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.
How is it mid-March already? Before I know it, Khmer New Year is just around the corner, but the heat does not wait for KNY. It’s been unbearably hot these past few weeks, and I found myself yearning for New Zealand winter (side note: I hate winter). The air in Phnom Penh has also been really bad but hey, we are not talking about climate change…Anyhow, March also marks a full year of me living a freelancer life. It’s been bitter-sweet so far but more sweet than bitter because I enjoy the freedom of setting my own rules. My work has slowed down a bit so I am open for a new round of work and potential creative collaboration. If you’re interested, please reach out. Lastly, there will be no newsletter coming out at the end of this month as I’m hopping over to Hanoi next week for a quick break. So, I’m planning to occupy myself with many cups of amazing Vietnamese coffee and food. Campuccino will be back in mid-April after KNY.
- Darathtey
In this issue: digital economy, exotic pets, cyber slavery, new trade canal, and more.
Cambodia inaugurated its first “Digital Government and Digital Technology Expo” forum earlier this week. I didn’t go to any of the sessions but it seemed like a big thing according to their media outreach. The Cambodian government is trying to push for a digital economy and society in the long run. I mean it is a long shot but KHQR and the revolution of mobile payment in the past couple of years have proven that Cambodia can leapfrog significantly, in some areas. I also hope that through digital transformation, many institutions can think beyond the creation of more mobile apps that people don’t need.
Now that I have cushioned you with some palatable news, let’s get back to our usual grim reality. You know how Cambodia is known for its cyber-slavery issue, and how the government had initiated major crackdown on many scam compounds a while back. Well, Fiona Kelliher and Mech Dara recently reported in VOA that cyber-slave trafficking is still being operated at scale in the Kingdom of Wonder, contradicting the official narrative that the country has substantially addressed the issue. In Sihanoukvillle, scam compounds cleared out during the 2022 crackdown have seen reoccupation. On top of that, civil society expressed that helping victims has become more challenging. In some cases, traffickers took a picture of victims to send to the police labeling them “freed” only to march them back in afterward, the article said.
This next one is about exotic pets, and for the life of me, I don’t understand why people can’t just stick to simply adorable pet dogs and cats, and even other non-endangered animals!
Gerald Flynn and Nehru Pry takes us on on a trip to a gas station in Pursat province. At this particular gas station, both local and imported caged exotic animals serve as attractions to passing travelers. Some of the animals are endangered to varying degrees on the IUCN Red List, and it didn’t appear like the owner had a proper permit to keep them either. If this gets you curious to know more, go read the article.
But hey, forget about exotic pet ownership, the Cambodian government finally decided it is time to crack down on natural resource crimes, except instead of going for the big guys, they cracked down on local residents. Sigh…The government deployed nearly 300 military officers who arrested 11 residents. That’s an efficient use of resources right there.
Moving on to a canal project and geopolitics. Let see if I can summarise this in two sentences: China is to build a canal for Cambodia. With the new canal, Cambodia will divert trade traffic from the existing canal passing through the Mekong portion in Vietnam. This can piss off Vietnam, jeopardise bilateral relationships between Cambodia and Vietnam, put more environmental strain on the Mekong, and present the lives living in the path of the new canal with more disadvantages. Okay, those were more than two sentences, but you get the gist. Read this article by Jack Brook in Nikkei Asia to better understand the whole thing. It is concerningly interesting, I promise.
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
💭 If you’re curious about Cambodian art and live in Michigan, this one is for you: The University of Michigan Museum of Art, or UMMA, is now exhibiting 80 pieces of Cambodian art in a show titled "Angkor Complex: Cultural Heritage and Post-Genocide Memory in Cambodia". The exhibition opened on February 3 and will run until July 28. Do I think it is a cliche? Yes. I’m not the only one who thinks that way. You’ll find out if you read the article.
☕ Coffee culture in Cambodia has exploded significantly in the last half a decade, especially in Phnom Penh. While I think many Cambodians enjoy the “idea” of drinking coffee by masking the actual taste of coffee with sugar and milk, I do notice the increase in those who appreciate quality coffee beans and their taste. This interview with the managing director of Three Corner Coffee helps paint an image of the coffee culture evolution in Cambodia.
Worth Reading
How crypto investigators uncover scammers’ blockchain billions, scale of money laundering in Asia | By Danielle Keeton-Olsen
This article will help you understand the interconnectedness between blockchain, cyber fraud, the scam business, and money laundering. It will also help contextualise how a small country such as Cambodia fits in the grand scheme of things.
China data leak spotlights cyber-spying across Southeast Asia | By Fiona Kelliher
An interesting read on the elusiveness among ASEAN countries regarding cyber security breaches caused by Chinese-state-linked hackers to infiltrate government bodies.
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