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 Darathtey, a communication consultant, writer, and researcher.
I’m slowly emerging from a quiet Pchum Ben holiday vibe. While most of my fellow Cambodians left town, I decided to stay in and enjoy the sweet silence of Phnom Penh. I also took the time to cross the newly constructed Koh Pich bridge for the first time. I must say I was impressed with what they managed to achieve in such a short amount of time. I’ve always had this mixed feeling seeing Phnom Penh transforming. It’s a combination of deep nostalgia and excitement for what is to come.
- Darathtey
In this issue: economic downturn, draft cybersecurity law’s red flags, new political alliance, and more.
Pchum Ben is usually the time of giving. So, what does that look like when a nation has to navigate religious offerings in the midst of economic decline and inflation? Thang Sinorn reported in Kiripost that there was a decline in sales which led to the decrease in offerings made to temples this year. I couldn’t help but wonder if the amount of good Karma you often earn from making an offering declines as you make a smaller offering.
In other news, Cambodia’s draft cybersecurity law continues to raise eyebrows among the local and international communities. The draft law is not new to criticism. In the past, it was criticised for its vagueness used to expand the government’s power. In this news report by Focus Cambodia, it is raised that the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC) is concerned that by limiting data transfer across international borders, the draft law could pose an adverse impact on international companies doing business in Cambodia. Other red flags are also mentioned in the article. Read more here.
Remember the environmental activist groups who won the Right Livelihood Award I told you about in the previous issue? Well, the court banned them from travelling to Sweden to receive the award. And just like that, any hope I had for changes that the new government was going to make is slowly dissipating.
Sometimes, I admire the resilience of opposition parties in Cambodia. Despite all the harassment, they seem to keep coming back up and keep going knowing that the outcome would probably be similar to previous ones. Candlelight party seemed to have finished licking its wounds from the previous election and has formed an alliance with minority parties such as Khmer Will Party, Grassroots Democratic Party and Cambodia Reform Parties. The coalition called ‘Alliance Towards The Future’ was announced with the aim to challenge the ruling party’s dominance in the upcoming election in 2028. I guess we’ll see how long this new uniting power lasts (or is allowed to last…).
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
This week I’m going to use this section to share my two cents on the newly released Hollywood blockbuster The Creator. Since Covid-19, I wouldn’t call myself a frequent moviegoer because I have yet to normalise going to the cinema again. I also spend so much energy working and pursuing sports as well as other hobbies that I find theatre-going time-consuming, So, when I first heard of The Creator, I made a mental note to watch it solely because I saw on social media that part of the movie was filmed in a Cambodian floating village. What was a low-priority mental note became a must-do item when I came across Minh Bui Jones’s thoughts on the movie. Off to watch the movie I went…
As far as the plot line goes, I agree with most things said in this review from Variety (spoiler alert). For the part on the depiction of Asians, I am in total agreement with Minh’s argument in saying: “Imagine a sci-fi film based in the future where people of Southeast Asia are dressed in peasant rags, live in stilt houses and who posed a threat to the civilised world.” Now, for the part which made me want to get up from my seat and leave the theatre, the part where a floating village was nuked mercilessly. It was a part that was filmed in Cambodia. This scene evoked a very strong emotion in me and I was angry because I saw this before, in a documentary in which the US bombed us with 2.7 million tons of ammunition between October 1965 and May 1975. Keeping my bias in check, I left the movie with this question: Why is it that Asians are often portrayed as either backward, evil, or both, which then gives the West a justification to treat us with blind inhumane violence?
I am sure the usage of the floating village gives the locals some income and provides local filmmakers/fixers amazing experiences and exposure. However, I want to know if they share similar thoughts or questions with me if they get to sit and watch the movie.
Worth Reading
Communities track a path of destruction through a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary
by Gerald Flynn, Andy Ball, and Meng Kroypunlok
This story followed a group of Cambodia’s local activists and community members deep into the Chhaeb-Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary. Their patrol is done in secrecy as the government outlawed community patrol in Preah Roka and Prey Lang in 2020. The story reported in this piece is, once again, not unheard of in Cambodia. However, every time I read a story such as this, I continue to be dumbstruck and frustrated. One question keeps repeating itself in my head: what will be left of the forest if the people who are tasked to protect it turn around and use their power and authority to do the exact opposite?
Blueprint for Disaster: Singapore’s carbon hub threatens global climate targets
by SourceMaterial, Anton Delgado and Andrew Haffner
The article questions the role of carbon credits in mitigating climate change by risking potential human rights abuses along the way. Simply put, the article hints that carbon credits make it easier for countries and businesses to greenwash their acts without making any real positive impact on the environment while possibly putting vulnerable people at greater disadvantages. Worth a read!
Campuccino is a fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia, written by @DarathteyDin.
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"What will be left of the forest if the people who are tasked to protect it turn around and use their power and authority to do the exact opposite? " Good question but the evidence is already there - just degraded land, and #Cambodia's failure to keep its natural resources helping to save the planet. Money will be made from the logging or agro-industrial use and from the bogus carbon credit schemes but very little of it will find its way to local and indigenous communities. Their lives and livelihoods will also be lost. Apart from those who profit from the exploitation, the other survivors will be the Conservation NGOs. If they can operate their projects and raise vast money for them while deforestation is relentless, they will be just as able to continue to pretend when nothing is left.