Red phone numbers which cause panic (Photo: Koh Santepheap newspaper)April 26 2008
DPA
Phnom Penh - Cambodian officials have moved to quell growing hysteria sparked by a rumour that a ghostly red number was appearing on mobile phones and killing people, local media and police said Saturday.
Officials have urged calm in the mobile-phone-crazy country, where rumours spread nationally like wildfire thanks to cheap calls and text messages, and have denied any red number exists.
Posts and Telecommunications Minister So Khun said the rumour was probably due to growing tension prior to scheduled national elections in July, the English-language Cambodia Daily reported.
"Anyone can make this up. In a moment we will hear that fish will grow legs and run away," the paper quoted the minister as saying.
Rumours such as this are not new to Cambodia, where people are deeply superstitious and believe in sorcerers and spirits but have nevertheless embraced texting technology as a national passion.
At the height of the SARS outbreak in 2003, a story circulated that people who did not eat a sugar palm dessert before midnight would die, sparking nationwide mass panic-buying of palm sugar that resulted in several market stalls being damaged.
In January of the same year, a false rumour that a Thai soap actress had claimed the national icon, Angkor Wat temple, was Thai led to an angry mob torching the Thai embassy and businesses.
Police warned Saturday that if the culprit for this latest text- message-fuelled scare was found they would be prosecuted, but admitted Chinese whisper investigations of this nature were virtually impossible to trace.
Officials have urged calm in the mobile-phone-crazy country, where rumours spread nationally like wildfire thanks to cheap calls and text messages, and have denied any red number exists.
Posts and Telecommunications Minister So Khun said the rumour was probably due to growing tension prior to scheduled national elections in July, the English-language Cambodia Daily reported.
"Anyone can make this up. In a moment we will hear that fish will grow legs and run away," the paper quoted the minister as saying.
Rumours such as this are not new to Cambodia, where people are deeply superstitious and believe in sorcerers and spirits but have nevertheless embraced texting technology as a national passion.
At the height of the SARS outbreak in 2003, a story circulated that people who did not eat a sugar palm dessert before midnight would die, sparking nationwide mass panic-buying of palm sugar that resulted in several market stalls being damaged.
In January of the same year, a false rumour that a Thai soap actress had claimed the national icon, Angkor Wat temple, was Thai led to an angry mob torching the Thai embassy and businesses.
Police warned Saturday that if the culprit for this latest text- message-fuelled scare was found they would be prosecuted, but admitted Chinese whisper investigations of this nature were virtually impossible to trace.
9 comments:
it's all in the mind, my dear. please try not to take it too seriously. if you refuse to believe something like this, it's not going to last long. this kind of power is all in the mind. the human mind is very powerful if we let it be. please be more concrete in your thinking. i mean, it is ok to believe whatever one chose to believe if it's going to help with the emotional well-being, however, please don't mix superstition with development because this is what holds development from happening if we worship too much these kind of believe. remember development and superstition or histeria do not mix well; it's like water and oil. they just don't mix well together without the use of heat, meaning nothing is impossible; it just takes longer to modernize cambodia if we allow personal belief to interfere with the country's development. thank you.
this is an iPhone. It shows red
number for
missed call number.
God damn it, you retarded gorillas! In this day and age, we call this a "virus" -- nothing else.
Now, go back to your cells.
Go back to Hanoi, you fucking Viet troller @ 2:23AM before more big gulps of Nuoc Mam get you brain more intoxicated!
What is the minister of telecom trying to explain? He hasn't had any logical ideas to solve the problem. and has tried to blame on politics. He should look at the nature of rumor. These kind of rumor has happened frequently in our society.
It was ment to be a joke , nothing else lol.
Here, I have to say the Telecom minister (So Khun) is wrong because he don't understand unscientific phenomena.
you all being stupid again, these are the secret code for the CPP to kill someone, if it red that mean they want him/her dead. don't be panic it is true, just be careful.
lots people without red #'s..like drive and talking etc. so if you have red #'s on your phone just be careful- it a warning/or a threat from the CPP.
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