From construction to ticket allocation, snarls beset first-time host ahead of Friday opening
The scene near the Morodok Techo National Sports Complex just weeks before the May 5 opening of the SEA Games. (Photo by Fiona Kelliher)
FIONA KELLIHER and MECH DARA, Contributing writersMay 4, 2023 12:04 JST
nikkei
PHNOM PENH -- Sixteen-year-old Sum Sam Ath arrived at Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium around noon Tuesday, hoping to receive a promised free ticket for a soccer match at the upcoming Southeast Asian Games.
Traffic was jammed around the block as hundreds pooled at the stadium's front gate. Some sat waiting on their motorbikes, while others stood in a giant crowd or sat on the ground, constantly refreshing Facebook on their phones to claim resale tickets.
But after waiting more than two hours in the baking sun, Sam Ath came away empty-handed as the ticketing office announced they had run out.
"So many people didn't get tickets," Sam Ath said. "We just want to watch the Cambodian national team. I'm sad I didn't get one."
The chaotic scene was emblematic of the buildup to this year's Southeast Asian, or SEA, Games, which Cambodia is hosting for the first time beginning Friday and running through May 17. More than 11,000 athletes from the region are expected to attend, competing across 37 sports.
Traffic was jammed around the block as hundreds pooled at the stadium's front gate. Some sat waiting on their motorbikes, while others stood in a giant crowd or sat on the ground, constantly refreshing Facebook on their phones to claim resale tickets.
But after waiting more than two hours in the baking sun, Sam Ath came away empty-handed as the ticketing office announced they had run out.
"So many people didn't get tickets," Sam Ath said. "We just want to watch the Cambodian national team. I'm sad I didn't get one."
The chaotic scene was emblematic of the buildup to this year's Southeast Asian, or SEA, Games, which Cambodia is hosting for the first time beginning Friday and running through May 17. More than 11,000 athletes from the region are expected to attend, competing across 37 sports.
Cambodia has made big promises, including free entry to the games, free food, accommodation and transportation for participating countries, and the completion of the 60,000-seat Morodok Techo National Sports Complex, a $150 million, Chinese-funded stadium about a 40-minute drive north of Phnom Penh's city center.
But many are frustrated. "The whole thing is a mess," said one Cambodian athlete who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity. "Some [athletes] are panicking."
The government has played up the games as a source of national pride, with a logo modeled after Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple complex and a promotional music video featuring traditional apsara dancing and aerial shots of the gleaming stadium.
"Let's go see Khmer temples, watch movies and eat Khmer food," the song blares, "go dance and play Khmer games, especially support Khmer sports."
A hallway inside makeshift housing where stadium construction workers are living with multiple families to a room. (Photo by Fiona Kelliher)
Workers have been putting in grueling hours preparing the stadium. Recruited by brokers out of Cambodia's rural provinces, and from countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, hundreds are living in squalid, makeshift housing around the stadium. Many are crammed three or four families to a room, earning $200 to $300 in monthly wages. The handful of shared bathrooms stopped working weeks ago, and the odor of raw sewage is heavy.
One broker, who oversees about 50 people at the site and asked for anonymity to speak freely about conditions, said droves of recruits had arrived in March for last-minute jobs, but they were not enough. Some nights, she said, her crew stays up mixing concrete until 2 a.m. before rising again at 5 a.m. "They're so worn out," the recruiter said, "it's nearly suffocated them."
More than five workers who spoke with Nikkei Asia said they hadn't been paid for up to two months' work, even as they put in extra hours to paint and touch up a tall residential building behind the stadium. "There is no money because the boss doesn't pay us," one woman said. "We have no way to return home."
A row of smaller buildings on the site remains unfinished, but those on-site did not know whether they were intended to house athletes. Last month, Thai media reported that officials had booked hotel rooms for athletes as a "backup plan," after which Cambodia insisted the stadium's accommodations were completed and ready to house about 3,500 visitors, with the rest heading to hotels.
Neither Vath Chamroeun, secretary-general of the Cambodia SEA Games Organizing Committee and National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, nor the Thai National Olympic Committee, responded to multiple requests for comment.
Workers have been putting in grueling hours preparing the stadium. Recruited by brokers out of Cambodia's rural provinces, and from countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, hundreds are living in squalid, makeshift housing around the stadium. Many are crammed three or four families to a room, earning $200 to $300 in monthly wages. The handful of shared bathrooms stopped working weeks ago, and the odor of raw sewage is heavy.
One broker, who oversees about 50 people at the site and asked for anonymity to speak freely about conditions, said droves of recruits had arrived in March for last-minute jobs, but they were not enough. Some nights, she said, her crew stays up mixing concrete until 2 a.m. before rising again at 5 a.m. "They're so worn out," the recruiter said, "it's nearly suffocated them."
More than five workers who spoke with Nikkei Asia said they hadn't been paid for up to two months' work, even as they put in extra hours to paint and touch up a tall residential building behind the stadium. "There is no money because the boss doesn't pay us," one woman said. "We have no way to return home."
A row of smaller buildings on the site remains unfinished, but those on-site did not know whether they were intended to house athletes. Last month, Thai media reported that officials had booked hotel rooms for athletes as a "backup plan," after which Cambodia insisted the stadium's accommodations were completed and ready to house about 3,500 visitors, with the rest heading to hotels.
Neither Vath Chamroeun, secretary-general of the Cambodia SEA Games Organizing Committee and National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, nor the Thai National Olympic Committee, responded to multiple requests for comment.
Trash piles up between worker dormitories outside Morodok Techo National Sports Complex. (Photo by Fiona Kelliher)
The Cambodian athlete who talked of a mess, meanwhile, also said national teams have been struggling to fill their rosters. Last December, she said, sports authorities pressured her to help recruit athletes from abroad with the promise of obtaining Cambodian passports. She refused but said her own team has since added multiple foreign-born competitors with no familial ties to Cambodia.
Discontent has spilled beyond the sporting world. In late March, the Ministry of Education said all public and private higher educational institutions would be closed countrywide from April 20 to May 18 to maintain order and safety.
Some parents melted down. "It's not reasonable to close down schools. Such a crazy decision should be put under serious reconsideration," one posted on Facebook. "I don't support this break," another wrote. "I acknowledge that we're the hosts, and it's our pride, but kids need to learn, and they're not related to each other."
Within hours, the ministry appeared to walk back its statements, saying that schools could host programs such as exams depending on their needs.
Hopeful spectators remain undeterred. Back in the football ticket line, 30-year-old Sun Cheat said he had tried to claim tickets two days in a row to no avail. He would keep trying.
"This is the first Cambodian SEA Games," he said. "I want to show support."
The Cambodian athlete who talked of a mess, meanwhile, also said national teams have been struggling to fill their rosters. Last December, she said, sports authorities pressured her to help recruit athletes from abroad with the promise of obtaining Cambodian passports. She refused but said her own team has since added multiple foreign-born competitors with no familial ties to Cambodia.
Discontent has spilled beyond the sporting world. In late March, the Ministry of Education said all public and private higher educational institutions would be closed countrywide from April 20 to May 18 to maintain order and safety.
Some parents melted down. "It's not reasonable to close down schools. Such a crazy decision should be put under serious reconsideration," one posted on Facebook. "I don't support this break," another wrote. "I acknowledge that we're the hosts, and it's our pride, but kids need to learn, and they're not related to each other."
Within hours, the ministry appeared to walk back its statements, saying that schools could host programs such as exams depending on their needs.
Hopeful spectators remain undeterred. Back in the football ticket line, 30-year-old Sun Cheat said he had tried to claim tickets two days in a row to no avail. He would keep trying.
"This is the first Cambodian SEA Games," he said. "I want to show support."
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