Wildlife Sightings, Privacy Concerns, Pandemic Fears
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, July 2, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
AWESOME ANIMALS: It wasn’t just the pet lion that turned up in a Phnom Penh mansion: Cameras discovered a muntjac, rare pangolins, golden cats and more
GLOBAL BACKLASH: The U.N. tried criticism with tact, asking the government if it might possibly allow activists to campaign without threats and violence
CONTRABAND TIMBER: Nine Mondulkiri schemers — all police and soldiers — fell hard over an alleged conspiracy to export illegal logs to Vietnam
THE LEDE
Wild Virachey
Camera traps in Virachey National Park captured their first images of a critically endangered large-antlered muntjac, a little-known deer species discovered in Vietnam in 1994. The muntjac had never before been documented in Cambodia.
The cameras had other cool finds: highly threatened Sunda pangolins, red-shanked douc langurs, as well as endangered elephants, golden cats and wild dogs. The sightings cement Virachey as one of Asia’s last great unexplored rainforests.
Yet the future of Virachey is anything but certain. The park has long suffered from poaching and illegal logging, and experts say it is in dire need of better protection.
In the Lion’s Den
Police on Sunday raided a plush BKK villa, seized an 18-month-old African lion named Hei Man and fined its owner $30,000 for keeping the exotic pet. The situation was discovered in a viral TikTok video.
Wildlife experts said the lion’s fangs and claws had been tragically removed. The owner, Chinese national Zhai Xinjiang, pushed back, saying he loved Hei Man, spent a fortune caring for him, and was hurt by accusations of mistreatment.
Questions remain: How much did Zhai Xinjiang pay to get a lion cub through customs? Who took his money? (And do the Kingdom’s finest really sit around watching TikTok?)
Autistic Teen Jailed
No insult is too small to escape the wrath of the CPP.
Authorities last week jailed a 16-year-old autistic boy for incitement and insulting government officials, charges prompted by comments the boy made in private Telegram messages.
His arrest ignited fresh outrage from activists, some of whom questioned how closely the government monitors personal conversations and how far it will go to silence critics.
Police had already detained the boy in October for entering an abandoned CNRP office. In April, two assailants fractured his skull with a brick.
The context is unsettling: The boy’s father, former CNRP member Kak Komphear, has been in jail since June 2020, also on incitement charges. His mother is an active member of “Friday Wives,” a group crusading against their husbands’ imprisonment.
TALKING POINTS
Clampdown ‘Crisis’
The U.N. on Wednesday called the detention of environmental activists a “crisis” and politely asked the government to allow human rights groups and civil society organizations to operate without fear and intimidation.
#FreeActivists
Supporters of the embattled environmental group Mother Nature have taken to social media to call for the unconditional release of its jailed activists — and all prisoners of conscience.
Military Blues
The U.S. blamed Cambodia for ending a program that sends Khmer students to U.S. military academies. "Following Cambodia's curtailment of cooperation in several areas of traditional bilateral military-military engagement, the country lost its eligibility for the U.S. military service academy program," the U.S. embassy said.
Digital Privacy
Rights groups worry about the government’s increasing scrutiny of online speech, and a growing number of people fear speaking openly, online or off.
Campaign 2022
A dispirited opposition surveyed the political landscape and reported few reasons for optimism.
Trapped in Debt
The average microfinance loan in Cambodia is $4,820, the highest in the world. Predatory lending and other unethical practices pervade the industry, a report found.
Logging Plot Axed
A Mondulkiri court charged six soldiers and three police officials for their alleged role in a conspiracy to export unlicensed timber to Vietnam. As for the 211 tons of illicit Cambodian timber seized two months ago in Hong Kong, still no word.
Covid-19 Watch
The situation is ugly: Daily infections reached 1,130, a new high, as did daily deaths at 27. On the upside, more than 3 million people — nearly 20 percent of the population — have been fully vaccinated.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
US Delegate Horrified by Hotel Bombings
July 6, 2001
After Wednesday’s deadly explosions at two hotels on Monivong Boulevard, Sara Khun is back where her family was 20 years ago: Worrying about how soon she can leave Cambodia for the safety of the US.
City’s First Sex Shop Doesn’t Last
July 4, 2001
Sometimes, authorities believe, size really does matter. That, at least, was the explanation of Phnom Penh authorities who Tuesday raided Cambodia’s first and only sex shop, confiscating four boxes of sex toys and shutting the store down.
Opposition Commune Candidate Shot Dead
July 2, 2001
A popular Sam Rainsy Party activist who reported threats made against him to three human rights groups was shot dead near his Kompong Speu home Saturday night, officials confirmed Sunday.
WEEKEND READING
Carving up the Cardamoms: Conservationists fear massive land grab in Cambodia
Conservationists have expressed concern over a recently published regulation that makes nearly 127,000 hectares (313,800 acres) of previously protected land potentially available for sale or rent to politically connected businesses.
What are the impacts of dams on the Mekong river?
The Mekong river feeds jungles, irrigates crops for tens of millions of people, and supports the Tonle Sap lake – the most productive inland fishery on the planet
A Cambodian village ripped apart by a bad batch of rice wine
In rural Cambodia, dozens of people have died in recent months after drinking toxic home-brewed alcohol. In the village of Thnong in Kampot province, a bad batch consumed at a funeral left tragedy in its wake.
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