The changing face of Cambodia

Cambodia news in English! Here you'll find all the breaking news from Cambodia translated into English for our international readership and expat community to read and comment on. The majority of our news stories are gathered from the local Khmer newspapers, but we also bring you newsworthy media from Cambodia before you read them anywhere else. Because of the huge population of the capital city, most articles are from Phnom Penh, but Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, and Kampot often make the headlines as well. We report on all arrests and deaths of foreigners in Cambodia, and the details often come from the Cambodian police or local Khmer journalists. As an ASEAN news outlet, we also publish regional news and events from our neighboring countries. We also share local Khmer news stories that you won't find in English anywhere else. If you're looking for a certain article, you may use our site's search feature to find it quickly.
User avatar
John Bingham
Expatriate
Posts: 13674
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2014 11:26 pm
Reputation: 8892
Cambodia

Re: The changing face of Cambodia

Post by John Bingham »

Duncan wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 8:56 pm I have only been here since 2003, and there has been no war or fighting during that time which has stopped Cambodians from getting educated. There are qualified
dentists, doctors, lawyers, computer operators, maintenance people for ATM's ,,, if fact every trade imaginable. The lack of teachers caused by the KR has had no impact on those Cambodians from getting qualified and educated . Maybe that's why some people cannot get money from ATM's,,, because the KR killed all the teachers that knew all about ATM's and computers .
Back in the Sihanouk regime teachers were highly regarded and paid. That is no longer the case. After 1979 anyone who knew a little was employed to teach those who knew nothing. We've come a long way from there. It's not that there aren't enough qualified people to teach, it's that the sector has for decades been hugely underfunded. I've been at a whole lot of public schools around the capital and provinces because of work. While I can see improvements and some are very nice campuses, most are fairly basic. No windows, just bars, wooden desks with spaces for ink wells, a wonky fan or to if you are lucky but generally a very noisy environment hardly conducive to study. While many have extensive grounds and a lot of trees, they are often unkempt and at times muddy or knee deep in water. The standard curriculum has subjects like mathematics, communications, languages IT and science. How effectively they are taught is another matter, for example I don't believe many schools have science labs. That doesn't stop many very clever and gifted kids learning a lot though. Teacher's salaries are being raised and there are clear improvements but it will take a while. 8)
Silence, exile, and cunning.
explorer
Expatriate
Posts: 2417
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:37 pm
Reputation: 768
Australia

Re: The changing face of Cambodia

Post by explorer »

People keep blaming the war.

If you go to other South East Asian countries things are similar. If you blame the war, how do you explain the way things are in other South East Asian countries?

Europe had two world wars, which were devastating. If you use this logic, Europeans would have a good excuse for being stupid, but they are not (most of them).
## I thought I knew all the answers, but they changed all the questions. ##
cambo swa
Expatriate
Posts: 479
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2017 12:54 pm
Reputation: 189
Cambodia

Re: The changing face of Cambodia

Post by cambo swa »

All a very good analysis of a bad situation with different opinions but does what we think really matter, except for the purpose of discussion. Any of us can leave at anytime. 99% of Khmer cannot, no matter how may Chinese.
cambodianduck
Tourist
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2018 5:55 pm
Reputation: 4
Hong Kong

Re: The changing face of Cambodia

Post by cambodianduck »

explorer wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:12 am People keep blaming the war.

If you go to other South East Asian countries things are similar. If you blame the war, how do you explain the way things are in other South East Asian countries?

Europe had two world wars, which were devastating. If you use this logic, Europeans would have a good excuse for being stupid, but they are not (most of them).
Other wars did not did what khmer rouge did, KR focus on killing intellectuals. If you even wore spectacles, you will be killed. They will go to the extend of asking family members to contact their family from overseas to come back, once those people arrived, they are slaughtered.

KR wanted to reform the whole country again, eliminating all the intellectuals and "re-educate" the people with their own values. You can't have people with brains around to question your teaching or oppose you later on.

It is said intelligence of children is due to parents level of intelligence or genetics from family. Now the new generation are mostly from less educated cambodians which survived the war, and most of them did nothing for many years during and after the war. Most have the mentality of just going by the day only, meaning earning enough daily just to feed themselves or family, not even bothered to try harder or do something more because they feel why bother, if war happens again, everything is going to reset again. Ask older khmer generations if they feel or fear there is another war coming, they will let you know that a war is totally possible.

Which is why during the elections on 2013, a lot did not went to vote, they rather prepare to escape or have already left the country. 2013 have the lowest voter turnout in history of Cambodia. They fear Sam Rainsy will spark war if he wins the government. If you guys were around during that period, you would remember Lucky and other supermarkets had their grocery sections emptied by people stockpiling. When it was close to election results announcement you would remember gas stations was filled with unusual long queues, ATM machines too.

Most Cambodians still fear the uncertainty after elections, which is why most would prefer to vote the current government despite whatever the media says or what happens in or to the country, they would prefer a stable and safe life. People with lack of motivation tend to be misunderstood as lazy but most cambodians are not lazy, they just don't see what is the point of doing more.
User avatar
frank lee bent
Expatriate
Posts: 11330
Joined: Sat May 17, 2014 4:10 am
Reputation: 2094
United States of America

Re: The changing face of Cambodia

Post by frank lee bent »

It takes more than one generation to select for these factors, and education is not a heritable trait.
User avatar
phuketrichard
Expatriate
Posts: 16790
Joined: Wed May 14, 2014 5:17 pm
Reputation: 5733
Location: Atlantis
Aruba

Re: The changing face of Cambodia

Post by phuketrichard »

cambodianduck wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 6:24 pm
explorer wrote: Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:12 am People keep blaming the war.

If you go to other South East Asian countries things are similar. If you blame the war, how do you explain the way things are in other South East Asian countries?

Europe had two world wars, which were devastating. If you use this logic, Europeans would have a good excuse for being stupid, but they are not (most of them).
Other wars did not did what khmer rouge did, KR focus on killing intellectuals. If you even wore spectacles, you will be killed. They will go to the extend of asking family members to contact their family from overseas to come back, once those people arrived, they are slaughtered.

KR wanted to reform the whole country again, eliminating all the intellectuals and "re-educate" the people with their own values. You can't have people with brains around to question your teaching or oppose you later on.

It is said intelligence of children is due to parents level of intelligence or genetics from family. Now the new generation are mostly from less educated cambodians which survived the war, and most of them did nothing for many years during and after the war. Most have the mentality of just going by the day only, meaning earning enough daily just to feed themselves or family, not even bothered to try harder or do something more because they feel why bother, if war happens again, everything is going to reset again. Ask older khmer generations if they feel or fear there is another war coming, they will let you know that a war is totally possible.

Which is why during the elections on 2013, a lot did not went to vote, they rather prepare to escape or have already left the country. 2013 have the lowest voter turnout in history of Cambodia. They fear Sam Rainsy will spark war if he wins the government. If you guys were around during that period, you would remember Lucky and other supermarkets had their grocery sections emptied by people stockpiling. When it was close to election results announcement you would remember gas stations was filled with unusual long queues, ATM machines too.

Most Cambodians still fear the uncertainty after elections, which is why most would prefer to vote the current government despite whatever the media says or what happens in or to the country, they would prefer a stable and safe life. People with lack of motivation tend to be misunderstood as lazy but most cambodians are not lazy, they just don't see what is the point of doing more.
AS to explorer statement, more BS, one cant compare ww 1 & 2 to the genocide that went on by the KR
If you go to other South East Asian countries things are similar.
HUH?
what other countries in SE asa did the people attempt to wipe out a whole class of people?

I was there photographing and it was the first elections the students were out in force, they were driving around PPin parades 2 days in advance of the elections.
It might have been the lowest turn out BUT it was the worst loss for the CPP and the fewest seats they had since 1998
The ruling CPP party received 48.83% of the votes, earned 68 seats, while the CNRP party won 55 seats with 44.46% of the vote. By losing 22 seats from the previous election, the CPP earned the fewest percentage of seats that it has had in the National Assembly since 199
i saw no stores closed, saw no hording,( some sections did not have anything to sell cause the dealers did not bring produce into the city.) it was more of a festive atmosphere in the city an outside
not sure where you were, but it was NOT in Phnom Penh

Your last paragraph i partially agree with, but it was not really an election when there was no other party to vote for LOL
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. HST
User avatar
John Bingham
Expatriate
Posts: 13674
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2014 11:26 pm
Reputation: 8892
Cambodia

Re: The changing face of Cambodia

Post by John Bingham »

Yeah, I have to agree. I have been here for a few elections and don't recall any notable amount of hording or stockpiling during the 2013 ones. I did get some extra razor wire put up though.
Silence, exile, and cunning.
User avatar
Ravensnest
Expatriate
Posts: 773
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2018 6:42 pm
Reputation: 318
Contact:
United States of America

Re: The changing face of Cambodia

Post by Ravensnest »

phuketrichard wrote: Mon Apr 29, 2019 7:15 pm
maybe some one can confirm, have been told that khmers, 6-15 dont learn history, science or geography.
True or not??
Absolutely not true.
Still here, in country...
User avatar
CEOCambodiaNews
Expatriate
Posts: 62322
Joined: Sun Oct 12, 2014 5:13 am
Reputation: 4033
Location: CEO Newsroom in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Contact:
Cambodia

Re: The changing face of Cambodia

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

A SEA Globe article from 2008 shows the changing face of speculation, land grabs, and "investment" in Sihanoukville and the islands. It was republished this week online. Well worth the read.

From our print archive: In the 18 months leading up to 2008, almost half of Cambodia had been leased to foreign speculators – and many who fled the Khmer Rouge are homeless once more
Cathy Scott-Clark, Adrian Levy and Peter Harris
June 25, 2019
Cambodia for sale

Editor’s note: This week, Cambodia has come together in mourning for the deaths of 28 people trapped in the wreckage of an illegal development in the coastal city in Sihanoukville. The collapse came at the height of more than a decade of unchecked and often unregulated development along Cambodia’s coast as international investors raised up scores of hotels and casinos on land rented from local landowners. In August 2008, Southeast Asia Globe investigated the scramble for Sihanoukville’s ever-more-valuable land as Russian oligarchs and local tycoons alike carved up Cambodia’s coast in the hopes of raking in major profits – often at the local people’s expense. Now, for the first time, you can read that story online.
Article: https://southeastasiaglobe.com/cambodia-for-sale/
Join the Cambodia Expats Online Telegram Channel: https://t.me/CambodiaExpatsOnline

Cambodia Expats Online: Bringing you breaking news from Cambodia before you read it anywhere else!

Have a story or an anonymous news tip for CEO? Need advertising? CONTACT US

Cambodia Expats Online is the most popular community in the country. JOIN TODAY

Follow CEO on social media:

Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram
User avatar
SINUS
Expatriate
Posts: 1218
Joined: Mon May 27, 2019 11:42 pm
Reputation: 1217
Russia

Re: The changing face of Cambodia

Post by SINUS »

xandreu wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 9:19 am For all the cynicism of Chinese investment, (some quite rightly justified), at least it's bringing one of the poorest countries in the world into the modern era, and if they can create a thriving tourism industry out of it, why not?
So let them invest in their own country!
and do not climb with their dirty money around the world, killing him.
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Amazon [Bot], crackheadyo, drozd, Gazzy, Ingvar 7788, paul2d, Spigzy and 745 guests