Prime Minister Hun Sen has reversed a Ministry of Information decision to stop full-length televised broadcasts of National Assembly sessions, Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh said Thursday.
“Samdech Hun Sen wrote a letter and read it out for me that he ordered the continuation of [Assembly] broadcasts on TVK and radio as before,” Prince Ranariddh told reporters.
On Wednesday, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said he had decided to stop broadcasting Assembly sessions on TVK, starting Monday, because audiences were not interested.
Instead, the station would broadcast an edited 15-minute segment from each session, he said. Khieu Kanharith added that the shortened version would save money. He did not say how much would be saved.
Khieu Kanharith did not answer repeated phone calls for comment Thursday.
The decision prompted an angry response from Prince Ranariddh and opposition lawmakers.
Opposition parliamentarian Son Chhay said he was worried that the plan would limit the opposition’s exposure to the public.
Over the week, “some of my party members said what they expressed in parliament had been deleted,” he said Thursday.
“The limiting of free debate means the return to an authoritarian style of rule,” he said.
Under Article 88 of the Constitution, Assembly sessions must be held in public.
Son Chhay cited the government’s crackdown on peaceful demonstrations over the past year as another violation of constitutional rights.
He also noted that the meetings of the Council of Ministers’ and Phnom Penh Municipality are closed to the public.
Opposition lawmaker Yim Sovann said the Information Ministry’s move would have “violated the rights of members of parliament to do their duty.”
ga casino and did not know the bottles contained drugs. Also Thursday, Judge Ya Sakhon dropped charges against Wu Hung Te, saying there was no evidence that he was involved in drug trafficking.
