An independent radio station has been shut down in Cambodia by the increasingly repressive government.
The broadcaster – Voice of Democracy (VOD) – was shut down because it had allegedly harmed the government’s reputation.
The station had carried a story which said that the Cambodia had provided an aid package of US$100 000 to Turkey in the aftermath of the earthquake which had struck that country. VOD claimed that the donation had been signed off by Hun Manet, the son of Prime Minster, Hun Sen. Foreign aid packages can only be signed off by the Prime Minister. Hun Sen claimed that the report damaged the country’s reputation.
VOD apologised but this apology was rejected by Hun Sen and the station was shut down earlier this week.
Observers of Cambodia say that VOD was one of the few remaining independent press outlets surviving in the country after a crackdown on civil liberties in 2017 and 2018.
Cambodia has in recent years become more repressive. Hun Sen’s political party, the Cambodian People’s Party, currently holds all 125 seats in the lower house of Parliament. The biggest opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was effectively banned in 2017.