Mech Dara Outcry Intensifies, Social Media Dragnet Deepens, 200k Riel Notes to Honor King
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, October 18, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
FIRST STEP: More than 1 billion liters of alcohol are consumed each year, and as many as 30% of the drinkers are under 18. The social risks are real, and health experts are demanding an intervention.
RIEL TIME: The campaign to de-dollarize gets another boost, with the central bank set to issue millions of 200,000 riel notes, worth roughly $50 each. The measure coincides with the 2004 coronation of King Sihamoni.
DRESS CODE: The Ministry of Interior has had enough of the jokes about unfit-looking police officers. Out-of-shape deputies will soon be taken off the streets and given desk duties.
THE LEDE
Waiting Game
Lawyers for Mech Dara, the award-winning Cambodian journalist jailed last month for incitement, are preparing to request bail on medical grounds, saying the 36-year-old is suffering from insomnia and anxiety.
His arrest has been called a direct attack on press freedom — and has prompted a global outpouring of support from former colleagues and more than a dozen governments, who are calling for his immediate release.
The court, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said, would consider his bail request without prejudice. “Nobody can answer on behalf of the court,” the official said. “Let's wait and see.”
Beer Goggles
Cambodia has a drinking problem — and a rising number of health experts are calling for an intervention.
The Kingdom spends close to $2 billion every year downing more than a billion liters of booze, according to the Ministry of Health, and nearly one-third of drinkers are estimated to be under 18.
Regulators are taking a cautious approach. The Ministry of Information last week announced regulations to rein in aggressive marketing by beer companies.
Even so, critics say the rules offer no penalties for violators and are unlikely to slow the pace of the nation’s drinking — or the skyrocketing social and health problems linked to it.
Repeat Business
One of the Kingdom’s most notorious logging companies has for years illegally exported high-grade timber to Vietnam and China, while systematically flattening the country’s most valuable protected forests, according to a 12-month Mongabay investigation.
Angkor Plywood and its boss, Chea Pov, are connected to at least three state-backed logging concessions around the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary. Those legal businesses allow the company to claim that logs felled in protected areas — where top-grade timber still exists — originated from legal concessions.
“Large-scale logging and forest destruction is ongoing in Cambodia, despite government denials,” said a veteran activist. “Cartels like Angkor Plywood are a driving force for this destruction, and for systemic corruption.”
TALKING POINTS
Rough Skies
The stench of Cambodia’s pig-butchering scams will likely derail Cambodia Airways' attempt to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The national airline, according to an RFA investigation, has extensive ties to the Prince Group, which Chinese courts have called a “transnational online criminal group.”
Odd Numbers
The wacky court cases keep piling up for the Candlelight Party, with its president and eight officials now facing criminal charges for a breach of trust lawsuit filed by an ex-member who defected to the CPP. His complaint? Being listed seventh on May’s local election ballot, instead of fifth. The case remains under investigation.
Card Sharks
Illegal online casinos are the top employer for many of the 89,000 Indonesians living in Cambodia, according to Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The industry often serves a front for cyber scam mills, which allegedly have extensive ties to top officials. An unknown number of Indonesians are likely trapped in these compounds, officials said, while many participate willingly.
Big Bills
The National Bank will issue 20 million 200,000 riel notes to commemorate the 2004 coronation of King Norodom Sihamoni. The new bills, worth about $50 dollars each, are expected to hit banks and money changers this week.
Big Brother
The Kingdom’s social media discourse is about to get even tighter government scrutiny, with tracking now required at the provincial level. The measures, officials say, are required for good governance and meeting the people’s needs. Critics fear it will be the death blow to free speech online.
Jailhouse Rock
A viral video of inmates drinking and taking drugs during a Lunar New Year party at Prey Sar prison is causing widespread outrage, with Hun Manet calling for the warden to be fired. Prison authorities downplayed the event, which purportedly occurred last year, yet vowed to investigate.
Cop Bod
Cambodia’s finest must protect and serve, and they must look good doing it. That’s the latest directive from the Ministry of Interior, which is fed up with public ridicule of overweight officers. Officials warned that out-of-shape deputies would soon be reassigned to desk jobs, away from public view.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Retired King Puts Twist on Abdication
October 18, 2004
A day after King Norodom Sihamoni was named Cambodia’s new monarch, his father said he had not abdicated but had taken to “retirement,” leaving some observers baffled over how to interpret retired King Norodom Sihanouk’s surrender of the throne.
Shy Outsider Expected to Become King Today
October 14, 2004
To observers of the country’s politics, the arrival of Prince Norodom Sihamoni on the doorstep of royal dynasty is no surprise.
King Says He Steps Down to Avoid Violence
October 13, 2004
Despite public appeals for him to remain on the throne, King Norodom Sihanouk on Tuesday repeated his decision to abdicate, saying it was a move to avoid possible bloodshed spurred by rival republican factions.
WEEKEND READING
Cambodia’s Billion Dollar Scam
Thousands of people have been trafficked into the country to work in cyber scamming compounds built with Chinese money. Now they’re stuck there.
Speeding Up the Economy: The Role of Methamphetamines in the Southeast Asian Boom
Faced with ruthless economic demands, increasing numbers of workers are turning to a cheap, addictive drug that enables them to “work without stopping.”
Photos: Mech Dara, Facebook.
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