NagaWorld Union Leader Nabbed, Angkor Wat Evictions Escalate, Bokator Gets UNESCO Nod
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, December 2, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
TOUGH TIMES: Almost half a million Cambodians were forced into poverty by the global pandemic and are now earning less than $2.70 per day. The alarming trend reversed decades of poverty reduction.
HOME ALONE: Son Chhay can’t buy a break. A CPP-aligned court ordered his two homes seized as collateral for $750,000 he owes in defamation fines — to the CPP. So it goes, these days, if you’re an opposition leader.
ROARING BACK: Cambodia’s ancient martial art, Bokator, was listed on UNESCO’s “Intangible Heritage List.” Old masters revived the art after the war years. “Bokator,” by the way, means “lion fighting.”
THE LEDE
Handcuff Hello
An Australian lawmaker described The Strongman’s government as a “gangster regime” after it rearrested the NagaWorld union boss, Chhim Sithar, upon her return to Phnom Penh from Australia and threw her in notorious Prey Sar Prison.
The court accused her of violating bail terms by leaving the country, though she had already traveled overseas twice without incident. She and her lawyer said they were unaware of any travel restrictions.
The move could potentially derail the Kingdom’s improving relations with the U.S., which has called for her immediate release. Hun Sen is gambling that Washington will continue to overlook egregious labor abuses. He could be right.
Angkor Evictions
The forced eviction of some 10,000 families from the Angkor Wat temple complex is required to keep the temples’ status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the prime minister said.
Hun Sen has called the move “voluntary,” and the government has offered families money, rice and land plots about 20km away. Residents complained that the relocation site was undeveloped and too far from jobs. Some are holding out.
The Strongman didn’t blink, warning those who refused to go that they would be evicted without “a single cent.”
Fighting Lions
Bokator, Cambodia’s ancient martial arts style, won a coveted place on UNESCO’s “Intangible Heritage List,” giving its faithful followers hope that full government support may soon follow.
The martial art was nearly lost under the Khmer Rouge. Its rediscovery began in the late 1990s, when Grandmaster San Kim Sean went searching the Kingdom’s provinces for surviving teachers. “Bokator” means “lion fighting,” and its intriguingly named techniques include weapons, ground fighting, striking and dancing.
The Bokator national team is preparing for the martial art’s world debut at next year’s Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, and expectations for a gold medal are sky-high.
TALKING POINTS
Legal Eagle
The CPP extended its decades-long winning streak in the courts, obtaining an order to legally seize two homes owned by Son Chhay, the vice president of the Candlelight Party. The opposition leader owes the CPP about $750,000 after losing a defamation case. The homes will be used as collateral.
Dollar Signs
The post-pandemic economy is picking up pace. According to official numbers, inflation dropped to 4.9% in the third quarter, down from 7.9% in the second, apparel exports grew by more than 18%, to nearly $8 billion through October, and more than 1.5 million foreign tourists visited.
Primate Poaching
Illegal monkey trapping in the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary is well organized and widespread, according to forest defenders who patrol the area. A local environmental official said the practice was routine, and arrests were uncommon.
Poverty Problem
Covid-19 reversed a decade of gains against poverty and pushed nearly 500,000 Cambodians back living on less than $2.70 per day. Two-thirds of households reported cutting back on food to survive.
007 vs UXO
Daniel Craig, the English actor who played James Bond, honored 30 years of unexploded ordnance clearance in the Kingdom with praise for the nation’s deminers. Cambodia holds the Guinness World Record for Most Landmine Victims, but it’s working to be mine free by 2025.
Grammar Fight
The Ministry of Agriculture accused VOD of deliberately distorting a request for rice farmers to keep complaints about low prices off social media. The ministry said its remarks were an “appeal,” not a warning or a threat, as VOD called them. The ministry called the alleged distortions a criminal violation of the press law.
Art History
The Krousar Thmey Foundation donated more than 1,000 French Protectorate-era postcards, books and maps to the Sosoro Museum. The collection is part of the ongoing exhibit "King Sisowath's Journey to France: A Mutual Revelation."
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
References to God in School Textbooks Cause Controversy
November 29, 2002
The Ministry of Cults and Religions on Wednesday agreed with the teachers’ union that the word “God” should be taken out of official 12th-grade textbooks because it seems to favor Christianity over Buddhism.
UN Report Praises Cambodia’s HIV Record
November 28, 2002
The UN has singled out Cambodia as a success story in the fight against HIV/AIDS in its most recent report on the epidemic, citing multi-linked, sustained prevention programs as a major contributing factor.
Woman Who Nailed Daughter to Floor Freed
November 27, 2002
Authorities will not file criminal charges against a 35-year-old Kompong Thom province woman who admitted to nailing her teen-age daughter’s foot to the floor because the woman has to care for her children, a Stung Sen district police chief said.
WEEKEND READING
They Were Surrogates. Now They Must Raise the Children.
In Cambodia’s weak legal system, surrogacy exists in a gray market, endangering all involved when political conditions suddenly shift and criminal charges follow.
Unmasking “The Scholar”: The Colorado woman who helped a global art smuggling operation flourish for decades
An investigation into how Emma C. Bunker helped Douglas Latchford sell stolen Cambodian antiquities.
Photos: Chhim Sithar, Facebook. Daniel Craig, U.N. Photo, Flickr.
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