For Cambodian factory worker, voting and politics are secondary to daily struggles

Record ID: 1142288

  • Title: For Cambodian factory worker, voting and politics are secondary to daily struggles
  • Date: 20th July 2018
  • Summary: KANDAL PROVINCE, CAMBODIA (FILE - MAY 30, 2018) (REUTERS) HUN SEN SAYING (Khmer): "I am committed to trying my best to remain prime minister for at least 10 more years." WORKERS CLAPPING
  • Embargoed: 3rd August 2018 05:39
  • Keywords: Cambodia election factory worker garment footwear Hun Sen
  • Location: KAMPONG SPEU PROVINCE/KANDAL PROVINCE/PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
  • City: KAMPONG SPEU PROVINCE/KANDAL PROVINCE/PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
  • Country: Cambodia
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA0028POVOZP
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Khen Srey Touch, 27, is one of some 700,000 workers propping up Cambodia's vital garment and footwear industry, and works about 10 hours a day, six days a week, sewing different parts of shoes together.
    With the general election looming on July 29, critics and supporters of Prime Minister Hun Sen say winning the support of workers like her, who play a key part in making Cambodia the sixth fastest-growing economy in the world, could help cement his grip on power.
    For Khen Srey Touch, the election is secondary to her daily struggles. With around two weeks to go before she gives birth to her baby girl, she still catches an open back pick-up truck in the morning from her village to Complete Honour Footwear Industrial factory, a Taiwanese-owned footwear factory located in Kampong Speu province, southwest of Phnom Penh, that produces shoes for British, American and Japanese brands.
    By the time she reaches home it is dark. Khen Srey Touch makes dinner for her family, including her nine-year-old boy, and waits for her husband to come home from his temporary job as a construction worker.
    She said she is the main breadwinner of the house and makes $170 a month, the minimum wage for textiles workers, not including overtime.
    "It's not much for my living expenses, and it is not enough for this kind of work because the cost of living is very high," she said.
    Like many in the country, Khen Srey Touch has known no other leader but Hun Sen, who has ruled for more than 30 years. She said she thinks it is important to cast her vote but said she understood little about political parties besides Hun Sen's ruling Cambodia People's Party (CPP).
    "He (Hun Sen) is the only person who has ruled the country and I don't know why," she said.
    Hun Sen has been visiting garment factories to secure votes -- he has become a fixture at factories on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, smiling for "selfies" with workers, promising benefits and handing out cash envelopes.
    Hun Sen's message is that they had never had it so good. The minimum wage for factory workers and civil servants had more than doubled since the last election, he said, the dividend of the CPP securing peace and stability.
    But political analysts are skeptical, saying the charm offensive will not work as many are unhappy about the rising cost of living, corruption, land grabs and evictions.
    "It won't work because the little cash that they handed out will not solve the fundamental problems that the people have," said the founder of Future Forum Organization, Ou Virak.
    Hun Sen wants to ensure victory after two close elections in 2013 and 2017 with a crackdown on his critics, spurring many rights groups and the main opposition to call the vote a sham.
    He is widely expected to win the election after the Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) last year, leaving no significant competitor for Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party.
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