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. Learn more about my work here.
I think it is about time I remind my readers again since maybe some of you are new here and might be confused with the titles. Most of the time, the newsletter title is a song title. Sometimes, they reflect the content of that specific issue, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they are a mirror of my mood while writing the newsletter. In a nutshell, I’m just having fun because serious titles just don’t cut it for Campuccino.
January was one hell of a month for me. I could hear myself taking a big exhale now that it was over and I met all the deadlines. I’m ending the month feeling super exhausted but I look forward to a not-too-crazy February.
- Darathtey
In this issue: the foreign policy of the new government, Kem Sokha’s appeal hearing, Cambodia’s drunk driving problem, my music rant, and more.
Let’s begin with the PM’s visit to France. I’m not going to lie, having a new PM for the first time in my life will take some getting used to. It seems like my government deemed the trip a success as Hun Manet returned home with $235 million in development agreements with France. Despite the outcry many Western governments made about Cambodia’s not very free and not very fair national election last year in August, it appeared that they now turned to the silver lining of building a new relationship with the new PM if they do not want to push Cambodia even closer to China. Foreign policy is a funny thing sometimes…
An article by Katrin Travouillon in East Asia Forum shares similar observations regarding how Western governments tone down their call for democracy and look for ways to maintain their relationships with the new Cambodian government. In the same article, the author pointed out another very intriguing insight on how Manet’s government changes wording in how they describe a growing list of former opposition politicians, scholars or other critical thinkers joining the ranks of the CPP. Before, the description was used to spotlight the new members’ bad news such as debt or dispossession. Now, their reason for switching sides is described as “temporary sacrifice of political principles for effective policy and institutional changes in the future”.
In case you forgot, Kem Sokha, Cambodia’s former opposition leader was found guilty with treason and sentenced to 27 imprisonment last year. Yesterday was the court hearing for his appeal. Spoiler alert, it didn’t yield much result. The court dismissed Sokha’s request to lift visitors' restrictions. That’s just mean. Anyway, you can read more about yesterday’s hearing here.
Ahhh…Try Pheap, a very familiar name in Cambodia, not in a good way though. I meant this man was sanctioned by the US government for a reason, or many. It appears that he is getting into mining now. A Mongabay’s article by Gerry Flynn and Phoung Vutha followed Try Pheap’s trail of destruction into to Prey Lang where his mining company destroyed the forest, adversely impacted its surrounding ecosystem, and threatened the indigenous community’s livelihood, identity and culture. That’s a classic Cambodian telltale for you.
About a week ago, a tragic traffic accident went viral across Cambodia’s social media. A drunk driver, a government official no less, drove into a bunch of cars and motorbikes. The accident killed four and injured many. This particular incident sparked social outrage about rampant alcohol promotion and consumption across the country as well as the culture of drunk driving in the Kingdom. Yes, in case you didn’t know, Cambodia has a culture of drunk driving. Why do I call it a culture? Because people have been doing it for ages without even thinking of the consequences. Remorsefully, I, too, used to drink and drive when I was in my early 20s. At the time, it didn’t seem like there was anything wrong with it. I was stupid and wrong, of course. I’m just glad I’d never hurt anyone. Anyway, this specific incident set off a call for tighter regulation against drunk driving. The PM also called for stricter alcohol control. Let's see if it will change anything and how long it will last. While I always welcome tighter regulations and their implementation, I also believe that each individual has the responsibility to not be an idiot. It is a choice.
Arts & Culture
🤦🏽♀️ While engaging in one of our random celebrity gossip sessions, my sister introduced me to this music video by a Cambodian pop star turned Oknha – Call Me PaPa by Khemarak Sereymon. It made me cringe on so many levels: cultural appropriation (or should I say appreciation?), objectification of women, and an absurd mix of random things. A friend of mine described it as a parody of 90s’ hip hop except these guys were dead serious about their work. 🤣 The Khmer Times even wrote an article about it lauding the video for reaching 9 million views on Youtube. I’m sharing this with you so you can see how far our music industry has come. LOL kidding. I’m sharing this with you as a disclaimer that we have other stuff that is not as bad as this piece of junk.
🎵 While we’re on the topic of music, I stumbled upon an upcoming Cambodian R&B artist called KWAN through a friend’s Instagram Story of their recently launched album. So, I checked out his music and was disappointed to hear that most of his tracks consist of excessive autotuned vocals. This brings me to my general rant about many upcoming Cambodian artists. I was not an enemy of autotune until that has become the majority of things I hear in many new tracks these days. Just why? This is probably why many Cambodian artists rely on playback for the majority of the time when they perform live which I hate. Okay, rant’s over. Am I getting old?
🎭 Khmer Art Action is hosting The Sbek Thom (Khmer Shadow Theatre) performance this Saturday. It is one of my favourite traditional art forms and has never failed to put me in awe. If you are in town and never got a chance to see it before, I really recommend you go see it. Admission is free.
🤝🏽 Pteah Chas is looking for a collaboration with artist, a craftsmen, a maker or an individual that focuses on wellness, meditation, yoga, and other activities promoting a healthy and balanced lifestyle. If you’re interested, give them a shout.
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
ohhh my goodness that video is sooooo bad. As you said, mysogynistic, objectification of women, and crass about the power of money !!!!!
So happy I found your substack and thank you for linking to your website! I'm about to read your Cambodia 2040 chapter and look forward to staying tuned to Campuccino. Sending you warmth & gratitude from Boston, Massachusetts!!