Cambodia unveils new assembly building, located next to casino
(Kyodo) - Cambodia on Saturday proudly unveiled its new $26 million National Assembly building, but its location next door to a major casino has brought criticism from some Cambodians.
The building, which took four years to construct, has a capacity to accommodate offices of up to 211 National Assembly members, or almost double the current number in the 123-seat lower house, along with their staff.
Son Chhay, an outspoken parliamentarian of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, called the location of the building next to the nine-story Naga Casino, owned by a Malaysian tycoon, a "big mistake" and said it gives Cambodia a bad image.
He said some fellow parliamentarians are already joking "that a bridge connecting parliament and the casino should be built so that they can gamble after they get bored."
Son Chhay also criticized the lavish inaugural event, which was timed to start at 7 a.m. on the 7th day of the 7th month of 2007 with some 7,000 participants, including King Norodom Sihamoni, Prime Minister Hun Sen, and the heads or other high representatives of parliament from such countries as Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos.
"The spending of some $500,000 for the event is a big waste of money. We are poor, and this disgusts our donors who have been contributing for years to an amount of almost half of our country's annual budget," he said. The old National Assembly building, built in 1917, is located less than 1 kilometer away from the new one. It will be used by the Supreme Court.
The building, which took four years to construct, has a capacity to accommodate offices of up to 211 National Assembly members, or almost double the current number in the 123-seat lower house, along with their staff.
Son Chhay, an outspoken parliamentarian of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, called the location of the building next to the nine-story Naga Casino, owned by a Malaysian tycoon, a "big mistake" and said it gives Cambodia a bad image.
He said some fellow parliamentarians are already joking "that a bridge connecting parliament and the casino should be built so that they can gamble after they get bored."
Son Chhay also criticized the lavish inaugural event, which was timed to start at 7 a.m. on the 7th day of the 7th month of 2007 with some 7,000 participants, including King Norodom Sihamoni, Prime Minister Hun Sen, and the heads or other high representatives of parliament from such countries as Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos.
"The spending of some $500,000 for the event is a big waste of money. We are poor, and this disgusts our donors who have been contributing for years to an amount of almost half of our country's annual budget," he said. The old National Assembly building, built in 1917, is located less than 1 kilometer away from the new one. It will be used by the Supreme Court.
