Foreword to this blog:
The main story in this blog was written in August 2017, and then as if I had yet again tempted fate, certain things came to pass. Therefore I have added an update regarding the arrest of Opposition Leader Kem Sokha; a surprising exchange I have had with his daughters, and my response to a strange piece in the Khmer Times. (Also at end of blog.)
Cambodians
love dancing in formation, but will they dance to the ruling party's
tune in 2018?
“Problem of
understanding how modern rebellions come about is the reporting of
them”
So coined Peter
Beaumont of the Guardian in 2011. His article
helps to explain the onslaught on media in Cambodia today. The ruling party thinks if no reporting, no rebellion! Let's
examine the context starting with a personal digression.
A
lot of things happen to me over a beer. Back
in 1997 one Saturday afternoon, overlooking Lake Malawi with the
mountains of Tanzania and Mozambique in distant view, my quiet beer
was abruptly disturbed by an enormous explosion. Buildings around me
were obliterated. If it was not for the only solitary brick
construction - a small toilet block - protecting me, I may well have
suffered the same fate.
