The Strongman Celebrates 72, Angkor Evictions Under Fire, Ream Set for Chinese Subs
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, August 2, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
TOP TOAST: The era of the Funan Techo Canal starts Monday, which is both the official groundbreaking ceremony and the Strongman’s 72nd birthday. The government has given the Kingdom the day off.
BAD BOYS: Expect more roadblocks across Phnom Penh as the police intensify their campaign against street crime, specifically wild-driving youth gangs. Motorcycles may be impounded for up to six months.
REAL TIME: Demonic monkeys. Stolen idols. Endless runners. The mobile game Temple Run has visitors to Angkor Wat sharing real-life temple runs on TikTok — and tourism officials are eager to cash in on the clicks.
THE LEDE
Radio Silence
Is the Kingdom of Wonder ghosting UNESCO?
Cambodia has yet to acknowledge a July 24 request from the World Heritage Committee to inspect the Angkor Wat temple complex, where authorities stand accused of forcibly evicting more than 40,000 residents since 2022.
Pro-government media have been silent, a sign authorities are reluctant for scrutiny. The government may hate submitting to an outside review — particularly since it was UNESCO experts who pushed for relocations in the first place — but it may not have much choice.
Denying the request could jeopardize Angkor’s place on the World Heritage List, an outcome the government would hate even more.
Mr. Rights
Meet Vitit Muntarbhorn, the Oxford-educated Thai national who was knighted by Britain and serves as the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia. After a six-day visit, he found a lot: Too many political arrests, too few civic spaces and elections that were “far from being free and fair.”
He’s not the only one. Since the U.N. arrived in 1992, the Kingdom has received a parade of rights envoys and mountains of damning reports. And the CPP’s crackdown on activism, dissent and free speech is no secret.
The question of human rights in Cambodia isn’t in these reports — it’s who is even listening?
Prime Time
Cambodia on Monday will throw the biggest birthday bash in the Kingdom’s history.
The government declared Aug. 5 a national holiday, and more than 10,000 people are expected to descend on Kean Svay district to celebrate the controversial Funan Techo Canal, which breaks ground on The Strongman’s 72nd birthday.
Not everyone is celebrating. Thousands of residents along the canal’s path remain in the dark over their futures and live in fear of sudden eviction. The government’s track record on relocations is dismal, and history suggests it will need to show new levels of organization to keep the $1.7 billion project from spiraling into a human rights debacle.
TALKING POINTS
Ocean View
A new wharf and drydock at Ream Naval Base appear custom built for the Chinese navy’s fleet of corvettes and submarines. The facilities look nearly identical to China’s submarine base in Qingdao, according to a U.S. defense expert, and conveniently give its military a base within striking distance of the strategic Malacca Strait.
Final Mission
The bodies of two military pilots were found along with the wreckage of their helicopter deep in the Cardamom Mountains. The pilots were located following a weekslong search that captivated the nation after their chopper went missing in bad weather.
Legal Squeeze
Opposition parties can’t catch a break. The Phnom Penh Court seized three plots of land owned by Candlelight President Teav Vannol as collateral for the $1.5 million it fined him last week for defamation. Elsewhere, a Candlelighter in Svay Rieng was arrested for wearing a camouflage jacket and charged with impersonating an official, while four local opposition officials in Kampong Speu were jailed on similarly flimsy charges.
Trend Watch
Angkor Wat is having a TikTok moment. Inspired by the hit game Temple Run, TikTokers are running like real-life main characters through the ruins — and racking up tons of views. Officials hope the exposure will help boost the Kingdom’s struggling tourism industry.
Supply Side
A stack of new corporate responsibility laws passed in the West could upend the local garment sector. The new measures — more than 60 across the U.S., E.U. and U.K. — are designed to improve environmental sustainability and labor rights in the fashion industry, with harsh penalties for violators.
Dirty Pool
A well-organized smear campaign attacking foreign media is likely run by the ruling party. A small army of suspected CPP sockpuppets routinely spout pro-government disinformation and viciously criticize the Facebook posts of RFA Khmer, VOD Khmer and The Cambodia Daily Khmer.
Road Rage
Frustrated authorities are throwing up new roadblocks for the capital’s roving gangs of wild-driving youth. The prime minister ordered police to confiscate motorcycles for up to six months, as officials employ ever harsher penalties to slow the growing menace of petty gangsterism. Critics called the measures short-sighted, complaining that a monthslong clampdown on delinquency has had little effect.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
King Won’t Return Unless He Abdicates
July 29, 2004
Repeating his desire to abdicate, King Norodom Sihanouk said he will never return to Cambodia unless he can give up the throne.
King: Cambodian Democracy Is in Trouble
July 28, 2004
The state of democracy in Cambodia remains troubled, King Norodom Sihanouk said Tuesday on the anniversary of last year’s July 27 national election, the same day that the CPP and Funcinpec announced the Sam Rainsy Party would be excluded from all National Assembly commissions, virtually stripping it of power within the parliament.
Opposition ‘Confessions’ Right on Cue
July 27, 2004
Another Sam Rainsy Party activist claiming to represent defecting members of the party’s so-called illegal militant branch appeared at the state-controlled TVK studio Monday morning to give a confession prompted by off-camera handlers.
WEEKEND READING
Cambodia’s largest mangrove forest is ‘teeming with life,’ biodiversity survey finds
A study of Cambodia’s Pream Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary and Koh Kapik Ramsar identified more than 700 unique species. While the survey recorded rare species including otters and pangolin, a decade ago there would have been tigers and dugongs in the area.
Photos: UNTAC, UN Photo/Pernaca Sudhakaran. Angkor Wat, Norbert Braun, Unsplash.
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