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The Khmer Chronicles / Issue Nr 5: Development is on the doorstep...
During rainy season the place is flooded, muddy. The people sleep with rats feeding on the pile of garbage thrown from the upper floors of the "Building", built by architect Vann Molyvann and once a showcase for modernity. But it is also the area where Kong Nay, the famous "chappey" player, the bluesman of the Mekong, is living.
If they are lucky they get some kind of a compensation like a 3mx6m brick compartment (not really a house) or a few thousand dollars. That's today. A few years ago the whole slum would burn down in a couple of hours. How the fire started nobody would know for sure. Or people would be dumped in an empty rice field without sanitation, water, school, market, leaving NGO's to cope with the mess. My estimate is that over 15000 people will have been kicked out to allow the construction of what will become the new Phnom Penh, trying to catch up with Singapore, Hong Kong or Bangkok in terms of high rises...
It seems as if the lessons learned during all the social struggles over the last two centuries have still to penetrate the minds of Cambodians, those with power that is. Cambodia went straight from colonialism to a war, with a short intermission of prosperity, and then to plain horror. Today it is finally learning about development but also about 19th century paternalism... Links:
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It has been seven years now that the area along the Bassac river in Phnom Penh has been under intense pressure from real estate developers. Seven years that I document the mutations of a territory where thousands of people were scraping a living thanks to the proximity of the center of town. They all have small jobs. They all have precarious living conditions. They make a couple of dollars a day collecting tin cans or scrap metal, selling shells, sugar cane or their virginity.
Reader comments (5)
Thanks for that, John. This is the kind of subject that I, and I suspect many people, expect to see on a Magnum site. Lovely photographs too. I don’t want to sound flippant, given the gravity of the posting, but I’m also glad to see that you’ve not gone over to colour entirely. This kind of subject seems to come over that much better in black & white - just so much clearer than colour would be.
Comment posted by James Cox on January 23, 2008
Thanks Jon,
Phnom Penh has a special place in my heart and since 2003 I've been a regular visitor to record my impressions of this city of warmth and dire poverty.
Since 2005 and the arrival of the first ATMs, Phnom Penh seems to be rushing headlong in to real estate madness. The Sorya was the only shopping mall and it was eerily empty. Now it is packed, and can't boast to be the only shopping mall, anymore. In late 2005/ early2006 (I think) I also witnessed a crowd huddled around a tree in the large park near the Royal Palace. They were wailing and obviously stressed. The police were there en masse and had trucks with them to remove them.
It saddens me that in the name of development places like the Tonle Bassac Aspara Arts place are destroyed. Although I don't want to make comparisons, under the Pol Pot regime, artistic expression was wiped out, and, now it seems, the rich fat cats are showing a similar callous disregard for beautiful things.
Once again, thanks Jon. The above pictures are beautiful, tender, and empathetic.
Since last year Seoul, Korea, has been operating direct flights to Phnom Penh. Doesn't look like the money making lust is over just quite yet.
Comment posted by scott lucas on January 24, 2008
I love the 2nd BW, congrats !
Comment posted by photo on January 24, 2008
Hi John, Perhaps consider comparing these developments with what is going on along the Thi Nge Canal in Saigon. The Vietnamese are trying to clean up in a particular way. Not without problems but at least an effort is made to do this taking the needs of the 'original' population into consideration. Cheers, Peter
Comment posted by Peter on January 28, 2008
Following your Cambo chronicles, John.
I had planned to go there this winter, just as I did the last 2 ones, unfortunately, it seems events at home will keep me grounded for the season. The more I appreciate these news from you, though ,alas, unsurprising and predictable they might be, in the scheme of post-war cambodian life.
Thanks for telling us.
Comment posted by herve on January 29, 2008