Covid-19 Crisis, Election Concerns, Media Crackdown
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, July 16, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
PRESS PROBLEMS: Provincial authorities were given sweeping new powers to take action against “unprofessional” reporters. They were quick to act.
COVID EXPLOSION: The numbers keep getting worse, even by the questionable state-authorized data. Is Cambodia now in the teeth of the pandemic?
SHOOTING STAR: Mak Remissa, one of Cambodia’s most renowned photographers, has been shortlisted for a prestigious global award.
THE LEDE
Fear vs. Fair
Nearly 60 civil society groups on Wednesday called for the release of political prisoners and a national dialogue free from threats, intimidation and violence ahead of Cambodia’s upcoming elections.
The chances of the ruling party signing off on that are slim.
Cambodia elects commune leaders in 2022 and national leaders in 2023. Around 50 minor parties are expected to compete. The main opposition party, the CNRP, was dissolved in 2017 over allegations of a U.S.-linked plot to overthrow the government.
As it stands, the ruling CPP holds all 125 seats in the National Assembly.
Civil society groups said the government’s ongoing, often violent repression of political dissent indicates little chance of change coming from the ballot box.
Kem Ley Frustration
The government rejected calls for an independent inquiry into the death of Dr. Kem Ley, the beloved political commentator who was murdered five years ago.
The story was dubious from the start: In 2016, a former migrant worker slipped into a Phnom Penh cafe while Kem Ley was having coffee. He killed the doctor with one shot to the body and one to the head.
The killer said he murdered Kem Ley over a $3,000 debt. The court accepted the confession and sentenced him to life in prison, never asking how an out-of-work laborer with a gambling problem acquired $3,000 or an expensive Glock handgun.
No one really believes the killer’s story. Authorities have jailed or sued anyone who has even hinted at government involvement. But silencing accusers has only hardened the suspicions of the public.
Containing Covid-19
Covid-19 news was all bad this week as the Kingdom reached record numbers: 64,611 cases and 1,025 deaths.
Prime Minister Hun Sen closed land borders with Thailand and Vietnam. Health officials voiced fears that cases would further overwhelm the battered healthcare system. Many markets were shut.
The Ministry of Health inexplicably stopped announcing provincial case numbers in May, leaving wide gaps in public knowledge.
One thing is clear: The situation is only getting worse.
TALKING POINTS
Super Shooter
Mak Remissa made the shortlist for this year’s prestigious Prix Pictet photography awards. His work is based on the exodus of Phnom Penh under the Khmer Rouge. Winners will be announced December 15.
Media Woes
The Ministry of Information last week empowered provincial authorities to take legal action against “unprofessional” reporters, and it didn’t take long for officials to wield their new powers.
The Battambang court on Wednesday charged a local reporter with incitement for derogatory comments he made about Hun Sen on Facebook. He faces six months to two years in prison.
Wildlife At Risk
The Covid-19 virus has taken a tremendous toll on the environment. Poachers and illegal loggers thrive under economic hardship, according to a new report.
Un-Natural
Mother Nature founder Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson accused the government of violating national and international law by forbidding his return to face incitement charges.
Vulture Count
The June 2021 vulture census counted 121 critically endangered vultures, a slight decrease from last year. Cambodia is home to three rare species, the red-headed, white-rumped and slender-billed vultures.
Rosewood Coffins
The Ministry of Environment began using timber seized from illegal loggers to make coffins for the Covid-19 dead.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Huge Airport a Quiet Reminder of Khmer Rouge
July 13, 2001
Kao Lon put down his hammer and glanced up at the sun. Noon. He rubbed his arm across his forehead and sat on his haunches among a few rocks in the shade of a thorny jujube tree. A large wall of rock, the quarry that is the source of his livelihood nowadays, stretched up in front of him, and from it came the ticking and thumping of hammer on stone.
Akashi Talks About Untac’s ’93 ‘Success’
July 11, 2001
May 23, 1993, marks the happiest day of Yasushi Akashi’s life. Despite intimidation by the ruling CPP and the pullout of the Khmer Rouge from the 1993 UN-sponsored elections, Cambodians came out in droves to vote in the country’s first democratic elections in decades, making it a “resounding success.”
Koh Ker, Shrouded by Jungle, Is Next Tourist Destination
July 11, 2001
Amidst an ocean of green, with jungle spreading to the horizon, a huge gray pyramid of perfect proportions bursts into view. This is Koh Ker, the capital city that King Jayavarman IV built for himself in the 10th century and, government officials hope, one of Cambodia’s next major historical tourism sites.
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