The Australian government on Thursday upgraded its official travel advice on Cambodia, warning that terrorist threats against Australian nationals and Australian interests were high and calling on its citizens to exercise “extreme caution” while visiting the country.
Reeling from last weekend’s massive car-bomb attack on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed some 200 foreign holiday makers and locals, the Australian government also warned its nationals to leave Indonesia.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the warning was based on “disturbing new information” regarding threats in Indonesia. Australians also face the threat of terrorist activities in six other Southeast Asian countries: Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Laos and Brunei.
The threats varied in each of the six countries, but all were lower than Indonesia, The Associated Press reported Downer as saying.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Web site stated on Thursday that: “Australians in Cambodia should exercise extreme caution, particularly in commercial and public areas known to be frequented by foreigners such as clubs, restaurants, bars, schools, places of worship, outdoor recreation events or tourist areas.
“Australians in Cambodia should monitor carefully developments that might affect their safety,” the Web site stated.
Karen Lanyon, first secretary at the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh, said the decision to upgrade the travel warning for Cambodia was made in Canberra, the capital.
“The assessment has been considered in Canberra since Bali and is based on information that came to hand,” said Lanyon, who urged Australians to log on to the Web site www.dfat.gov.au for more information.
Increasing Cambodia’s security threat status is sure to irk Cambodian officials who have taken pains in recent weeks to stress that Cambodia is “100 percent” safe from terrorism as the country prepares to host next month’s Asean Summit.
However, following the blast in Bali—which targeted a nightclub, bars and restaurants frequented in the majority by Australians—police Director-General Hok Lundy said on Tuesday security would be boosted at tourist centers in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap town.
Thailand also announced on Tuesday it had strengthened security at tourist sites as a result of the Bali bombing.
Thai police said surveillance had been increased in Bangkok, the northern city of Chiang Mai and the country’s popular beach resorts.
In the year following the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington, Southeast Asia has been increasingly fingered as a second front for al-Qaida operatives and supporters.
Cambodia was on the list of eight countries reportedly earmarked for attacks against Western interests around the first anniversary of the attacks, according to a US Central Intelligence Agency summary reported in Time magazine.
The confirmed deaths of 33 Australians in the Bali bombing and serious concern expressed for 140 others still missing has raised the specter of a backlash against Australia’s Muslim community.
A firebomb was hurled through the window of a mosque in Melbourne on Thursday morning and on Tuesday vandals attacked a school and adjoining mosque and a Muslim leader’s residence in Sydney, the AP reported.
