In Cambodia, Comedians Double as Government Propagandists

In the state-aligned media that dominates the country's airwaves, enormously popular comedians, often bearing the rank of colonel in the prime minister's personal bodyguard unit, inject the party line into Cambodian popular culture

Colonel Chuong Chy, who like many of Cambodia's famous comedians is also an officer in the prime minister's special bodyguard unit, performs under the stage name Koy. Though his stage character is flamboyant, in person he is terse and severe.

The popular comedian Colonel Ou Bunnarith, aka Krem (L), performs with his troupe at the studio of the Cambodian television station Bayon.

Chek, whose real name is Colonel Chhum Bunchhoeurn, in an interview, still wearing his makeup.A Cambodian comedy troupe performs in Phnom Penh.

San Mao is reported by The Phnom Penh Post as Colonel Thou Chamrong

Prum Manh was also reported as a CPP colonel by The Phnom Penh Post

Jun 15 2011
By Julia Wallace
The Atlantic

"We work for the prime minister, so why should we perform for Sam Rainsy? ... If we eat a person's food, we have to work for that one." - Krem, aka Colonel Ou Bunnarith

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- One recent Sunday afternoon, television audiences across Cambodia watched a middle-aged man named Krem as he was introduced to the mother of his young girlfriend.

The mother, Oeurn, looked dubiously at her daughter's poorly dressed, extravagantly mustachioed suitor.

"How did you spend the Cambodian New Year?" Oeurn asked him.

"I went to Preah Vihear," Krem replied, referring to a contested 11th century temple on the Thai border that has sparked several skirmishes between Cambodian and Thai forces over the past few years. "We performed comedy for the soldiers who protect us from Thai invasion. I would like to ask the New Year's angel to protect our soldiers and let them defeat the enemy."

A bit later, Krem abruptly announced to Oeurn, "Phnom Penh municipality now has less garbage and is cleaner. Do you know who did that?"

"Who?"

Potemkin graft crackdown in Cambodia

Potemkin graft crackdown in Cambodia
By Sebastian Strangio
Asia Time Online

"Donors have failed to hold a small corrupt elite to account," said George Boden, a campaigner for international graft watchdog Global Witness. "Donors should ensure that central government does not exert an undue influence over the anti-corruption agencies, that all credible allegations of corruption are investigated and that whistleblowers are given the protection that they deserve."

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 the Pursat provincial court in the country's west.

During his trial, it was alleged he had ordered subordinates to extort money from a man found transporting wood through his province - just one in a long line of corrupt dealings. On May 11, judges at the court found him guilty on corruption charges and handed him a 19-year jail term. Two of his bodyguards were also sent down for 15 and 16 years respectively.

The Cambodian government welcomed Sereyvuth's conviction as

the first high-profile case to be brought by its new Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), formed last year following the passage of long-awaited anti-graft legislation. While observers were initially divided about the government's commitment to fighting corruption, the ACU has so far netted some big fish.

Cambodia struggles to play China off against its other neighbours

Courting the Khmer

Cambodia struggles to play China off against its other neighbours

Jun 9th 2011
The Economist
PHNOM PENH

TWENTY kilometres (12½ miles) down the Mekong river from the capital, Phnom Penh, a new container terminal is taking shape on a 30-hectare site. Upstream, two new ports are planned. Whereas other countries that share the mighty waterway favour dams and power plants, the Cambodians are turning the Mekong into a commercial highway. As Sam Olan, the deputy director of the container terminal argues, the project is tailored to the war-ravaged country’s needs: transport by water is cheaper than by road and requires less maintenance—and there are not many good roads anyway.

Like much else in Cambodia today, the new port is being built by the Chinese; 50 or so Chinese engineers and technicians live on site. The Cambodians are confident they will get their new port quickly and on time (it is due to open next year)—one of many reasons why the Chinese are welcome there, as in other poor countries.

As one of the poorest countries in South-East Asia struggles to end its dependence on foreign aid, the Chinese presence has become pervasive. Just down river from the new container terminal is the huge Chinese-built Prek Tamak bridge, which opened last year. The Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen, recently broke ground on a $46m Chinese-built road linking the capital to the coastal province of Kampot. There, a new Chinese-built hydroelectric power station is about to begin operation—supplying, by one official estimate, half of Cambodia’s demand for power. The Chinese plan to build three more. Overall, China accounts for almost half the foreign investment in the country.