Cambodia's PM takes on boy racers

A 2008 Lexus belonging to one of the young hoodlums overturned in the street of Phnom Penh on 30 October 2007 due to street drag racing (Photo: Sralanh Khmer)

Sunday, 11 November 2007
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh

Cambodia's prime minister has promised to resign if he cannot stop the children of the rich from misbehaving.

Hun Sen says he is tired of young men causing chaos on the streets of the capital, Phnom Penh, by racing their expensive cars and motorbikes.

He has ordered the police to detain parents if they come to collect their errant sons from custody.

If they are government or military officials they will be sacked. If not, Hun Sen says he will quit himself.

It is not just that Phnom Penh's traffic is getting worse. The quality of it is changing too.

Just a few years ago the streets were dominated by old Toyota Camrys and barely-functioning Daelim motorbikes - cast-offs from the United States and South Korea.

Impromptu racetrack

These days you are more likely to be forced into the gutter by a giant Hummer SUV, Mercedes S-Class, or at the very least a high-performance motorbike. And many of the drivers are little more than teenagers.

They are enjoying the benefits of Cambodia's rapid economic growth - thanks to their wealthy parents. But the only thing the rich kids are earning is a reputation for anti-social behaviour.

Come the late afternoon, groups of them turn public roads near the riverside into an impromptu racetrack. There have been a number of serious crashes - and some drivers have threatened local journalists for reporting on their antics.

The tuk-tuk drivers who look for passengers along the racers' route are fed up with the speed merchants.

"They don't drive slowly, they drive very fast. So it's very dangerous. The police are not here... they're never afraid of the police," one driver said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen is not the only one to notice that many of the boy-racers are related to government and military officials.

Hun Sen promises to resign if he cannot fire the father of young hoodlums who race their cars on the city streets

Hun Sen’s measures: Warning about no arrest made against the sons of the powerful who race cars and motorcycles

Friday, November 09, 2007
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Phnom Penh – Samdach Akkak Moha Sena Bat Dey Dek Cho Hun Sen, the prime minister of the kingdom of Cambodia, issued a renewed warning to the Phnom Penh city governor (Kep Chultema) saying that if he cannot rein in the kids who race motorcycles and cars (in the city street), he shouldn’t be a governor anymore… Hun Sen issued this warning in the afternoon of 07 November, during a conference to evaluate the education work and sports for the youth 2006-2007, and the setting of the goals for the school year 2007-2008 at the in the National Institute of Education.

Hun Sen said: “Some kids have all the time they need, and they even have the money but they turn around and race cars and motorcycles instead, and in doing so they create unsafe problems in the past few days, such as the incident which occurred near the Chea Sim park next to the Hun Sen park, where police officers sometimes arrest these youngsters and call in their parents… To be safe, when the parents arrive, hold the parents there and report the case to me. Children of poor people are studying very hard because they have no car, no motorcycles to go anywhere, to race with others, sometimes they have to hitch a ride with someone else. Only children of the powerful own cars, motorcycles for racing, they even went on to threaten government officials who are protecting the street traffic order also.”

Hun Sen took a measure by ordering police chiefs, military police chiefs to work diligently not just in Phnom Penh but also in all provinces and municipalities. Hun Sen pointed out that: “The other day, the son of a general … who had a very nice car, and he used it for racing (in the city streets). During the race, sometimes problems occur, and it ended up as problems for the parents, this is because these parents love their children too much. You should love your children, but you shouldn’t give them free rein like this. Now, you (police) should strengthen the order, and you should work to win over this, I don’t believe that you cannot win over this. If some parents are arrogant, report them to me. In the past, you hid them from me, and you do not dare report them to me.”

Hun Sen severely stressed: “I will fire (the parents) for you to see. In the past, you do not want to report them to me, you are scared, so how can I control all the issues that happen. You hid them, I also have a device to listen to (police communication) radio, and I know about the sons of this personality or that personality, you(?) close your eyes sometimes, the police officers said that one youngster went to this street, and tell their colleagues to look for another youngster at that street… this youngster is the son that personality … let him go… Therefore, the parents shouldn’t give too much free rein to their children. I am calling on parents and tutors, what I am saying is not to make the parents look bad, or the children look bad, but I want everybody to good, both the parents and the children. If the child were to be dead, injured, incapacitated, who would suffer? It’s the parents, therefore, we should know how to love our children.”

Hun Sen sternly warned: “Mr. city Governor (Kep Chuktema) pay attention, you shouldn’t just take measures for a short period of time only when the prime minister yell out. This is what I usually see happens, when the prime minister yell, you would take measures … and when the prime minister stops yelling, you stop doing it, you should take measures like the rain constantly pouring down. In some instances, the police officers would remove the front wheel out (the arrested motorcycles), because they (youngsters) are riding only with one wheel, but when the parents arrive, they order the cops to install the front tire back, and order the police officers to apologize to the youngsters on top of that. But you (police officers) do not dare report these cases to me, if you were to report them to me, I will fire the parents immediately, if Hun Sen cannot do that, I will resign.”

Hun Sen also called on “schools, parents, the community and all levels of authorities to participate in this issue, to do whatever they can so that our students and our youth become good, we don’t want any accident, and if they (youth) become better, they can be happier as well. This issue does not concern just the city only, but it concerns all the provinces and municipalities which must listen, in particular at the commune levels where the population is voting, the voters pay attention to social order. During the election campaign in the past, we (CPP) talked about safety, social order which constitute one of the topics in the election campaign. (When) problems occur at the commune levels, these actions should be taken, the police stations are there already, therefore the problem is whether they act on it or not…”