Snakehead Gangsters, Deadly Roadways, Standoff Over Antiquities
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, August 19, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
UNDER WATCH: Activists say police held back their typical treatment of NagaWorld protesters while the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights was in town, giving a false impression of support for workers' rights.
ROAD WOES: Traffic fatalities have shot up more than 30% since pandemic travel restrictions were eased, with nearly 1,000 dead and 3,700 injured in the first six months of 2022.
WEB ARRESTS: Hun Sen’s bodyguards detained four activists and five journalists at Phnom Tamao. An activist said an officer punched him in the face and landed a flying kick. Police said the group was trespassing.
THE LEDE
On Display
Cambodia says an array of looted Khmer artifacts is hiding in plain sight at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an awkward accusation the world-class gallery is doing its best to avoid.
The dispute goes back to Douglas Latchford, the late antiquities dealer and convicted trafficker, who began selling artifacts to the Met in 1983. Cambodian officials say most of the Met’s collection was looted, stolen or arrived in Manhattan by dubious, black market means.
The current situation, described by The New York Times as an “odd standoff,” pits a renowned institution proud of its reputation against a developing, post-conflict nation that just wants its cultural touchstones to come home.
Cambodia’s lawyer was blunt: “The burden of proof should be on the Met to prove the Met has the right to legally own Cambodia’s national treasures.”
Snakehead Soup
Chinese gangs have clearly turned the coastal town of Sihanoukville into a lawless pit of crime, vice and slave labor — and Asian governments are making moves to protect their people.
In Taiwan, police arrested a notorious “snakehead,” a slang term for a human trafficker, and sent a group of lawmakers to investigate reports of thousands of citizens trapped in call-center scams. Taipei even pleaded with Facebook to pull down deceptive jobs ads.
In Indonesia, authorities shut down a recruitment agency suspected to be involved in luring victims, and Hong Kong launched a special task force to coordinate rescues.
In Cambodia, police arrested a local security guard and, once again, passed the buck.
Labor Pains
Hun Sen plunged into the contentious conversation over workers’ rights, ordering the Labor Ministry to cover unpaid wages at a shuttered garment factory.
Workers said the factory closed in May without paying salaries or severance, only to reopen under a new name. Ministry officials are now scrambling to pay the employees, underscoring the prime minister’s power to bend the government to his will.
In Phnom Penh, police continued to manhandle NagaWorld union members demanding the reinstatement of elected representatives laid off last year. The casino reportedly has close ties to Hun Manet, the prime minister’s son.
TALKING POINTS
Case Load
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court joined CPP heavyweights in a legal dogpile on Candlelight Party Vice President Son Chhay, slapping the opposition leader with a third defamation charge for comments alleging vote buying and intimidation during June’s commune elections. The NEC and CPP sued Son Chhay in June.
Forest Fight
Soldiers from Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit assaulted and detained four environmental activists and five journalists, including one American, at Phnom Tamao, where the battalion was working to replant forests. One activist said an officer punched him in the face and landed a flying kick after he refused to get into the guard’s vehicle. Police said the group was trespassing.
False Motives
Critics say the government is trying to pull a fast one. NagaWorld protesters, under the watchful eye of U.N. rights observers, marched to the front door of the billion-dollar casino with noisy chants and picket signs — a goal the group has sought since December. Police for months had forcefully kept union members away, often resulting in bloody clashes with the largely female protest group.
Air Supply
The death of a Kampong Thom man in police custody was not the result of torture or unnecessary force, a police investigation concluded. The man died because of a “lack of oxygen,” the report said, without assigning blame. Even so, three officers were arrested for negligence.
Road Kill
Traffic fatalities have soared more than 30% after Covid-19 restrictions were relaxed, with nearly 1,000 dead and 3,700 injured in the first six months of 2022. The country next month will roll out a point system that penalizes drivers in an effort to tame its deadly roads. Motorists have voiced support.
Open Expertise
The National Museum continues its series of free online discussions with historians, archivists and experts. Today’s talks explore techniques for collecting, conserving and cataloging traditional Cambodia-Cham clothing and textiles.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
How Science Is Keeping Angkor Wat's Beauty Queens Alive
August 17, 2002
It is the largest printed photograph ever: The image of one of Angkor Wat’s famous bas-reliefs is 1.25 meters tall and 62 meters long.
Beaten Japanese Flies Home, Unable to Speak
August 16, 2002
The Japanese woman who was brutally beaten in her Phnom Penh home and sent to Singapore in a comatose state for treatment has recovered slightly and returned to Japan, a senior embassy official said Thursday.
Vann Nath Denied Visa To Visit US
August 15, 2002
Vann Nath may well be Cambodia’s most prominent witness to the Khmer Rouge genocide. He also may be its best-known artist. One thing he is not, is welcome in the US.
No Road Home for Lost Laotians in Cambodia
August 13, 2002
Sin Son rolls a fat tobacco leaf cigarette then sips from a small glass of Chinese tea as he prepares to tell the story of Cambodia’s lost Laotians. “I don’t know the history well. But I heard stories from the old people,” says the craggy 63-year-old as he takes a deep draught of tobacco smoke.
WEEKEND READING
Magazine spread of ‘most beautiful house in America’ conceals allegedly stolen Cambodian relics
Photos featured in Architectural Digest stories on the homes of the billionaire Lindemann family offer clues to investigators struggling to reclaim lost cultural heritage and shed light on the secretive private antiquities trade.
In The City in Time, rapidly shifting urban environments spark artistic movements
Art historian Pamela Nguyen Corey looks at how contemporary artists are shaped by ruptures to metropolitan landscapes in Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh.
Civil society in the Mekong: What can we learn from environmental struggles?
Just as the Mekong river has been controlled and curtailed by dams, so have the voices of civil society actors who contest environmental and social injustices in the region.
Small-scale dams power Cambodian villages and fuel ecological concerns
As small-scale hydropower surges across Cambodia and the globe, unclear regulations raise environmental worries.
Photos: Naga protests, The Cambodia Daily. National Museum, Daniel Mennerich, via Flick.
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Goodbye well-heeled expats.
Goodbye tourism.