The situation in Cambodia

Editor;
Needing a new visa, I decided to go to Cambodia. Also, I was curious to witness at first hand Hun Sen’s version of nocturnal purichaication.
Having heard that expat bars were to be closed down I was expecting Sihanoukville to look like Skegness in the off-season. Not so. Bars like The Ship, Fishermen’s Den and the Angkor Arms are ticking along, but perhaps without quite so much talk of Sihanoukville becoming another Pattaya (as if one wasn’t enough). The general opinion among bar owners is that Hun Sen’s reforms are aimed at discos, places housing 2 colour hair men and the hundreds of karaoke bars that have sprung recently. The dreadful Blue Storm does indeed have its neon signs taped over but there aren’t any real signs of a crackdown.
Drinking alcohol is not a Cambodian talent and there have been several incidents of violence in discos and karaokes. This is minor stuff mostly to be sure...throwing of hand grenades, machine gun fire...but enough to warrant some government intervention. Some expats, rather cynically I thought, suggested that it might make more sense to throw some of Hun Sen’s nephews in jail. Anyway, all these places are now closed unless they can come up with a restaurant licence.
As for Phnom Penh, most expat hangouts seem to have adapted to the new edicts. Heart of Darkness opens and closes sporadically but it always did. Sharky’s is now officially a restaurant and Martini’s has reopened following some “renovations”, with a restaurant section and lots of waitresses (some of whom seemed familiar). Walkabout no longer serves Khmer customers...not sure of the thinking behind that...but they are mainly a hotel cum Ozzie watering hole anyway.
As for the lower end of the market, Poum Thmei and Svay Pak (K.11) and Toul Kork are still operating and visits were paid to each in the interests of journalistic integrity. Will they be targeted next? Perhaps, but it will be a big job requiring a lot of cooperation between various factions. The girls there are mostly Vietnamese anyway so they’ll probably be glad to get back to the Nike factories. The Cambodian girls will no doubt be happily reunited with their landless parents leaving the streets of Phnom Penh safe for muggers and unemployed.
Attempts to legislate public virtue are always intriguing, nibbling as they do at personal freedoms, and especially so in Buddhist countries. AIDS has changed everything and it’s probably no accident that current reforms coincide with a massive new media campaign by W.H.O. along with some alarming new statistics. It’s hard to predict how it will all play out.
Phil Wiley,
Phnom Penh