CPP Amends Constitution, Monkeypox Manhunt and ASEAN Meeting Looms
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, July 29, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
BLOC PARTY: The 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phnom Penh this week will bring officials from the U.S., China and Russia. Sparks may fly over Myanmar, Taiwan and Ukraine.
POWER MOVE: Eight CPP-backed amendments were made to the Constitution, preparing Hun Sen to transfer power to his eldest son. A rights group called it a “death sentence for democracy.”
VOX POX: Cambodia recorded its first case of monkeypox, reportedly brought by a Nigerian who swam across a river to escape Thai authorities. The virus has been contained, officials said.
THE LEDE
Crime Drama
Cambodia responded to being blacklisted in a U.S. human trafficking report by announcing a nationwide, house-to-house search for foreign criminals.
Police will visit homes, hotels and businesses to inspect visas and work permits, promising to deport any visitors found violating the law. The Ministry of Interior said inspections will start as soon as possible. The announcement comes after Washington gave the Kingdom a failing grade in its annual Trafficking in Persons report.
A search is hardly necessary — an avalanche of media reports identified the problem long ago.
Hidden Tiger
Standard & Poor’s forecast 6.3% growth in 2022, calling Cambodia “one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.”
The group cited the Kingdom’s successful Covid-19 vaccination program, which increased domestic spending, helped tourism recover and boosted manufacturing. The Kingdom registered nearly $3 billion in investment in the first half of the year, most of it in agriculture, manufacturing and tourism. The ratings agency predicted strong credit growth of around 20%, providing the cash for continued economic expansion.
The S&P estimate surpasses earlier predictions from the World Bank, IMF and ADB, which pegged growth between 4.5% and 6%.
Crosstown Traffic
Smoke, and possibly fire, is expected from the sidelines of the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Phnom Penh this week, where hard hitters from the U.S., China and Russia will brush shoulders.
The official agenda runs deep with contentious issues: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar crisis, the addition of Timor Leste, the South China Sea, Taiwan.
China wants the U.S. to back off Taiwan, the U.S. wants China to stop supporting Russian aggression in Ukraine, and Russia wants the U.S. to stop arming its adversaries.
In Phnom Penh, expect VIP-level roadblocks and traffic jams between today and Aug 6.
TALKING POINTS
Power Source
The National Assembly approved eight CPP-backed amendments to the Constitution, preparing an uncontested transfer of power from Hun Sen to his eldest son, Hun Manet. Opposition groups strongly opposed the changes. A regional human rights group called it a “death sentence for democracy.”
Safe Harbor
Cambodia pointed to smart side-hustles to explain how government officials with meager salaries purchased multi-million-dollar homes in Sydney. An Australian media report said the Kingdom’s elite were using the country as a “haven for the regime’s dirty money.”
Flower Power
A Thai film company was forced to redesign movie posters featuring the Kingdom’s national flower after an online flame war nearly turned into a diplomatic incident. The original poster for “Love Destiny,” a Thai rom-com, showed the film’s leading couple surrounded by rumduol flowers — and Cambodia netizens were not happy.
Emotional State
Cambodia is the saddest country in Southeast Asia, according to Gallup, the global research firm. Mental health experts pointed to poverty and generational trauma inflicted by the Khmer Rouge as the primary reasons.
Strike Force
Labor unions are lining up behind NagaWorld strikers, potentially flooding the streets outside the downtown casino with thousands of protesters. The casino union is demanding the reinstatement of nearly 200 elected leaders who were laid off last year — a move workers said was clearly designed to bust the union.
Escape Key
It’s not the crime, it’s the complaint. In Sihanoukville, the Kingdom’s notorious Chinese gangster stronghold, police are on the hunt for an anonymous tipster who alerted authorities to the plight of Chinese casino workers unable to quit their jobs. Police investigated and removed 10. Officials, however, denied the workers were held against their will and called the complaint “defamatory.” The unnamed casino was cleared of all wrongdoing.
Golden Cinema
Linda Saphan will launch “Faded Reels: The Art of Four Cambodian Filmmakers 1960–1975” with two days of talks and movies at Prime Cineplex. The talks run Saturday and Sunday from 9 to 11a.m., with movies afterward. Titles include “Chet Mday,” “Thavry Meas Bong,” “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten,” “Golden Slumber” and “The Last Reel.” Registration is requested.
Virus Alarm
Cambodia tightened border security after recording its first case of the dreaded monkeypox. Health officials identified the carrier as a 27-year-old Nigerian man, who likely swam across the Sa Kaeo River to escape Thai authorities. His condition was stable and the virus was now contained, officials said.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Tep Vong: KR Defectors Shouldn’t Stand Trial
July 30, 2002
Former senior Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary’s magazine has published a long interview with a top Buddhist monk who suggests that former Khmer Rouge who have defected to the government might deserve to escape trial.
Trial Date Set for 14 Arrested Sex Workers
July 24, 2002
Fourteen young women arrested on immigration charges shortly after they were rescued in a series of Svay Pak brothel raids in May will face trial Aug 5, court officials and observers said Tuesday. Court officials also said the girls most likely will have to appear as witnesses in a separate trafficking hearing.
Appeal Set for Nuon Paet for Train Attack
July 23, 2002
Jailed Khmer Rouge commander Nuon Paet will appear before the Supreme Court in September to appeal his conviction for the killing of 13 Cambodians and three Western tourists following a 1994 train ambush in Kampot province, lawyers said Monday.
WEEKEND READING
The small cuts bleeding Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake
Climate change, dam construction and sand dredging imperil the existence of one of the most bountiful lakes on Earth.
Cambodia lays out master plan to bring back tourists
With visitors from China, once its main market, slowing to barely a trickle, how is Cambodia planning to revive its battered tourism industry?
Photo: Central Market, Phnom Penh, Mohd Ooi via Flickr.
Send comments to editor@cambodiadaily.com.