Interesting write up on Cambodia and Hun Sen

[phuketrichard]

He is by far one of the most detestable politicians alive on Earth, yet his utility to the West has provided him an international media blackhole in which his crimes and atrocities have been hidden for decades.

This can be explained by the literal selling-out of Cambodia from under the feet of its own people, by Hun Sen to foreign corporate-financier interests.

In the Guardian's 2008 article titled, "Country for sale," it is reported that:

Almost half of Cambodia has been sold to foreign speculators in the past 18 months - and hundreds of thousands who fled the Khmer Rouge are homeless once more.

The Guardian further elaborated:

Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) have, in effect, put the country up for sale. Crucially, they permit investors to form 100% foreign-owned companies in Cambodia that can buy land and real estate outright - or at least on 99-year plus 99-year leases. No other country in the world countenances such a deal. Even in Thailand and Vietnam, where similar land speculation and profiteering are under way, foreigners can be only minority shareholders. http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2013/12/thailands-regime-cambodian-connection.html#more

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[MrWorldwide]

Interesting viewpoint on a board where land ownership in Thailand is such a bone of contention - I suspect that many here would be overjoyed if the Thais had a similar 'open slather' approach to buying up the country. No argument that Hun Sen and his cronies are bad news for Cambodia - he was simply the last man standing when the shooting finally stopped. I'm sure many of those same corporations have happily dealt with dictators all over the world - how many countries in the Middle East are functioning democracies ? .

[Sheryl]

The massive selling off of land (and with it, the forced evictions of the people who lived on it/worked it for a living) is a major factor behind the swelling unrest and support for the opposition.

That's the immediate human cost. The long term environmental impact is a whole other thing....