Twenty is too many, says PM

Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks out about the number of defendants the ECCC should try.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warned Tuesday that putting more Khmer Rouge cadres on trial for crimes committed during Pol Pot’s 1975-79 reign of terror could plunge the country back into civil war.

“I would prefer to see this tribunal fail instead of seeing war return to my country,” Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge commander, said a day after the joint U.N.-Cambodian court resumed its trial of Pol Pot’s chief torturer.

[...]

“If as many as 20 Khmer Rouge are indicted to stand trial and war returns to Cambodia, who will be responsible for that?,” he told the audience.

20? Why 20? That’s leaving it rather broad isn’t it? Nobody is talking about trying 20 suspects. Five are already in the dock, plus there’s talk about arresting perhaps another six. That makes 11. Well short of 20.

If you were just taking a wild shot at reading the tea leaves, it seems that Hun Sen is holding out the option for further arrests.

POSTSCRIPT: Yes. The headline on the story does say “Cambodia PM rejects wider Khmer Rouge trials.” But the actual story doesn’t quite make that case. Going on the actual quotes, Hun Sen doesn’t explicitly rule out more prosecutions. He just says that 20 is too many. No?

Remembering March 30, 1997

Human Rights Watch plays “Where Are They Now?” with the principals of the infamous grenade attack.

Twelve years after a grenade attack on an opposition party rally that killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 100, the Cambodian government has still taken no steps to bring the perpetrators to justice, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch criticized the recent promotions of officials suspected of involvement in that attack.

[...]

On the day of the grenade attack, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personal bodyguard unit, Brigade 70, was, for the first time, deployed at a demonstration.

[...]

The commander of Brigade 70 at the time, Huy Piseth, who ordered the deployment of Brigade 70 forces to the scene that day, is now undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Defense. Hing Bunheang, who was deputy commander of Brigade 70 at the time and who threatened to kill journalists investigating the case, was promoted to deputy military commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) in January 2009.

And so it goes.

Duch goes on trial

Everyone has the story:

• Trials of Khmer Rouge Officials Begin [NYT]
• Cambodia’s Day in Court [RFA]
• “Killing Fields” torturer on trial in Cambodia [Reuters]
• Court hears Khmer Rouge testimony [BBC]
• Former Khmer Rouge leader goes on trial in Cambodia [CNN]
• Khmer Rouge prison chief faces war crimes trial [AFP]
• Long-delayed Khmer Rouge genocide trial to begin [AP]

Stupidity in Sihanoukville

For reasons unexplainable, some people seem compelled to parade their ignorance around for the world to see. Alan Perry of DevaRaja Villa and Bungalows in Sihanoukville is one of those people. Mr. Perry takes exception to a recent VOA article published in the Hawaii Reporter with the headline “Human Trafficking On the Rise in Cambodia.” Specifically, Mr Perry charges that the VOA story is misleading.

The real problem with the article is that it lacks perspective or any other viewpoint on the Human Trafficking issue. There is no dissenting voice or opinions reported. Cambodia has become for lack of a better word the worlds favorite sex “obsession”. With daily breathless reportage on Human trafficking and child sex convictions one is left with the mistaken impression that Cambodia is a place where one can simply walk down the street and pick out your favorite 13 year-old girl or boy for an hours pleasure. This is simply not the case.

That is largely true, of course. And Mr. Perry would have been wise to stop right there. But he just had to go on.

The article does not at any time cite one single credible study of this problem and for good reason…none exists.

[...]

The article goes on to cite how there were girls rescued from this business by the organization named in the article, one I have never heard of previously. It is written in such a way as to leave the impression that all these girls were “sex slaves”. I would defy the writer or the organization cited to bring forth one credible person with that story.

What an idiot. Mr. Alan Perry of DevaRaja Villa and Bungalows in Sihanoukville is talking about The Somaly Mam Foundation and its founder Somaly Mam — 2008 Time “People Who Mattered,” 2007 CNN Hero, 2006 Glamour Woman of the Year — yes, that Somaly Mam. Her story is not only real, it is also well-documented.

In writing his letter, Mr Perry was no doubt hoping for a little free advertising for his guesthouse — and what better place to advertise than in Hawaii, right? Except now, the almighty Google will duly note that Mr Perry is not only the owner of DevaRaja Villa and Bungalows in Sihanoukville, he is also a proud and vocal critic of Cambodia’s leading anti-human-trafficking activist. Karma is indeed a bitch, ain’t it?

UPDATE: Wait! There’s more. Khmerization weighed in on this too. And Mr. Perry responded.

New Dengue Fever tunes

VIA LA Record: “March of the Balloon Animal.”

• http://larecord.com/audio/denguefever-marchoftheballoonanimals.mp3

The IT Department says “right click and select ’save taget as’” to download.

UPDATE: “March” is a brooding, trippy instrumental. Dig it.

Queuing up

In related energy news, Diana tries to pay the bill.

This morning we walked to the Electricite du Cambodge, or the Cambodian Electricity Department to pay our monthly bill. … I was trying to figure out where the queue was until I realised there *is* no queue. … As you can see, it is madness.

But not the typical madness you might think, special Cambodian madness. Read the whole thing.

The promise of reliable power

In a story about whinging guesthouse owners who are unhappy with irregular power supplies, the Cambodia Daily says that Phnom Penh’s connection to the Vietnamese power grid is nearly complete.

[The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Electricity] announced earlier this month that blackouts in the capital could end by May with the completion of a new link to the Vietnamese power grid.

Ith Praing [secretary of state at the ministry] said that the link with the Vietnamese electricity grid has already been built to Takeo province, 90 km outside of Phnom Penh.

“We have no need to set up any extra generators as we have this energy coming from [Vietnam Electricity Group] a big provider,” he said, though he declined to go so far as to say that the energy from Vietnam would prevent power cuts once it arrived.

When the government first said Cambodia would hook into the Vietnamese power grid, it promised the connection would result in dramatically lower electricity prices. At the time, the government was debating whether the new price would be 7 cents or 8 cents per kilowatt. For most high-consumption users, that would represent at least a 50 percent savings.

And what about now? The Daily saw no reason to elaborate on such details, the real news, of course, being whinging expats.

Disappearing food stuff

Karen says the staples are vanishing.

Cambodia is losing its fish and rice. We’ll be investigating this further in the coming weeks; it’s a story that spells a sad future. The country’s great, nourishing rivers and lands are vanishing for many reasons — land grabbing, land sales, over-fishing, upstream dams, diminished waters, new hotels, villas in the countryside. Meter by meter, farmland turns to something else. One by one, fresh-water fish disappear.

It’s an interesting theory. There is certainly no shortage of news stories about farmers losing their land to soulless, fat-cat developers, or fisherman with tales of dwindling fish catches. But at least officially, government statistics don’t support such assumptions.

In 2003 Cambodia produced an estimated 4.3 million tonnes of rice. In 2005-2006 the country produced nearly 5 million tonnes. In 2007 the country produced a record 6.4 million tonnes. Ditto 2008. Few expect the trend to reverse.

Regarding dwindling fish stocks, as Karen points out, there are a lot of factors which influence fish catches, logging, rainfall, upstream dams, and pollution among many. Yet conclusive evidence that points to decreasing fish populations is hard to come by.

“This is not the first time that people have talked about declines in fish catches, people were already talking about this as early as 1995,” said Nao Thuok, director general of fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Phnom Penh.

He confirmed that the fish catch declined in 2007 to about 12,500 tonnes, down from 28,000 tonnes in 2006, but added that 12,500 tonnes was the average before 2006 and that it was 2007 that was an unusual year. “There is some decrease in big fish but the total amount, especially small fish, is not declining.’

It sounds like, in addition to all the other pressures, commercial fishing ventures are netting a majority of the country’s  fish, leaving the little guys to starve — which is still terrible, but not quite the same as losing fish.

Six is a crowd

Meas Muth thinks five ECCC defendants is enough.

Meas Muth, a 70-year-old former Khmer Rouge division commander, would be a possible suspect under a wider indictment scheme. But he believes that charges against the leaders already in custody—Noun Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith, and Duch—are enough.

You don’t say?

Busting the unions

VOA reports on the garment industry’s latest union-bashing efforts.

Nearly 2,000 garment workers in Kandal province went on strike at one large factory Wednesday, demanding the return of eight fired union representatives.

The eight leaders, who represented the Free Trade Union, were fired after conflicts over memberships with leaders of a second union, the Khmer Youth Trade Union Alliance, Prum Kosal, a striking worker at Tai Yang Enterprise, told VOA Khmer by phone Wednesday.

“We must use our right to request the factory manager to allow the eight fired representatives to work normally,” he said. “If not, we will hold more strikes.”

Firing workers for their union activities is illegal. It is mind-boggling that the government would sit by and let foreigners mistreat local workers.

UPDATE: The Daily reports that the workers have stopped striking and both sides have agreed to arbitration. The fired workers have been reinstated pending the decision of the arbitrator.

Printing problems

The paperboy says “No Phnom Penh Post today. Printing press problems.”

UPDATE: Paper was just late, not a no-show, and started hitting newstands around lunchtime.

The pirate channel

Cambodia tops in Asian piracy.

On our travels we’ve seen plenty of vendors selling pirated DVDs. But in Cambodia they take piracy to a whole new level – they’ve got a cable TV station showing pirated movies!

The government is trying to tackle the problem.

Hoping for nothing

Ka-set surveys the prospects for Cambodian tourism.

Minister of Tourism Thong Khon recently told Ka-set that the number of tourists in January 2009 had “only” gone down by 2% compared to this time last year when 223,581 tourists, out of an annual total of 2.1 million, entered the Cambodian territory. Generally speaking for the year 2009, the Minister plans a growth rate situated between 0 and 2%, quoting predictions made by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO). However, small enterprises and those living on little jobs in that sector do not agree with the figures.

The government’s strategy will focus on tourists from the Asia-Pacific region, who now account for some 60 percent of all arrivals. The plan is not just to get more tourists to come, but to get those who do visit to stay longer. In addition to extending the period of validity for tickets to Angkor Wat, the government also says it will lower or abolish visa fees. As an initial response to the downturn, such efforts mark a tentative start, but the government promises more action to come. The faster the better.

Starbucks is coming to town

Jinja sees that The Place is advertising “Starbucks Coffee: Coming Soon,” and responds.

Starbucks built its brand by relentlessly squeezing small independent coffee shops out of operation. They have also been extremely aggressive in suppressing criticism and labor organization.

Starbucks should find itself right at home in Cambodia, where the Landcruiser set — always shiny black ones for locals, white ones for NGOS — will surely peel off a few too many greenbacks for the latest international novelty. At the same time, no true caffeine aficionado would stoop to Starbucks’s anonymous, American-strength blends when  potent regional varieties and world-class Italian roasts are so readily available. That would be like scoring your prahok from Lucky Supermarket.

POSTSCRIPT:  Jinja is trying to drum up interest in a Cambodian-specific response to the country’s increasing globalization. “Maybe what we need is something that highlights Khmer art and culture, that shows the world just how much is growing and changing,” he says, pointing to Amrita’s Khmeropedies II. “Sound like your kind of thing? Drop me a line via jinja@jweeks.net when you’re through with your coffee.”

UPDATE: The Post reports that this is not a legitimate Starbucks outlet.

Gang raped in Sihanoukville

The Cambodia Daily reported yesterday:

Police in Preah Sihanouk province are investigating the reported rape of a 28-year-old Irish tourist who told officers she was sexually assaulted sometime in the early morning hours, police said Sunday.

Tak Vantha, provincial police chief, said the victim was lat seen leaving a bar about 2 am Thursday with a man. Both, he said, reportedly appeared intoxicated. According to Tak Vantha, officers first learned of the crime about 4 pm when the woman, whom he said looked as if she was still drunk or drugged, came and reported the assault.

The Phnom Penh Post reported that police are investigating a group of men believed to be responsible for the attack.

Nuon Chea, a.k.a Runglert Laodi

VIA Pandevat: In excruciating detail, Thai political-science junkie Eiji Murashima documents the formative scholastic years of Nuon Chea, who from 1942 to 1950 studied in Bangkok under the name Runglert Laodi. If there is a point to the 20,000-word tomb, it seems to be that Nuon Chea did not get his wicked murderous ways from the peace-loving Thais.

Little or nothing about Nuon Chea’s Thailand times explain his radical and murderous policy choices when the Khmer Rouge were in power. These choices must have other roots, such as Nuon’s experiences while in Vietnam or after his return to Cambodia in 1955.

In scholarly circles, perhaps Murashima’s piece accounts for a significant contribution to the historical record. But to the average reader, Murashima’s piece is little more than a 20,000-word mea culpa admitting that years of research into Nuon Chea’s studies in Bangkok turned up nothing except what was already known.

In 1942 Nuon Chea left Battambang and went to live at Wat Benjamaborpit in Bangkok, where he “finished middle school, did the two-year preparatory course at Thammasat, then entered the university as a law student.” Nuon Chea never received his law degree. In 1950 he returned to Cambodia to fight against French imperialism.

‘The Disappeared’

Fiction with Cambodia as the backdrop.

The impossibility of closure after great crimes, no matter how many tribunals and truth-and-reconciliation commissions we may launch, is the subject of Toronto author Kim Echlin’s absorbing new novel, The Disappeared. Echlin, one of Canada’s finest prose stylists, approaches her subject with the delicacy and solemnity it deserves. In the end, though, it begs the question: Is a beautiful work of art, which The Disappeared certainly is, the appropriate response to a holocaust?

Echlin’s narrator is Anne Greeves, a middle-aged Montreal language instructor remembering her still raw-in-the-mind love affair with a Khmer exile 30 years before. She recalls Serey in the enraptured manner of the 16-year-old she was when she met him: besotted, helpless, aroused. The Disappeared takes its place with such other chronicles of female desire as Elizabeth Smart’s By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept or Pauline Reage’s The Story of O, here yoked to a history that makes it both larger and more keen.

Is beautiful art  the appropriate response to a holocaust? Of course it is. As reviewer Mark Medley writes:

Still, [the book's] heroine’s fell sexuality is a force for life not only in the extinguished world in which she finds herself but in the novel itself. The Disappeared presents desire as an antidote to despair. We may need one, if those who committed the crimes that make memorials like this one necessary continue to, all these years later, elude karma.

Social unrest

The Economist says the global economic downturn could lead to ‘pandemic’ unrest around the globe.

A leading British thinktank Friday warned of the “grave threat” of social unrest in response to the global recession over the next two years.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), in a paper published Friday, rated the risk of upheaval that could “disrupt economies and topple governments” as “high or very high” in 95 countries.

[...]

Top of the list of high-risk countries were Zimbabwe, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cambodia and Sudan.

The chances of the CPP government falling are zero. It controls everything, from the high office of prime minister down to every last village chief. Surely The Economist knows this.

Quote of the day

Vann Nath, speaking to Forbes writer Lawrence Osbourne.

“Pol Pot was always obsessed with the Cambodians disappearing as a race,” Van Nath said in the restaurant. “There was this racial hysteria about the Vietnamese, about the Khmers being conquered and assimilated. But during that whole time I kept wondering if the Khmers were simply destroying themselves. I wondered, how can we do this to ourselves? Is it self-hatred? Are we trying to wipe ourselves from the face of the earth?”

Hate is a cancer that kills from within. Vann Nath can see that. Some still cannot.

The Goya of cluelessness

Writing for Forbes, Lawrence Osbourne chimes his ignorant self in on the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

In the summer of 2008, I watched in disbelief as Leng Sary, the former foreign minister, was judged “unfit” to stand trial for mental health reasons. This year, it has been the turn of the sinister Ta Duch, the commandant of Tuol Sleng (“Ta,” meaning “uncle,” was a term used by the Khmer Rouge to designate senior regime officers).

The others on trial are Khieu Samphorn, the former nominal head of state; Noun Chea, Pol Pot’s deputy, and Chea’s wife, Ieng Thirith. But this month in Phnom Pehn I noticed that the papers were also filled with rumors that the UN was threatening to pull out of a trial seen as being manipulated by the nervous President Hun Sen.

A mistake or three is understandable, but this is just awful. Nearly everything is wrong.

Ieng Sary, not Leng, has never been declared unfit to stand trial. Duch has never been known as “Ta Duch.” (The author is no doubt confusing Duch with Ta Mok, the deceased KR military commander.) “Ta” translates to grandfather, not uncle. The term was in use long before Pol Pot and still exists in common usage today. It has nothing to do with senior Khmer Rouge leaders.

“Khieu Samphorn,” named misspelled, was indeed KR head of state — at least that much is correct — but Ieng Thirith is the wife of Ieng Sary, not Nuon Chea. As for papers filled with rumors of a U.N. pullout: porky pies. Osbourne is just making stuff up.

Angkor what?

Writing about Dengue Fever’s forthcoming album Sleepwalking Through the Mekong (set for release at Khmer New Year), SoundRoots plumbs the depths of American geosocial understanding.

In the US consciousness, Asia is a mix of mystery and factories and food. Japan is known for cars and sushi; China is known for cheap (sometimes tainted) products, action films, and rising global power; Korea’s got kimchi; India has curries and call centers; Vietnam has in increasing tourist draw replacing the post-war jitters; Indonesia has orangutans, giant lizards, and great chicken satay. And Cambodia? The land once ravaged by the Khmer Rouge has yet to emerge as a global player with a distinct identity.

Um, right. And those rocks in Siem Reap? What’s their name again?

Government bans obscene music while rapist go free

A pair of stories from The Phnom Penh Post this week highlight the vulgarity of impotent government. On Wednesday:

THE Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts has outlawed all songs with rude or obscene meanings. The proclamation, which immediately bans five popular Khmer songs, was made Friday and signed by Culture Minister Him Chhem.

[...]

The Minister of Women’s Affairs, Ing Kantha Phavi, applauded the announcement and said it could help to reduce the number of rapes and other sex crimes in the Kingdom. She said a cross-ministerial committee had been set up to look at songs and videos to encourage traditional cultural values and the promotion of women.

This is most ignorant thinking. Nobody ever turned into a rapists because of a song. Ever. Banning sexy music, or sexy clothes, or sexy video messages, will never slow the growing number of reported sex crimes. To do that, competent law enforcement is needed. Yet on that front, the government is missing in action. This is the real obscenity.

Government officials and civil society groups say instances of reported child sex abuse, including child rape, are on the increase. … But prosecutions and convictions are not the norm: Weak or corrupt law enforcement  and entrenched social attitudes mean that child sex abuse is under-reported and, if it is, frequently goes unpunished.

“We have heard from local police, telling us directly that they help rapists [escape prosecution] in order to get financial benefits to supplement their low salaries,” Eng Chhun Han, a Licadho coordinator in Pursat, told the Post.

It’s outrageous.

Trouble looms in banking sector

World Bank and IMF offer warnings of Big 9 failures.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund both warn that three of Cambodia’s nine largest banks are at risk of succumbing to the global financial crisis and a national recession.

Neither institution will name the banks in question, but both say new economic conditions in global finance have weakened Cambodia’s highly dollarized banking system.

Cambodia’s banks are at risk from a liquidity shortage, the slowdown of deposit growth and a rise in non-performing loans.

[...]

John Nelmes, IMF’s representative in Cambodia, told VOA Khmer in an interview Thursday that several of Cambodia’s banks are at risk. The banks are among the country’s nine largest, which together control nearly 90 percent of deposits.

“The risk in the banking system is now higher than previously,” Nelmes said. “The banking system is coming under increasing strain.”

Who will be first?

Ka-set goes ka-put

Barring a miracle, the days appear numbered for online magazine Ka-set.

Invoking hell #7, Ieng Thirith turns on Nuon Chea

Outspoken former Khmer Rouge Social Affairs Minister blames Nuon Chea for KR bloodshed.

“I must say that Noun Chea killed all my students,” said Ieng Thirith, 77, who was social affairs minister for the regime. She spoke in anger, hands shaking, in both English and Khmer.

[...]

“Noun Chea sent my students to Kaing Guek Eav to be killed,” she said. “Don’t accuse me of being a murderer, or you will be cursed to the seventh hell,” Ieng Thirith said, warning too that the international side in the courts “does not understand Cambodian internal affairs.”

This is a common refrain: that non-Cambodians could never understand Cambodian ways. Such sentiment seems to presume that, under certain conditions too complex for mere white people to grasp, it’s kosher to kill 2 million people.

But it’s not.

And it’s not just foreigners who have a hard time accepting such childish logic from an adult woman. Many Cambodians, too, find Ieng Thirith’s callow dismissals of responsibility more than just a bit disheartening, if not completely outrageous.

Cambodian art dazzles Hong Kong

‘‘Forever Until Now: Contemporary Art from Cambodia,’’ a multimedia installation, opens in Hong Kong.

The show, at the 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, along with several other events, marks a turning point for an international affirmation of Cambodian artistic life today. In December Cambodian artists will be represented for the first time at the sixth Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, Australia, and a few weeks before, the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial in Japan will again showcase the Southeast Asian nation.

[...]

“Forever” features video, photography, painting, sculpture and installations by 14 of Cambodia’s most important artists. It has something for everyone: decorative, serious, escapist and sophisticated.

‘‘When I went to visit in June, I could feel Cambodian art was at the beginning of something,’’ said de Tilly, and so she decided to document it. A longtime Hong Kong resident, she represents luminaries like Huang Rui, a leader of China’s 1980s avant-garde movement, and the American painter Julian Schnabel.

The Cambodian art scene has been thriving for a few years now. It’s nice to see the world finally taking note.

World Heritage proposition

The government wants to designate four more temples as World Heritage Monuments.

Kum Polin, a senior official at the Ministry of Culture, said the highest priority will be given to the 7th century Sambor Prei Kuk temple, located at what was once the country’s capital some 80 miles (128 kilometers) north of the current capital Phnom Penh.

[...]

The country will also nominate the Bantey Chhmar temple, built in the 12th and 13th centuries in northwestern Cambodia; the 13th century Nokor Bachey temple east of Phnom Penh; and Oudong, the country’s capital in the 17th and 18th centuries, 27 miles (45 kilometers) north of Phnom Penh.

Reading the criteria for World Heritage Status, it’s not so difficult to argue in favor of Sambor Prei Kuk — although compared to Angkor Wat and Preah Vihear, Prei Kuk is little more than a pile of rocks. As for the others, forget about it. None of them get within miles of “outstanding universal value,” the primary criterion for listing.

Wish the government good luck. It’s going to need it.

Black Monday

The global parasites of international finance have arrived.

The National Bank of Cambodia has selected Citi to provide global custodian services for its offshore investments.

[...]

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Cambodia had gross official foreign reserves of $2.5 million at the end of 2007.

“We are extremely confident that the global custody services provided by Citi will be of major benefit to the National Bank of Cambodia as we look to expand and diversify our investments offshore,” says central bank governor Chea Chanto. “Citi’s quality of services and experience regionally and globally will be key to our future plans.”

Plans for remaining poor. Here’s the NYT on the country’s newfound financial manager.

On Jan. 16, Citigroup capped a devastating 2008 by announcing an $8.29 billion fourth-quarter loss. The bank also said that its head count had been reduced by approximately 29,000 since the third quarter and approximately 52,000 for all of 2008. Citigroup’s loss, which amounts to $1.72 a share, compares with a loss of $9.8 billion, or $1.99 a share, in the period a year earlier. The company has reported a loss for five consecutive quarters, and the Jan. 16 announcement of a staggering $25.2 billion in write-offs and losses in both its consumer and investment bank for the latest period brought its total charges to $90 billion.

Things have improved slightly for Citi since then, but only just. The company’s stock price fell briefly below $1 last week, its board is still facing approximately $55 billion in writedowns over the next 18 months, and its future existence is nowhere near certain. That’s hardly the place you want to park $2.5 million.

Yet another visa scam

VIA The Post: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has discovered three web sites offering fake electronic travel visas.

1. CambodiaOnArrival.com
2. CambodiaEVisa.com
3. WeLoveCambodia.com

The latter two sites listed are painfully amateurish, and it’s hard to believe that any sober person would hand over his or her credit card details to either of them. By comparison, Cambodia On Arrival is very professional, with a slick, web 2.0 interface. None of the web sites currently appear capable of taking payments. The jig is apparently up.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the only genuine seller of e-visas to Cambodia. Their web site, http://www.mfaic.gov.kh/, is currently down.

It’s a good thing Cambodia doesn’t rely on tourism.

UPDATE: The Ministry’s web site is back online, including the original press release announcing the scams.

Welcome to The Backwater

Tech Radar discovers Cambodia.

With its jagged, pot-holed streets and swarms of begging children, visitors are often shocked at the poverty in Cambodia, widely considered Asia’s backwater behind Vietnam and China.

Shacks and slums are testament to a third of the population earning less than half a US dollar a day and Transparency International ranks the country, only recently freed from years of civil war, coups and rigged elections, as the 14th most corrupt in the world.

Cambodia, of course, is the only country in the world with potholes. Yet, as TR unearthed, amid all those bumpy rural roads, The Backwater also boasts the information superhighway, coffee shops, and bloggers. Imagine that.

Just after the Vietnamese left in 1989, Cambodia remained a country largely marked by decades of war. In the ensuing 20 years, however, the country has not stood still. Today there are shopping malls, international fast food chains, paved roads, coffee shops, internet, and other marvels of the 21st century. This should not come as a surprise.

Like the spiders of Skun, it’s long past time to put this cliché to rest.