Official Explanation for Canceled Water Festival Questioned

By Zsombor Peter and Hul Reaksmey - October 8, 2013 The Cambodia Daily.  

From the leadership of the opposition CNRP down to Phnom Penh’s street vendors, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s explanation for once again canceling the city’s annual Water Festival—recent flooding in the provinces—is being met with mounting skepticism.

In a government decree on Sunday, Mr. Hun Sen said the waterlogged communes and villages that usually send their longboat teams to Phnom Penh for three days of races each year in November to celebrate the turning of the Tonle Sap River—and the 1 to 2 million people who come to watch them—ought to focus instead on recovering from the recent floods.

But with the city still locked in a political standoff over July’s disputed national election, and the opposition continuing to draw tens of thousands of supporters to their rallies, the CNRP has said Mr. Hun Sen’s explanation is a mere excuse.