US criticises Cambodia radio curbs during election

Saturday, 29 June, 2013 

Associated Press in Washington

The US strongly criticised Cambodia on Friday for banning radio stations from carrying foreign-produced programming in the local Khmer language during the campaign for next month’s elections.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Friday that’s a serious infringement of press freedom and such restrictions call into question whether the July 28 vote will be free and fair.

The election is almost certain to see Prime Minister Hun Sen, Asia’s longest-serving leader, extend his 28 years in power. His government is already accused of harassing political opponents. The Obama administration has said the exclusion of exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy threatens the vote’s legitimacy.

The directive, dated Tuesday and signed by acting Information Minister Ouk Pratna, orders all FM stations to stop rebroadcasting radio programs from foreign stations through the month long campaign period that began Thursday, until election day. It threatens legal action if they fail to comply.

“This directive is a serious infringement of freedom of the press and freedom of expression and starkly contradicts the spirit of a healthy democratic process,” Ventrell told reporters at the State Department. He urged the Cambodian government to reconsider.

Radio Free Asia said its Khmer service has been dropped by 10 stations. It called the directive “the most sweeping and stunning frontal assault on media freedom in Cambodia in recent memory.”

Voice of America also condemned it, saying it deprives the Cambodian audiences of critical news and information on the election.

“These types of balanced and informative broadcasts are needed more than ever during the elections and we condemn any effort to silence the media,” VOA said in a statement.

Both of the Washington-based networks are US government funded. They said they would continue broadcasts by shortwave radio, satellite and on the Internet.

Radio Australia, which also broadcasts in Khmer, would be affected too, Radio Free Asia reported. But foreign broadcasts from Voice of Vietnam and China Radio International and French public radio station RFI won’t be as they operate their own stations in Cambodia, the report said.

The iron grip on government held by Hun Sen’s party already gives him major advantages in the election, including influence over state-run and other mainstream media, the loyalty of the civil service and the power to dispense patronage.

In the last election, in 2008, the party won 90 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly. Two weeks ago, 28 opposition lawmakers were expelled from parliament on a technicality.

 

Cambodia bans foreign radio programmes in run-up to election

Source: Reuters - Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:33 AM

 

PHNOM PENH, June 29 (Reuters) - Cambodia has banned local radio stations from broadcasting content from foreign media in the run-up to a general election next month and also told them to stop carrying reports on foreigners playing any role in the campaign.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, one of the world's longest-serving leaders, has total control of local television and most radio stations and his Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is expected to win the July 28 election.

Radio Free Asia (RFA), one of two U.S. funded stations which offer programmes in Khmer through local radio and is free from government influence, said the media censorship would hinder democractic elections.

In a statement late on Friday, the Ministry of Information said all radio stations must be neutral in their coverage before the election and not carry reports on foreigners playing any role in the election. It was not clear if the directive was aimed at any individuals or monitoring groups.

The statement said stations must also suspend broadcasting Khmer-language programmes by foreign media.

Radio Free Asia spokesman John A. Estrella called the ban "the most sweeping and stunning frontal assault on media freedom in Cambodia in recent memory" and "a blatant strategy to silence the types of disparate and varied voices that characterise an open and free society".

"Unfettered access to diverse, accurate, election information provides the foundation for fair and free elections, and Prime Minister Hun Sen's decision represents a major regression in the march towards democracy and freedom in Cambodia," he said in a statement.

Two local stations, Women's Media Center FM 102 and Beehive FM 105, stopped re-broadcasting RFA and VOA reports on Friday.

Last year, the Cambodian government threatened legal action against RFA and VOA, accusing them of favouring opposition parties and promoting U.S. foreign policy.

Earlier this month a panel dominated by the CPP expelled 29 members of parliament because three parties had merged to form a new party to contest the election. It ruled that made them ineligible to continue to sit for the old parties.

The new formation, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), will be the main challenger to the CPP.

It has already accused the National Election Committee of bias, listing irregularities including names missing from electoral rolls, the presence of "ghost names" and the disruption of CNRP public events. It has threatened to pull out of the election if things get worse. (Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Alan Raybould and Michael Perry)