Sou Sdei and welcome to Campuccino, your fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia with a dash of opinion.
To new subscribers, welcome! I’m Darathtey, a communication consultant, newsletter writer, and researcher.
I would like to share with you some exciting personal news. The book that I had worked on for almost two years finally went on pre-sale! It is called Youth Culture and the Music Industry in Contemporary Cambodia: Questioning Tradition. Despite being published by Routledge, I tried my best to maintain my casual writing voice and stay away from being too academic (because I ain’t one!). So, if this topic is of any interest to you, please check it out. I would be very appreciative of your support. For my lovely subscribers living in Cambodia and wanting to get the book, I suggest you wait until the electronic version is made available to avoid shipping headaches.
On another note, I have recently met with a few subscribers, both travelling through and living in Phnom Penh. I can’t tell you how very flattered and grateful I am that you love and read the newsletter. Every time I receive these kind words, I couldn’t help thinking of all the journalists whose works I heavily rely on to produce this newsletter. You have my gratitude, respect, and admiration. Thank you!
- Darathtey
In this issue: election, microfinance, same-sex marriage, illegal logging, and more.
Alright, the election is coming up. Who’s excited?
I spent some time playing around with the Kamnotra database under the Ballot 23 tab, which is fascinating. This is where you can see all the parties standing for this year’s national election. The fascinating part is the interactive data showing seats in all provinces of past elections going back since 1993. Clicking on each year, you can start to notice the changing trend as the map becomes less colourful.
Speaking of the election, the PM shared a very interesting response to what happened to Pita in Thailand. I wasn’t sure if what he implied was really the case but Pita had my sympathy.
https://twitter.com/noansereiboth/status/1679463694227640320
In the meantime, people need to be careful when speaking about election boycotting or spoiling the ballot because the NEC may take legal action against you for doing so. This is a gentle reminder from your fellow Cambodian.
If you need a good summary of the overall atmosphere surrounding the upcoming election and succession plan, watch this documentary by Channel News Asia.
Microfinance, yes, we are talking about it again because I cannot shake it off every time I see one of those easy loan advertisements in the public domain. This time around we are looking at some potential solutions. In his writing for the Diplomat, David Hutt suggests that there should be an intervention from the government with a lead from the National Bank of Cambodia for competency reasons. Hutt also provides a concept of reconciliation among lenders for past malpractice which I find very intriguing. If you want to better understand his recommendations, please read the full article.
On the same topic, Samnang Lor from Future Forum also wrote an opinion piece offering his take on personal bankruptcy law and stronger consumer protection mechanisms. (Subscribers from Cambodia need VPN to access this article).
Now, I do not talk about LGBTQI+ a lot because I am still trying to educate myself around the topic and do not want to make uneducated comments. However, this news is worth mentioning because it is about basic human rights which should always be equal no matter who you choose to love. It is easy to assume that Cambodia has made good progress in understanding and recognising the needs and rights of the LGBTQI+ communities, but this was proven otherwise when the PM announced that there was no need for same-sex marriage legalisation based on the rise in HIV cases, most of which involve gay men. I am aware that this thing takes time but the argument to support this dismissal wasn’t it. If anything, this is straight-out discrimination because let’s be honest, people are having sex anyway whether they are legally married or not, and gay people don’t have a monopoly on HIV. 🤦🏽♀️
A quick update from the last issue about the Cambodian troops on the Vietnam border is that they have now been withdrawn and no drones were shot down in this process.
This next item has me thinking of Oprah’s famous line. It goes something like this: “You get an Oknha title, you get an Oknha title, and you get an Oknha title, everybody gets an Oknha title.” Yep, recently, it seems like this notorious and honorific title was being given out like hotcakes to many people. I remember when this title used to appear somewhat cool and hold a certain weight to it, but recently it seems that there are just way too many. How many is too many? You may ask. Well, check out this data of Oknha titles given and some context here.
Visually Pleasing
Arts & Culture
🎨 One of my absolute favourite events is making a comeback. I’m very excited! Phsar Art is an annual art market aimed to promote local creators. Despite calling itself an annual event, the last one was in 2018, I guess due to the pandemic. This year, Phsar Art will be held in Phnom Penh at the Ground Market on the 29th and 30th of July. I can’t wait to get my hands on some more cool art!
🎶 Touch Me Not is a newly released single from Dengue Fever, a Cambodian pop and psychedelic rock band based in the US. I find the song very neat and somewhat nostalgic. The music video also provides a very interesting juxtaposition because on the one hand, you have these new and old Cambodian sounds, and on the other hand, you have this image of the American desert. Pretty cool.
📖 The power couple of Cambodian street art – Lisa Mam and Peap Tar – is releasing a new book called When Dragon Meets Snake. The book documented their vibrant world through stunning behind-the-scenes photographs of their work in Phnom Penh and abroad.
Worth Reading
If you get to read one thing today, I suggest it is this investigative report – Forests in the furnace: Cambodia’s garment sector is fueled by illegal logging – by Gerald Flynn and Andy Ball. I must say I was dumbstruck after reading this because it never occurred to me to connect the dots between the garment industry and illegal logging. This article provided a very comprehensive outlook of this connection through various lenses from communities, to middlemen, to factories. Check it out!
Campuccino is a fortnightly dispatch of key headlines in Cambodia, written by @DarathteyDin.
I’d love to hear from you. If you have feedback or content ideas, please write to me at hello@darathteydin.com