U.N. Blasts Media Charter, Banks Back Riel Over Dollar, Union Leader Soldiers On
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, September 20, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
CASH FLOW: The Funan Techo Canal, the $1.7 billion waterway from Phnom Penh to the coast, is meant to open in six years. But the numbers are in question: A plan for a shorter Thai canal would’ve cost $28 billion and taken 10 years to build.
FIGHT ON: Chhim Sithar, the union leader facing off with the NagaWorld mega casino, was released after two years in prison for organizing walkouts and public protests. Among her first words: A promise to keep fighting.
GUZZLE UP: The Kingdom’s beer wars are putting the public at risk and health experts want brewers to tone down their advertising as road accidents skyrocket. Cambodia spends some $2.3 billion each year on beer.
THE LEDE
Wise Counsel
The Kingdom’s two most powerful men were conspicuously silent during the rush to defend Ly Yong Phat, the senator and CPP shot caller sanctioned last week for his alleged role in the country’s industrial-scale cyber scam mills.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Senate, the CPP — even the prime minister’s typically quiet brother, Hun Many — slammed the U.S. penalties, while the Strongman and Prime Minister Hun Manet haven’t said a word in public.
The reticence is likely an acknowledgment of Washington’s role in the country’s economic success. The U.S. buys more Cambodian exports than any other country — and while sanctions are bad, a nasty war of words would only make the situation worse.
Strike Two
Back to the picket line. That’s where NagaWord’s union boss is headed after finishing a two-year prison sentence for incitement.
Chhim Sithar’s return is expected to put the media spotlight back on the Kingdom’s woeful labor rights record, exactly where the government doesn’t want it. Officials are under heavy pressure to ease up on persistent abuses, with international brands — including Adidas, The Gap and Levi Strauss — pressing authorities to drop a controversial investigation into the country’s top labor watchdog.
A misstep could threaten the fragile recovery underway in the garment sector, which has recorded healthy growth this year, following 18 months of declines.
White Out
Cambodia blasted a U.N. request to suspend the newly implemented press charter, which regulates the press, the media and nearly all digital content creators.
Government officials slammed the request as contemptuous, misleading and prejudiced, while accusing the experts behind the appeal of interfering in the country's domestic affairs. Cambodia applauded the charter, which went into effect last month, as a "legal milestone to protect journalists and build public trust in the media."
A professional media code, said the U.N. experts, should be created by the media itself, not by the government, and any oversight should be free of official interference.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Cambodia a dismal 151 out of 180 countries.
TALKING POINTS
Flow Chart
Wildly optimistic — that’s how a growing number of analysts are describing plans for the Funan Techo Canal, which is scheduled for completion by 2030 at a cost $1.7 billion. By comparison, a much shorter canal in Thailand was estimated to need 10 years to complete, with a price tag more than 16 times that of the FTC.
Fault Lines
It’s tough times for the banking industry. A record number of bad loans have forced Acleda and two smaller banks, LOLC and Hattha, to miss debt payments to their institutional lenders. The situation, said S&P Global, is not expected to affect the long-term health of the banks.
Double Down
Cambodia is barreling ahead with efforts to promote the riel. Every bank customer with a U.S. dollar account will receive a free riel account, the NBC said, while QR codes, which are now currency specific, will handle transactions in both denominations. In addition to promoting the national currency, the move will help ease cross-border payments, the bank said.
Floor Shift
The National Minimum Wage Council announced a $4 increase for 2025 base pay, raising the monthly minimum wage to $208. Workers roundly criticized the deal, saying it failed to cover surging inflation or the rising costs of living.
Over Served
The Kingdom’s low-end beer wars are putting profits above public health, say experts, who are urging the government to rein in brewers and their boozy marketing campaigns. Cambodia, one of the few countries without a minimum drinking age, spends an estimated $2.3 billion annually on beer. Authorities appear unlikely to take action.
Fortune Wheel
A mysterious import company known only as FIRM 614 stands to make a killing on proposed reforms to the Kingdom’s billion-dollar gambling industry. The new legislation, still in draft form, requires casinos to register gaming machines with national regulators and replace equipment over 10 years old. The rules are expected to spark a flurry of imports — and a windfall for the country’s sole licensed importer.
Green Day
The capital’s greatest urban park will be open to the public Saturday as the French Embassy celebrates European Heritage Day. The diplomatic complex features nearly five hectares of lush forests and gardens, including the passageway made famous in Francois Bizot’s 2001 memoir “The Gate,” about the fall of Phnom Penh.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
PM Continues Verbal Assault On Foreigners
September 17, 2004
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday reiterated his reproach of his critics and the UN, a day after lambasting them at the ceremony admitting him to the Cambodian Bar Association.
CFF Suspects Cite Torture At Court Trial
September 16, 2004
Five men accused of belonging to the US-based Cambodian Freedom Fighters and plotting anti-government uprisings in Pailin were tried at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday, in a case with little material evidence and no witnesses.
Hungry Thieves Eat Security System
September 14, 2004
Two men are in Kompong Chhnang provincial police custody on charges of attempted robbery after eating their neighbor’s canine security system, officials said Monday.
WEEKEND READING
Before the flood: Dam project leaves Cambodians with an uncertain future
The government plans to build Lower Srepok 3 hydropower dam in protected areas, but thousands are in the dark about compensation for land, houses
Photos: Protests, courtesy IUF. Gambling, antjeverena, Flickr.
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