Mu Sochua Barred from Event

On Thursday, February 5, 2009 Mrs. Mu Sochua, SRP lawmaker was banned by some Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit from her way to participate in a government sponsored forum on “How Cambodia will deal with the global economic crisis”.

For this reason, Prime Minister Hun Sen asserted that this SRP lawmaker had not been invited. The Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC) sponsored the event with support from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and UN Development Program. However, UNDP stated that the invitations were decided by the SNEC but that the UNDP encouraged “involvement and participation of all stakeholders.”

That day the exclusion of Mrs. Mu Sochua also prompted German Ambassador Fank Mann to skip the event. He also criticized the government’s decision to stop Mu Sochua was only his (Hun Sen’s) personal one. Any opposition has a right to participate in such an event.

Whereas Mrs. Sochua said that, “To prohibit the press and members of the opposition party is to withhold the truth; and anyway this is the moment for the public to be informed…. There is a crisis. Then we need to work together.”