World Bank Investigates Microlenders, Hun Sen Heads to Washington, Tourist Number Surge
Good morning, Cambodia. It's Friday, May 6, and this is your Weekly Dispatch.
BIDEN BECKONS: Hun Sen meets President Joe Biden in Washington next week at the U.S.-ASEAN summit. Critics fear the détente could confer the global legitimacy the Strongman craves.
CREDIT CHECK: Cambodians shocking micro-debt bubble is being investigated by World Bank watchdogs. Industry denials haven’t convinced regulators: Microfinance is under the microscope.
HOG DEER: A herd of hog deer, long thought extinct in Cambodia, was found thriving in Kratie province. Why the name? The species ducks under forest obstacles, rather than leaping over them.
THE LEDE
Money Talks
Democracy and human rights are expected to take a back seat when Prime Minister Hun Sen meets President Joe Biden in Washington next week at the U.S.–Asean summit.
Experts say the U.S. has little leverage, or desire, to push for improved governance. The prime minister this week met with a murderers’ row of corporate America — Amazon, Meta, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Ford, Visa — a clear indication of Washington’s priorities.
Critics worry the event will grant Hun Sen some international legitimacy despite a thuggish, years-long clampdown on civil society.
Loan Sharks
Cambodia’s $14-billion microfinance sector faces unprecedented scrutiny from World Bank watchdogs, who are reviewing charges of industry-wide human-rights abuses.
Two local rights groups accuse the International Finance Corp. — the World Bank’s private-lending arm — of failing to duly research its Cambodian banking partners or monitor their lending practices, leading to coerced land sales, debt-driven migration, child labor and other abuses.
Regulators have 120 days to review the complaint and devise a resolution strategy. Their decision could come as early as July, but resolving specific violations could take years.
Ink Stains
World Press Freedom Day on May 3 unfolded like a scene from Bizarro World.
The information minister told journalists it was okay to accept money from sources. The prime minister spoke of his government’s commitment to unfettered media. Hun Manet, the prime minister’s eldest son and heir apparent, went further, saying “Cambodia has a pluralistic government that respects freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”
Experts say none of that is remotely true and claim that journalists working in Cambodia do so under persistent fears of police surveillance, intimidation, arbitrary detention and imprisonment. Reporters Without Borders ranks the Kingdom 142 out of 180 countries — a dismal grade that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.
TALKING POINTS
Face Off
If you don’t want legal problems, don’t break the law — that’s the CPP’s advice to the Candlelight Party, which has filed nearly 40 petitions seeking judicial relief for its candidates ahead of the June 5 village elections. The Candlelighters allege harassment, intimidation and unlawful arrests. A government spokesperson said the petitions threatened the court’s independence.
Court Stalls
A Phnom Penh judge postponed Kem Sokha’s treason trial for yet another week, dousing any hope of the former opposition president campaigning in local elections next month. Analysts suspect stalling until after June 5 was the government’s plan all along. The delay was granted at the request of the prosecuting attorney, who said he had personal obligations.
Hun Neng R.I.P.
Hun Sen’s brother, Hun Neng, a long-serving CPP stalwart and former provincial governor died Thursday of heart disease. He was 72. A party insider by blood, Hun Neng was a member of the CPP standing committee and a National Assembly member for Kampong Cham, his home province. His career was not without controversy: Hun Neng was linked to Vietnamese logging cartels operating in the Prey Lang protected forest, and his children were believed to be deeply enmeshed in the illegal timber trade.
Angkor Aweigh
International tourist arrivals in the first quarter surged 125%, spurring optimism that the Kingdom’s pandemic-walloped tourism sector is on the mend. Nearly 160,000 travelers visited between January and March, led by Vietnam, Thailand and China. As air traffic returns and land borders reopen, those numbers are sure to increase.
Memory Lane
The Raffles Hotel Le Royal is hosting an untitled exhibit of 30 photographs commemorating UNTAC, the global peacekeeping mission that arrived in the Kingdom 30 years ago. Across town, the Bophana Center is showing “Tonle Sap: Heart of the Mekong,” a photo exhibit by Suthep Kritsanavarin, an acclaimed Thai photojournalist who documented 20 years of life on the Great Lake.
Hog Deer
Wildlife researchers discovered a herd of around 70 endangered hog deer in Kratie province, including many fawns, which indicates healthy reproduction. The hog deer was long believed extinct in Cambodia until its rediscovery in 2016.
Bad Look
The director of the Siem Reap Anti-Drug Bureau and his assistant were busted for possession of illegal narcotics and accused of conspiring with drug traffickers. They face years in prison if convicted.
Compound Raid
Another week, another online phone-scam raid. Military police removed more than 200 Vietnamese citizens from a tightly secured compound in Sihanoukville. Authorities said they were detaining undocumented workers. Social media posts from inside the compound told a different story: workers tricked into coming, held against their will and needing the Vietnamese embassy's help to escape. No arrests were made — save for a local reporter detained for filming the operation.
BACKPAGES: From The Cambodia Daily Vault
Pair of Cremators Accused of Cannibalism
May 6, 2002
Two Banteay Meanchey cremators were scheduled to appear today in provincial court where they could face charges stemming from an incident in which they allegedly ate the body of a man they were supposed to cremate, authorities said Sunday.
Young Artist Injects Fresh Ideas into Khmer Tradition
May 4, 2002
Hanging on the walls of Java Gallery this month are several brightly-colored ‘Yoan’—squares of fabric that hang in Cambodian homes to protect the inhabitants from bad spirits.
Gov’t Strikes Deal to Accept Cambodians Convicted in US
May 3, 2002
The Cambodian government has agreed to accept into the country convicted felons who have Cambodian citizenship but were living in the US at the time they committed their crimes, the Minister of Interior announced Thursday.
‘Gary Glitter’ Misses Passport Rendezvous
May 1, 2002
Convicted British sex offender Paul Francis Gadd failed to appear at a scheduled meeting Tuesday with municipal foreign police Chief Pol Pithey.
WEEKEND READS
Land loss and debt: thetom line for misleading microloans
Protected indigenous property and forests have become illegal collateral for Cambodian microlenders as institutional investors remain misinformed
‘From fighting for their husbands to justice for all’: how Cambodia’s ‘Friday wives’ became pioneers for change
After years facing arrest and violence as they fought for their loved ones, a group of women became a rare voice of defiance
Photo: UNTAC, via Flickr.