Asian Correspondent
Dec 01, 2012
The number of Internet users in Cambodia
is rising in a country with one of the biggest digital gap in the
region. However, there is a fear of a possible online censorship that
could come through the weaving of a detailed legislation, as it has been
used for example in traditional media since 2008 with laws that include
vague provisions that can undermine freedom of expression, according to
Licadho, the Cambodian human rights defender. In this sense, it is
understandable that the announcement of the first official law on
telecommunication service use creates worries over if a new law would
intend to turn off dissident voices over the Cambodian cyberspace. One
thing is clear: Internet is becoming very important for the development
of Cambodia in many senses and even if Cambodia is portrayed as a
country with evident limits to freedom of press, it is also one of the
freer on Internet usage, though the number of users still low.
Cambodian
children using computers at the first and only academic Cafe Internet
of Cambodia at Don Bosco City campus in Kep Province. Students of
journalism and communication assist the children to develop their
digital skills in a formative manner. 'These children will be authentic
digital natives and they are located far from the main stream of
development in Cambodia, so it is an opening of opportunities for them,'
said volunteer educator David Agudelo. Photo Al Rodas, 11/17/2012
The fear of those who think that a law on
Internet use could be an instrument to persecute dissident users is not
vain. It is enough to see the restrictions expressed in some Cambodian
laws, where any person can be accountable of prosecution under the
accusation of defamation without an authentic modern procedure.
Cambodia needs of course an online
legislation and it is an obligation of the State to protect the
cyberspace from criminal behaviors that could put in danger the national
security and the vulnerability of the people. But it is true also that
Cambodian lacks a law on freedom of expression, one that protects the
rights to say and the rights to dissent without the fear of a
prosecution or suspension, while promoting more ethics in schools to
really fight corruption that is not only present in the public
administration, but also in current life.
Reducing digital gap
There are several official programs and
plans leaded by NGOs to reduce digital gap in Cambodia. Since the
introduction of Internet in the Kingdom on January 1987 by the Russian
Estation Intersputnik in Phnom Penh, the Internet has been extended to
the main Cambodian cities, especially Siem Reap, Battamban and
Sihanoukville. In 2009 there were 78,500 Internet users registered, less
than 0,5 percent of the Cambodian population, while putting Cambodia in
the place 166 of the global use of Internet. In Vietnam there where in
that same year 20 million Internet users, meaning much more than the
entire Cambodian population that is near to 15 million.
In a post by journalist Faine Greenwood (Cambodia Not Online, 2011.) it is said that the primary obstacle to reduce the digital gap in the country is the lack of infrastructures: ‘Many people don’t even have electricity and running potable water, much less a personal computer of their own,’ she concluded.
The growing social gap in Cambodia is
evidently consistent with the digital gap. Internet can become a luxury
for the most privileged groups of the country, most of them in the
biggest centers. Most Cambodian primary and secondary schools lack IT
master plans for their alumni and a computer classroom is rare in more
educational centers. If teachers’ salary for primary and secondary
schools remain low, there is not an official hurry to introduce teachers
into a digital culture, moreover, many schools have not even
electricity, so how they could have Internet access. According to a
research by the United nations (Building E-Communicyt Centers for Rural
Development, 2005), one of the reasons Cambodia remains back in the
region for its digital gap is not only the situation of poverty, but
also the lack of skillful personnel ready to support the Internet
growing.
According to official data, there were
more than one million Internet users in 2011 that would represent a 70%
increase, an estimate of 3,000 Cambodian bloggers and more than 700
thousand Facebookers, putting year 2011 as a significant time for the
reduction of the Cambodian digital gap. But such increase does not
spread over the country as it is expected, but continues centralized in
Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, the fourth largest
urban centers of Cambodia, letting the rest of the country in a similar
situation previous to 2011.
Internet and Education
For Mr. Teng Prach, 19, student of
journalism at the Don Bosco Vocational Center in Kep City and a blogger
writing about his native Kampot Province, Internet is essentially a tool
to support his work and formation. ‘It is important for the
development of my own life… I find blogging, social networks… useful to
share information about Kampot, my region, for the people to know,‘ he says.
In the school of journalism and social
communication, Mr. Brach studies not only IT, but especially content
creation, ethics and critical thinking. ‘When I began I thought it
was about IT only, to say about how to deal with software and hardware,
but then I got that it is most important the fact about what we inform
that to just share things, he explains.
Another student of social communication,
Mr. Nget Ngean, 21, explains that children and teenagers in Cambodia are
prompt to become addict to video games and karaoke online and it must
be attended soon through education. ‘It is good we have more
computers and Internet access in Cambodia, but if children and young
people come to these means alone, we are going to have many video games
addicts,‘ he prevents.
IT programs in schools or universities
should not limit to technical issues. Information Technology is not only
about fixing cables, but opening minds to work for a social
development. ‘I use the Internet to improve my own skill that is
audiovisual edition and production and I can find thousands of pages
about what I want,’ said Mr. Ngean about the way he uses Internet.
Teacher Try Seyha is the manager of the electrical department and he is a consecrated Internet user based in Facebook. ‘I
use the Internet to update my knowledge. Before I keep on reading my
own text books to prepare lessons to my students, but now I use Internet
and it gives me an unique opportunity, it’s easy, fast and I get the
last advances of science,‘ he said. ‘Only in a site like
Youtube I can watch electrical lessons from foreign countries and it is I
have a living library in my computer.’
Mr. David Agudelo, 21, is a Colombian
volunteer at Don Bosco school in Kep and his work consists in the
organization of the Phum Thmey Cafe Internet, an academic experience
inside the campus. ‘The purpose of this space here is that children
and youth from the village have the opportunity to enjoy, learn and open
their minds through a new experience provided by new technologies,‘ he says.
But how to deal with video games?
‘My own experience is that a kid is a
kid and when coming to a computer he or she will always look what
children look: to play. We should not cut it and we should not fear
children play video games. But we should stay with them and lead them to
another things with more educative perspectives, to conduct their
process well,‘ explains the volunteer who is also a student of
philosophy and education. After playing, children start to look on other
options and in this case schools must be in connection. Teachers must
promote that their students get curiosity about research. You ask them
where is Europe and you show them that they can use a search engine, so
they will discover another world.’
Khmer language still of low use online,
although it is growing thanks to the work of universities, schools and
official agencies and the development of Khmer Unicode. But children and
youth will find mostly Latin scripts web pages everywhere. Is it an
obstacle for them?
‘In this academic cafe Internet we
have for example the assistance of the students of social communication,
so children and youth are not alone. However, English is not a
difficulty for Cambodian kids, because anyway it is a lingua franca and
they can get the concepts… Two weeks ago two teenagers came to the cafe
and they went to look for information about hip hop. When I asked them
why they were looking for it, they answered that there are two
foreigners living near their houses and they use to speak about hip hop.
Curious about such concept, they look for the cafe Internet and open
their own research… so I find such attitude too scientific and then we
need to promote it.’
More From Albeiro Rodas:
- Cambodia: A stop for the Intra-Asia Railway
- Cambodia prepares for the King-Father’s funeral
- Tackling sanitation in Cambodia: A key to reduce child mortality
- Cambodia lightning deaths, between superstition and prevention
- Teuk Chhou Zoo, building an animal ‘resort’ in Cambodia
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