Kammekor wrote: ↑Thu Oct 06, 2022 6:03 pm

phnompenhsteve wrote: ↑Thu Oct 06, 2022 5:54 pm Exactly. People who are like "the government should revoke the visas of those who used an agent" are obviously new to Cambodia. hahaha

xandreu wrote: ↑Wed Oct 05, 2022 5:26 pm I had an issue a while back where I had obtained a work permit through an agent. When it came up for renewal, I decided to do it myself, but I was told it had to be done online and was given the website. When I tried to make an account, it said that an account for me already existed and I should just log in instead. Clearly, the agent had created an account for me when I first got my work permit, so I contacted the agent and asked them for my password, but they would not give it to me. They kept giving me excuse after excuse and I soon realised that they were deliberatly not giving it to me because they wanted me to go through them again, and not do it myself.

There was no 'forgot password?' option on the website, and even if there were. they would have emailed it to the agents email address, not mine. I was in a catch-22 situation. But. not one to sit back and allow myself to be ripped off, I took a Khmer friend to the MoL and explained the situation to one of the agents there.

He said he couldn't reset my password, but he could get me a new work permit without having to go through the agent. If I paid him. Directly to him. No forms, no medical check-up, just a copy of my passport and a sum of money that was about $10 less than if I had gone through the agent again.

I reluctantly agreed and have since learned that this is just the way things work here. Everything is designed to be done either through agents, or people 'in the know'. The system is simply not set up to do things yourself. It may appear that way, but it's not in practice. Everybody wants their 'cut'.

This was a few years ago and I have used the same guy ever since. Things may have changed in the intervening years, I haven't bothered to check to be honest.

This thread is woke, full off good intentions, and a person has effectively been cancelled for life by it.

Fit's the 'zeitgeist'.

Do not get me started again.. what you want to do? Start a gofundme?!

NotYourUncle wrote: ↑Thu Oct 06, 2022 6:08 pm

Kammekor wrote: ↑Thu Oct 06, 2022 6:03 pm

phnompenhsteve wrote: ↑Thu Oct 06, 2022 5:54 pm Exactly. People who are like "the government should revoke the visas of those who used an agent" are obviously new to Cambodia. hahaha

xandreu wrote: ↑Wed Oct 05, 2022 5:26 pm I had an issue a while back where I had obtained a work permit through an agent. When it came up for renewal, I decided to do it myself, but I was told it had to be done online and was given the website. When I tried to make an account, it said that an account for me already existed and I should just log in instead. Clearly, the agent had created an account for me when I first got my work permit, so I contacted the agent and asked them for my password, but they would not give it to me. They kept giving me excuse after excuse and I soon realised that they were deliberatly not giving it to me because they wanted me to go through them again, and not do it myself.

There was no 'forgot password?' option on the website, and even if there were. they would have emailed it to the agents email address, not mine. I was in a catch-22 situation. But. not one to sit back and allow myself to be ripped off, I took a Khmer friend to the MoL and explained the situation to one of the agents there.

He said he couldn't reset my password, but he could get me a new work permit without having to go through the agent. If I paid him. Directly to him. No forms, no medical check-up, just a copy of my passport and a sum of money that was about $10 less than if I had gone through the agent again.

I reluctantly agreed and have since learned that this is just the way things work here. Everything is designed to be done either through agents, or people 'in the know'. The system is simply not set up to do things yourself. It may appear that way, but it's not in practice. Everybody wants their 'cut'.

This was a few years ago and I have used the same guy ever since. Things may have changed in the intervening years, I haven't bothered to check to be honest.

This thread is woke, full off good intentions, and a person has effectively been cancelled for life by it.

Fit's the 'zeitgeist'.

Do not get me started again.. what you want to do? Start a gofundme?!

It's hard to sit back, look from a distance, do some introspection.... Isn't it?

Come on, start the blame game.
[edit]
wonder which part of my post triggered you. Must have been the word 'woke', right?

Alright, so I got some details about what is really happening.

Teacher Michael is actually a very ditsy and dumb character. From his understanding, he thought that this would all "blow over" within a week. What he did was tell his circle of friends to spread the myth that he fled to Malaysia. In reality, he is still living here in Phnom Penh directly across from IFL. Once the Khmer Times article was made, he is now considering actually fleeing the country. This means that, since he is still in the country, the police could actually take some action against this narcissist.

This whole incident came to fruition because he made a video making fun of people riding on the sidewalks instead of the road. When he was told that these large SUVs took up the majority of roads, he decided to double down and say that people were being idiots for riding on the sidewalk. He also had some post where he would "speak Khmer" but ban users who asked him to try to read or use Google translate. His whole brand is because of this country where he is literally an immigrant. He thought he had this shield because of his influence with the talk shows that he appeared on, the US Embassy post, and him being an official "Nyam24" ambassador.

To summarize, he made a very dumb post about traffic in Cambodia which triggered him being "outed" as a groomer. He made a video on TikTok, admitting that he actually sent those messages. After deleting his social media accounts, he told his group of "friends" that he fled to Malaysia which was enough to make national headlines ( https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501163939/ ... hnom-penh/ ). He was so dumb to make these decisions and remains here in Phnom Penh, now possibly thinking about leaving. The police or US government should take swift action on him soliciting minors in lieu of tuition payment or otherwise.

((Yes, this is a new account. I was trying to think of something funny and thought of this user name even though the province's name is pronounce Battambong, not Battambang))

Jerry Atrick wrote: ↑Wed Oct 05, 2022 3:43 pm About time; hopefully a few more publications run with this

Now in the Khmer Times ...
October 6, 2022
English teacher flees to Malaysia after dismissal for ‘serious misconduct’ from international school in Phnom Penh

Michael Strahan. Supplied
Flamboyant internet celebrity and english teacher Michael Strahan – aka ‘Teacher Michael’ – is reported to have fled to Malaysia after being dismissed from his teaching post at a prestigious Phnom Penh international school last week.

The US citizen was dismissed from his post at the Australian Centre for Education (ACE) on Friday after a series of screenshots of messages between Strahan and a former pupil emerged on social media on the 27th of September.

In the leaked screenshots, Strahan openly flirts with the young former student, asking him to ‘let me know when you’re 18” and states that he is ‘Kinda crushing on you’.

In answer to the student’s questions about a scholarship, Strahan answers ‘I can help you with money. You have to date me though’.
The leaked messages range over a 3 year period.

[CEO News: There is seemingly no new information in this KT article published today (6 Oct), as this has already been posted on Cambodian expat forums and discussed for some time now; even their report that Strahan has (allegedly) fled to Malaysia seems to be based on an unconfirmed forum comment, but the full article is here to read] : https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501163939/ ... hnom-penh/

Big Daikon wrote: ↑Fri Oct 07, 2022 4:11 am
The person was fired for inappropriate actions. A just move imho.

(I teach adults and was told we would be fired for dating students. The potential for exploitation and abuse is too great.)

Yes, the fact he was fired was a just move.
But the fact he's now branded as a full blown pedophile, possibly spreading HIV to his students on purpose, is not right, IMHO.

And about you teaching adults, I would fire you too if you dated/texted with one of your adult students. It's the fact you're in a teacher-student relationship with that person what makes it wrong. It's wrong no matter the age of the student.
But if you dated one student that would be no reason for an online hate campaign effectively destroying your whole life.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Thu Oct 06, 2022 11:21 pm

Kammekor wrote: ↑Thu Oct 06, 2022 6:03 pm

phnompenhsteve wrote: ↑Thu Oct 06, 2022 5:54 pm Exactly. People who are like "the government should revoke the visas of those who used an agent" are obviously new to Cambodia. hahaha

xandreu wrote: ↑Wed Oct 05, 2022 5:26 pm I had an issue a while back where I had obtained a work permit through an agent. When it came up for renewal, I decided to do it myself, but I was told it had to be done online and was given the website. When I tried to make an account, it said that an account for me already existed and I should just log in instead. Clearly, the agent had created an account for me when I first got my work permit, so I contacted the agent and asked them for my password, but they would not give it to me. They kept giving me excuse after excuse and I soon realised that they were deliberatly not giving it to me because they wanted me to go through them again, and not do it myself.

There was no 'forgot password?' option on the website, and even if there were. they would have emailed it to the agents email address, not mine. I was in a catch-22 situation. But. not one to sit back and allow myself to be ripped off, I took a Khmer friend to the MoL and explained the situation to one of the agents there.

He said he couldn't reset my password, but he could get me a new work permit without having to go through the agent. If I paid him. Directly to him. No forms, no medical check-up, just a copy of my passport and a sum of money that was about $10 less than if I had gone through the agent again.

I reluctantly agreed and have since learned that this is just the way things work here. Everything is designed to be done either through agents, or people 'in the know'. The system is simply not set up to do things yourself. It may appear that way, but it's not in practice. Everybody wants their 'cut'.

This was a few years ago and I have used the same guy ever since. Things may have changed in the intervening years, I haven't bothered to check to be honest.

This thread is woke, full off good intentions, and a person has effectively been cancelled for life by it.

Fit's the 'zeitgeist'.

Yeah, we should go easy on self-admitted child groomers in schools. Don't want to be too woke here. Own the libs.

There's an endless continuum between cancelling one's life and going easy. I don't know which of my posts makes you think I'm on the 'going easy' side. He's rightfully fired, and as a consequence should not work in education for a long time, maybe the rest of his life.