Authorities on Friday announced a crackdown on the sale of pornographic videos, giving vendors six months to get rid of their stocks before a nationwide ban goes into effect.
Pornography has a bad influence on Cambodian youth and society at large, said Khieu Thavika, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, which passed the subdecree.
“This [ban] may result in a loss of food for the eyes, but will help preserve our culture,” Agence France-Presse reported Khieu Thavika as saying.
Violators of the subdecree, which will go into effect Feb 28, face fines of $52 to $526.
Cheap pornographic videos, imported from Japan, China, the US and Europe, are widely available around Phnom Penh for between $2.50 and $3.50, AFP reported.
Vendors in the capital said they welcome the ban.
“I feel shy to show tapes and CDs with porn pictures on them,” Phsar Toul Tumpong vendor Srey Mom said Saturday.
“I don’t want to sell it, but if I don’t have it and other shops have it, I lose customers,” she said.
The Council is also looking for ways to boost production of local television shows. At the moment, local TV is dominated by foreign programs, largely from neighboring Thailand.
“Importing of violent films has a bad affect [on society], spurring kidnapping and gang violence,” Khieu Thavika said.
The government will encourage the Ministry of Culture to start making its own movies for distribution to cinemas and for broadcast on state-run TVK, Khieu Thavika said. The ministry will be allowed to keep 40 percent of any revenue, he said.
The move will help to protect Khmer culture and a film industry that has “fallen down—almost dead,” he said.
