Aid Freeze Rocks Non-Profits, Tourism Slump Drags On, Mech Dara Wins Freedom Prize
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, January 31, 2025. This is your Weekly Dispatch.
BIG TALK: Hun Manet has formed a high-level committee to wipe out cyber crime in a bid to reboot the economy. Its first move: locking up two more journalists for exposing human trafficking victims at a scam compound.
LOOK BACK: A new law will make denying Khmer Rouge atrocities punishable by prison. Historians might agree, but critics also see another weapon for the government to stifle dissent and lock up critics.
SLOW START: How many times can both sides say it? The $1.7 billion Funan Techo Canal is on track, well-funded and environmentally safe. China claims to be on board from start to finish. So, where’s the construction?
THE LEDE
Seismic Shift
The Trump administration's unprecedented 90-day freeze on foreign assistance has plunged the Kingdom’s aid-reliant humanitarian sector into chaos.
Washington had promised at least $80 million this year for a wide range of causes, including rural healthcare, human rights, democracy building and demining. Dozens of local projects are scaling back, while others, including CMAC, the demining agency, are shutting down.
Many programs will not survive without the funding, experts say, and for those that do, the writing is on the wall: Washington’s new gang is no fan of foreign aid, and public-service initiatives will need new partners to survive.
Tortured Logic
Is Cambodia finally getting serious about cyber crime?
Hun Manet, staring down another year of lackluster tourism growth and stagnant foreign investment, announced plans for a new inter-ministerial committee to tackle the Kingdom’s brutal online scam industry.
Critics are calling it another empty gesture.
Within hours, officials confirmed the outrageous arrest of two local reporters, jailed on incitement charges for sharing video that allegedly showed human trafficking victims being tortured at a Phnom Penh scam compound.
At this point, authorities have imprisoned more journalists for reporting on cyber crime than actual criminals. It’s as if authorities have confused the good guys for the bad.
Main Attraction
Tourism officials are putting a brave face on the travel industry’s lagging recovery.
The ASEAN countries welcomed 123 million visitors last year, a 30% surge over 2023. Less than 6% visited Cambodia, and far fewer visited Angkor Wat, the country’s top tourist attraction.
Officials are rolling out a number of initiatives to reinvigorate the sector, including self-service ticketing at the temples and a massive walking district in Phnom Penh, which debuts today.
Insiders say it may not be enough, citing the government’s inability to clamp down on crime as the industry’s undoing.
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TALKING POINTS
Stage One
“Complete nonsense” — that’s what the Chinese embassy called media reports about Beijing withdrawing from the $1.7 billion Funan Techo Canal. Cambodian planners are reportedly conducting impact studies, but the government has yet to announce construction dates. Officials insist the project is on schedule.
Battle Lines
In a tense fight over Preah Vihear farmland, armed workers for the Santana Agro company clashed with about 200 members of the Koy indigenous group, who have accused the company of illegally clearing communal forests. Santana is owned by Ouk Kimsan, the Preah Vihear deputy governor, and local officials have been unable to resolve the dispute.
Flying High
The CPP forecasts robust economic growth of 6.3% this year, driven by gains in garment and agricultural exports. The IMF predicts 5.8% — and warns of challenges, including a lagging tourism recovery, weakness in the construction sector and a surge in bad real estate loans.
Hate Speech
Denying Khmer Rouge atrocities will soon be punishable by up to five years in prison, according to draft legislation expected to gain quick approval in the National Assembly. Cambodia is preparing to mark the 50th anniversary of Phnom Penh’s fall, and the law, observers say, is one more tool in the government’s arsenal for crushing dissent and controlling the national narrative.
Home Run
More than 500 landless families will receive free plots in Stung Treng province under a government initiative launched this week. In addition to providing families a permanent place to live, Hun Manet said, their presence will also help protect local forests against illegal logging.
Trophy Case
Mech Dara, the well-known journalist, won Freedom United’s 2024 Storytelling for Freedom Award, which recognizes efforts to publicize human trafficking issues. The anti-slavery group called him “a fearless Cambodian journalist who has bravely exposed human trafficking and cyber scam rings, despite facing arrest and the shutdown of his affiliated publications.”
Unfriendly Skies
The term “in-flight entertainment” took on new meaning when two crew members on a Sky Angkor Air flight began punching each other, shocking passengers. The Siem Reap-based airline apologized for the incident.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Dolphin Killed By Fisherman With Explosive
January 27, 2005
A rare Irrawaddy freshwater dolphin was killed by an explosive device thrown by fishermen in the Srepok River, which divides Mondolkiri from Ratanakkiri province, officials said Wednesday.
PM Says His Death Would Cause Chaos Reign
January 26, 2005
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday predicted chaos for the country and the demise of the government in the event of his death or resignation—a claim that another senior CPP member subsequently refuted.
Property Prices, Development Skyrocket in City
January 25, 2005
Investor confidence in political stability for Cambodia is driving a surge in property prices in Phnom Penh, as developers and speculators snap up land and start construction work, estate agents and business experts said Monday.
WEEKEND READING
François Ponchaud, Who Alerted World to Cambodian Atrocities, Dies at 85
A French Catholic priest, he wrote a book recounting horrors committed by the Khmer Rouge that were responsible for the deaths of almost two million people.
Obituary: François Ponchaud, French Missionary Who Alerted the World to the Khmer Rouge
Ponchaud’s 1977 book “Cambodge, année zero” was one of the first detailed accounts of the horrors that unfolded after the communist takeover.
Photos: Angkor Wat, Serg Alesenko, Pexels. Koh Rong, Aritra Roy, Unsplash.
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