Phnom Penh Traffic Police at the junction of Monireth and Mao Tse Tung boulevards, where they are confiscating licence plates. (Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG)Wednesday, 06 May 2009
Written by Sam Rith and Robbie Corey-Boulet The Phnom Penh Post
Changing PlatesCrackdown on unauthorised plates has led to a surge in applications for civilian plates at vehicle registration office.
- 140 drivers with RCAF plates have registered to switch to civilian plates by Tuesday
- 60 drivers with police plates have also registered
- The applications should take about one week to process
POLICE on Tuesday continued removing unauthorised police and military licence plates from vehicles throughout the capital, but officers said they had not yet begun administering punishments specifically outlined in the law that prohibits civilians and low-ranking officials from using such plates.
Sar Leng, deputy director of the Ministry of Interior's Traffic Office, said the ministry on Monday received 25 police plates that had been removed from vehicles not authorised to bear them.Traffic Police officers have been tasked with removing police plates, while Military Police officers are in charge of removing RCAF plates.
National Police Chief Neth Savoeun wrote a letter in February to officers instructing them to begin enforcing in May a law already on the books that outlaws the use of unauthorised plates.
Article 91 of the Land Traffic Law, which went into effect in March 2007, gave the drivers of private vehicles bearing such plates one year to switch to private plates.
The law stipulates that violators face two to five years in prison and a fine of between 4 million riels and 10 million riels (US$970 and $2,424), but Phnom Penh Traffic Police Chief Tin Prasoeur said he did not know when officers would begin administering fines or making arrests. He said he would wait until he received approval "from the top" before taking those steps.
Rush to register
The onset of the crackdown on unauthorised plates has triggered a flood of applications this week at the capital's vehicle registration office, said Tat Sreng, its director. As of Tuesday morning, the owners of 140 cars bearing RCAF plates and 60 bearing police plates had visited the office to register for civilian plates, he said.
He said many of the registrants had been motivated to switch to civilian plates after Prime Minister Hun Sen gave a speech last week warning against the use of unauthorised plates.
Tat Sreng said the applications would in most cases take about one week to process.
Hun Sen said in his speech last week that vehicles bearing unauthorised police and military plates would "be included as property of the state".
The Land Traffic Law does not stipulate that vehicles with unauthorised plates will be confiscated.
Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap referred to the threat of vehicle seizure as "a stick or a sharp sword to warn" violators.
Sar Leng said he did not believe it would be necessary for the government to seize cars, noting that the crackdown combined with Hun Sen's remarks had led many violators to take steps to comply with the law.
10 comments:
about time!
yes, good start! good bless cambodia.
And need PRIME MISTER "STRONG MAN IN THE COUNTRY " to do just that???
Cambodia in big trouble, boy!
Should have law to punish those who use government cars for personel pleasure.
Looks like people only listen to Hun San. Everytime he opens his dirty mouth to say something, people listen and obey. If he dies tomorrow, Cambodia will become totally chaotic.
Yes!!!I agree with 5:41 am. Government officials including ministers in ministerial offices are likely do nothing. Only Hun Sen who does everything in the country. So Hun Sen now becomes the Prime Minister, minister, director, employee, arm force, police, and so on. How about rubbish and dust everywhere in the very pretty Phnom Penh? Phnom Penh now is looking like rubbish-dust city.
Bravo Cambodia
Bravo Samdech Dech Dek Cho
Bravo A CHO HUN SEN . I am sorry to said that I mean CHEY YO A XAMDACH CHO HUN XEN.
the khmer language, perhaps like any other languages in the world have its derogatory form such as the term "ah" this "ah" that. unlike english which simple use the words "you, I, she, he, they, we, them, us, his, her, etc...", we khmer always add the derogatory term "ah" in front of names, etc. why? why do we have to use that term a lot because it sounds so derogatory and can use a lot of personal problem among people when they are being called that term, "ah" this or "ah" that! why can we khmer just called everyone by their real or given name? why have to add that derogatory term "ah"? i think that is the root of all the problem why people did not get along with each other because the are so serious against each other when that term is used toward a person, a country or whatever. in short, it is a hate word, believe it or not! imagine if we all are calling each other ah this or ah that, then we are all be fighting each other nonstop! where is the civil society. people are no evil sometimes; they are so full of hates, madness, unhappy, sad, and so on! i think people in cambodia need to change that behavior so our country can become better. i say there ought to be a law to get rid of that word completely from our vocabulary. it is so unproductive in society to have that term in our khmer language. no more ah this or ah that, please! the same with the female one such as "mee" this or "mee" that ("ah" is used mostly for male and "mee" is used mostly for female, both are very derogatory terms in the khmer language).
cambodia should go back to use the term "mit" as it sounds more neutral and not derogatory. i like that term "mit", meaning friend in general. i hate the term "ah", "mee", "haung", "ah moeng", etc..., they all sound so derogatory when you call someone these terms. please get rid of these derogatory words. i rather have someone call me by my name than using these term ah, mee, etc... please reform our usage of the words properly as well. thank you.
yes, agree. please leave these derogatory pronounces to our historical enemies youn and siem people only. everybody else we won't use our derogatory terms "ah and mee". god bless cambodia.
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