You cannot speak out with a banana in your mouth
July 20, 2016 1:34 PM   Subscribe

Kem Ley, a popular political commentator and critic of Cambodian PM Hun Sen's regime, was shot dead last week while getting his morning coffee (tw: image with gunshot wounds). After over three decades in power, could this spell the end for the ruling Cambodian People's Party? Mu Sochea, an opposition leader and human rights activist, makes the case in a NYT op-ed.

Young analysts and students of Kem Ley have vowed to continue their mentor's work, particularly in the provinces.

In the weeks before his death, Kem Ley posted 19 short political "jokes" to his Facebook page, with the intention to publish 99 together as a book at the end of the year. A few have been translated to English. The allegories contained animals and oddly-named villagers as stand ins for government leaders. The alleged murderer's pseudonym, "Chuop Samlap" or "Meet Kill," has led some to speculate that those behind the attack were angered by Ley's fables.

Just days before, Kem Ley appeared on Radio Free Asia to discuss a recent exposé by Global Witness, Hostile Takeover (summary, full PDF report). The report "shed[s] light on a huge network of secret deal-making and nepotism that emanates from the Hun family and underpins the Cambodian economy."
posted by cichlid ceilidh (9 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 


"I feel there is also likely something going on there we may not learn until Obama is long out of office."

going out on a limb to say no.
posted by clavdivs at 2:22 PM on July 20, 2016


In case you don't click through to it, 'you cannot speak out with a banana in your mouth' is a Khmer saying relevant to one of Ley's allegories.
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 3:16 PM on July 20, 2016


A beloved activist’s murder could plant a seed of democracy in Cambodia

I don't share the writer's optimism. Cambodia has made much progress under 31 years of Hun Sen, however not very much of that has been in the arena of human rights or democracy, and I can't see any prospect of change. It is convenient for Sen to have an opposition - just not one that can do anything.

Indeed I think it could be argued Cambodia represents one of the worst oligarchies/plutocracies in Asia, per your Global Witness link. Note how quickly the Sen regime's corrupt business interests link in to Western companies. This occurs all over the world, and I think sadly few people realise the way our western companies directly and deliberately profit from illegal and corrupt dealings in developing countries like this. There's a patina of deniability on everything, but a light scratch, and it flakes off like cheap gilt.
posted by smoke at 5:38 PM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]


Smoke, it looks like the link you wanted to post didn't register. Like you, I'm doubtful that #thistimeisdifferent or that Kem Ley's death truly marks a turning point. That being said, from my time living there and the truly remarkable people I met, I can't help but hold out hope that some of the positive changes we continue to see will pay dividends. Of course, so much is intertwined with the whole Greater Mekong region, plus the China v. Japan FDI war of influence.
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 6:24 PM on July 20, 2016


Oops! Thanks, cichlid. It certainly is "interesting times" for SE Asia at the moment.
posted by smoke at 6:33 PM on July 20, 2016


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posted by dorothyisunderwood at 11:16 PM on July 20, 2016


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posted by waninggibbon at 1:19 AM on July 21, 2016


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posted by cendawanita at 2:21 AM on July 21, 2016


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