Freightdog wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 5:18 pm It’s rather disappointing that some heavy handed enforcement and restrictions can be displayed when someone’s fragile ego takes a minor knock and insult in a news article, but nationwide, little is done to protect the nation’s fragile young from physical hard knocks and insult resulting in tragedy.

Maybe a change in priority is required?

IMO, change is coming, but very slowly. It requires a massive shift in thinking about priorities. This is a metaphor, but put bluntly, in Cambodia, the bigger you are, the more you have the natural right of way before others. That big thing can be a truck on the road that doesn't even look before squashing a tuktuk or even a little girl, or it can be someone who owns more, or otherwise has more clout, than the victim.

Face is important to what seems to be a ridiculous degree (to us), but it plays a part in cementing society here, and in keeping the present system in place, so is considered very important - especially by those people who think they should be respected by the hoi polloi. As foreigners, we automatically get some of this respect (generally speaking), and as an older person, I get respect for that, and because I have enough money to live on and pay other people, I also get respect for that from Cambodians.

Some other countries are the other way around, for example, in a lot of western countries, the locals look down on you if you are a foreigner, you get ignored or mistreated if you are old, and you get robbed and insulted if you look rich, or if you are a boss or landlord.
I can't speak for all expats, but this idea about "priorities in society" got me thinking.
Every society has their own priorites - some are for the communal good, and some are the fierce protection of the individual against the communal. Us humans are queer folk.