Cambodian Facebook Mystery

'Earlier this morning, at about 9 AM, Metfone users began to report that they were denied access to Facebook. The outage lasted for more than three hours. 

Despite repeated calls and numerous emails sent by NGO staff to Metfone’s customer service department, the only verbal response from the company has been that they were “upgrading their systems and do not know when Facebook would be available again”.'
~http://www.licadho-cambodia.org/pressrelease.php?perm=318


Could it be that Hun Sen and his CPP party have seen that one reason they took a thrashing in the recent elections is because young Cambodians had their opinions heard on social media sites such as Facebook?

With their well-deserved reputation for biting back against those that oppose you can't blame anyone for blaming the government for the mysterious disappearance of Facebook.

A lack of response from both the ISP company, Metfone, and the government does nothing to allay fears that internet censorship could be a priority for a badly wounded Cambodian People's Party.

Ban Backtrack

In a surprise move (at least to me) the Cambodian government has backtracked on its banning of foreign-produced radio content.

“According to requests to the Ministry of Information to allow the rebroadcast of foreign radio in Khmer language on local FM stations, the ministry has decided to allow FM stations that sell their airtime to those foreign radio stations to continue their broadcasts as normal from now on,” the ministry said in its statement.

How generous of them to allow a small measure of freedom of the press.

No word though on the banning of foreigners campaigning during the up-coming election.

Banned! Radio Broadcasts! Banned! Foreigners Expressing an Opinion!

This Blackout brought to you by the Royal Cambodian Government.

The Cambodian government has banned FM radio stations from broadcasting foreign-produced programmes during the election lead-up.

As a result 10 Khmer Radio stations will not be airing the U.S. funded Radio Free Asia programmes that they once did.

A spokesman from Radio Free Asia claimed the move was:

“the most sweeping and stunning frontal assault on media freedom in Cambodia in recent memory.”

The directive, released late Friday, also barred "foreigners in Cambodia from campaigning in favour or against any political party" 

That's disgraceful.

The U.S. government shares the concern with State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell saying that such restrictions call into question whether the July 28 vote will be free and fair.

That won't bother Hun Sen and his cronies one bit; they'll happily wear the criticism knowing the banning of an often critical foreign media will improve their poll results while, after a pause for a little squealing from U.S. politicians, American cash will again roll into the Cambodian government's coffers.

Media Remain Silent as Opposition Party Expelled

Imagine if the Brits, or the Americans, or the Germans, woke one morning and found that all members of their main opposition party had been expelled from parliament and their salaries suspended?

It would be some news story, wouldn't it?  Television and radio would be all over it. And it would cover the front page of every newspaper for weeks.

But not in Cambodia.

For when all the members of the main opposition, the Cambodian National Rescue Party, were expelled for spurious reasons and their salaries stripped, much of Cambodia's media remained mute.

In fact, of the eight biggest Khmer language newspapers, six papers didn't report the event at all. The other two gave just a brief account.

So with the thin veneer of democracy finally stripped away, Cambodia sits (at least until the next election) as an all-but one-party state.

 And Hun Sen and his CPP party, who have most of the media in a strangling grip, are doing their level best to keep the significance of that decision from their people.

Cambodia Censored

Banned on Election Day Sunday by the Cambodian Government:  
Voice of America
Radio Free Asia
Radio France International 

Radio Australia.

Angkor Rattha Radio
Voice of Democracy broadcasts on FM106.5.

The ban was to maintain a “quiet atmosphere” as Cambodians went to the polls to elect local leaders of commune councils, claimed a government spokesman.

Not content with owning or controlling most local media, the Cambodian People's Party shuts down the right to free expression of anyone likely to be opposed to them.

They are a good bunch.

Cambodian Calling

Blogspot blocked, then unblocked and then blocked again. Blocked this time for more than 3 days but, it seems, only by my ISP.

So its time to call Metfone's helpline to see what the problem is.

The call is answered in just a few seconds though and the operator says 'of course!' when I ask if he speaks English.

I explain the problem and it takes some time; he's never heard of blogspot. Nevermind that the issue of blogspot being blocked by internet companies such as the one he is manning the help-phones for has been front page news. And nevermind that it has been reported that many bloggers have rung to complain- he has no idea about blogspot.

He promises to look in to the problem and report back. Of course he never does.

So I call again a day later. The help-line fellow has never heard of blogspot.com. I spell it out slowly for him. He notes down the details and spells the address back to me: 'B L O G S P O R T. C O M.'

"NO, no," "B L O G S P OT. C O M, " I spell slowly.

This time he's got it he says,' "B L O G S P O R T. C O M"

We do the BLOGSPOT- BLOGSPORT spelling bee for a while and finally he really does get it. Having done so he promises to look into the problem and call me back.

Of course he never does.

On the third call the operator is aware of the problem and he promises to look into the problem and call me back.

Of course he never does. But today, miraculously, blogsport.com blogspot is up and running again.

To be fair though this experience probably isn't far different from the 'help' one receives from helplines in developed countries, and I didn't have to wait minutes for the call to be answered, nor was I met by an automated answering machine.

Banned! Blogspot Blocked

Cambodian censorship is on the rise. Free speech is under attack. The Cambodian government is becoming ever more draconian as it sues, imprisons and harrasses those opposed to it.


Several days ago the government, it seems, sent out the word to Internet service providers that any sites ending with blogspot.com should be blocked. Some providers, including ours, duly obliged and this blog, like any other blogspot site could not be viewed in Cambodia.


The reason? The government wished to stop a blog that was publishing articles critical of it, from being accessible to Cambodians. That's right, all blogspot sites were blocked so as to stop one blog from expressing opinions contrary to the governments. So much for free speech.


The government denies ever giving such an order- while explicitly claiming that the site in question should be closed- but the providers claim that they did. And why would the providers have a reason to lie?

All blogspot sites are accessible again, although the process has been haphazard with some, like ours, taking an extra day to finally unblock blogger's accounts.

But how long that lasts is anyone's guess. I suspect it's all downhill at an ever-accelerating rate for free speech, from here on.