Phnom Penh Land Battles, CNRP Silenced, Khmer Films in Venice
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, September 10, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
LEGAL LIMBO: The case against opposition leader Kem Sokha on charges of conspiring to overthrow the government reached its fifth year. There’s no end in sight.
COVID CRIME: Police in Banteay Meanchey province said crime is up 18% because of lockdowns and quarantines, with drunkenness and violence the top offenses.
FREE MAN: Kea Sokun, the Siem Reap rap artist, left prison after a year sentence for lyrics that drew incitement charges. More than 150 critical voices have been jailed since 2020.
THE LEDE
Flight or Fight
The police this week detained a 40-year-old woman and her teenage son, the latest escalation in a years-long land battle at the site of the new airport in Kandal province.
More than 300 families are demanding fair market value for their land, which the government gave to a local investment group to develop the $1.5 billion airport.
More than 100 police on Tuesday blocked families from the land they claim to own. Police in recent months have destroyed crops and threatened families with arrest in an attempt to force settlements.
The land developer has offered families $8 per square meter. Current market price ranges between $60 and $80 per square meter.
Wetland Destruction
Score a small victory for Cambodia’s embattled environmentalists.
The government denied a bid to fill 1,000 hectares of the country’s second-largest lake to build another satellite city. Experts applauded the decision, but also said wetland destruction was well-past critical levels.
Sixteen of Phnom Penh’s 26 lakes have vanished since 1990. Others have been partially filled, contributing to a more than 40% loss in Phnom Penh’s wetlands. Reclamation projects have increased the severity of seasonal flooding and contributed to the forced displacement of thousands.
Italian Limelight
The Venice Film Festival will give Phnom Penh a double dose of silver-screen stardom by screening two features set in the bustling Cambodian capital.
“White Building,” directed by Neang Kavich, is the coming-of-age story of Samnang, a 20-year-old hip-hop dancer who lives among a community of artists at the eponymous tenement block. “White Building” will also represent Cambodia in the best international film category at the 2022 Academy Awards.
“Karmalink” is a sci-fi mystery set in future Phnom Penh and directed by American Jake Wachtel.
TALKING POINTS
Justice Delayed
A court case against a former leader of the country’s main political opposition party stretched into a fifth year, with no end in sight. Kem Sokha, former president of the CNRP, was arrested Sept 3, 2017, and charged with conspiring with the United States to overthrow the government. His case has been on indefinite hold ever since, hanging over the opposition like a sword of Damocles.
Judicial Insults
The government blasted U.N. human rights representatives who suggested Cambodia’s courts release a 17-year-old autistic boy from pretrial detention. The government called the U.N. statement an “affront” to the Kingdom’s independent judiciary and national sovereignty.
Labor Pains
Unions and factory owners sat down for the first of several talks to negotiate wages and other terms of employment for 2022. Unions said they wanted a $22.20 raise in the minimum monthly wage, which is now $192. Owners said they wanted a $0 raise.
Stir Crazy
Police in Banteay Meanchey said lockdowns and quarantines were driving people mad. Crime was up 18%, with drunkenness and violence the top offenses. “They have been locked down, so some of them are not happy, so they cannot control their emotions,” the police chief said. “They go eat outside and are beaten. This is normal in our society.”
Facebook Crimes
The court sentenced seven former CNRP members to 18 months in prison for Facebook posts criticizing the government’s handling of Covid-19. Civil society groups decried the decisions.
Criminal Rhymes
Siem Reap rapper Kea Sokun left prison an unrepentant free man after spending a year incarcerated for lyrics the government labeled as incitement. He is one of more than 150 critical voices to be jailed since last year.
No Comment
Nine months after being caught on video savagely beating his wife, local business mogul Duong Chhay appeared on social media to accuse her of provoking the attack. Duong Chhay evaded arrest after the December 2020 beating by entering the monkhood, police said. He has yet to be charged. Officials would not comment.
Covid-19 Watch
GOOD: More than 11 million are vaccinated, including 98% of the adult population.
BAD: Daily infections are rising, climbing well above 500 from a low of 401 two weeks ago.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Orphanage Guarded by Barbed Wire, Gate
September 6, 2001
Kandal province – The Asia Children’s Association is located on roughly one hectare 30 km west of Phnom Penh. It’s surrounded by a barbed wire fence and sealed—neighbors say—with a gate that is almost never open.
Details Hazy In Adoption Scam Arrests
September 5, 2001
Human rights workers said they were surprised by the release Tuesday of four people who had been arrested one day earlier for allegedly trafficking children in a suspected black market adoption scam.
Rights Groups See Political Motive in Killing
September 4, 2001
Officials from human rights groups have declared that the killing of Sam Rainsy Party commune candidate Touch Voeun was politically motivated, making it the third political killing this year by their count.
116 More Montagnards At UN Camps
September 3, 2001
In what appears to be the largest migration of Montagnards into Cambodia in months, 116 people traveled from Vietnam to UN camps in Ratanakkiri and Mondolkiri provinces last week, according to officials from both the UN and the US Embassy.
WEEKEND READING
Paris Peace Accords’ Legacy in Cambodia Is Mixed and Politically Contentious as 30th Anniversary Nears
Thirty years ago, as the Cold War was drawing down, four warring factions from Cambodia and 18 members of the international community signed the Paris Peace Accords, a comprehensive agreement that laid out a process to end the country’s long civil war.
Cambodia and the great powers
Striding across the verandah of his Phnom Penh home on November 11, Cambodia’s embattled opposition leader Kem Sokha stuck out a hand towards US Ambassador W. Patrick Murphy, the two men sharing a few inaudible pleasantries during their quick grip-and-grin after Murphy’s official car had edged through Sokha’s front gate.
The microfinance debt crisis that is crushing Cambodia
International development agencies must act to protect borrowers' human rights.