Facebook Probes Hun Sen, $100K Lost on SMS Scam, Frog Meat Sales Flop
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, June 9, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
HEAVY HANDS: The Strongman demanded Vietnam arrest Sam Rainsy while the NEC silenced calls for an election boycott. The ruling party is leaving nothing to chance as it prepares for a clean sweep at the polls next month.
POWER PLAY: A renegade military battalion is behind a shocking increase in deforestation on the Kingdom’s largest island, Koh Kong Krao. Some say the outpost belongs to a logging network so powerful it’s beyond the reach of law enforcement.
GOLDEN GIRL: Cambodia crowned a new hero in Vet Chantha, who scored three of the Kingdom’s nine gold medals at the ASEAN Para Games. The Kingdom won 18 silver and 43 bronze for a best-ever haul of 70 medals.
THE LEDE
Hushed Tones
Sam Rainsy is living rent-free in the Strongman’s head.
After a similar exchange with Malaysia, Prime Minister Hun Sen alerted Vietnam that Rainsy, the exiled opposition leader, was planning to visit disguised as a tourist with a French passport. He demanded Hanoi arrest him immediately.
What’s left of the opposition in Phnom Penh is also on the run. The Candlelight Party, disqualified by a last-minute rule change, canceled protests after Hun Sen threatened mass arrests. The National Election Committee warned that calls for a boycott would result in fines or jail time.
It all points to the Strongman and the CPP suffocating all opposition ahead of national elections next month, as the ruling party prepares a generational change in leadership after the July 23 vote, which it is certain to win.
Lumber Jacked
The Kingdom’s largest island has been picked clean of prized redwoods and other high-value trees by loggers protected by the military, according to a Mongabay investigation.
Satellite images of Koh Kong Krao show deforestation accelerating, with clear-cutting underway since early last year. The remote island’s status remains a tightly held secret. It is controlled by Marine Brigade 2 and reportedly owned by Ly Yong Phat, a CPP Senator with a long history of dubious businesses.
Koh Kong Krao appears to be an exit point for timber felled by a national network of illicit loggers, a group so powerful that it’s believed to be beyond the reach of national authorities.
Girl Power
The ladies stole the show. Cambodia’s para games athletes blasted past early predictions of 56 medals, snatching a history-making 70 podium finishes at the 2023 ASEAN Para Games.
The women’s 3x3 wheelchair basketball team claimed gold with a nail-biting, 11–9 overtime upset against Thailand. The team dominated in the qualifying stages, smashing Laos 16-1 and the Philippines 14-0. The women’s 5x5 team took silver.
Vet Chantha scored an unprecedented golden hat trick with first place finishes in the women’s long jump, 200 and 400 meters.
Athletes now turn their focus to the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
TALKING POINTS
About Face
Facebook is investigating Hun Sen for inciting violence after a public complaint by rights advocates. The Strongman in January threatened opposition members with the law or “a stick” during a Live video. A judgment would be embarrassing but carry few consequences. A ruling is expected this month.
Wire Fraud
Scammers stole $100,000 from an unsuspecting ABA Bank customer using a common SMS “phishing” attack. The theft lit up social media, leaving many shocked that such a large amount could so easily disappear. The Association of Banks urged customers to be extra vigilant against suspicious messages. Police and bank officials are investigating.
Drug War
Cambodia is becoming a key transit and manufacturing point for the synthetic narcotics trade, the U.N. warned, as Golden Triangle syndicates expand production centers and trafficking routes after years of pandemic-related restrictions. Drug police seized record amounts of ketamine, ecstasy and methamphetamine in 2022, and similar numbers are expected this year.
Long Odds
NagaCorp, the strike-plagued parent of NagaWorld Casino, pushed back a $3.5 billion expansion by four years to 2029. The Phnom Penh gaming giant cited high inflation and a slower-than-predicted pandemic recovery. Moody’s warned in November the company would struggle to cover $420 million in payments due in July 2024.
Water Foul
The Tonle Sap Lake is drowning in plastic. Volunteers removed 30 tons of waste from a single village in the tourism hotspot of Chong Khneas – and that was only rubbish collected near the shore. The cleanup crews will now move inland and work door to door, with the goal of freeing the village from plastic.
Jump Stop
Frog prices have plummeted more than 50% since January, casting uncertainty over an industry once touted by the government and E.U. as a “golden opportunity” for pandemic-hit farmers. Froggers blamed cheap Vietnamese imports and dwindling demand.
Art Life
Giant Puppets and the Phare Circus will headline Battambang’s citywide S'Art Urban Art Festival, which opens Monday. The weeklong carnival includes live mural paintings by Fonki, hip-hop battles, concerts and a host of international artists.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Employees Say the Building is Inhabited by Spirits, National Assembly Members Half-Heartedly Acknowledge Them
June 7, 2003
Keo Tha stood just inside the ornate door to the National Assembly. His cell phone rang. “I am at the vihear,” he told the caller, using a Khmer word for a temple in a Buddhist pagoda.
Cambodia, UN Sign KR Trial Agreement
June 7, 2003
There was a palpable sense that history was in the making among the several hundred dignitaries who witnessed the long-awaited signing on Friday of the agreement between Cambodia and UN on the establishment of a Khmer Rouge tribunal.
Cambodia Brewery’s Promoters Go on Strike
June 5, 2003
More than 100 beer promotion workers demonstrated in front of Cambodia Brewery Ltd’s sales office on Monivong Boulevard on Wednesday, claiming the brewery’s accountant has been taking commission earned from their individual beer sales.
Parties Agree To Truce Over 1997 Fighting
June 5, 2003
Battle scenes filled Cambodian television screens on Tuesday night as the ruling-CPP flexed its media muscle and went ahead with threats to broadcast an hour-long documentary that squarely laid the blame for the 1997 factional fighting on Funcinpec.
WEEKEND READING
Facebook’s Litmus Test in Cambodia
A company verdict on Prime Minister Hun Sen’s online incitement could set a precedent for other autocrats.
‘Highly adaptable’: Asia’s scam crisis grows as criminal gangs find new ways to avoid crackdowns
Many scam hubs have now moved from Cambodia beyond the reach of the law into parts of Myanmar and Laos. Interpol has issued an Orange Notice on the scam trend and shared data with member countries, including China, Cambodia and Laos, to help with law enforcement.
Photos: Vet Chantha, AKP. Sin Khun, opposition supporter attacked by unknown assailants, CNRP.
Send comments to editor@cambodiadaily.com