Brendan O'Byrne
The Cambodia Daily
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Past articles by Brendan:
International Donors Urged to Confront Gov’t Attacks
Countries legitimizing Prime Minister Hun Sen’s regime and propping up the state budget with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid must take a stand now against mounting government attacks on NGOs and independent media, the opposition CNRP said this week. → Read More
Community Resource Management Gets $6.1M
The World Wildlife Fund announced a $6.1 million expansion of a program designed to transfer direct management of resources from government administrations to local communities, more than doubling the project’s scope. → Read More
Sugar Dispute Resolution Leaves Some Communities Out
The Land Management Ministry on Wednesday announced a plan to resolve a yearslong land dispute between thousands of villagers and well-connected sugar barons by early next month, though not all affected communities were included. → Read More
CNRP’s Inaction Over Media Pressure a Strategic Gamble
The country’s largest opposition party—and the only serious challenge to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s grip on power—doesn’t know what to do next. As many of Cambodia’s independent and opposition-aligned media outlets have been pressured or shuttered in recent weeks following an aggressive and widely condemned government crackdown, the CNRP has stayed relatively quiet, limiting itself to a few… → Read More
Rights Groups Raise Alarm Over Threats, Surveillance
Top staff members at Cambodia’s largest human rights organizations are reporting intensifying levels of harassment, surveillance, intimidation and threats, describing pervasive and unprecedented pressure nationwide ahead of next year’s national election. → Read More
Snap Trial of Hun Sen Critic Started, Delayed
The leader of a little-known opposition party was briefly brought to trial on Monday for insulting the military, an uncharacteristically rapid progression through the justice system following a warning from Prime Minister Hun Sen against anyone disparaging the armed forces. → Read More
Laos Border Dispute Leads to Critic’s Arrest
A frequent government critic was arrested on Sunday in the wake of a brief border dispute with Laos that saw armored vehicles paraded around Phnom Penh’s Independence Monument and Prime Minister Hun Sen fly into Vientiane to negotiate a resolution. → Read More
CNRP Will Propose Changes to Allow Voting From Abroad
Opposition lawmakers plan to submit proposed amendments to the national election law next week in order to allow Cambodians who work and live outside the country to register and vote from abroad. → Read More
Chevron Subpoenaed Over Kem Ley Murder Case
Oil giant Chevron has been ordered by a U.S. district court judge to turn over a wide range of documents and information it may possess relating to the murder of political analyst Kem Ley at a Phnom Penh Caltex gas station in July last year. → Read More
Takeo Man Charged for Facebook Post About Child Kidnapping
A man in Takeo province was charged with incitement and spreading false information after he posted on Facebook that two Vietnamese men had chased his wife’s niece, a story the 14-year-old girl and her family denied, a provincial court spokesman said → Read More
Jolie Criticized for Disputed Article on Khmer Rouge Film
A magazine article suggesting Angelina Jolie used a “disturbing” game to cast a child actress for the lead role in “First They Killed My Father,” the actress’ Khmer Rouge biopic, has been disputed by Ms. Jolie and one of the film’s producers. → Read More
As Company Clears Land, Bunong Villagers Fight for Ancestral Home
The land concession overlaps the site of the Bunong community’s old village, their spirit forest and their burial grounds—religiously significant areas that, according to Bunong beliefs, are not to be disturbed or logged at the risk of incurring the wrath of local spirits. → Read More
White Building Residents Say Move-Out Deadline Pushed
The few remaining families left inside Phnom Penh’s White Building have been given a reprieve after Land Management Ministry officials apparently extended a deadline for those holding out to leave their homes, according to a resident on Tuesday. → Read More
Southeast Asia Historian Dies in Battambang
Noted historian and Southeast Asia researcher Michael Vickery died on Thursday in Battambang province of a heart attack, according to local police. → Read More
Chevron Could Disprove Defamation Charge, Rainsy Says
A joint stipulation between the lawyers of former opposition leader Sam Rainsy and U.S. oil giant Chevron, filed in a U.S. court on Friday, cites “progress in narrowing...differences” and suggests that further negotiations could “obviate the need for further intervention by the court.” → Read More
Case Against Chevron Proceeding, Rainsy Says
Former CNRP President Sam Rainsy said on Thursday that his legal action against Chevron in a U.S. court would continue, despite the oil giant claiming it did not have the security footage from the Phnom Penh Caltex station where political analyst Kem Ley was murdered in July. → Read More
Apsara Authority Demolitions Backed by the UN
The government’s decision to remove more than 500 homes it claims were built illegally in the Angkor Archaeological Park was supported by the U.N. on Monday, a blow to homeowners who say the issue was ignored leading up to commune elections. → Read More
Despite a crash, a fair share of ridicule and instruction limited to YouTube videos, car mechanic Paen Long is continuing his quest to build and fly a homemade airplane.
For the past few months, Mr. Long, who owns a car repair shop on the side of the road about 100 km southeast of Phnom Penh, has been building, flying, and crashing his homemade airplane. → Read More
UN Investigating Report of Threats Against Opposition Candidate
The U.N.’s human rights office is investigating the alleged harassment and threatening of a CNRP commune chief candidate in Kandal province, according to an email from the agency’s Bangkok off → Read More
Move-Out Begins at White Building; No Official Deadline Set
As residents began to move out of Phnom Penh’s iconic White Building on Tuesday, government officials were also present, handing out documentation to those leaving while microfinance staff offered their services. → Read More