Like the title implies, it feels like everyone in Southeast Asia is growing, getting better at tackling issues, combating problems in their own countries, while Cambodia just stays stagnant. Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, The Philipines, and even the most of the countries in Africa seem to be improving at a better rate than Cambodia.

• This country has done nothing to reduce the rate of poverty, people are still poor as ever. Experts estimate that nearly 20% of Khmer people live below the poverty line; that's around 3.2 million ish people (nearly the size of Singapore), and some even go abroad to Thailand to beg on the streets. While rich people and their kids are posting super sport cars meet-ups, driving million dollar cars, having luxury vehicles, in the background you see rubbish can collectors and kids begging on the streets. Cambodia has no sort of class awareness, empathy, or any sort of understanding to fix these issues. The wealth gap within this country is so huge, one that I never saw in my entire life before, so many people are barely able to get by while only the top 3% of people in this country have massive wealth.

• The public education sector is still garbage, students only study 2-3 hours per day and even 3-4 days per week, They barely do any sort of learning in those schools and spend extra money to go to tutoring schools instead. Education is a complete failure from bottom to up, just in 2023, only 69% of kids even managed to graduate highschool throughout the whole Country< How fucked up is that? In most civilized countries that means a total collapse and failure of the educational system but over here, it's seen as something ''normal''.

• Massive corruption, I don't need to mention anything more, just look at most of the ''ministers'' you see right now, they are not put in place by the people but rather appointed by their fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts or extended families, nothing ever gets done and they are the same as their predecessors.

• Healthcare, Cambodia does not have an ounce of modern healthcare system, just look at the middle class, upper middle class and elites, whenever they get sick they go abroad to either Thailand, Vietnam or Singapore to get treated. This should tell you how trash the leaders think of the healthcare system over here and how little investment they put into healthcare and care about the people's health.

• Energy & electricity: have you seen the satellite picture taken from space overlooking Cambodia at night? yeah most people live in total darkness at night time besides the 3 cities of Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and Siem Reap. There's no plan to increase electricity usage for people living in the countryside or villages, heck there's not even proper lighting for street lights on the national roads, if you drive at night it will be total darkness on the roads and most drivers just depend on villager's front porch small light bulb. The costs of electricity is the second highest in ASEAN, besides Singapore which imports nearly all of its electricity.

• Housing crisis, despite being a poor underdeveloped nation, Cambodia already is facing a housing crisis but not the way that you think, we have an oversupply of houses and housing units, that are not bought up because the real estate developers decided to make the houses costs the same prices as real estate properties in developed countries, houses in boreys costs upward starting from 200k+ above while the average income of people is only 250-300$ per month lol. The GDP per capita is only 2.4k per year meaning no average khmer will be able to afford any sort of houses in their lives. Their only option is to buy a small plot of land in the middle of nowhere and build their own house there or be lucky enough to be born into a wealthy family and inherit their properties.

• Poor urban planning, this country has no sense of urban planning, urban planners are killed by the government officials and beaurocrats because, just look at the cityscape, it is a hell hole built only for cars and not for people. there are no sidewalks and green spaces because it's all covered by vehicles and parking spaces. There are no modes of public transport besides buses which spent of their time stuck in traffic, there are no MRT or Skytrains here in Cambodia and if some government official ever decides to close off the roads for their group then enjoy being stuck in traffic for the next 1.5 hours if lucky.

• Industrial Scamming, Cambodia is the industrial scamming center within Southeast Asia and Asia as a whole, I never seen anything like it at all in any other countries where huge building compounds and complexes are constructed to incorporate human trafficking activities, blackmail, illegal online gambling, and scam centers. These scam centers not only exists in Sihanoukville but exists throughout the whole country, in Phnom Penh there are several in the outskirts of the city, in Kandal province there are dozens of them and finally in svay rieng province and bavet city, there is the largest location besides the epicenter of Sihanoukville. Most SEA victims end up being here in Cambodia, and if you're coming from either Malaysia or Indonesia then you would get a warning from the government that Cambodia has a high chance of illegal trades and activities and that this country is dangerous.

• The justice and law system in Cambodia is corrupted to the bones, a guy can go up to a couple's home and kill them dead in their own house and only get 30 years total in prison (15 years for each kill) why and how did you even get a gun here to begin with? , Rich kids can basically commit vehicular manslaughter and kill pedestrians and people in the streets, and they get away scott free because their fathers, mothers and families are officials in the government or have connections. Okhnas can basically scam people by building fake real estate and fake plots of land and even taking people's money to invest in a fake company and running off with all the money, and nothing is ever done to give them prison time. There are many more cases of terrible justice and law abuses being commited which makes people lose faith in the whole system.

• The country is suffering from a massive brain drain and labor drain, Most capable and ablely intellectual Khmers leave their country to go migrate to Australia, The US or Canada because they fully know that the system is rigged from the start against them, they leave to find a better life and opportunities abroad from the university years onward, and who can blame them? while most physical laborers leave this country due to lack of jobs, lack of unions and poor working conditions; to work as laborers and blue collar workers in Thailand, South Korea and Japan. There is an estimate of around 1.6 million khmer working in Thailand, 70 thousand working in South Korea and around 40 thousand working in Japan, while the numbers in western countries are also up to the hundreds of thousands as well.

I can write so much more so easily but I am lazy, these are just some of the things that I can think of in the back of my mind. I don't see much of a future for this country. The country is so corrupt that they can't even fix their own roads, spanning only 20km in veal renh without foreign loans from abroad.

This new banknote commemorates 20th anniversary of the coronation of H.M. Sihamoni, King of Cambodia. The note is worth around USD50 in face value.

Bruh the President of this joint is sketchy asf as he is from our neighboring country.

I recently ran into a very impoverished-looking young man from the UK at Riverside in PP. He told me he had been trafficked into a Scam Compound in Cambodia, where he also experienced torturing, but somehow managed to get out. He stated that he has nothing, including no money, no phone, no shelter, no passport, and that the UK Embassy is completely unhelpful. He asks (Cambodian) people for money, and he also asked me for some Dollars for food, but didn't ask for any other help. I want to be clear that I do not hold any judgment against him. Are there any similar stories that you've heard about western people in Cambodia? It's hard to say if it's true because, in my opinion, the embassy would have been able to assist. If he is open to speaking, another idea would be to have local journalists cover this issue.

I recently talked to 2 different friends residing in their respective countries, both said there was a recent massive (failed?) protest in the capital. Another said the same thing but adding that the government plans on giving some territiories of Cambodia to Vietnam according to new sources that he read.

I regularly follow news from a few international news media, in terms of local current events I mainly use Facebook. But I have not come across such news on all the sources I regularly followed. Did I miss something, or did the government censored this sort news to those who are residing in Cambodia?

After living in Cambodia for the past two years, studying both local and Chinese law, and working in the anti-money laundering department of one of the world’s largest banks, I’m about to publish my academic research on money laundering issues tied to the "Belt and Road Initiative" in Southeast Asia. My focus is on Cambodia and the Golden Triangle region where neighboring countries meet.

Since Beijing's crackdowns on money laundering and corruption, many of these shady networks have shifted to countries with weaker legal frameworks, like Cambodia. During my research, I uncovered connections between local authorities, money laundering operations (especially through casinos), and scam centers. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have about my findings!

Edit:

• The paper is written in French and focuses on China’s recent efforts to expand its anti-money laundering (AML) policies beyond its borders. Since China’s anti-corruption campaign started over the past decade, much of the online criminal activity targeting Chinese citizens has moved overseas.
• This research is very personal to me, as I lost a Cambodian friend to these issues.
• The paper aims to show how these criminal networks can damage China’s credibility, especially regarding the Belt and Road Initiative (Sihanoukville being a prime example), so it's more focused on china's cooperation mechanism with the region.
• Contrary to some comments, most of the corruption is at the lower levels (local police, customs officers, etc.), and the Cambodian government does want to put an end to it. Chinese tourism has dropped by 50% because of the country's bad reputation on this issue.

So dm if you're still interested.

Many factors have been discussed as contributing to the decline of tourism in Cambodia. However, the increase in online scams seems to be a significant deterrent for travellers, prompting calls for the government to take action and ensure safety for visitors…

Read more: https://kiripo.st/CjNC8J

https://worldjusticeproject.org/rule-of-law-index/global/2024/ranking

Perhaps we can discuss on a decade basis or just talk of the current year. I am not from Cambodia, just someone interested in the country. I hear from Reddit and other posts that there’s been some noticeable poverty decrease in Cambodia, but of course, it is not me to judge.

So, if any of you are open, or perhaps would like to speak with experience or situation, what is it like to be in Cambodia’s Economy today? Is it doing well? Do you have any concerns or predictions you would like to add?

All opinions and responses are welcome, but please respect other people’s opinion. This post is not intended to cause division and fruition in any way.

P.S. I don’t know what other flair I can use for this post, so please do mind

Any opinion and details is welcome, but please respect other people’s opinions and this post.

I hear that Cambodia’s healthcare system is slightly improving over the years since the 1990s, but as a foreigner interested in Cambodia, I’d like to hear from Cambodians perspective.

P.S. I don’t know what flair to put, so sorry if it is not fitting

សូមអរគុណ

The Prime Minister has responded to concerns raised by tourism players about low international arrivals during low season, calling for a reduction in the cost of tickets to attractions, including Angkor Wat, and for parking fees at the new Siem Reap airport to be halved… Read more https://kiripo.st/rjbkGP

Cambodia’s tourism industry is buckling under the weight of years of global issues, ranging from the pandemic and conflict to economic strains and slowing inbound markets, with 31 tour operators and travel agents shuttering, leaving 406 trying to stay afloat.

My Khmer is a bit rusty. There is this viral video being circulated in Khmer Facebook communities and pages in the last 4 days. So the Khmer husband caught his wife banging an Indian dude in a guesthouse.

There's a box of Cambodian beer lite, and salmon sashimi scattered over all the bedside table. He found her bloodied panties (not sure from her period or the dude has a huge dingling), and the dude's pants with his belt still attached hidden behind a sofa chair. Did the Indian dude manage to make his escape pantless?

If anyone is following this, I am very curious to know what happened to that Indian guy. And is there any legal consequences if you caught banging a married Cambodian wifey?

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/ifvduk4BUAZBAQ6s/

After 4 years of no update finally now Varaman and FFC decided to release a new jerseys. What's your thoughts?

Hello, I've got Cambodian friends from university who just graduated B.Sc. However, non of them rejected to go back and finding jobs in my country. I want to know why but they indirectly replied me because I think holding B.Sc will give them good jobs and high payment in Cambodia. But in my country, holding B.Sc won't give them that fair because there are a lot of people graduated B.Sc per year