Authorities ramp up book raids

Police raids have recently been carried out across book vendors in Phnom Penh to confiscate unauthorised books. The content of books published in Cambodia is monitored by the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, and has to be approved for “accuracy” before the book can be sent for publishing.

The most recent incident involved books about human rights about political commentator Kim Sok, who was recently jailed for “defamation” of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s leadership. The books were written by a lawyer of the now-defunct Cambodian National Rescue Party.

The news article features the comments of another political analyst, Hang Vito, who himself has written at least 10 books about politics. He has since indicated his intention to stop writing about politics.

From reading this article, I noticed several underlying themes. Firstly, the freedom of expressing opinions is clearly subjected to state limitations – Vito claims that Cambodians are “restricted and have been watched over like prisoners.” It will be interesting to figure out the power dynamic here. Which groups of people are the ones being subjected to this treatment, and who does the policing?

State censorship also appears to lead to self-censorship, as the political analyst Vito has decided to also stop writing about politics, and is thinking of switching to business. Economic participation in the country looks to be preferable to dabbling in politics, suggesting a certain hierarchy in the country’s priorities.

Politics – and commentary of it— seems to be a controversial topic in the country, and this manifests in the knowledge that is produced through books. This brings to mind Benedict Anderson’s idea of nationalism, as the idea of nationalism extends to the products that are being created from a country. There is a curation of the state narrative in the same way artefacts in a museum are curated to further a specific agenda. This is determined by what is included and excluded from official state recognition.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/release-08172018131931.html

https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/authorities-ramp-book-raids