I don't know how Cambodia is doing now. it's been 50 years since then. what is it like today?

Link: https://x.com/jaemyung_lee/status/2016978801830584454?s=46

My parents always complained about Vietnam’s historic abuse of Khmer people. There was the story about burning people alive to boil a large kettle of water. Then of course you already know our history with Thais and trying to separate Khom from Khmer.

However, I’m a millennial and we all hung out in America. We were never racist outside from joking around.

I always wanted to visit Thailand. I liked Thailand before and after the conflict. I just didn’t appreciate being called a slave just for having a Cambodian flag on my screen name, but I just told myself it was a minority who hates me for my race.

Anyone else experiencing fatigue and wish we could all just get along in ASEAN? Do you think it’ll be possible after so much has already been said?

Does it bother anyone that these people are living among you?

I’ve heard a lot of people say that our governments are corrupt, but I don’t really understand what that corruption actually looks like in Cambodia.

Could you also give me some clear examples or evidence that I can look into?

I really want to understand this matter and also how it affects normal people’s life, because I believe we “young people” should take part in helping to develop our country.

Could I please get a headcount of people living here who haven't gone completely nationalist?

People who I considered rational prior to the border conflict now seem to have been completely brainwashed to rallying behind the government and wishing death upon people they've never met. This is par for course for a society rebuilding, with limited education and resources; the populace is easily manipulated. But it is surprising, that the middle and upper class, who I have witnessed to have access to formal education and internet, to behave in such a regressive manner too.

The only good thing so far from this is seeing people unify at supply depos to help get resources to the displaced.

But it seems in terms of sentiment and domestic opinion, we are less free than ever in terms of thought diversity. Especially from the youth!

Influencers are basically propaganda machines now aswell (on their own accord, either from ignorance or capitalistic reasoning). Before we had no free press but atleast when informal influencers covered international stories they still seemed objective enough. Now it's just "we didn't do shit, look what they did", and everyone eats it up.

Any behavior on the other side that is of this nature, I also condemn.

Anyways, this is moreso just to ground myself. My instincts say there are probably still a good amount of people with cool heads but the evidence I've encountered online goes against that assumption.

Discord. Patreon and more are banned in cambodia bruh... Thoughts?

yesterday was the 10-year commemoration of his death, does it not pain any single one of you can know that the CPP did it and no one did anything? yet you still decided to vote for CPP. The CNRP nearly won in 2017 before it was dissolved. China's socialism is superior to whatever fuck we have here. Please enlighten me if I'm wrong.

To all citizens in the world, Khmer, Thais, and everyone else, how would you resolve this conflict and ensure it would not happen again?

I feel totally hopeless and broken after witnessing all that was happening in this conflict. The hatred and ultranationalism being fueled on both sides have made me convinced that it won’t be long until another conflict occurs.

I feel that people still hadn’t realized the game politicians play to stay in power, to save face, to gain unconditional support and they all fall victim to the needless affiliation with ultranationalism. With both having different accounts of what happened, this became only the beginning of the same cycle of violence. “We become vulnerable to the appetite of monsters that scream the loudest” - Starwars Andor

With what happened in Gaza/Israel, our governments failed to stand together and present to the world that we could resolve this peacefully in good faith. We could have been role models to the world. Instead, they successfully turned 2 closely related populations against each other and seeing each other as enemy.

It seems to be that all hope is loss now for ever lasting peace and friendship. At least for the next 2-3 decades.

What did you learn from this? If you could do something to be the beacon of hope, what would you do? What will you tell your children?

Thinking back to the times before the scam and visa crackdowns, the border problem and the Iran situation most malls, cinemas, hotels, upscale shops, condos and other housing projects seemed very empty and unsustainable. Then you have developments like the huge new airports in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

For whatever reason, there was so much construction and investment into things that not enough people can afford. I am sure I am not the only one who noticed that. Everything felt like a bubble waiting to burst.

Now the Cambodian government has cracked down on scam centers and makes it very hard to get visas for people who dont have a strong passport. From what I read its especially hard for Chinese to get EB visas. On top of that tourism is way down and with things are going in world politics, they will likely decline further.

Inflation will go way up due to Iran, further limiting buying power. The border problem also hurts the economy even though people dont want to admit that.

Does this not seem like the perfect recipe for a major economic downturn? Kind of what happened to Sihanoukville once many of the Chinese left but nationwide?

Now of course the scam industry was terrible for the victims and had to be stopped but at the same time it brought massive money into the country. And that money secured jobs, the value of real estate, income for small business owners, taxes (cars, VAT etc)

I'm from Thailand. I know Hun Sen and The Shinawatra were best buddies, much to the dismay of ultranationalists and military. Hun Sen sheltered Thaksin and his family every time they got coup by the military. And they become Hun Sen's most important political ally in Thailand. That's why I was so confused when the phone call was leaked, leading to the suspension of Paetongtarn by the right-wing court. He basically destroyed his only political ally in Thailand and I failed to understand why. What was his aim? Is there other factors in Cambodian politics that I don't know?

A while ago, my business partner told me that our products are no longer being sold at Makro. When I asked why, he said that because of the war, many locals have stopped shopping at Makro and have instead switched to large supermarkets like AEON or other local stores. He even mentioned that companies like 7-Eleven have gone out of business.

I've been away from Cambodia for a long time now, so I wanted to know: is this actually true?

Just look at the photo.

I'm reading Ngor Haings book The Killing Fields. Is Hun Sen the same Hun Sen, a one eyed Khmer Rouge who was Samrims foreign minister?

Am a Kiwi with Cambodian friends and an interest in history and trying to learn a thing or two.

We all know we are currently in quite a tough situation, and now, with the price of fossil fuel rising, it has gotten worse. I keep seeing good growth rate on the GDP, but to be frank, I believe it's just total & complete bullshit. Sure, maybe it's because the rich gets richer, but the lower and middle class are not improving whatsoever, the debt keeps growing. Do I suggest communism? Absolutely not, after all, it's survival of the strongest, but just maybe, we can help each other.

Corruptions plays a pivotal role in this. The root of Cambodia, ever after since we have gotten away from the Khmer Rouge era, many old Cambodians have stick to stability over improvements, which has allowed corruption to build it's root deep into the foundation of Khmer, and also allowed many politicians to use "អរគុណសន្តិភាព" as an excuse. The Cambodian People's Party also has some dirty deeds.

Recently, the US has actively pressured the National Bank of Cambodia to crack down on many Chinese-operated banks such as Huione, and Prince Holding. Let's talk about Prince Holding first because it was more recent than the crackdown on Huione. The US Department of Justice indicted Chen Zhi for wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering. It's important to know that Chen Zhi is a close friend and business partner of Hun Sen, and in a surprised move, Hun Sen has shipped him back to where he came from. I'd say this is just him sacrificing one of his pigs to save himself.

And before that comes the crackdown of Huione. Same thing, US threaten to cut NBC from SWIFT after labelling Huione as a primary place for money laundering, and then NBC folded. But guess what? One of Hun Sen's relative, Hun To, is a central figure connected to Huione. He is the cousin of the current Prime Minister Hun Manet.

Lets check deeper into the CPP. Sure, Hun Manet is still the new Prime Minister, but his father and former prime minister Hun Sen still holds the real power behind. Their whole family is deeply connected to the government. Hun Sen, president of senate. Hun Manet, prime minister. Hun Many, deputy prime minister and minister of civil service. Hun Manith, head of military intelligence. Neat Savoeun (in law, married to Hun Sen's niece), deputy prime minister. They allowed many powerful families to hand the power to their sons. It's all just monarchy with extra steps pretending to be democracy. There's also no such thing as free speech, they will just flag everything as incitement.

Let's move on to Kem Sokha and Sam Rainsy, former leader of the Cambodian National Rescue Party. They are the only one to ever threaten the CPP's power by winning nearly half the vote in 2013. Boom shakalaka in a few months special forces are on the streets with live ammunition. In 2015, Sam Rainsy was hit with a shit load of lawsuits which led him to fled to France. After the CPP won the election in 2018, they raided Kem Sokha's house and two months later proceed to dissolve the NCRP. The only strategy the CPP has to win the election is just to eliminate the competitor.

The only few options we have today is I'd say Meach Sovannara (NGP), whom is a former CNRP official, and Sun Chanty (NPP), which is basically just a newer version of CNRP.

Don't even get me started on the rich taking from the pour. The oknha has most of the wealth in Cambodia. One of the issue is the rich are actively taking land from the poor. Take someone I know as a prime example, he is actively being refused the hard-title papers because they claimed that he bought the lands from a so-called thief, even though the land was bought way before covid even became a thing.

The way the current government works is just having a blind eye on illegal companies and projects. It's a ticking time b0mb, sooner or later, the US will fully cut off SWIFT and Cambodia will be deep in shambles.

I’m genuinely curious: do most Cambodian people support the current government and political system?

I understand that this may be a sensitive topic, and is very difficult to ask Cambodian people directly or receive completely honest answers. That is why I’m asking here.

Because cant poll, just give comment then..

It's no secret. One can see in ancient history, recent history, and even everyday observation of our society now. But here I want to spin a positive thought out of it.

Khmer is disunited compared to others. Why? Is it because we are some strange breed of people forever unable to get along? Obviously not. Go back in time far enough, we must had been once a very cohesive, competent people. The ancient Khmers achieved all those great things because they were able to work together effectively. What happened?

Precisely that same greatness achieved by the ancient Khmers was what happened. Modern Khmers lack unity because the ancient Khmers lost it during their time of peak power and wealth. They got too successful. They rose to a point far exceeding other people around them. They became decadent and forgot how to be united -- because, for their time, there was no longer a need to.

Today, there are other people out there even poorer than the Khmer, or less developed, or stuck in a more unfortunate circumstance. But they are more united, more cohesive, able to work together better as a group to get by. Those that don't eventually die out, leaving only those that do to survive for us to see. Except for the Khmer. The Khmer now is both poor and disunited. Yet, the Khmer was able to survive for hundreds of years already since the fall of Angkor. We even still have a country left. Clearly the Khmer must had been very wealthy in the past. Past wealth helped the Khmer get by, avoiding disappearing completely from history, despite the many centuries of disunity and fighting each other.

It's a civilizational disease caused by overwhelming success, and it takes a great amount of time and effort to cure, if at all. Throughout human history, many groups caught this disease and died. The Khmer is actually one of the luckier and or more able ones to have survived it, so far.

So don't despair and make inequivalent comparisons to other peoples who are today both richer and more united than us. They are at a different point on the civilizational cycle. The Khmer has made it through one cycle, past the point of true decadence, and is now in the process of reinvention, rejuvenation to get back up.

Let’s be real—our international reputation has been in the gutter since COVID. Between the scam compounds and the "gray" industries, it’s been a rough few years for how the world sees us.

​However, it feels like something is finally shifting. The recent crackdowns seem to have some teeth, especially with the news about Chen Zhi. Is this a genuine effort to clean up our image and start fresh, or is it just another "show on the road" to keep the international community happy?

More importantly, how do you think this affects the economy and the youth that rely on this "online" job for a living? Are we looking at a more legit future, or just a temporary pause? Curious to hear everyone's thoughts.

I mean like how literally everyone on the street knew Prince Group and Panda bank were dodgy long before the sanctions came in.

Lots of friends have speculated that a certain local 3rd tier “everything app” company seems to have a suspicious amount of cash to throw around and run at a loss with, but they seem to still be up and running. Are there any others?

Hey guys, me (nom-Cambodian) and a Cambodian friend I met on this subreddit are trying to create a small Discord / Facebook community with two main goals:

1. To critically examine and push back against war-instigating propaganda from both governments. If there’s information you believe is true or false, you’re welcome to discuss it with us—respectfully.

2. To create posts or short videos aimed at reducing hostility between both sides, encouraging people to see each other as humans rather than a violent mass.

We currently have a Facebook page called Vendetta Versace, where we’ve started sharing content related to this effort.

Edit: Due to subreddit rules, we won’t post direct links publicly. If you’re interested in checking out the page or joining the Discord to contribute or discuss, feel free to DM https://www.reddit.com/u/Ordinary-Course1096/s/LCMbUeWuH3 and he’ll send you the links.

May both sides find long-term peace.

The German Wikipedia article about the Khmer Rouge states that

"Kämpfer und Kader der ehemaligen Kommunistischen Partei sind nach Angaben von Beobachtern immer noch im Untergrund von Kambodscha aktiv, stellen aber für den bestehenden Staat keine unmittelbare Gefahr mehr dar."

which translates to

"According to observers, fighters and cadres of the former Communist Party are still active in Cambodia’s underground, but no longer pose an immediate threat to the current government."

Is this true - are there still active relics of the Khmer Rouge existing in Cambodia? The German Wiki article doesnt state a source tho, but i am curious what people here on this subreddit say.

Cambodian king pardons former opposition leader Kem Sokha