Angkor Wat Visits Rebound, Angelina’s Bees Build Buzz, National Elections Loom
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, July 7, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
HALF FULL: The Kingdom’s Covid-slammed tourism industry is creeping back to life. Ticket sales to Angkor were up 640% in the first half of 2023, and officials predict a full recovery by 2025.
BUCK STOP: The central bank tightened capital reserve rules and eased credit regulations. The moves were aimed at stimulating the economy while shoring up lenders faced with rising home defaults.
BAD TRIP: Heavy-handed police in Koh Kong jailed a dozen activists, including a mother and her 18-month-old child. The group was embarking on a journey to Phnom Penh to protest land-grabbing.
THE LEDE
Side Hustle
The Strongman picked a fight he couldn’t win, for a change, leaving himself isolated on second-tier social media just weeks ahead of national elections.
Hun Sen quickly backtracked on threats to block Facebook. He instead deleted his own account, barred the tech giant from government contracts and permanently banned members of its oversight board — which cited him for inciting violence — from entering the country.
The prime minister will campaign for the July 23 national election from Telegram, the Russian messaging platform, where he has less than a million followers, and TikTok, the Chinese video-sharing app.
Ballot Shade
This month’s national elections are highly susceptible to fraud, said Human Rights Watch, which based its conclusion on government data from the 2022 commune polls.
The New York-based watchdog uncovered a raft of irregularities in Phnom Penh, where the ruling CPP flipped a traditional opposition stronghold with 99.9% of the winning vote. The result strongly suggested foul play, HRW said, noting that election authorities had fixed none of the issues.
A CPP spokesperson dismissed the investigation, saying it was impossible for a foreign group to analyze or understand local elections.
Money Game
The International Finance Corporation is challenging a potential investigation into six microfinance operations it is funding in Cambodia, an inquiry requested by its own internal watchdog.
An IFC ombudsman last year determined that complaints filed by rights groups — including accusations that the Washington-based IFC was funding projects that harmed borrowers through predatory lending, forced land sales and other abuses — deserved a formal investigation.
Exploitation in the industry is well documented, and the investigation into the IFC and its six partner banks represented a ground-breaking step in accountability.
The IFC, part of the World Bank Group, now has 10 days to respond to the ombudsman but may seek an extension. The rights groups that launched the complaint are furious.
TALKING POINTS
Political Pledges
Small parties are taking drastic measures to attract votes on the CPP-dominated campaign trail. The Khmer Anti-Poverty Party has promised candidates fat salaries and overseas travel, while vowing to improve education and welfare, establish a military academy and install free 6G Wifi — a big task considering the technology doesn’t yet exist.
Protest Signs
Koh Kong authorities jailed a dozen land activists, including a mother and her 18-month-old infant, on incitement charges. The campaigners had been on their way to the Ministry of Justice in Phnom Penh, where they planned to petition for an end to government land grants.
Money Shot
The National Bank is beefing up its rules for governing credit risk and capital reserves in order to bolster confidence in the banking system. The amount of cash that banks must hold in relation to loans has been regulated, and credit scoring has been made easier across a range of sectors, including agriculture, sustainable development and personal loans.
Soft Bounce
Angkor Wat ticket sales are up 640% over last year, earning the Kingdom nearly $18 million in the first half of 2023. That’s still lightyears away from 2018, when annual sales hit a record $117 million. Tourism officials remain optimistic, predicting a full recovery by 2025.
Queen Bee
Angelina Jolie’s bee-farming project is utilizing the pollen from Samlot district’s many fruit farms to develop a thriving cottage industry. Local farmers say 10 hives can produce 50 liters, with each liter worth as much as $17.50. Fourteen of the 18 communities in Samlot now keep bees.
Clear Skies
Reports of mysterious drones whizzing along the Vietnamese border vanished as quickly as they arrived. The prime minister labeled the incursions “terrorist activities” and ordered 10,000 troops to Mondulkiri province after repeated reports of unmanned aircraft crossing into Cambodian airspace.
Abuse Plan
Cambodia was the source of 220,000 images of child sexual abuse in 2022, down from around 400,000 in 2021. Authorities from several government ministries are working with businesses and NGOs to stop the trade.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Prince: 1997 Victors Betrayed People’s Will
July 7, 2003
The 1997 factional fighting that ended Funcinpec’s hold on the post of prime minister also halted multiparty politics in Cambodia, Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh said on Sunday, the sixth anniversary of the bloody July 5 and July 6 street fighting.
Youths, Women Throw Rocks at Sam Rainsy
July 4, 2003
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy and his entourage were pelted with rocks Wednesday evening as they were preparing to depart from a campaign appearance at a squatter camp in Chamkar Mon district, a Sam Rainsy Party official said Thursday.
Prince Says Smuggling by Rich Is Keeping Cambodia Poor
July 4, 2003
Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh lashed out against the smuggling of goods into Cambodia Wednesday at a campaign rally in Banteay Meanchey province.
Khieu Ponnary, ‘Mother’ of KR, Dies at 83 Pailin Ponnary Dies
July 3, 2003
“Sister No 1” Khieu Ponnary, 83, the first wife of deceased Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, died on Tuesday evening in the former rebel stronghold of Pailin, relatives and friends said on Wednesday.
WEEKEND READING
How the Oversight Board sparked a standoff in Cambodia
Is Meta’s money-for-backbone trade finally working?
Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement: A Cambodian Perspective
This Long Read examines the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA), which came into force in January 2022. It argues that in order to promote industrialisation and export diversification, developing countries need to adopt an integrated industrial-trade-investment strategy. China, as a global trading power, can play a significant role in this process.
Photos: Hun Sen, Cambodia Daily. CPP, Facebook.
Send comments to editor@cambodiadaily.com