Cambodia’s Political Competition in the Facebook Age

Facebook is the top number #1 social media site in Cambodia following by the Google global (Google.com) and Youtube as #2 and #3 respectively[1]. Before 2008, social networking sites especially Facebook was very few known by Cambodian people, as accessing to Internet at that time was rather limited. Fewer than 10,000 Cambodians had regular access to Internet[2], and this could be because people’s income was considerably low whereas Internet fee and technological devices such personal computers and smartphones were relatively expensive. According to World Bank, Cambodia’s GDP per capital slowly increased otherwise could say stagnant, growing from around 300 USD in 2000 to around 700 USD in 2008[3]. This is not to mention about several other factors contributing to the slow growth in the country.

Figure 1: Cambodia’s Internet user 2010-2012 via http://www.socialmediacambodia.com

However, following the optimistic view nothing is always the same, and people and thing change from time to time. Yet, it is just whether they change either from bad to good or the other way around. In today’s technology age, communication between people has been greatly facilitated no matter what locations or how far they are from each other. While in the past it may take them weeks or months to send their messages to their friends or families, presently it is just a quick click and their messages can reach to the persons they send immediately. It is called the “Magic of Technology and Internet”. Coming back to Cambodia era, through the expanding effect of the free market economy together with modernization of technology, a lot of Cambodian people especially young people to a certain degree have benefited both directly and indirectly from the presence of social networking sites (SNS), especially Facebook. After 2010, the trend of accessing to Internet and using SNS such Facebook has been seen as a considerable increase (See Figure 1). A report released by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in 2014 tells that the usage of Internet in Cambodia grew at a rate of 42.7 percent[4], and as the study of “Mobile Phones in Cambodia 2014” produced by the Asia Foundation confirms the sharp growth rate of the internet usage has been driven by young Cambodian who are eager to communicate with one another as well as connect to the world around them[5].

In my previous post(s)[6], I mentioned the number Internet subscribers in Cambodia reaching over 5 million by January 2015 up from 3.8 million in 2013 and more than 1.4 million users have been using Facebook actively every month. Yet, the number of Facebook users in Cambodia is now expected to increase up to more than 3 million though there is yet an official statistics released. This is very critically interesting and important. I say it both interesting and important, for it has greatly driven the political mainstream media approach of the ruling party, Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) as well as the Cambodian government and the opposition party, Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP). Moreover, the recently very active involvement in Facebook arena of the Cambodian political leaders, especially the Prime Minister Hun Sen, has drawn a great deal of attention of Cambodian people in general and Facebook users in particular and somehow has frightened the CNRP leader Sam Rainsy who has been active in Facebook longer than his opponent, even long before the Primer denied he (Hun Sen) had his personal Facebook page or account some years ago. Some people including analysts argue this as competition between the PM Hun Sen and the opposition leader Sam Rainsy, and some anticipate that Facebook will the main key to political communication between them and their potential young voters in the upcoming Cambodia’s commune council and national elections in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Personally, whether Facebook is a key political communication tool for the Cambodian politicians to garner supports from the people is not really a big concern, but what matters the most, I can say, is the policy and the political messages so as the actions that have to speak for the need of the people especially young people who are going to play a major role in the Cambodia’s political landscape. Both PM Hun Sen and Sam Rainsy understand about this very well and clearly realize that young Cambodians are changing their behaviors and attitudes toward the politics every day, and it is therefore not guaranteed that those who have supported or used to support would stay support or still not support them in their upcoming wrestles. So, while the number of their Facebook fans could be important for their political figures, it does not totally reflect the political tendency of them, the voters, until concrete and practical policy and actions have been reformed and taken place. There is always a choice, though.

References:

[1] Alexa, Top Sites in Cambodia, http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/KH retrieved on January 20, 2016

[2] Southeast Asia Globe, Virtual Democracy, http://sea-globe.com/virtual-democracy-social-media-elections-cambodia-cpp-cnrp/ retrieved on January 20, 2016

[3] World Bank, GDP per capita, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?page=3 retrieved on January 20, 2016

[4]The Asia Foundation (Weekly Insight and Analysis In Asia), New Economic and Social Landscape in Cambodia Attracts More Users to the Internet, http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2015/01/21/new-economic-and-social-landscape-in-cambodia-attracts-more-users-to-the-internet/ retrieved on January 20, 2016

[5] The Asia Foundation, Mobile Phones in Cambodia 2014, http://asiafoundation.org/publications/pdf/1435 retrieved on January 20, 2016

[6] SVO, https://vatnakoudom.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/media-and-cambodian-youth/