Speaking to a scenario all too familiar in the Kingdom, Prime Minister
Hun Sen told provincial governors yesterday that powerful officials and their
friends and families must be punished if they fire their guns or wield other
weapons in restaurants and other public places.
Tourism and public safety are at
stake, the premier said, if authorities turn a blind eye to shootings and other
violence – including “samurai” sword fights – involving high-ranking officials
or those around them, such as their “gangster” sons.
“I don’t want to hear from media
reports any more that a person who opened fire was not arrested because they
have a powerful person behind them,” Hun Sen said during a speech about the
Kingdom’s 2012-2020 tourism plan.
“There should be no risk to
anyone’s life just because they want to eat something with their family and
friends,” he added. “But many have to run and escape from groups of gangsters
who open fire.”
The Post has reported a number of
incidents this year in which police, other government officials or those with
powerful connections have allegedly fire guns in crowded beer gardens or
restaurants.
In one instance, a member of the
premier’s bodyguard unit was questioned for allegedly firing his weapon in a
restaurant in the capital’s Dangkor district.
The government has also come
under fire for its handling of other violent incidents allegedly involving
officials, including the case involving then-Bavet Town Governor Chhouk
Bandith, who has been accused of injuring three garment workers when he fired
his gun during a protest in February.
In another incident involving
someone close to the premier, Bun Sokha, former deputy chief of staff of Hun
Sen’s bodyguard unit, walked free from court in July in ambiguous circumstances
after he and three others were filmed beating a man in a hotel in Koh Kong in
April.
Political analyst Lao Mong Hay
said the prime minister had made numerous calls for such action, but too often
his orders were ignored if the accused was a high-ranking official or had
connections to powerful people.
“To ensure this directive is
effective, authorities at all levels have to cooperate and respect their
duties,” he said.
May Titthara
Business & Investment Opportunities
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