Strongman Shuts Down VOD, Earns ‘Repressive’ Ranking, Rong Chhun Joins Candlelight, Kingdom’s First Sci-Fi Movie to Open
Strongman Shuts Down VOD, Earns ‘Repressive’ Ranking, Rong Chhun Joins Candlelight, Kingdom’s First Sci-Fi Movie to Open
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, February 17, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
HEAVY HAND: Hun Sen abruptly closed down the Voice of Democracy, blocking its website, and demanding an apology. Such impulsive, authoritarian power moves have landed Cambodia on a global watchlist of “repressive states.”
WAXING ON: The Candlelight Party named Rong Chhun, the often-arrested union leader, as one of six vice presidents. The addition of the veteran labor figure brings the opposition group some clout and charisma prepares for July’s national polls. The Candlelighters have yet to select their prime minister candidate.
SLAMMED SHUT: The Ministry of Social Affairs agreed to shut the infamous Prey Speu Social Affairs Center. The Phnom Penh facility, called “Hell on Earth,” was linked to ugly reports of abuse, including 10 detainee deaths over a two-month period.
THE LEDE
Bad Company
The Kingdom of Wonder is considered a repressive state. Cambodia’s spiraling descent on democratic freedoms has earned it the unfortunate ranking on a global watchlist, joining Iran, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
The designation comes just days after Hun Sen banned VOD, one of the country’s few remaining independent news outlets.
The Strongman’s abuse of the legal system to persecute human rights defenders, unionists, journalists and the media was a driving concern, wrote the civil society coalition that compiled the watchlist.
The government’s detractors would like the U.S. and E.U — Cambodia’s two largest export partners — to reign in Hun Sen, although there is little Western governments can do.
Olympic Dreams
Cambodia, fresh from knocking the name Muay Thai from May’s SEA Games, is preparing for Kun Khmer’s next big tussle — Olympic recognition.
Organizers are convinced that momentum and history are on their side. The sport’s governing body nearly doubled its membership after the debate over the sport’s ancient origins captured the media spotlight.
The group said Kun Khmer’s profile got a boost and the publicity helped educate new fans to its history, which predates Muay Thai by hundreds of years.
The sport needs 75 member countries to apply for Olympic recognition. It has 50 now, and it might not be long before Kun Khmer joins Bokator in the world limelight.
TALKING POINTS
Business First
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned Cambodia that improved ties with Germany and the E.U. came with preconditions — a gentle reminder of the Kingdom’s terrible human rights record, adding that bilateral relations must revolve around humanitarian assistance. Hun Sen is pushing to expand cooperation with Berlin, particularly in investment and trade.
Veteran Clout
The Candlelight Party named Rong Chhun, the firebrand union leader, as one of six vice presidents. The appointment gives the opposition group some much-needed charisma as it prepares for July’s national polls. The party has yet to decide on its prime minister candidate.
Prison ‘Hell’
“Hell on Earth” is how one former detainee described Prey Speu Social Affairs Center, the notorious Phnom Penh facility linked to numerous reports of death and abuse. The Ministry of Social Affairs agreed to shut the center, reversing a decision made in January after reports surfaced of at least 10 detainee deaths over a two-month period in the summer.
Online Abuse
The government said it was “powerless” to intervene in a case of online harassment of a female journalist, calling the conflict an “individual” matter. A coalition of 40 NGOs had urged the Ministry of Information to reprimand a popular online personality who made derogatory comments about the author of a controversial article about donations to Turkey.
High Tide
The future looks increasingly bleak for Stung Treng fish catchers. Illegal fishing practices and Mekong River dams have pushed seasonal catches to all-time lows and made the business of fishing unprofitable. Plans to turn anglers into fish farmers have largely failed, and even the government is now wary of further involvement.
Show Time
Karmalink, the Kingdom’s first sci-fi movie, opens today in Phnom Penh. Set in Cambodia of tomorrow, the film entwines futuristic technologies — like neuroscience, artificial intelligence and augmented reality — with age-old Buddhist beliefs — like karma and reincarnation — to tell the story of 13-year-old Leng Heng, who’s family is facing eviction. The film was co-produced by Sok Visal, the talent behind 391 Films, and shot entirely in Cambodia with local cast and crew.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Thai Fugitive Was With Minister, Official Says
February 15, 2002
A Cambodian government official said he saw Thai fugitive Duangchalerm Yubamrung in co-Minister of Defense Tea Banh’s Phnom Penh house about a month and a half ago.
Trial of Alleged Terrorists Set for Next Week
February 11, 2002
Testimony will begin Feb 18 at Phnom Penh Municipal Court in a trial for 20 suspected members of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, most of whom were arrested almost a full year after the failed coup on Nov 24, 2000, that left at least four people dead.
KR Suspects’ Lawyers Say Duch, Ta Mok Deserve Bail
February 11, 2002
Although the lawyers for the only two Khmer Rouge leaders now in detention had differing opinions on the UN’s decision to pull out of the Khmer Rouge tribunals, they agreed their clients should be released on bail within the next three months in accordance with the law.
WEEKEND READING
Cambodia’s Triumph and Tragedy: The UN’s Greatest Experiment 30 years on
In 1991 Cambodia was a mess. Cambodia had spent centuries being stripped by a kleptocratic and Byzantine monarchy and then treated as an appendage to Vietnam by a disinterested French colonial system. But what little there was in 1970 was comprehensively destroyed over the next two decades. Nixon’s bombers, internal coups and power struggles, the genocidal insanity of the Khmer Rouge, and a Vietnamese occupation, all in the midst of continuous civil war, flattened the country.
No support for Cambodia’s former child soldiers
Cambodia’s former child soldiers continue living with trauma, resentment, and revenge as the lack of social support forced most of them into isolation and deep poverty.
Pig Butchering Scams Are Evolving Fast
Investment schemes are ensnaring victims with increasingly compelling narratives and believable tech.
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