After a visit by Hungary’s foreign minister, his shirking of health protocols and subsequent renewed Covid-19 closures and quarantines, the initial public fury has had time to settle. Now, we need to focus on testing, transparency and taking precautions seriously, writes Matt Surrusco.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto shared some laughs with his counterparts in Austria and Slovenia last week about his recent visit to Cambodia, which has triggered renewed Covid-19 closures in the country, and the quarantine and testing of more than 1,000 people, including Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Anyone who supports a free press must call harassment, intimidation and threats by authorities against journalists what they are: crimes that warrant investigation, and if wrongdoing is clear, prosecution under the law, writes Matt Surrusco.
UPDATED 10:45 a.m. — About 50 uniformed and plainclothes authorities on Friday forcibly stopped about a dozen people protesting across the street from the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh, with one woman being carried away down Mao Tse Tung Blvd. by authorities and three other demonstrators pulled into the back of a police truck and driven away.
As CNRP supporters prepare to hold anti-China protests in 20 cities around the world on Friday, the outlawed opposition says it’s also waging a campaign calling on more Western governments to sanction Cambodian officials — including the justice minister — over alleged human rights violations or corruption.
With more heavy rainfall expected this weekend and ongoing flooding that has killed at least 21 people this month, Prime Minister Hun Sen cast doubt that the in-filling of capital lakes had contributed to severe flooding in Phnom Penh.
The number of Cambodians experiencing poverty this year could nearly double to 17.6 percent of the population — sending some 1.3 million people back into poverty — with the unemployment rate increasing almost seven-fold, a new U.N. report says.
Police arrested another ex-CNRP activist on Sunday, accusing party vice president Mu Sochua’s former assistant of collecting money from abroad to fund a local movement to overthrow the government.
While a few sellers at O’Russei Market said business was good during the busy holiday season, some said customers likely had less cash to spend and were cutting back on pagoda offering purchases this year.
After deleting a tweet showing a dish containing soft-shell turtle, some species of which are endangered, the Australian Embassy said Tuesday that Ambassador Pablo Kang had tasted the food during a provincial trip last week and “was assured it was farmed.”
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