Bomb Found at NagaWorld, Ton of Ketamine Seized, Political Monks Endorse Hun Manet
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, December 16, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
TICK TOCK: A street cleaner found a hand grenade with a detonator outside NagaWorld Casino where union members demonstrate. Police blamed criminals, not those tense, high-profile weekly labor protests.
BPOP QUIZ: Students and teachers would face mandatory drug tests under a new drug law. Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng has also called for all the Kingdom’s workers to be drug tested as a pre-hiring requirement.
ZEN ZONE: Buddhist leaders endorsed Hun Manet as the next prime minister, puzzling religious scholars who said monks should be above politics — not to mention it could mean 15 years in prison.
THE LEDE
Road Show
The Strongman landed in Europe, blasting the opposition and urging his allies to take pictures of the protesters who turned out to demand better human rights in the Kingdom — so he could show their faces to authorities back home.
“I want to know your face and want to find out about your family in Cambodia,” he said. “All of you and your group, don’t rely on living overseas in France or Europe.”
Critics called Hun Sen’s taunts “beyond belief” — and filed a complaint with local police. A dozen E.U. politicians reiterated calls for targeted sanctions.
The E.U. and the West, hungry for influence in China’s backyard, have little choice but to begrudge Hun Sen his thumb-nosing, nasty threats and bad-boy antics.
Macro Drama
European regulators will investigate Oikocredit, the Dutch microfinance giant, and three local lenders after a complaint was filed by rights groups.
The activists claim the bank invested millions in microfinance institutions despite internal reports documenting widespread abuse, including forced land sales and child labor. The complaint demanded the return of land titles, better debt relief and an independent audit of Oikocredit's lending practices.
An initial investigation takes about 12 weeks. Full inquiries can last years. The IMF is also investigating. The Cambodia Microfinance Association has dismissed the allegations.
Big Bang
A bomb discovered outside NagaWorld casino has union members on razor’s edge.
Police said a street cleaner found the device — a hand grenade fastened to a detonator — in an area where labor supporters gathered for weekly protests. A bomb squad safely detonated the device.
Authorities said the incident appeared linked to Chinese criminals, not politics, terrorism or labor protests. Officials identified a silver Range Rover seen leaving the area and were searching for suspects.
The NagaWorld casino union is planning a large rally on Sunday.
TALKING POINTS
Master Plan
Cambodia is working with the Urban Planning Design Institute of Shenzhen to convert Sihanoukville city into a “development hub” and “smart, green city.” Experts predicted the booming beach town will one day overtake Phnom Penh as the Kingdom’s commercial center.
Heavy Hand
Military police burned homes and beat a man unconscious as tensions exploded in a 10-year-old land dispute involving the Sok Samnang rubber plantation. The government granted the company an 1,800-hectare land concession in 2012. Police began evicting residents and arresting holdouts last year.
Dharma Blues
Political watchers were puzzled and alarmed as Buddhist leaders endorsed Hun Manet for prime minister. Experts said the endorsements violated the spirit of the latest draft law on religion, which said clergy who engage in “organized activity against any political party” could spend seven to 15 years in prison.
School Daze
Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng said students and teachers would face mandatory drug tests once a new amendment to the drug law was adopted. The deputy prime minister last month called for all employees, public and private, to be tested for drugs to gain employment.
Outlaw Bay
Sihanoukville police seized nearly a ton of ketamine from an abandoned warehouse in one of the largest busts of 2022. Ketamine seizures have skyrocketed since the pandemic hit, from about 100 kilograms in 2020 to nearly 3 tons in 2021. Evidence suggests Cambodia has become a manufacturing hub for Chinese drug syndicates.
Stupa Uproar
Construction workers bulldozed three National Heritage buildings at Wat Ounalom to make way for the future stupa of 92-year-old Tep Vong, a vocal CPP supporter and one of two Great Supreme Patriarchs. Tep Vong was credited with rebuilding Buddhism after the Khmer Rouge abolished religion. The Ministry of Culture said destroying cultural sites is a crime.
Shorts Time
The Third National Short Film Festival opens today in Phnom Penh. The five-day event will screen 88 locally made shorts free to the public. At RUPP, the 2022 Southeast Asian Wrestling Championship kicks off. On Sunday, Friends Futures Factory will host Future City Summit 2022, which promises a deep dive into “urban transformation, city retrofitting and urban technology.”
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
When the Needle and the Damage are Done, a Difficult Diagnosis Awaits
December 14, 2002
You can’t see the sun rise from Sunrise guest house. The original owner thought Sunset sounded too funereal, even though most evenings the murky waters of the Boeng Kak, which the guest house overlooks, are set alight by the reflection of the setting sun.
Trial Halted in Khmer Rouge Tourist Deaths
December 13, 2002
Blaming the defendant’s poor health, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court abruptly halted the trial of former Khmer Rouge commander Sam Bith on Thursday, despite insistences from the 69-year-old that he be allowed to continue testimony about his role in the 1994 deaths of three Western backpackers.
Official: Solar Energy Could Power Most of Cambodia
December 11, 2002
A proposed solar energy system that could bring power to up to 80 percent of the nation will cost more than $300 million over 10 years, a top expert has estimated.
WEEKEND READING
In the Khmer Rouge’s last stronghold, myths from the Cambodian genocide still reign
In Anlong Veng, it is widely understood that Vietnamese people — not the Khmer Rouge — were behind the worst violence that devastated Cambodia and that Khmer Rouge war heroes tried to stop them.
How Cambodian women are using theatre to speak out against domestic abuse
One in five women in Cambodia report experiencing domestic abuse — now a theatre group in Battambang is producing shows that help survivors talk about what is still a taboo subject.
Photos: Hun Sen, via Hun Sen’s Facebook page. Sihanoukville city, public domain.
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