Hun Manet Inflates Administration, Walmart Soiled in Sweatshop Scandal, Officials Rip Garment Report
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, August 25, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
CUT DOWN: Nearly 90% of Botum Sakor National Park is now in private hands. Activists fear a new wave of land conflicts and want the government to freeze dubious concessions.
DEATH GRIP: Pressure groups are calling on the government to ease up on election-related crackdowns now that the new leadership is installed. Optimism is low to non-existent.
STREET LEVEL: The saga of a jailed Taiwanese crime lord took more bizarre turns, notably his escape, recapture and the arrest of seven U.S. citizens and a popular expat bar owner.
THE LEDE
Long Game
Prime Minister Hun Manet offered an ambitious vision for the new government, assuring investors of continued stability while promising to elevate the Kingdom to high-income status by 2050.
His five-point plan focuses on the sputtering economy, which has yet to recover from the pandemic. It calls for expanding infrastructure investment, growing exports through bilateral trade agreements, and ramping up efforts to attract overseas capital. It also includes plans to modernize the government and expand the social safety net.
The strategy, while big on ambition, is remarkably free of detail — and critics say persistent problems like endemic corruption and rampant nepotism present huge hurdles to success.
Big Government
One new prime minister along with 781 new secretaries and undersecretaries.
The Hun Manet government has gone all-in on bureaucratic bloat, more than doubling the headcount of senior officials from 641 under the last administration to 1,422.
The largest increases went to the Council of Ministers and the Ministries of Interior and Defense. Many positions were claimed by relatives of CPP functionaries and members who defected from the opposition — apparent payoffs for supporting the Strongman’s succession plans.
Under Cambodia’s patronage system, these new ruling elites will use their positions to maximize income, likely resulting in more fleecing of the people they are meant to serve.
Money Trees
The Ministry of Environment awarded 10,000 hectares of Botum Sakor National Park to the Royal Group, the latest in a string of public land give-aways that activists predict will fuel a new wave of land displacements and dispossession.
The Royal Group received more than 8,500 hectares in 2021, leading to widespread deforestation and the forced relocation of more than 100 families. The new concession adjoins the earlier area and includes mostly untouched forest.
As it stands, nearly 90% of Botum Sakor’s 180,000 hectares is now in private hands. The park has lost more than 25% of its primary forest since 2002, and environmentalists fear it will one day completely disappear.
TALKING POINTS
Royal Help
King Norodom Sihamoni appointed Hun Sen as president of the Supreme Privy Council, the monarch’s highest advisory body. The post was left vacant after the 2021 death of Prince Norodom Rannariddh, the Strongman’s longtime political adversary. Three other CPP heavyweights were also added: Tea Banh, former Defense Minister; Sar Kheng, former Interior Minister; and Heng Samrin, former National Assembly president.
Prison Garb
Does the “Made in Cambodia” tag mean stitched in a sweatshop by forced labor in a women’s prison? That’s the question being investigated by Walmart and Centric Brands, the licensing partners for Izod, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Under Armour. Centric has canceled orders from at least one factory suspected of using prison labor, as the company and the Ministry of Commerce continue to investigate.
Hard Fork
Rights groups are calling on the new government to relax heavy-handed censorship rules enacted before the election. A coalition of eight organizations asked the Education Ministry to revoke a ban on discussing politics in the classroom, and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights urged immediate attention to a number of issues, including the release of political prisoners and the return of independent media.
Product Quality
The Ministry of Labor blasted a report on the garment industry by a local rights group, slamming the organization as “Western-backed” and its findings misleading and unscientific. The CENTRAL report warned of an industry in crisis, citing the loss of preferential trade agreements with the West, a steep drop in exports, and the closure of more than 1,000 factories since December.
Bag Men
Authorities are investigating three nationalized Cambodians who were arrested in the largest money-laundering bust in Singapore’s history. The suspects, native Chinese from Fujian province, were nabbed with seven others and more than $730 million in cash, property and luxury goods allegedly generated by profits from human trafficking, crypto scams and online gambling.
Fight Ring
UNESCO signed the Cambodian Kun Lbokator Federation to its martial arts committee, boosting the sport’s international prominence. The committee is responsible for promoting martial arts on the global list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Criminal Minds
Police captured a fugitive Taiwanese drug lord who was freed from custody by a well-armed gang of Cambodian-American gunmen — and a well-known Phnom Penh bar owner. Authorities jailed 11 accomplices, including seven U.S. citizens, and expect more arrests.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Hambali Left Gentle Impression in Phnom Penh
August 22, 2003
Around the time that 10 Asean and several other Asian leaders were ensconced in local luxury for the 8th Asean Summit last November, a quiet, unassuming, clean-shaven man was studiously reading on the airy porch of a small Muslim guest house in Phnom Penh.
King Recalls Ex-Classmate Khieu Ponnary
August 21, 2003
King Norodom Sihanouk offered his condolences to the family of Khieu Ponnary—the first wife of Pol Pot who died in Pailin July 1—in a public letter posted on his Web site Tuesday.
King Sihanouk Praises Today’s Ladies of Cambodia
August 20, 2003
There are more attractive women in Cambodia since Prime Minister Hun Sen came to power, King Norodom Sihanouk wrote in a letter on Sunday that was posted on his Web site Tuesday.
WEEKEND READING
Facebook’s 2024 Election Policy May Hinge on a Cambodian Video
Will former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen’s Facebook account be suspended? This decision could have huge ramifications for how Meta handles upcoming elections in India and the US.
A 100-day checklist for the new Cambodian prime minister to turn human wrongs into human rights
Cambodia's new Prime Minister Hun Manet must choose inclusive governance over strongman politics if he aims to comply with the country's international obligations.
‘Charlot’ in Cambodia: New novel explores Charlie Chaplin’s midlife crisis in French Indochina
In his debut novel “Charlot,” screenwriter Ian Masters traces the comedic actor’s journey of self-discovery in the 1930s and a fateful visit to Southeast Asia. Silent movies were passe’, “talkies” were all the rage and the region was on the cusp of dramatic changes.
Photos: Hun Manet, Facebook. King Norodom Sihamoni, Hun Sen’s Telegram.
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