Archive: Aug 2020



STORY OF THE DAY • Aug 13, 2020 • 14 min read

Cambodia in Quarantine Holidays on hold

By Andrew Haffner • Aug 13, 2020
Tourists have clamoured to see the sights of Cambodia and, for years, business has moved to meet demand. But the sudden collapse of the global travel industry has brought an end to the party, with once-bustling towns like Siem Reap now lying dormant

STORY OF THE DAY • Aug 12, 2020 • 13 min read

Cambodia in Quarantine Hanging up the hard hat

By Andrew Haffner • Aug 12, 2020
With no building in Phnom Penh higher than four storeys only 20 years ago, Cambodia's capital and many provincial cities have seen explosive development. But with the hard hats hung up on many smaller projects in recent months, how sustainable is the boom?

STORY OF THE DAY • Aug 11, 2020 • 11 min read

Cambodia in Quarantine A return to the fields

By Andrew Haffner • Aug 11, 2020
Once the largest single industry in the Kingdom, Cambodia's agricultural sector has shrunk significantly with the growth of industrialisation. Now, with few other options as the economy stalls due to the pandemic, Cambodians are once again going to ground

Aug 11, 2020 • 8 min read
Cambodia in Quarantine

Finding a pulse

For centuries the Tonle Sap has been key to the Kingdom's fisheries and a source of nourishment for millions. Now, dams on the Mekong, negligence and climate change are changing history and threatening the Kingdom's food security
By Andrew Haffner • Aug 11, 2020

Aug 10, 2020 • 13 min read
Cambodia in Quarantine

Locking the factory doors

For decades the garment and footwear industry has fuelled Cambodia's economic miracle, with more than 900,000 workers employed by over 1,000 factories at its peak. But with the global economic shutdown, the factory lights are off and the doors locked
By Andrew Haffner and Kong Meta • Aug 10, 2020

Aug 10, 2020 • 5 min read
Thailand

Supercars and champagne: Bangkok’s rich purr through

The global pandemic has hit the pockets of the majority, but one minority remain unscathed with Thailand's wealthy elite finding their purse strings during Covid-19 as loose as ever
By Aidan Jones / AFP • Aug 10, 2020

Aug 07, 2020 • 7 min read
Analysis

The evidence around Cambodia’s microfinance debate

Following a recent op-ed attacking a report by rights organisation LICADHO highlighting the dangers of microfinance debt in Cambodia, researchers Sango Mahanty and W. Nathan Green set out to unravel the debate surrounding the controversial industry
By Sango Mahanty and W. Nathan Green • Aug 07, 2020

Aug 07, 2020 • 8 min read
Beer

The art of the brew: The story behind Cambodia’s first nanobrewery

Flowers Nanobrewery isn’t trying to break the Angkor monopoly on the Cambodian beer market, but the one-man, Japanese-run nanobrewery in Kampot is trying to preserve its distinct craft beer creations and identity
By Alexi Demetriadi • Aug 07, 2020

Aug 07, 2020 • 3 min read
Editorial

A homage to Molyvann

This week we pay homage to one-time visionary Cambodian state architect Vann Molyvann, whose home is up for sale in the capital Phnom Penh. Rather than preserving the site as the cultural monument that it is, it is being sold off to the highest bidder – with no guarantees over its conservation. Our Lead Editor Alastair McCready advocates for its preservation as a museum, a tool to educate the Kingdom's generations to come.
By Andrew Haffner • Aug 07, 2020

Aug 06, 2020 • 8 min read
Language

Saving the Malay Peninsula’s centuries-old Portuguese creole

On the Malay Peninsula, a small community of Portuguese creole speakers survives almost four centuries since the southern Europeans were expelled from the region. On the brink of extinction, there are people working to preserve this rare language and culture
By Lee Ying Shan • Aug 06, 2020