Cambodia goes online

Cambodia goes online

By Simon Montlake
in Takhmao, Cambodia

An ambitious new project has begun to link all of Cambodia to the internet.

Using $1.2m in aid money from the United States, the project's organisers are opening community information centres in 22 provincial capitals around the country.

The centres will use wireless technology to allow Cambodians to go online.

Even rural areas are being given internet access under the new plans

One of the main ideas behind the project is to give Cambodian voters better access to information ahead of the general election in July.

But there are doubts that this goal is attainable, given the technological challenges and the low standard of voter education in the country.

Information Age

The first information centre recently opened in Takhmao, the capital of Kandal province.

Inside a freshly-painted house along a dusty, rutted road, a team of Cambodian volunteers showed visitors the rows of gleaming computers, all linked to a Cambodian portal site.

For newcomers to the internet - which includes just about everyone in Takhmao - this is their first taste of the Information Age, courtesy of the US government.

The first information I'd look for is development and how to improve human resources

Kim Heng, motorbike taxi driver

"Information in most of Cambodia is severely limited," explained Gordon Hein, vice-president of the US-based Asia Foundation, which is running the project.

"In the last decade you've seen a gradual increase in IT access in Phnom Penh, but in the provinces it's very limited," he said.

Over the last few months, the Asia Foundation has worked with local partners to create a portal in the local Khmer language that is accessible to Cambodians.

All the content is local and comes from a variety of sources, including political parties and non-governmental organisations in Cambodia.

Users can also send emails and eventually surf the worldwide web once they get proficient.

The Asia Foundation says it is keen to try to replicate this experiment in other developing countries, including Afghanistan and Indonesia.

Challenges ahead

But long-time residents in Cambodia say it is a huge challenge to maintain hi-tech equipment in remote, dusty locations.

Hardly anyone living in Takhmao had used the internet before

Even in Phnom Penh, the country's capital, computer repair services are unreliable. One internet service operator said he had to keep cats in his office to catch the rats that gnaw at the computer cables.

Then there is the question of the information that goes online.

Cambodia's media has a poor reputation for accuracy. Radio and newspapers often pass off rumours and half-truths as news, sometimes with disastrous results.

In January the Cambodian media was blamed for inciting anti-Thai riots in Phnom Penh by repeating inaccurate reports of alleged insults by a Thai actress.

Some critics say the internet may simply spread these kinds of untruths to a wider audience in Cambodia.

They also worry that racist and xenophobic material will be spread by groups in the run-up to the July elections.

But Tom Parks, Information Technology director at the Asia Foundation, says this project will create space for alternative voices to balance such reports.

"With that balancing, we're reducing the risk of that kind of thing happening. Right now the fact is that in most provinces there are only one or two voices represented."

In Takhmao local people have no experience of using the internet, but most say they welcome the chance to surf for free at their new Community Information Centre.

Kim Heng is a 44-year-old motorbike taxi driver who works for the commune administration.

"The first information I'd look for is development and how to improve human resources. If we know how to use these resources, our economy will grow," he said.