Last year, this journalist wrote a column about a pending clean out of corrupt officials and the reception was mixed, which is not unusual. Cambodia’s ruling elites – often trenchant critics – didn’t bat an eyelid but the country’s harshest detractors did whine.
The story was leaked and among the patronizing civil society groups, most were skeptical. Some even leveled accusations of favoring a government line because corrupt bureaucrats are rarely held to account, if at all, in Cambodia.
But the more moderate, including diplomats and academics, knew what was happening and had their own concerns, which I shared, that a purge would not extend to the highest of levels and be used instead to weed out competition from within the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
In full: https://thediplomat.com/2024/10/a-very-cambodian-purge-that-may-not-include-the-highest-of-the-high/
