about 8 thumbprints on two versions of everything for safekeeping!

Oh, some of you might think: surely, CP can protest the decision, right?
Well, I’m glad you asked. They can’t because they were threatened with arrest if they dare to protest the NEC’s decision.

But wait, here comes a plot twist. Hours after the NEC officially rejected CP’s registration, it appeared that the Ministry of Interior issued a letter certifying that CP has been indeed registered in compliance with the law. LOL
Either that was some subtle move to defy the previous decision or a mere miscommunication among government officials, I doubt we will ever know. I guess at this point, the whole saga is to be continued…?

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Now that we established the mood for Cambodia’s election, let’s look at other aspects of freedom, press freedom to be precise.
The marking of World Press Freedom Day in Cambodia this year didn’t go unnoticed for all the wrong reasons. The UNESCO and other doners-backed event held at the Hyatt Regency illustrated such contrast to the situation of press freedom in the country. Oh and they thought they made a big difference by changing the term “celebration” to commemoration”. I am not going to say much anymore because I am not a journalist but merely a concerned citizen starved on quality and independent news reporting. However, I will leave a few tweets below to show you how the journalists actually think of yet another check-the-box donor-pleasing expensive event.

Since the press here in Cambodia can't really be free for #WorldPressFreedomDay , I'd like to propose a "free press tips" day instead. Leak some critical information to your favorite journalist (or maybe just tip them with a coffee if you have no juicy secrets) — Danielle Keeton-Olsen

Rather than gushing platitudes at fancy hotels, @UNESCOCambodia could live up to its espoused ideals and defend #Cambodia's legally enshrined freedom of press & expression against the government that Meas Sophorn speaks for, whose disdain for a free press is naked and unabashed. — Gerald Flynn

Anton L. Delgado also wrote about how the request for the reopening of VOD went unanswered at the World Press Freedom Day event. Read about it here.

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With the depressing stuff out of the way, let’s talk about the happy stuff, eh? By that I mean the Cambodia-hosted 32nd Southeast Asian Games which seems to have turned everyone in my country into a sports superfan. For this newsletter, I am going to only talk about the opening ceremony because that was the only thing I followed and watched until the end.

Let me start by saying that I was very impressed with the Southeast Asian Games opening ceremony. As a spectator, I think Cambodia did a really great job. As a Cambodian, I, however, was not overcome with pride like most people. If anything, I think pride was so overused around the entire thing that I was indifferent to it. Also, I am the kind of person who doesn’t throw the word “proud” around very easily (especially when it comes to something I contribute nothing to, i.e. ancient temple). My favourite part of the whole spectacle was the use of a massive sheet of blue cloth to mimic the concept of the ocean. Besides, I thoroughly enjoyed watching performances by artists from some of the biggest entertainment companies in the country. It was interesting to compare their artistry (or lack thereof), styles, and their interpretation of patriotism and nationalism. And gosh, I’d never seen so many Cambodian flags in my life! If you want a more detailed round-up and all its caveat, check out Kiripost’s substack. Better yet, you can watch it here.

Throughout my spectatorship of the 32nd SEA Games opening, I couldn’t help but make note of how I felt. I was impressed but I was not in awe as I thought I would be. It could be because I watched it from home and wasn’t there in person. But then again, I remembered growing up watching the documentary on Cambodia during the 1960s when the Olympic stadium was used to host the GANEFO in 1966. In that documentary, I thought it was one of the most amazing things coming out of contemporary Cambodia. I guess that is what it is like living through a historical moment. The feeling I get from being in the moment is totally different from the feeling I have looking back at the moment. In 2023, despite the amazing job Cambodia has done to host this event, I couldn’t ignore all the other issues that happen along the way including the issues that stifle the nation’s most vulnerable groups. This article by Fiona Kelliher and Mech Dara looked into challenges that the new stadium’s workers and athletes faced leading up to the games.

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Visually Pleasing

kim_sokvisal

A post shared by Kim Sokvisal (@kim_sokvisal)

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Arts & Culture

🦐 I am very excited to see that #CambodianEats is back! The first episode of season 2 is on Takeo’s river prawn, one of my absolute favourite food items. My go-to method of cooking river prawns is to stew them in their own head butter with a lot of garlic. Yum! 🤤

🍲 Cambodian chef and celebrity Rotanak Ros recently launched her second cookbook titled “Saoy” (សោយ in Khmer). While I question the use of the word ‘reviving’ over and over in her work both in her first and second book, I must admit that the new cookbook is looking very beautiful. Read more about the cookbook and her work in this article.

🎙️ Anakut, a podcast about Cambodia, by Southeast Asia Globe returns for the 3rd season. This season covers a wide range of topics from women in politics to China’s BRI in Cambodia. If you’re here reading my newsletter, I’m sure you will find the podcast resourceful as well. Be sure to check it out!

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Campuccino is a fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia, written by @DarathteyDin.

I’d love to hear from you. If you have feedback or content ideas, please write to me at hello@darathteydin.com