🇰🇭 Arrests mar Hun Manet's anniversary

Hello friends!

Thailand has taken up a lot of space in this newsletter in recent weeks (months!), but Cambodia rarely takes a break. It’s a year of Hun Manet so today we’ll check how that’s going. Spoiler: not great if you like freedoms.

We’re overdue for a Myanmar update, especially a deep look at some brilliant and harrowing reporting from the BBC on Rakhine State, so we’ll have a stand-alone for that on Friday. 

See you then,

Erin Cook

🇰🇭 Hun Manet gives himself an A on first year, others say ‘improvement needed’

This month marks a year since Prime Minister Hun Manet took office, succeeding his father after decades. Hun Sen, of course, hasn’t receded away from the limelight, rather is currently president of the Senate and remains the top boss in all but name. 

The government has ‘trumpeted’ its first year, CamboJA reports here. Government spokesperson Pen Bona and Minister Delegate Jean Francois Taing lauded a string of initiatives, including the ground-breaking of the highly controversial Funan Techo Canal and reforms to agriculture, healthcare and education. It’s not quite as good as it all sounds, say a range of Cambodians. Farmers say water issues continue unabated, and free speech (or even just a loosening) advocates have fallen on deaf ears. 

More than 20 activists were arrested over the weekend by local authorities in the lead-up to a protest against the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Areas (CLV-DTA), CamboJA reports here. Outstanding reporting from the outlet shows how widespread and targeted the arrests were — particularly of young people taking part in the Youth Resource Development Program, a forum not linked to the protests itself. (An interesting line in this report has National Police spokesperson Chhay Khim Khoeun declining to comment to the outlet, instead directing CamboJA reporters to Fresh News, the heavily-government connected outlet, for a statement.) 

“[Looking] at the activities of this small group, they have carefully prepared dangerous devices and provocative messages [to be used] when they clashed with the authorities. This isn’t a demonstration, it’s a planned riot [but called] demonstration to turn it into a revolution to overthrow the government,” Interior Ministry spokesperson Touch Sokhak told CamboJA. 

The CLV isn’t itself a new development. It was first floated in 1999 and formalised 20 years ago. So why now? RFA has a handy explainer here that delves into the broader story. A video posted to Facebook last month criticised the plan — fears over seceding sovereignty appears to be the crux — really wound up Hun Sen and led to the arrest of three activists. The Cambodian diaspora reacted in kind, hosting protests across the world. 

Hun Manet has raised the spectre of Bangladesh, saying he doesn’t want to see in Phnom Penh what the world has seen in Dhaka. What, a people’s movement ousting a terribly unpopular prime minister? Can’t imagine why! Thank you so much to RFA, this piece really is an excellent one. 

Worryingly, two of those arrested in the recent sweeps, Huy Sopheak, a councillor with the opposition Candlelight, and San Phanith, are facing charges of attempting to overthrow the government. “The group's ultimate goal is to overthrow the legitimate government. Foreign incitement is intense, but our people must not be misled. Do not cross the red line by attempting to overthrow the government, as the illegal rebels have urged recently,” Hun Sen said more broadly of the various groups taking part. 

Elsewhere, the family of Cambodian academic Hay Vannith say they lost contact with the 28-year-old earlier this month after he was arrested at the border crossing between Thailand and Cambodia in Poi Pet. Thailand-based human rights group Manushya Foundation also reported the arrest. 

Hay Vannith is not a political agitator and “a scholar, public servant and a professor at National Institute of Public Health,” brother Hay Vanna told the VOA. Vanna is based in Japan where he heads the local chapter of the Cambodia National Rescue Movement. His work has previously gotten the attention of Hun Sen, who last month said: 

“After posting a message on my social media, this person by the name of Hay Vanna who lives in Japan, commented on the so-called ceasing of the four Cambodian provinces to others. I didn’t respond. Instead, I blocked him right away. But you shouldn’t be confused that you have family members here in Cambodia. And they, who are living here, must not be arrogant. After hearing his message ... You must stop, or else.”

Depending on the perspective, this is either a good distraction or a bad distraction from the start of construction on the Funan Techo Canal. The project is an environmental and financial issue, but it also butts heads dramatically with Vietnam. Hanoi has questioned the need of the canal and how it will impact Vietnam’s own access to the Mekong downstream — questions which have been largely ignored.  

Thailand isn’t too worried. Brand new Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is looking forward to deepening ties with the Huns (she has a lot in common with Hun Manet, that’s for sure), she said in a statement on Monday. “Sincere appreciation to Mr Hun Manet and Mr Hun Sen for the first congratulatory messages from foreign leaders on my appointment as PM of Thailand,” Paetongtarn wrote on Twitter, as quoted by Khmer Times.