Strongman Locks Down Phnom Penh, Vannda Rises at Paris Olympics, Kidnap Gangs Spread Fear in Sihanoukville

Aug 16, 2024

NOSE UP: Prahok lovers are salivating for a delicious catch after a year-long clampdown on illegal fishing. Around 80% of fish found in unlawful nets are the Kingdom’s prized trey riel.
SMALL BET: The cards may be stacked against the Kingdom’s gaming industry: Thailand will soon legalize border casinos and the prime minister vowed an end to gambling licenses.
BAD SHOT: Punters aren’t to blame for the Kingdom’s massive crime problem, say critics of a new rule banning 10,000 porn and gambling websites. It’s the Chinese gangsters.

THE LEDE

Hard Stop

Capital police are restricting travel and beefing up security as a wave of old-school paranoia grips Phnom Penh, fueling far-fetched fears over lost Cambodian territory and color revolutions.

Mass demonstrations, authorities said, were being planned for Sunday outside the Royal Palace. The Strongman called it a plot to overthrow the government, and police were on hair-trigger alert after thousands of Cambodians protested the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam development project over the weekend in South Korea, Japan, Canada and Australia.

A defiant Hun Sen egged protestors on: “Try it. If you consider yourself strong, go ahead and try."

The arrests have started already.

Face Down

Cambodia's casino industry and its flagship operator, NagaCorp, were dealt some bad luck cards this week — or maybe it's just karma.

First, Thailand announced it was lifting its casino ban, which could unleash a competitive crush in the Kingdom's border casinos where a reported 95% of visitors are Thai citizens. Cambodia will now scramble for Chinese gamblers who may prefer Thailand.

Separately, NagaCorp has lost $100 million on a mega casino in Russia that's been thwarted by the Ukraine war and could push the gaming juggernaut into the red.

NagaCorp has been engaged in a grinding labor dispute with its Cambodia workforce since 2021. The Hong Kong-listed company has lost over 30% of its share value since May.

Mic Drop

A big case of Khmer vibes hit the Olympic Games in Paris when Vannda, the Khmer rap superstar, took the stage at the closing ceremony for a surprise performance of “Time to Rise.”

It was the best kept secret in Cambodian Olympic history, stunning millions of adoring fans back home. The unscheduled performance came through a collaboration with the French band Phoenix, which headlined the closing celebrations.

What’s next for the Kingdom’s most famous rapper? Performing at the Olympics will be a tough act to top, while Khmer hip-hop eagerly awaits the next Vannda banger.

TALKING POINTS

Forest Row

Hun Manet vowed to promote the rights of indigenous people, as he called on the government to protect the Kingdom’s 455 minority communities. Only 194 are officially recognized, and many continue to face legal problems, land conflicts and forced relocations — while activists fear a new wave of evictions, in the name of forest conservation, may just be starting.

Flim Flam

It’s theater of the absurd in the Kingdom’s courts, with at least eight opposition party members arrested in the last 14 days — at least one on charges bordering on comical. In Kampong Cham, an NPP leader faces a $100,000 lawsuit for causing the local CPP chief “mental anguish.” His crime? Calling the boss’s daughter a “prostitute.” A verdict is coming this month.

Cable Kick

Telecom regulators banned more than 10,000 websites involved in online gambling and pornography. It hasn’t stopped a surge in annoying SMS messages from cyber casinos. Police, who are just as annoyed as users, say the texts are sent with black-market electronics that are nearly impossible to shut down — and the problem is likely to get worse.

Interest Cut

Eight of the Kingdom’s largest banks reduced their rates for individual borrowers by half, to 8.5% per year. The move, made at Hun Manet’s request, is expected to ease the hardships of the country’s over-indebted workforce, which held more than $9 billion in microfinance debt at the end of 2023, the highest amount of microcredit per capita in the world.

Tasty Hooks

The proof is in the prahok, say fish experts, who are predicting a bumper catch in the Tonle Sap this season after a year-long campaign against illegal fishing. About 80 percent of fish rescued from unlawful nets are Cambodia’s prized trey riel, the main ingredient in the country’s renowned fermented fish paste.

Mean Streets

A shocking video of two women being violently kidnapped from a busy Sihanoukville boulevard reignited calls for police to confront the beachtown’s out-of-control crime problems. Locals say every casino is a scam compound and violent crime is off the rails. The prime minister has vowed his government would stop issuing new gaming licenses.

Grim Shock

The parents of a 39-year-old British school teacher who died in Cambodia paid more than $9,500 to repatriate their son's body, only to instead receive the remains of a 77-year-old Canadian. The correct body was delivered a month later and was badly decomposed. The Cambodian funeral home refunded the money.

The Weekly Dispatch

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