The recently formed Human Rights Party issued a statement Sunday threatening to organize protests if female staff at a casino on the Vietnamese border in Svay Rieng province are ordered to wear Vietnamese-style dresses.
The HRP claimed in a news statement that the Las Vegas Sun Hotel and Casino in Chantrea district’s Bavet commune, had abused Khmer traditions and freedoms of its employees by instituting the new Vietnamese-style dress code.
Contacted by telephone on Sunday, a manager at the casino denied the HRP report.
The manager did say that he had suggested that staff wear what he called “Cambodian traditional dress” to improve their appearance but he added that employees had declined to even do that.
“I never ordered them to wear Vietnamese dresses,” said the manager who declined to give his name. “We know we are living in Cambodia. We must comply with Cambodian laws.”
A 33-year-old female casino employee said on condition of anonymity Sunday that on Sept 10, female employees had been instructed to wear the dresses, which she said were Vietnamese in style, though she admitted that she hadn’t actually seen the dresses.
None of the employees have yet begun wearing the dresses, she added.
Ly Korm, head of labor issues for the HRP, claimed Sunday that he had spoken to a Korean man at the casino, whose name he did not know, who told him that staff were asked to wear “long traditional dresses like Vietnamese girls.”
The HRP plans to stage a protest if the hotel introduces the dress code, he added.
“We are Cambodians living in Cambodia. Why do they want us to wear Vietnamese clothes,” he said. “It is not right for Cambodian workers: They are Khmer.”
Svay Rieng Provincial Governor Chieng Am said that he was unaware of the issue but would investigate.
“We will look into it,” he said.
