November edition 📕
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Winning in the shadows: The story of a ‘secret’ annual literary prize in Vietnam
Sixty-one intellectuals have founded the Văn Việt collective without registration, published banned books online, and held annual literary awards. But the identities of some winners are kept secret for safety.
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Kem Sokha leaves Cambodia’s overseas opposition bewildered
For most of the past decade, Kem Sokha has been the symbol of resistance to former Prime Minister Hun Sen’s rule over Cambodia, staying in the country as many of his colleagues ran away or went to prison. But that image has been badly tarnished over the past couple of months.
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From drought, to floods, to El Niño in a year
Floods destroyed farmers’ crops just before harvest, following a planting season plagued by water shortages. It adds to livelihood challenges along the Thai-Cambodian border and the looming threat of El Nino.
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Takeo man can’t stop getting arrested for social media
A Cambodian man with disabilities is on his third prison sentence after persistently posting his opinions to Facebook, in spite of warnings from his family.
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‘One job is not enough anymore’: Phuket workers on a changing industry
Thai tourism lays bare contradictions and inequalities. As the country debates fees and restrictions for foreign visitors, the experiences of Phuket workers don’t add up to one tidy story.
October updates
Scam investigations
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Laos cybercrime: The storm that refuses to end
Amid crackdowns, Laos’s scam operations have nested amid everyday life in the capital city of Vientiane.
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Trafficked scam workers face new battles at home
Vietnamese workers who escape scam work face pressures that put them at risk of running away, seeking risky jobs or breaking down completely.
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‘The locals are benefiting’: Sri Lanka rife with scam chatter
In Sri Lanka, residents swap stories of acquaintances renting space to scam operations amid signs they are moving in from Southeast Asia. One alleged insider offers armed security for controlling foreign workers.
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Feature
Myanmar’s diaspora concerned about normalizing military rule
Burmese people who were forced to flee their country are being confronted with a new political reality: the general who took power five years ago making high-level visits around the region.
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Updates
Scam briefs: Hundreds of arrests, deportations continue
A provincial police deputy died after being arrested for providing two buildings to scams, while hundreds of online workers were arrested in Poipet and Sihanoukville in recent weeks.
October edition 📕
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Heat stress growing with targets, strain on workers
Cambodia’s factory workers measured the temperatures and humidity they experienced over several days. From where they sit and work, most of their working hours registered as “dangerous.”
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In the Mekong region, coverage of natural disasters can also be a crime
The Lower Mekong is among the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. But its governments increasingly threaten and arrest journalists covering natural disasters, where corruption and mismanagement often surface.
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Rohingya children bear rising mental health burden as families struggle to cope
Rohingya children in Bangladesh’s refugee camps are confronting a deepening mental-health crisis as poverty, family problems and uncertainty over their future take a toll.
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Amid pollution concerns, fishers along Prek Tnaut river are abandoning their trade
In March, dead poisoned fish floated densely on the Prek Tnaut river’s surface. An official report cleared nearby factories of pollution, but fishers are concerned amid visibly black discharges.
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Explainer: Does Cambodia actually need more hydropower dams?
Today, there are 10 hydropower dams in operation in Cambodia, while another 14 are under construction or proposed. Amid concerns over forest loss and community displacement, what lessons can be learned from existing dams? What are the alternatives?
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Storms of climate change shake remote lake village
Pheam Ban village is being swept up in the extremes and unpredictability of climate change. Locals are turning to old superstitions and fireworks — and education and cooperatives — to try to drive away the storm.
September updates
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Scam briefs: Online gambling banned again, bribery detailed
Cambodia said it would suspend online gambling next month, seven years after a ban. Digital wallet CoolCash lost its licence, while officials noted ongoing raids and corruption cases.
September edition 📕
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‘We kept waiting for our child’: Kidnapping reports rise in Rohingya refugee camps
Militant groups claiming to defend Rohingya rights are increasingly accused of kidnapping for ransom schemes. One family spoke of their 5-year-old disappearing in June. They collected hundreds of thousands of taka to pay as much of the ransom as they could. His body was found days later.
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Vietnam’s Gen Z protests mark the emergence of its new left
For the first time since the Internet opened civilians to new ideas outside the government’s scope, a new independent leftist movement is taking root among Vietnamese youth.
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Despite obstacles, Facebook is one of the only choices for Vietnamese people to pursue justice
Facebook remains the main way for Vietnamese victims of injustices and activists at home or in exile to air their grievances and fight for justice, despite increasing risks from government censorship and Meta’s failure to protect its users.
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Workers left listless after constant crackdowns slow Sihanoukville businesses
Cambodian workers in Sihanoukville say that the current crackdown has repercussions stretching far beyond the previous waves of the scam industry.
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Rise and fall: Cambodia scam hotspots through 2026
Cambodia’s criminal scam industry saw upheaval in 2026 as major compounds emptied out in a public crackdown. This page collects Mekong Independent’s ongoing reports from these scam hotspots — how they rose, what has happened to them, and the accounts of violence and corruption that continue to emerge.
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Anxieties remain despite Cambodia land scam verdict
A Phnom Penh court has ordered land fraud Piphup Deimeas to repay $33.5 million to 1,115 families. But three years on from the owner’s initial arrest, the indebted families remain wary as their struggles deepen.
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Satellite captures pockets of ongoing destruction in carbon-credit zones
An analysis of six REDD+ projects found continued tree-cover loss in several conservation areas, with critics questioning how carbon savings are measured — especially as the state approves infrastructure projects inside protected forests.
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On 9th anniversary, Rohingya genocide survivors remember those who didn’t make it
Tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees gathered across Cox’s Bazar to mark the day Myanmar’s military launched a brutal crackdown against them. Nine years later, survivors carry the memories of those who never reached Bangladesh.
August updates
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Scam briefs: Province downplays economic impact of crackdowns
Only people involved in the “gray economy” are impacted by crackdowns on Cambodia’s online scam industry, a deputy provincial governor said as officials continue raids under their heavily promoted campaign against online fraud operations.
Around the region
August edition
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US immigration raids spark statelessness crisis in Mekong countries
U.S. deportations to Mekong countries have skyrocketed in the second Trump administration. Countries such as Laos are dealing with an unprecedented influx, and many former refugees arrive in the region stateless and without support.
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Threats, social pressures prevent Rohingya girls from finishing school
Girls’ school enrollment in Cox’s Bazar falls steeply when they turn 15, leaving communities to address the harassment and community pressure keeping them out.
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Floating houses stuck aground as climate change takes hold
Cambodia’s monsoon is weakening, and dams are siphoning water away, researchers say. Residents who fish the Tonle Sap lake’s floodwaters are struggling to survive.
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Three other bodies were found on Bokor in week of Korean student death
A year ago, the dead body of a Korean student was found on Cambodia’s Bokor mountain, sparking rare international attention. But three other corpses were also found on Bokor the same week with little publicity.
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Mountains of sand abandoned in Prince resort at Ream
The arrest of Chen Zhi, chairman of Prince Group, put Sihanoukville’s 800-hectare Bay of Lights landfill project on pause. Since then, security guards were let go from their jobs, and sand-carrying boats floated off towards other projects.
