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Prayers and congratulations poured in for King Norodom Sihamoni on Saturday as he completed 18 years of his reign, which has brought peace and harmony to the Kingdom. Born on May 14, 1953, King Norodom Sihamoni ascended the throne on October 29, 2004, a week after his father King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated. The 69-year-old King is the eldest son of the late King Father Sihanouk and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk. He was serving as Cambodia’s Ambassador to UNESCO, while a nine-member throne council elected him to become the next king. Wishing him on the 18th anniversary of his coronation on Saturday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said, “King Norodom Sihamoni is the most revered King and we, the Cambodian people, see him as a symbol of national unity and a guardian angel.” The Prime Minister wished him full health, strength, vigour, enlightenment and a long-life span of more than a hundred years, to reign as King. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501177016/nation-marks-18-royal-years-of-king-norodom-sihamoni/

In its inaugural toll-free month, the Phnom Penh-Sihanouk Expressway received about 20,000 vehicles daily and no shortage of growing pains, with some drivers speeding, driving on the wrong side of the road and stopping in the emergency lane to take pictures, a spokesperson for the Transport Ministry said Friday. The $2-billion expressway opened toll-free for the month of October, allowing all types of vehicles and motorcycles above 500 cc to drive 70 km/h along the 190-km expressway. Since then, many drivers have shown themselves to be unfamiliar with driving on highways, spokesman Pal Chandara said. A video posted on the Phnom Penh-Sihanouk Expressway’s official Facebook page Thursday shows a Toyota Prius driving left and right on the expressway in an attempt to keep the vehicle behind it from passing. Other photos show truck and SUV cars driving opposite the flow of traffic. read more https://vodenglish.news/sihanoukville-expressways-first-month-sees-incidents-of-chaotic-driving/

Flooding causes lost crops and the threat of local hunger even as grain export prospects are high. Rice crops in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar have taken a hit from flooding and conflict this year, casting a shadow on a mostly sunny outlook for Southeast Asia’s output of the key grain as the region deals with other potential longer term supply troubles, farm officials and researchers say. Poverty and hunger are stalking some rural communities in peninsular Southeast Asia, also called Indochina, as a result of lost crops, hitting populations still struggling to recover from lost income and other fallout from widespread economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, the poorest Southeast Asian nations, are not major players in rice production in a sector dominated by Thailand and Vietnam, which lead the world in exports of the grain. Southeast Asia accounts for 26 percent of global rice production and 40 percent of exports, supplying populous neighbors Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as Africa and the Middle East, according the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. But their harvest shortfalls have to be made up from other suppliers, and any serious deterioration in rice output could have ripple effects on import-dependent countries in Asia. The challenge is more acute at a time of deepening worries over food security and rising food prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has removed those countries’ key grain exports from global supplies. A man transports bags of rice in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Oct. 17, 2019. Credit: AFP Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management reported early this month that floods inundated some 770 villages in 22 provinces, including Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Pursat, Siem Reap, Kampong Thom and Preah Vihear. More than 150,000 hectares of rice paddies were flooded more than 100,000 families were affected by the floods, a committee official told local media. Banteay Meanchey farmer Voeun Pheap told RFA that floods destroyed more than four hectares of his farm and brought immediate hardship to his family as it wiped out his crop and the hope of paying off what he borrowed to plant. “I couldn’t make much money, I lost my investments, and I am in debt,” he said. In Laos, an agriculture and forestry official in Hua Phanh province told RFA that flooding in two districts had wiped out rice crops and left 200 families with no harvest to eat or sell. “Sand is covering the rice fields all over due to heavy rain, which destroyed both rice paddies and dry rice fields,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “Families that have been affected will go hungry this year. The damage is so enormous that villagers will have to seek food from the forest or sell other crops that were not affected,” the official added. People reach out to buy subsidized rice from government officials in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, March 27, 2008. Credit: AFP Fear, fighting leave fallow fields More than 18 months after a military coup toppled a popular civilian government and plunged Myanmar into political and military conflict, the country of 54 million faces security threats to its rice supply on top of the environmental and economic problems faced by its neighbors. “I am too afraid to leave my home,” said Myo Thant, a local farmer in the town of Shwebo in the Sagaing region, a farming region in central Myanmar that has been a main theater of fighting between ruling army junta forces and local militias opposed to army rule. “I can’t fertilize the fields and I can’t do irrigation work,” he told RFA “The harvest will be down. We will barely have enough food for ourselves,” added Myo Thant. Farmers groups told RFA that in irrigated paddy farms across Myanmar, planting reduced due to the security challenges as well as to rising prices for fuel, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Growers are limiting their planting to rain-fed rice fields. “Only 60 percent of (paddy) farms will grow this year, which means that the production will be reduced by about 40 percent,” Zaw Yan of the Myanmar Farmers Representative Network told RFA. Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the Myanmar junta chief, told a meeting August that of 33.2 million acres of farmland available for rice cultivation, only 15 million acres of rainy reason rice and 3 million acres of irrigated summer paddy rice are being grown. Brighter regional outlook This year’s flooding has caused crop losses and concern in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, but so far it doesn’t appear to have dented the regional outlook for the grain, thanks to expected big crops and surpluses in powerhouse exporters Thailand and Vietnam. World stocks have been buoyed by India’s emergence as the top rice exporter of the grain. In this June 5, 2015 photo, workers load sacks of imported Vietnam rice onto trucks from a ship docked at a port area in Manila, Philippines.Credit: Reuters Although Myanmar is embroiled in conflict and largely cut off from world commerce, Cambodia exported 2.06 million tons of milled and paddy rice worth nearly $616 million in the first half of 2022, a 10 percent increase over the same period in 2021, the country’s farm ministry said in July. Laos was the world’s 25th largest rice exporter in 2020. A report released this month by U.S. Department of Agriculture saw continued large exports from Thailand and Vietnam likely into 2023, offsetting drops in shipments of the grain from other suppliers. While the USDA has projected that Southeast Asia’s rice surplus will continue, a research team at Nature Food that studied rice output in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam suggested the region might lose its global Rice Bowl status. The threats include stagnating crop yields, limited new land for agriculture, and climate change. “Over the past decades, through renewed efforts, countries in Southeast Asia were able to increase rice yields, and the region as a whole has continued to produce a large amount of rice that exceeded regional demand, allowing a rice surplus to be exported to other countries,” the study said. “At issue is whether the region will be able to retain its title as a major global rice supplier in the context of increasing global and regional rice demand, yield stagnation and limited room for cropland expansion,” it warned. Jefferson Fox of the East-West Center in Hawaii said he and other researchers interviewed 100 households in major rice-growing areas of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam and found that a key constraint on output was planting decisions based on price and labor availability and cost. Flooding and climate change were not cited. Rice and money are offered at a Buddhist shrine in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sept. 28, 2010. Credit: AFP "Since about 2014 until Ukraine, rice prices have been below the ten-year average. They're not going to plant it if they're not making much money," he told RFA. "Another thing our work has shown is that the main thing that's happened since 2020 is they've mechanized the hell out of everything. Japan led the way in making smaller combines and plows and all of that stuff, so everything is mechanized and they can use much less labor," said Fox. Long-term damage Rising global demand and higher prices, as well as government policies that encourage rice production in Thailand, Vietnam and others, can help address supply gaps, he added. For farmers in Laos, however, a brighter regional or global supply outlook provides little comfort for now. “Next year, farmers can’t grow rice again because the irrigation system and rice fields are damaged. If the government doesn’t help fix this, the villagers can’t do it because they have no money. Flooding is short term problem but the irrigation system damage is long term,” said a resident of Na Mor village in Oudomxay province. And higher prices for rice can cut two ways, encouraging more production, but pinching consumers. “Our family of five is struggling to make ends meet,” said a low-income government worker in the suburbs of the Lao capital Vientiane. “We spend the majority of my income just for rice.” Translated by Samean Yun, Ye Kang Myint Maung, and Sidney Khotpanya. Written by Paul Eckert. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/southeastasia-rice-10302022114716.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

US President Joe Biden will visit Cambodia from November 12-13 to participate in the annual US-ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit, to be hosted in Phnom Penh. An October 28 White House press statement said that in Cambodia, President Biden will reaffirm the United States’ enduring commitment to Southeast Asia and ASEAN centrality, and will look to build on the success of the historic US-ASEAN Special Summit in Washington. “He will underscore the importance of US-ASEAN cooperation in ensuring security and prosperity in the region, and the wellbeing of our combined one billion people,” the statement said. read more https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-politics/us-president-will-attend-us-asean-summit-phnom-penh

Two victims living in the city-state who were duped by scammers into staging separate kidnappings were found in Cambodia in October, thanks to joint investigations by police from both countries. On Friday, the Singapore police said the two victims, aged 21 and 22, who are university students, were reported by their parents in China to have been kidnapped. But with help from the Cambodian police, they were subsequently found in Phnom Penh and were reunited with their families. Both cases were similar, with the victims’ parents receiving a video from an unknown person showing their child with hands bound. This was followed by many ransom demands. Each victim, while in Singapore, had received a call from someone who claimed to be a police officer from China. In the 21-year-old’s case, he was told that his particulars had been used to spread misinformation about monkeypox cases in China. The 22-year-old was accused of having a mobile number registered in his name that was associated with the spread of Covid-19-related rumours in Guangdong, China. READ MORE https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2022/10/30/two-kidnapping-scam-victims-found-in-cambodia

It’s official: the much cancelled on-again-off-again music extravaganza, Mozart at Angkor, is now definitely off again. The accompanying Angkor International Festival of the Arts has also gone down the gurgler. For this year at least, as a media release issued by Cambodian Arts and Festival Enterprise, which runs the arts festival and is the producer the Mozart operatic spectacular is careful to use the word “postponed,” meaning that down the track at some time the show might be – dare we say it – on again. It’s interesting too that the long-time perception has been that Mozart at Angkor would be performed against the backdrop of the iconic Angkor Wat. But according to the media release, the show had been scheduled to be performed mid-December at the Chau Say Tevoda Temple. Meanwhile, the Cambodian Space Project’s new project, a rock opera titled ‘The Rat Catcher of Angkor Wat’, a musical theatre and puppetry show loosely based on the Pied Piper of Hamelin but set a hundred years into the future, will run twice daily for three days from tomorrow to Sunday at the OzAsia Festival in Adelaide, South Australia. The “fully cinematic sci-fi groove machine” is presented by the Melbourne-based creature design-puppeteer company A Blanck Canvas and Cambodia Space Project, the “world-famous psych-rockers”. Cambodia Space Project’s head cool dude Julien Poulson says, “For the first time in five years the Cambodia Space Project returns to the live circuit with no less than a brand new rock opera, The Rat Catcher of Angkor Wat. Close your eyes and imagine a pulsating durian-shaped organic space orb crash- landing upon planet earth. It’s the year 2222, where a cosmic feline superhero must deal with a problematic rat infestation. Through the use of her cosmic powers Space Cat uses radio waves, echoes, and harmonics, and turns chaos into harmony. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501175609/mozart-at-angkor-is-off-photo-festival-on/

In Cambodia, the Irrawaddy dolphin is considered as the national living treasure and it is one of just six river dolphin species in the world. Irrawaddy dolphin currently inhabits the Mekong River in Kratie and Stung Treng provinces. According to WWF-Cambodia, the presence of the dolphin in the Mekong is an indication of healthy fisheries and healthy rivers, including biodiversity and natural ecosystems that provide life-support services for people. Dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) is ranked as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, the highest international threat ranking for endangered species. The Mekong population was estimated at around 90 individuals. These dolphins have a bulging forehead, short beak, and 12-19 teeth on each side of both jaws. AKP-Phal Sophanith

Trigger appears to be the opposition leader’s comments about the king. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday threatened to dissolve the opposition Candlelight Party if it does not clarify its stand on alleged insulting comments about King Norodom Sihamoni by exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy. Sam Rainsy, co-founder of the now banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, fled to France in 2015 to avoid arrest for various charges. On Monday, he posted a comment on Facebook that in 2005, Hun Sen forced the king to support a “treasonous act” – a reference to signing a border treaty with Vietnam – otherwise he would abolish monarchy. Sam Rainsy also blamed Hun Sen for using the king to shield his dictatorship. “The king today has no national conscience, not even a little,” Sam Rainsy said in the video. “After Hun Sen, the king of Cambodia betrayed the nation, because we supplemented others, betrayed the nation completely, because we cut off Khmer territory to foreigners.” On Wedneday, Hun Sen responded by demanding the Candlelight Party make its stance on Sam Rainsy clear. “Is Sam Rainsy right or wrong? I want the Candlelight Party to clarify its stand on Sam Rainsy’s statement claiming the King has no conscience. The party’s leaders need to clarify before our compatriots,” Hun Sen told a crowd at a public gathering in Kampong Chhnang province. Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades, also urged party activists to join his ruling party, saying the Candlelight Party is at risk of being dissolved. In 2017, Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP, a move that allowed Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to capture every seat in the National Assembly in 2018 general elections. “It isn’t a small story, and [it’s] not a joke,” Hun Sen said. “The Candlelight Party members must immediately defect to avoid any problem [because Sam Rainsy’s supporters in the party] want to topple the government and monarchy.” On Tuesday, Cambodia’s Ministry of Justice alleged that Sam Rainsy had seriously insulted the king and ordered Phnom Penh Municipal Court to take immediate and strict legal action against him, though he has been sentenced to life in prison and permanently barred from engaging in politics. Hun Sen recently tried to convince party activists to condemn Sam Rainsy for supposedly insulting the king, calling on party vice presidents Thach Setha and Son Chhay to issue a statement. The prime minister also said he learned of a phone conversation between CNRP co-vice president Eng Chhai Eang and Candlelight Party officials about setting up the party’s network in Ratanakiri province. The prime minister told the crowd that political parties can’t work with “convicts” in accordance with the law. “With this, I want to tell you [the Candlelight Party] that you are facing any issue for yourself, so what you should do is to clarify your stand over Sam Rainsy’s comment. Is it right or wrong? I want an affirmation from you,” said Hun Sen. He went on to say that he has a problem with the Candlelight Party because the party was founded by Sam Rainsy. Senior Candlelight Party officials said they have no connection to Sam Rainsy. Thach Setha, who also serves as the party’s spokesman, said the Candlelight Party acted in accordance with the law and has a leadership structure that has nothing to do with Sam Rainsy. He said the party would issue a statement on its stand, but would not condemn Sam Rainsy as a person. "We work independently, we have full sovereignty of our party, we do not accept orders from anyone,” Thach Setha said. “We will make a statement but not name a specific person, and [condemn] all of those who insult the king. Those who abuse the constitution, we will also condemn. We fight to protect Cambodia and the throne.” Political analyst Em Sovannara said the country’s leaders should not compromise national interest with political conflict, and that Cambodia has no law prohibiting citizens or politicians from talking to “convicts.” "Yes, if we talk about communication, it is not illegal,” he said. “Any person has the right to communicate, the accused, the convict or the prisoner. The politician has the right to communicate.” Translated by Samean Yun for RFA Khmer. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/hun-sen-threat-10262022175454.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

Foreign workers threw rocks at buses as passengers tried to break out of them, according to police, as locals spoke of hundreds daily leaving alleged scam compounds in Svay Rieng’s border city of Bavet. The apparent exodus comes after scam workers appeared to have been transferred to the city’s casino compounds following raids elsewhere in the country. After many months of foreign workers calling out for help from buildings in Cambodia where they say they were trapped and forced to perpetrate online scams, the country was downgraded in human trafficking rankings. Bavet city police chief Em Sovannarith said that around 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday, a crowd had formed near the border gate to Vietnam. People threw rocks as others tried to break out of buses, he said. But they were gone by the time police arrived. “There were between 50 and 60 people, and we don’t know how the chaos happened or for what reasons,” he said. “They are all Vietnamese and when the border opened, they went to their homeland.” read more https://vodenglish.news/chaotic-scenes-in-bavet-amid-apparent-exodus/

Oct 26 (Reuters) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is gravely concerned about escalating violence in Myanmar, the bloc's chair Cambodia said ahead of a special meeting of its foreign ministers on the crisis. The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink called the situation in Myanmar "tragic" and said finding away to deal with it was a "key priority" for Thursday's meeting in Jakarta. Kritenbrink told a Washington think tank the United States would make "a very forceful call" at next month's East Asia Summit, which Cambodia will host, for more pressure to be applied on the ruling military junta. "We are not going to sit idly by while this violence continues; we're not going to sit idly by while the junta prepares for what will be completely fake and sham elections that they talk about holding next year as well," he said. He said the United States, which has imposed sanctions on the military leadership, would take "additional steps to put pressure on the regime," but did not elaborate. A statement from ASEAN chair Cambodia called for restraint, an immediate cessation of fighting, and for all parties to pursue dialogue. "We are deeply saddened by the growing casualties, and the immense suffering that ordinary people in Myanmar have endured," it said. read more https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/asean-chair-alarmed-over-escalating-myanmar-violence-2022-10-26/

The General Department of Immigration (GDI) of the Ministry of Interior reported yesterday that close cooperation with the Labour Ministry has resulted in the arrests of 263 foreigners who were living and working illegally across Cambodia in crackdowns over the past two days. GDI spokesman General Keo Vanthorn said most of those arrested had crossed the border and stayed in Cambodia illegally. He said the deportees comprised Vietnamese (171), Chinese (74), Thais (16) and Bangladeshis (two) and that most of them had crossed the border illegally. Gen Vanthorn said the foreigners were deported through the Phnom Penh International Airport and the Bavet and Trapaing Phlong international border checkpoints. They have been banned from re-entering Cambodia for three years. He added that they were arrested by police for illegal entry without visa or passport or were living and working illegally in Cambodia. Earlier this month, Gen Vanthorn reported that authorities had deported nearly 4,000 foreigners and blacklisted nearly 1,000 people in the first nine months of the year. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501173344/raids-net-over-260-foreigners-staying-or-working-illegally/

Controversy has erupted amongst Cambodian social media commentators after the publication of a number of photos that use Cambodia’s most revered location – Angkor Wat – as the background for a photoshoot using Thai models wearing Thai costumes. The images, shot under the aegis of Vogue Thailand – show a group of Thai models and actresses – under the description ‘#VogueWeekend Combining the atmosphere and group photos in the brand’s special long-term vacation trip. @janesuda_collection at Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Ta Prohm temple where everyone comes in a modern Thai dress look Suitable for an interesting historical trip to Siem Reap. Cambodia The photoshoot has caused anger amongst Cambodian commentators, who claim the photoshoot is a continuation of a number of occasions when Thailand has ‘appropriated’ Angkor Wat Comments have included : “….not happy, they know how to wear their clothes and take pictures at Khmer temples! Foreigners think it belongs to Thailand. “ “No Cambodian credit, they are very smart, in fact, Angkor Wat Copy is almost ready” read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501173736/controversy-as-vogue-thailand-uses-angkor-wat-for-thai-model-shoot/

Cambodia has opened the foreign employee quota application for businesses for 2023. Businesses that want to hire a foreign employee must apply for this quota before obtaining a work permit for the employee. Under the quota system, only 10 percent of a Cambodian company’s total workforce can be foreign nationals. The deadline for the foreign employee quota application ends at the end of November 2022. Cambodia’s government has opened the window for businesses to apply for the foreign employee quota. Businesses in Cambodia who are intending to hire a foreign employee must apply for a foreign employee quota through the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MLVT). The deadline for the foreign employee quota application ends at the end of November 2022. Under the quota system, only 10 percent of a Cambodian company’s total workforce can be foreign nationals. This is to be done as below: Office employees – Three percent; Skilled labor – six percent; and Unskilled labor – one percent. After receiving the quota, the company can then apply for work permits through the Foreign Workforce Centralized Management System (FWCMS). read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501172646/cambodia-opens-foreign-employee-quota-application-for-2023/

The Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Office of Kampong Speu raided a restaurant and arrested two managers for illegally detaining and prostituting six female minors. The crackdown took place on October 19 at Mlop Por Romlech Restaurant in Prey Kdei village, Sangkat Svay Kravan, Chbar Morn city. Two women were arrested for the detention of eight females, including six minors. According to the Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Office, the restaurant also functions as a prostitution operation. The police arrested two women who ran the operation: Luon Sok Khouch, 37, and Khen Phat, 31. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501172543/restaurant-managers-arrested-for-illegal-detention-prostitution-of-female-minors/

Cocksure gamblers got the surprise of their lives when police launched a sudden raid on a cockfighting location. The raid happened yesterday afternoon Bassac village, Bassac commune, Svay Chrum district, Svay Rieng. Som Sophorn, Police Inspector of Svay Chrum District, said that the police force of Svay Chrum District Police Inspectorate cooperated with the Bassac Commune Administrative Police Force to crack down on the gambling. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501172528/cockfighting-gamblers-captured-by-police/

In six years, from September 2016 to September 2022, Cambodia’s Ministry of Public Works and Transport managed to sell 225,171 special and personalized car registration number plates earning $82,418,125. While disclosing this recently, Koy Sodany, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and Chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Commission for the Management of Sales of Vehicle Registration Numbers, said the ministry has been promoting the sale of special registration numbers more effectively for the last several years in a bid to collect additional revenue. The initiatives taken from 2020-2023 helped to disseminate the information more widely to companies, enterprises as well as the general public, the Secretary of State said. The special number are divided into two categories – capital-provincial special numbers and personal special numbers with the letter “Cambodia”. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501173215/special-number-plates-net-82m-in-six-years/

The ode to the Cambodian leader’s early childhood comes as he prepares to start the transfer of power to his son. A new biopic about Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen focuses on the now 70-year-old’s impoverished childhood, eschewing any mention of his time as a Khmer Rouge battalion commander to instead depict him as a bookish student who overcame bullying to achieve his destiny. The 30-minute film, which opens with a scene of the future premier being struck by a burst of moonlight as his mother gives birth, is centered around Hun Sen’s upbringing in Phnom Penh’s Neakavoan pagoda, where he lived in the 1960s before joining the communist maquis in 1970. Titled “Life of a Pagoda Boy,” it shows Hun Sen struggling to afford to eat after being sent to the city as a young child to study with monks, who teach him about Cambodian history and prophesize that he will grow powerful. His parents, meanwhile, are depicted as poor farmers who battle to survive and often fantasize about a life where they didn’t send him away. “Because you’ll be far from your parents, you’ll have to struggle,” the father says as he sends Hun Sen away from the idyllic countryside, in a sequence that takes up the film’s first half. “Study hard,” his mother offers. A series of rapid-fire scenes then culminate in Hun Sen’s rise to officialdom. As he studies in the dying days of Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s rule in Phnom Penh, the young Hun Sen is bullied by the children of aristocrats, with his main tormentor bearing a clear resemblance to present-day opposition leader Sam Rainsy, whose father was a top minister in Sihanouk’s government. When the bully pours a drink over Hun Sen’s head at a cocktail party and mocks him for being poor – as renowned Cambodian “Golden Era” pop singer Pan Ron plays live in the background – the film cuts to a monk making the prophecy that Hun Sen had been blessed and will grow powerful. A final bullying scene then sees “Life of a Pagoda Boy” suddenly cut to its closing scene: an older and steely-eyed Hun Sen, now as the 27-year-old foreign minister in the Vietnamese-backed successor regime to the Khmer Rouge in the early 1980s, meets with Indian diplomats, as the credits roll. A burst of moonlight strikes Hun Sen just after his mother gives birth. Credit: Screenshot from film Building a legacy ‘beyond political contestation’ The biopic was written by Hun Sen and cost $120,000 to produce, and premiered at the Ministry of Land Management in Phnom Penh on Sept. 28, according to pro-government local newspaper The Khmer Times. Its release comes as the premier enters the twilight of his rule. “The film is part of a process of memorialization that has been taking place for some time now,” Sebastian Strangio, author of “Hun Sen’s Cambodia,” told Radio Free Asia, pointing also to the recent construction of the prime minister’s “Win-Win Monument” on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. “After so many years in power, it is clear that Hun Sen is starting to consider his legacy, and work out ways of ensuring that it survives his own eventual exit from the political scene,” he said. “In that sense, it is more than navel-gazing; it is an attempt to wreath Hun Sen’s legacy in the veil of legend, and to place it effectively beyond political contestation.” Hun Sen has said he plans to run for reelection next year, before handing power to his son, Hun Manet, after the 2028 election, at which point he will have served as prime minister for 43 years. His Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), an outgrowth of the Hanoi-backed regime that replaced the Khmer Rouge in 1979, has faced little threat to its power since the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was forced to disband in 2017. CPP spokesman Sok Eysan said he could not deny that the film had a political purpose. “There’s no one who doesn't want the benefits of telling stories,” Eysan told RFA. “It is to draw support and votes.” But a critic of the CPP said that Hun Sen was looking beyond 2023. But Buntenh, an activist monk who was exiled from Cambodia and is now based in Lowell, Massachusetts, told RFA he believed that the film was part of a propaganda push to make the case for continued Hun family rule. “This is to divert the youth’s attention from the power transfer to his son. The youth who have an education do not believe in this transfer of power from father to son,” Buntenh said. “He has no other way to help his son.” Buntenh said the film’s focus on Hun Sen’s childhood in a pagoda and on predictions of his rise made by monks was intended to convince people that his rule over the country was preordained and legitimate. That was important, he said, because his leadership of the country since 1985 had been marred by state corruption, stark inequality and human rights abuses. “Hun Sen believes the Cambodian people believe in superstition and the abstract – things that do not have scientific proof. He understands they believe in fate, which is not in line with Buddhist faith,” he said. “This is the only way for Hun Sen to do promotion for his family dynasty.” Widespread land-grabbing, deforestation, political violence and graft have marked Hun Sen’s decades of rule over Cambodia, with his government repeatedly pledging to stamp out each over the years to little avail. High-profile critics of the government have routinely been killed in broad daylight, including union leader Chea Vichea in 2004, environmentalist Chut Wutty in 2012 and political commentator Kem Ley in 2016. A bully who bears a resemblance to opposition leader Sam Rainsy pours a drink over Hun Sen’s head at a cocktail party. Credit: Screenshot from film ‘Glossing over the unpleasantness’ Hun Sen’s efforts to guarantee succession to his eldest son come after the destruction of what was already a flimsy democracy in Cambodia. The CNRP, which was created out of two rival opposition parties in 2012, came close to defeating Hun Sen’s CPP in the 2013 national election. But the party was then banned in the lead-up to the 2018 election, with opposition leader Kem Sokha jailed and a number of independent media outlets shuttered, including Radio Free Asia’s local offices. Hun Sen’s party later won all 125 National Assembly seats on offer, with the premier appearing to grow more outwardly concerned with public perceptions of his legacy as he readies his country – and his party – for a succession. Notably, in suddenly skipping from his childhood to his time as foreign minister, the film ignores Hun Sen’s time as a battalion commander in – and then defector from – the Khmer Rouge, which is estimated to have killed at least 1.7 million Cambodians, or almost a quarter of the country’s population at the time, during its three years in power. The prime minister lost his left eye in fighting the day before Pol Pot’s forces took over Phnom Penh in April 1975, before defecting in 1977. Such an omission was easy to understand from the prime minister’s perspective, said Sophal Ear, an associate professor in global development and Cambodia expert at Arizona State University in Phoenix. “The inconvenient truth is the 1970s would have to explain his whereabouts,” Ear told RFA, adding Hun Sen was clearly not proud of all of his origin story. “What, indeed, was he up to? It's too complicated, so we dig a hole and bury the past. We gloss over the unpleasantness and skip a decade.” “This is all part of a project to control the narrative; pagoda boy becomes savior of the nation. This is his legacy-building and legend-making.” https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/biopic-10212022134351.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

Federal agents at Logan Airport allegedly found a video of a young boy that appeared to have been produced during the trip. A Massachusetts man who works as a magician entertaining kids has been arrested on a child pornography charge. Scott Jameson, a 45-year-old from Sutton, a town in Worcester County, was arrested on Friday, after returning from Cambodia. Federal authorities were notified that Jameson, a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, had most recently travelled to Cambodia on August 28 and returned on October 19. He was stopped upon his return and his belongings were searched. He has been accused of possessing sexually explicit images of young children, after Federal agents at Logan Airport allegedly found a video of a young boy that appeared to have been produced during the trip. A separate device allegedly contained over 100 images of apparent child pornography. read more https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/world-crime/irishman-who-works-as-magician-entertaining-kids-arrested-on-child-porn-charge/449648390.html

PHNOM PENH, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian foreign ministers will hold a special meeting in Indonesia on Thursday to discuss the Myanmar peace process, Cambodia's foreign ministry said on Sunday. The talks at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat in Jakarta will cover the implementation of a five-point peace "consensus" agreed with Myanmar's military rulers last year to try to end conflict in the country, ministry spokesman Chum Sounry told Reuters. Myanmar has been trapped in a cycle of violence since the army ousted Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in February 2021, detaining her and thousands of activists and launching a bloody crackdown on protests and dissent. The meeting will seek to come up with recommendations on how to push forward the peace process ahead of an ASEAN summit next month, he said by text message. Cambodia is the current chair of ASEAN. ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, has been leading peace efforts but some countries in the 10-nation bloc have become increasingly exasperated by the lack of progress by the junta implementing the plan, which includes engaging with opponents and a cessation of hostilities. read more https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/southeast-asian-ministers-meet-thursday-talks-myanmar-cambodia-2022-10-23/

Police investigations into plotting charges against former CNRP members, including Mu Sochua, relied mostly on their public Facebook posts and interviews with pro-opposition media Radio Free Asia. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court is trying 37 former CNRP leaders, members and activists for alleged plotting for allegedly participating in Sochua’s attempt to return to Cambodia in early 2021. The former CNRP vice president was attempting to attend a different mass trial involving her and other senior party officials. In earlier hearings, three defendants were questioned and judges revealed that another defendant was on bail because they had a mental health illness. On Thursday, judge Ouk Reth Kunthea asked the court clerk to read two reports from the anti-terrorism unit, which investigated the case. read more https://vodenglish.news/anti-terrorism-investigations-read-out-at-mu-sochua-mass-trial/

He said he would destroy the exiled opposition leader like he ‘destroyed’ the Khmer Rouge. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday said he would dissolve any political party that dares to associate with Sam Rainsy, a threat that opposition party officials believe indicates he is still afraid of the exiled opposition leader’s political clout ahead of the 2023 general elections. Sam Rainsy was a co-founder of the now banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP. He fled to France in 2015 to avoid various political charges his supporters say are politically motivated. In 2017, Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP, a move that allowed Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, to capture every seat in the National Assembly in 2018 general elections. Hun Sen said he was not afraid of bloodshed and would beat down anyone who dared to stand up against him. “I succeeded in destroying the Khmer Rouge,” he said at a press conference in Kandal province, vowing to do the same to Sam Rainsy. “Now I appeal to the Khmer people who believe in this traitor – and any parties that want to associate with Sam Rainsy – we will file complaints against them to dissolve those parties,” he said. “The law states that we need to dissolve parties that commit crimes.” A former Khmer Rouge member himself, Hun Sen defected to Vietnam with a battalion under his command in 1977 and returned during that country’s 1979 invasion of Cambodia. Following the defeat of the Khmer Rouge government, Hanoi installed him as deputy prime minister. He then rose to become prime minister in 1985 and has ruled the country ever since. Leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Sam Rainsy [center] arrives at a Paris courthouse for proceedings in a defamation lawsuit filed by Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Sept. 1, 2022. Photo: AFP Hun Sen said he supported Wednesday’s decision by the Phnom Penh court to sentence Sam Rainsy to a life sentence and strip him of all political rights, on charges of conspiring to hand over Cambodian territory to a foreign state. "Cambodia doesn't have a law to execute prisoners, otherwise the court would have ordered the execution of Sam Rainsy,” he said. “People must understand this traitor’s behavior. People who are involved with these traitors will be punished, so please stay away." Hun Sen’s threats reveal that he himself still feels threatened by Sam Rainsy’s popularity, Um Sam An, a senior CNRP official, told RFA’s Khmer Service. “People, including the armed forces, continue to support Sam Rainsy, so Hun Sen is afraid of Sam Rainsy’s influence after he urged voters for a change in the 2023 election,” said Um Sam An. The court’s ability to dissolve a political party is an incorrect interpretation of the law, Kang Savang, an election monitor with the independent Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel), told RFA. "Political parties are facing difficulties because of the law,” he said. “Their interpretation of the law is not clear, specifically over issues of national security and foreign collusion." Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/hun-sen-10202022171801.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

The Consulate General of Vietnam in Cambodia's Battambang Province has helped rescue 171 more Vietnamese citizens who were tricked into working for illegal businesses in Cambodia. The rescued citizens were working at the Cambodia-Thailand border, foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said at a press meet Thursday. A total of around 270 Vietnamese citizens have been rescued from Cambodia since July, she added. Vietnam is supporting citizens in completing procedures and verifying identities to help bring them back to Vietnam, while cooperating with Cambodian authorities to search for more citizens and rescue them, Hang said. read more https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/171-more-vietnamese-workers-rescued-from-cambodia-4525947.html

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- A centuries-old sandstone Asura head statue has been discovered in front of the south gate of the Angkor Thom temple in Cambodia's famed Angkor Archaeological Park, the APSARA National Authority (ANA) said in a news release on Thursday. Asura is a demigod, titan or antigod, according to the context. They exist in both the Hindu and the Buddhist religions. Chhouk Somala, head of the registration team of the ANA's Department of Conservation of Monuments and Preventive Archaeology, said the Asura head statue was found on Wednesday at the location of the former souvenir stalls in front of the south gate of Angkor Thom. "At first, our team dug 30 to 40 cm deep and found three pieces of ancient stone, then they washed, and assembled them to become the Asura head," he said in the news release. The Asura head statue is 60 cm high, 65 cm wide, and 59 cm thick, he said, adding that the Bayon-style statue had been built simultaneously with the Bayon temple during the reign of Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century and early 13th century. Currently, the statue is being kept at the Preah Norodom Sihanouk-Angkor Museum, he said, adding that the team will continue to find its original body. Located in northwest Cambodia's Siem Reap province, the 401-square km Angkor Archaeological Park, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1992, is the most popular tourist destination in the Southeast Asian nation. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ancient park attracted up to 2.2 million international tourists in 2019, earning a gross revenue of 99 million U.S. dollars from ticket sales, according to the state-owned Angkor Enterprise. The ANA said that tourists have started visiting the Angkor site again after the COVID-19 pandemic has waned. "This is a sign that the growth of tourists will return to normal after the absence of tourists for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic," the ANA said. https://english.news.cn/20221020/a0ddd1a1651b43c797101b4f936530c0/c.html

The much-anticipated launch of the Cambodia Climate Change Summit 2022 (CCCS22) got underway Monday evening, with a welcome reception that saw leading actors in both the public and private sectors meet to begin reflecting on the progress Cambodia has made towards climate-related issues. The official proceedings began Tuesday morning with opening remarks by H.E. Minister of Environment Say Samal, U.S. Ambassador Mr. W Partick Murphy, and Director General of Mekong Future Initiative Mr. Allen Dodgson Tan. “The United States is committed to leading and taking bold action to confront the climate crisis and strengthen energy security. At COP26, President Biden announced $3 billion in adaptation financing to reduce climate change impacts on those most vulnerable. Through regional initiatives under our Mekong-U.S. Partnership, we are expanding green energy solutions and working with regional officials to address waste management issues.” said Ambassador W. Patrick Murphy, U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, “In Cambodia, the United States has invested over $100 million in foreign assistance focused on combating climate change, including facilitating the sale of more than $40 million in carbon credits to U.S. companies such as The Walt Disney Company and Delta Airlines. In the last five years, USAID Cambodia’s agriculture and environment activities have helped Cambodian farmers apply climate-smart agricultural practices and eliminated an estimated 25 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking almost five million cars off of the road for a year. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501171330/cambodia-climate-change-summit-2022-launches-in-siem-reap/

Germany contributed an additional €16 million to support the Cambodia Health Equity and Quality Improvement Programme (H-EQIP). The H-EQIP is considered a national lighthouse and a flagship health sector project in Cambodia that is highly valued by the Cambodian government. Martina Koch, Head of Division for Health and Social Protection for Asia from KfW Development Bank Headquarters, said: “The signing of these agreements symbolises our long-standing and trustful financial cooperation, and I am very proud to say Germany through KfW, in particular, has contributed to a remarkable progress of health outcomes and undeniably, the current proven success of fighting against COVID-19 pandemic.” The objective of H-EQIP is to contribute to the equitable use of quality health services for poor and vulnerable population groups and to intervene quickly and effectively in the event of a health crisis covered by the programme. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501170734/germany-contributes-e16m-to-strengthen-cambodias-health-sector/