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.
Last week, I learned of the word “deload” for the first time during an overdue visit to my physio. I was told that training 6 days a week for three months straight was too much for my body and I needed to have a deload week to ensure that it got enough time to recover. During deload week, I was supposed to reduce the intensity or volume of training, or both. This made me think of how I approach my work and reflect on how often I actually take time to deload my brain so that I can think clearer and better. My answer is not often enough. So, this weekend, I’m going to do a quick hop to Bangkok for some book shopping (Phnom Penh sorely needs a proper bookshop or two) and Muay Thai watching. I promised myself to not bring a laptop.
- Darathtey
In this issue: Prince Group vs journalism, indigenous community land titles vs. microloans, workers vs. fast fashion’s toxin, and more.
What better way to start this week’s newsletter than a three-part investigation report on the one and only Prince Group? One of the renowned conglomerates in Cambodia, it is not a secret that many people question how it is that this Group has gotten its fingers in so many pies in such a short period of time. Part 1 traced how the Group’s founder amassed his wealth and his complicated relationship with the court in China. Part 2 followed the Group's money trail to China, the Isle of Man and much real estate in the UK. Part 3 allegedly connected the Group’s linked property to torture and forced labour. As you would have guessed, Prince Group denied all of these (of course) through their press release published jointly with law firm Duane Morris & Selvam LLP. Now, this is where I tell you to read all three parts and make up your own mind (please use a VPN if you try to access the links from Cambodia). Happy reading!
This next article is about complex relations between indigenous community land titles (CLT) and microloans. Jack Brook explores this complexity by digging into how Cambodia’s indigenous communities found themselves in a position where they had to renounce their CLT for microloans. Having worked with some NGOs advocating for indigenous CLT, I was very naive to assume that getting a CLT would fix the majority of issues the indigenous communities are facing by allowing them to maintain their culture and identities, and providing land to sustain their livelihood. It didn’t occur to me that they had to deal with microloans which they got by putting their land as collateral. However, their land is part of the community’s land. So, to keep getting loans to repay other loans, they are stuck between a rock and a hard place – keep individual land ownership to maintain loan repayments and interest vs. slowly losing their indigenous identities along with their community land title.
So Cambodia has a new government, right? So far, they have managed to maintain a lot of things including intimidation of dissidents. One of the latest cases was the arrest of social commentator Ny Nak, a 46-year-old seller of organic fertilisers and other agricultural products. Ny Nak was arrested for a Facebook post that he made criticising the minister of labour in relation to some land concession. He has since been charged with incitement and imprisoned. Need I say more? I guess not.
Read the full article by Fiona Kelliher and Sun Narin on Ny Nak’s case here.
How often do you make a connection between fast fashion and brick kilns? Let me go first: it didn’t even occur to me to put one and one together until I came across this article from the BBC. In Cambodia, many brick kilns use scraps from garment factories as their fuel. Of course, they weren’t supposed to do that but traceability remains an issue in Cambodia, it seems. It is worth reminding that workers in Cambodian brick kilns are already in an unsafe and underpaid position. Now, double that with terribly high heat and toxins released from all the garment scraps, these workers are paying a very high price to fuel the country’s growing construction industry.
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
🎨 Despite its growing middle class and fast economic growth, Cambodia’s art market remains small for artists. This Kiripost article mapped out a few reasons for these persisting challenges topped with a few recommendations. Worth a read if you’re curious about the art sector in Cambodia.
🌹 Every year leading up to Valentine’s Day, there’s always a discussion around premarital sex and its risk of eroding Cambodian cultural values (whatever these may be). This yearly discussion is so repetitive that I often just dismiss it as bollocks because clearly, the issue requires a lot more nuance beyond cultural preservation and maintaining virginity. Fortunately, my fellow researcher Soriya Theang formulated her take on the matter in this very well thought-out blog post. I agree with everything she said, especially this sentence:
“While concerns about the impact of premarital sex on societal stability and individual well-being are valid, it's crucial to approach these issues with nuance and sensitivity. Balancing respect for cultural values with the promotion of sexual health and autonomy is essential in fostering a more inclusive and equitable society.”
And here's how the other side of the world reports on it…😅
🐟 One of the few aspects I enjoy while putting Campuccino together is discovering new things about my own country. This week, it is a traditional celebration called Fishing Festival in Siem Reap. The festival is celebrated annually in February after the rice harvest season. Villagers come together to a designated spot to fish using only traditional fishing gear. How cool is that!
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