Pen Bonnar, a former reporter for Radio France International, was on Tuesday named as the new president of the Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ), following the death last month of its longtime leader, Pen Samithy.
After a spill of the club’s nine-member board, 13 candidates put their names forward for a ballot of the 140 CCJ members present at Phnom Penh’s Tonle Bassac II restaurant.
With 134 votes from the members, who each selected nine candidates for the new board, Mr. Bonnar came in first and was then chosen by the board as president.
“I would like to thank all CCJ members that have given their trust to me, as well as the board members that selected me to be president of the CCJ to continue the mission of president Pen Samithy,” said Mr. Bonnar, who recently started working for tycoon Ly Yong Phat’s soon-to-launch PNN television station.
“When a journalist has been arrested or accused, our club officials always go to help intervene,” he said.
“We are not biased to the ruling party, and in the past we have tried to make our club be independent.”
