Senate Elections Loom, Hun Sen Meets Thaksin, Overseas Dissent Silenced
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, February 23, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
PILING ON: The CPP is likely to win more than 90% of the Senate in Sunday’s vote. Its main opposition, meanwhile, has over 100 members in jail. That didn't stop the CPP from accusing its rival of “intimidation.”
HOME ALONE: Cambodia was named one of the world’s most repressive nations in tolerating criticism from abroad, using violence and intimidation to stifle detractors. A common tactic: threats to family back home.
PLUGGED IN: A giant rubbish-eating robot will soon be deployed to remove plastic waste from the Tonle Sap. The environment minister even declared that the great lake “is not a trash can.” Stay tuned for results.
Down Under
Money. That’s what Hun Manet will have on his mind when he visits Australia next month for the Australia-ASEAN Special Summit in Melbourne.
Drumming up investment will be the top goal, the prime minister has said, and analysts predict a receptive audience, as Canberra is expected to wipe clean the human rights ledger in service of a diplomatic restart.
Sam Rainsy warned lawmakers of falling for Hun Manet’s “lip service,” while urging the Australian prime minister to hold Cambodia accountable for democratic backsliding. Cambodian opposition leaders in Australia, who said more than 1,000 supporters were ready to protest, backed the demands.
Public Defender
Violence, intimidation and threats — those are the tactics Cambodia uses to silence overseas critics, according to Freedom House, which listed the Kingdom among the world’s worst perpetrators of transnational repression.
The term describes state attempts to subdue critics living in exile, often with oppressive tactics like electronic monitoring, physical assaults and threats to family back home.
The report comes as officials attempt to beat back unflattering reports in the international media, including the case of two Taiwanese YouTubers who published fake tales of abduction in Sihanoukville. The hoax badly damaged Cambodia’s honor, the prime minister said, and he warned of no mercy for those who shame his country.
Plans Develop
The deputy governor of Preah Vihear is illegally clear-cutting vast tracts of trees in one of the Kingdom’s oldest community protected forests, according to Mongabay.
Ouk Kimsan, an old-school timber smuggler with CPP ties, is responsible for the destruction of more than 200 hectares since 2022, according to the indigenous Kuy ethnic group, who have managed the protected forest, known as Chi Ouk Boeung Prey, since its inception.
The Kuy have refrained from protests, out of fear of upsetting the timber boss, who is expected to plant cashews on newly cleared grounds. Without a forest to depend on, they will soon need new jobs to survive.
TALKING POINTS
First Class
The Strongman took a private jet to Bangkok for a 2-hour sitdown with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was released from prison on Sunday. The sister of Wanchalearm Satsaksit, the Thai activist who disappeared in Phnom Penh in 2020, made a surprise visit to demand answers to her brother’s whereabouts. She was blocked by police.
Vote Watch
The opposition party, with more than 100 members in prison, is being accused of intimidating the ruling party ahead of Sunday’s senate elections. The CPP is expected to win more than 90% of upper house seats after the government banned a leading opposition group and threatened to dissolve parties found violating election laws.
Pay Wall
A massive raise in government spending on health care and education has resulted in only minor improvements, The World Bank said. Cambodia more than doubled spending on social services between 2011 and 2021 in an effort to bring government salaries inline with the private sector. The Bank recommended tying future wage raises to increases in performance.
Dry Run
The Funan Techo Canal risks profoundly destabilizing the lower Mekong delta, experts warn, raising concerns over the mega-project to connect the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand with a 180-km waterway. One expert predicts the canal will block water flows eastward across the Mekong floodplain, transforming a fertile delta into parched land.
Sand Trap
Climate change threatens to upend the Kingdom’s billion-dollar investment in hydropower, experts say, pointing to rising global temperatures and warmer and drier wet seasons. One of China’s largest reservoirs filled to just 50% its average in 2023, and scientists say things will only get drier.
Garbage Tech
The Ministry of Environment is preparing to launch a floating rubbish-eating robot to remove tons of plastic pollution from the Tonle Sap. “The Tonle Sap,” the environment minister said, “is not a trash can.” The campaign begins March 1.
Bus Stop
Capital authorities called lights out on the Phnom Penh Beer Bus, a 10-seat rolling tavern that police say risked causing outbursts of singing and dancing on city streets. Owners of the bus vowed to serve on.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Jolie’s Cows More Popular Than Her Movies
February 23, 2004
Actress Angelina Jolie may be known to moviegoers the world over as the hot-pants-wearing, gun-toting heroine of the action movie “Tomb Raider,” but here in Ta Sanh commune she is better known for her cows.
Experts Aim to Maintain the Very Trees That Threaten Ta Prohm Ruins
February 21, 2004
Indian Ambassador to Cambodia PK Kapur sounded like an environmental activist defending tree rights. “There will be no cutting or chopping,” he said. “If it is necessary to preserve the health of a tree, this will be done by the Indian team in cooperation with Apsara Authority, but it is essential not to chop branches.”
The Cycle of Debt: As Microcredit Institutions Grow, Some Question Their Effect on Poverty
February 21, 2004
In 2000, Neth Yon, 45, took out a loan of about $100 from Acleda Bank to buy a small boat and some fishing equipment. The loan, she figured, would allow her family to catch more fish, make more money and improve their lifestyle.
PM Bodyguards Often Meet Quiet, Bloody End
February 17, 2004
Behind a desolate pagoda, patches of charred bone and wood mark the remains of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s last line of defense.
WEEKEND READING
In Phnom Penh, Slurping Noodles and Tasting Home Again
An excerpt from author and cook Chantha Nguon's memoir recounts her first trip home to Cambodia after fleeing as a refugee—and the dish that made her feel at home once again.
How to Eat Your Way Through Phnom Penh, According to a Chef Rotanak Ros
The Cambodian celeb chef known as Chef Nak shares her recipe for an invigorating weekend in the cradle of Khmer cuisine.
Photos: Hun Manet, Fresh News. Hun Sen, via Facebook.
Send comments to editor@cambodiadaily.com
CORRECTION: The headline originally said “Hun Manet Meets Thaksin.” It has been corrected to say “Hun Sen Meets Thaksin.”