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 recently finished Kirsten Han’s The Singapore I Recognise which drove me to change many perceptions about Singapore. In aspects such as freedom of expression and assembly, I was stunned to learn that they are almost as restricted as in Cambodia. Some sentences that describe the situation in the book feel very familiar to me, and the same sentences could be used to describe my country. I know that Singapore wasn’t as admirable as many perceive it to be but I didn’t know the extent of its restriction of “certain” freedoms. Many tactics for the ruling government to suppress dissent described in the book are almost a copy and paste from what my government is using. It seems they follow the same template of how to nip opposing views 101.
- Darathtey
In this issue: exploring trade opportunities in the UAE, Sweden’s drying up aid money, senate election, and more…
I’m going to begin this week’s issue with a piece of business news because as much as I love giving you updates about Cambodia, I’m aware that I am a frequent bearer of depressing news. So, let me try to at least start with a less depressing one first. Cambodia recently opened its first private commercial centre in Abu Dhabi. The centre serves to promote the country’s trade, investment, and tourism in the UAE.
While Cambodia is looking to expand its export opportunities in new parts of the world, the Swedish government will phase out its development aid from the Kingdom by the end of this year. This undoubtedly causes a lot of anxiety among Cambodia’s civil society who will see some of their core funding cut significantly. According to VOA news, Sweden’s decision to cease development cooperation with Cambodia is driven by a paradigm shift caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resulting in extensive political, economic and humanitarian consequences.
Next up: Cambodia just concluded its senate election last week. I swear, at this point, I’m not even sure how much this election is relevant to me as a regular citizen considering the Senate’s duties are largely ceremonial. But hey, the CPP won by a landslide, again! Happy days…
Days are not very happy if you are a Boeung Tamok resident, however. As development around the lake continues to push forward, some residents remain resistant to what they perceive to be cruel and abusive treatment from the authorities. Recent clashes reported by CamboJaNews saw ten female residents protesting against a canal project as Prek Pnov district authorities started to excavate. The clash caused one resident to faint and the other two to sustain some injuries. It was reported that an ambulance which arrived at the entrance was not allowed in.
Now, imagine that you find it difficult to learn about the struggles of urban poor communities and want to document it through a photo exhibition. Then, you were told to take it down for no reason at all. How’s that for freedom of expression? Sahmakum Teang Tnaut Organization (STT) launched a photo exhibition at a local restaurant in Chbar Ampov district on February 23, only to have it taken down two days later by local authorities without any explanation. The exhibition titled “Housing and Life” documented challenges faced by urban communities excluded from the development process leaving them living on insecure land in inadequate infrastructure. Some of these communities were subjected to forced eviction which threatens their livelihood and potentially falling into debt. The irony is that the exhibition appeared to be supported by USAID. I guess that branding didn’t help keeping the exhibition up after all.
This last newsy item is a bit of a joke but a sad joke because it never fails to surprise me that some people are stupid enough to do such things. I’m sure most of my readers are well informed about the cyberscam slavery issue in Cambodia as I mentioned this topic often. Recently, some assholes from Taiwan decided that it was a good idea to fake their own kidnapping to make social media content. Preah Sihanouk province authorities arrested the lot and threw them in prison after a very hasty trial. Shit like this makes me mad. I don’t care so much about the bad reputation of Cambodia as we’re pretty good at making a bad reputation ourselves, but this type of stunt undermines the legitimacy of people who are actually subjected to real abduction and require help.
Since we’re on the topic of scams and abductions, Cambodia just made a guest appearance in John Oliver’s recent episode of Last Week Tonight. See? Told you we are more than capable of creating our own bad rep.
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
💭 Now, here’s a shameless plug of yours truly’s recent work. I wrote an opinion piece exploring cultural homogeneity, national pride and the use of weaponised humuor through a lens of one particular sporting event. Check it out!
🧶If you’re a lover of all things handicraft, this one's for you. Khmer Handicraft Fair will take place this weekend (March 1-3) at Chaktomuk Conference Hall. The fair starts at 9AM and ends at 6PM. Happy shopping!
🎭 End of Love (Cabaret) is a contemporary theatre performance and the first collaboration between Phare Ponleu Selpak and The Acting Academy. This collaboration challenges the notion of trans-disciplinarity in the Khmer arts by juggling the use of acting, singing, and circus. I’m very excited to see this one! The performance will be this Sunday, March 3.
Worth Reading
In Cambodia, an official’s cashew factory churns out timber from a protected forest investigated another classic case of power abuse for personal gain of some officials. I think the title is pretty self-explanatory but if you want to be more dumbstrucked, I suggest you read the whole thing. It is a very informative piece involving development money, cash crops, a conservationist turned logger, and Economic Land Concessions.
Indigenous minorities criminalised in Cambodia’s flagship carbon offset explors how a Cambodian carbon credit scheme marginalised already vulnerable indigenous communities through forced eviction.
Campuccino is a fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia, written by @DarathteyDin.
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