Cambodian NGOs under the gun
PHNOM PENH – These are tough times for Cambodia’s embattled non-governmental organizations (NGOs). As the government gears up to pass controversial legislation regulating the country’s estimated 2,000 civil society groups, it has drawn strong criticism for a coordinated crackdown on land rights groups working on a foreign donor-funded railway renovation project.
Split personalities revealed in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH – As part of its ongoing release of leaked United States diplomatic cables, the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks this month released its small cache of Cambodia-related dispatches. The 777 cables from the US Embassy in Phnom Penh – an eagerly awaited bounty for Cambodia-watchers and local analysts – span the period from 1992 to...
Potemkin graft crackdown in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH – ON the morning of May 12, Cambodia’s local newspapers ran photos of a bedraggled figure being escorted from a small courthouse. The man, who wore a crumpled green shirt and clutched a water bottle as he leant on the shoulder of a security guard, was Top Chan Sereyvuth, a former prosecutor at...
REVIEW: ‘Cambodia’s Curse’, by Joel Brinkley
In June 2010, diplomats and donors converged on a conference hall in Cambodia’s capital for a meeting with senior government officials. Seated in rows with headphones beaming in live translations, donor representatives listened to key ministers speak about the country’s progress on a series of agreed to good governance reforms.
Hun Sen’s war calculations
PHNOM PENH—Fighting along the Thai-Cambodian border continued over the weekend after two agreed ceasefires broke down last week. At least 17 people have been killed and 50,000 evacuated on both sides of the border since the latest round of armed skirmishes and diplomatic salvos commenced on April 22. Some analysts now wonder whether the sustained...
Thailand’s domestic politics drives Cambodian border clash
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia–Since the morning of April 22, Thai and Cambodian troops have waged a series of heated firefights along sections of their shared border. The two sides have now traded artillery and small-arms fire for a week, leaving at least 13 soldiers dead on both sides and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands...
Like father, like son in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH–ON May 29, 1999, Hun Manet, the eldest son of Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, mounted the dais at the United States Military Academy at West Point to collect his diploma from General Dennis J Reimer, the US Army’s former chief of staff. Clad in a traditional grey jacket and red sash, then 21-year-old...
Border spat set to drag on
YESTERDAY, Thai media reported that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and nationalist Yellow Shirt leaders had reached a “common position” on the 4.6-square kilometre disputed area adjacent to Preah Vihear temple. In a televised debate with the so-called Thai Patriots Network, a fringe group dominated by the yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for Democracy, Abhisit agreed that the...
PM slams critics over revenues
PRIME Minister Hun Sen lashed out at critics of the government’s handling of extractive-resource revenues on Wednesday, branding them “thieves” and saying that tensions between Cambodia and international watchdog Global Witness stem from a “sexual scandal” involving the group’s staff. Speaking at the opening of a two-day mining conference in the capital Wednesday, Hun Sen...
An icon fades in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH – BY uprooting six wooden border markers last October along the Vietnamese border, Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy again cast himself in the familiar role of a thorn in the flesh of authority. Earlier this year, a court sentenced Rainsy to two years in prison in absentia for uprooting the posts. He now...
China’s soft power hardens in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH – A DAY after Cambodian authorities spirited 20 ethnic Uighur asylum seekers out of the country on an unmarked charter flight, China’s Vice President Xi Jinping touched down at Siem Reap International Airport. During his three-day visit in late December, the Chinese leader signed an unprecedented US$1.2 billion in economic aid agreements with...
Charting an uncertain path
After a tumultuous year, the Sam Rainsy Party finds itself at a crossroads, but observers are divided on its future prospects in a shifting political climate.
