By Lauren Crothers
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AA) – Cambodia’s prime minister and his government have begun applying more pressure on media outlets, threatening to revoke licenses unless officials’ full honorific titles are used and to file legal action against a newspaper over its coverage of a speech.
The Cambodia Daily reported Friday that the Ministry of Information warned media outlets that they could lose their licenses to operate unless honorific titles — typically bestowed by the Royal family — are used to introduce those who hold them on first reference.
Premier Hun Sen’s, for instance, is the lengthy “Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen”, which can be translated as “Lord Prime Minister and Supreme Military Commander”.
The Daily also said Friday that Hun Sen had taken exception to an article it ran earlier in the week, in which he alleged his words about wanting to ban “color-revolution” demonstrations had been taken out of context.
The premier, who has been ruling for more than 30 years, took particular exception to the story’s headline — Prime Minister Bans Color-Coordinated Demonstrations — arguing Thursday that such wording was a misrepresentation of his speech.
“Now I will check for legal paths, if you dare to publish incorrectly about me,” he was quoted as saying.
The term “color revolution” has become synonymous with a wave of anti-government mass movements in recent years, mainly in the former Soviet bloc.
On Monday, six people were arrested for trying to take part in a “Black Monday” protest over the detention last week of five human rights defenders charged with bribing a woman to deny that she had had an affair with the opposition party’s deputy leader.
In March, a university student was jailed for 18 months on a criminal incitement conviction for a Facebook post that called for a “color revolution” — something Hun Sen has repeatedly said would never be accepted under his regime.
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith could not be reached Friday.
