Last week, the Vietnamese media outlet VnExpress reported that a Vietnamese TikTok personality could be banned from entering Cambodia for 10 years for “defaming” the temples of Angkor Wat, a potent totem of the country’s national identity.

According to the VnExpress report, Hua Quoc Anh made a video at the Angkor Wat temple complex that “had a negative impact on the image of Cambodian tourism,” in the words of Prak Chandar, a deputy secretary of state at the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism. Chandar added that the Cambodian authorities were considering imposing on Anh an entry ban of five to 10 years.

The transgression in question was contained in a video that the Ho Chi Minh City-based influencer posted to his TikTok account while visiting Cambodia last month. The video featured a young woman in a traditional Thai costume walking around Angkor Wat, interspersed with images of the Thai flag and images of past Thai kings and accompanied by the words “Hello Thailand.”

In full: https://thediplomat.com/2023/11/vietnamese-tiktoker-faces-cambodia-entry-ban-over-angkor-video/

As a tuk-tuk driver in Cambodia’s tourism capital of Siem Reap, the livelihood of Prak Savuth revolves around Angkor Wat, the massive 12th century temple complex built to represent the universe itself.

The towering stone temple remains a living religious site today as part of the sprawling 400-square-kilometer Angkor Archaeological Park. Besides dozens of other historic temples that attract throngs of foreign tourists, the area has been home to about 100,000 people, many of whom say their families have lived there for generations.

But over the past year, much of the village life once rooted along the roads and waterways of the park has gone silent. Authorities have cited conservation pressures in the UNESCO World Heritage Site to drive a campaign to remove about 10,000 households and resettle them in underdeveloped districts outside Siem Reap.

In full: https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Cambodia-s-Angkor-Wat-at-center-of-forced-evictions-row

For 16 years, Srey Mom has run a roadside restaurant just a short distance from Angkor Wat, the largest temple complex in the world and Cambodia’s top tourist attraction.

The ancient ruins of the Khmer empire have drawn more than 600,000 foreign visitors since the start of this year, generating just under US$30 million ($46 million) in ticket sales. The opening of the Siem Reap Angkor International Airport in October is expected to see those figures increase even further.

Locals living inside the 400-square-kilometre historic site have relied on rice farming and, like Srey, on tourism for a living.

In full: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/article/srey-runs-a-restaurant-near-angkor-wat-she-and-thousands-of-others-like-her-have-been-told-to-leave/mam9rlmkc

Vietnamese TikToker Hua Quoc Anh could be banned from entering Cambodia for 10 years for defaming the temples of Angkor Wat, which many Cambodians hold as sacred.

Deputy State Secretary of the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism Prak Chandar told VnExpress that a video Anh made at the Angkor Wat temple complex “had a negative impact on the image of Cambodian tourism.”

Cambodian authorities are considering a penalty against him, possibly an entry ban for five to 10 years, Prak said.

In full: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/travel/cambodia-considers-banning-vietnamese-tiktoker-for-defaming-angkor-wat-4678438.html

Hans van Zoggel taught English in his early 20s when he first met Cambodian refugees in The Netherlands. He was barely out of college and jobs were hard to come by but he left home for the Thai border camps where he succeeded in putting his students in touch with their relatives.

He was also struck by their plight – refugees and internally displaced people huddling in a mishmash of shabby huts and surrounded by the Khmer Rouge. He stayed and went to work in the camps where he prepped those lucky enough to be accepted as refugees for a life in the United States.

The early 1980s were a difficult time. The Vietnamese had only just ousted Pol Pot from power and his Khmer Rouge had settled in for a civil war that would last nearly two decades. The poverty was intense and van Zoggel built a life around helping the victims of war.

In full: https://thediplomat.com/2023/11/one-dutchman-and-350000-cambodian-refugees/

Cambodia’s government is under renewed pressure to stop the removal of around 10,000 families living near the temple of Angkor Wat.

Since 2022, authorities have been ordering people to leave the UNESCO World Heritage-listed site, and a new report by Amnesty International describes the relocations as forced evictions that break international law. UNESCO has now joined the call for the Cambodian government to stop the program.

Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts.

In full: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast-episode/cambodia-faces-mounting-pressure-to-halt-forced-evictions-at-angkor-wat/iyi36f4h2

For more than a year Cambodia has deflected criticism of doing too little too late when dealing with human traffickers, much to the irritation of its major benefactor Beijing, which needs Phnom Penh to rescue Chinese citizens from Chinese gangsters.

It’s an irritation not helped by a widespread and erroneous belief that the Chinese government was working in league with criminal syndicates. This was highlighted by a report released in September last year by the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime.

Entitled “Sihanoukville a Hub of Environmental Crime Convergence,” the 32-page report challenged the role of “oknhas” — a title bestowed by the Cambodian government on favored businessmen — and singled out Chinese businessmen holding Cambodian citizenship.

In full: https://www.ucanews.com/news/is-cambodia-finally-moving-on-human-traffickers/103278