Interior Ministry Secretary of State Em Sam An has called the recent detention of his 21-year-old daughter in Singapore for firearm possession a case of mistaken handbags.
But anti-weapons lobbyists say the incident highlights apparent contradictions in the government’s initiatives to disarm Cambodian society.
Em Sam An, deputy president of the government’s gun control committee, said his daughter Em Socheata mistakenly took her bodyguard’s handbag containing the illegal weapon to Singapore, where she was visiting on a private trip.
Em Socheata was briefly detained, the weapon was confiscated and she has been indefinitely banned from Singapore, an official familiar with the case said.
Em Sam An said the “accident” has been resolved with Singaporean officials.
“She is young. She had no right to carry a gun,” he said. “Even though I am a member of the gun reduction committee, I have no right to allow my daughter [to] have a gun.”
The incident is the second involving Cambodian officials with guns in Singapore, and is setting a bad example for the public, said Neb Sithay, executive coordinator of the Working Group for Weapons Reduction in Cambodia.
In April 1999, RCAF Deputy Commander-in-Chief Kun Kim was temporarily banned from visiting Singapore after he was found to be carrying a pistol in his briefcase at Cangi Airport.
Neb Sithay said Cambodian law prohibits the possession of weapons by anyone except members of the police or military working on authorized assignments.
While the government says that weapons are banned in Cambodia, what that means in practical terms of weapons control is unclear, Neb Sithay said.
“The officials say that now the country has peace and security. But then, when they go somewhere, they always have many bodyguards carrying guns,” he said.
The working group’s education programs on weapons reduction target civilians and provincial-level government officials. There are no plans yet to expand the program to higher ranking officials, he added.
The incident is embarrassing for Em Sam An, who, speaking at the first meeting of the government’s weapons control committee held late last month, blamed government officials for flaunting the weapons ban.
More than 100,000 weapons have been handed in voluntarily by ordinary people since the government gun crackdown in 1999. However, people in positions of power are stalling, he said.
“Guns were taken from common people who respected the law,” Em Sam An said at the meeting.
“But, hard-liners hid their guns such as [members of] the armed forces, government officials and okhnas,” Em Sam An said.
He also said stricter measures are needed to limit the number of officials who have access to weapons.
Henry Van de Graff, head of the EU’s small arms and light weapons reduction project in Cambodia, said Tuesday the incident was not “a good example” of weapons control and reiterated the need for a comprehensive law to enforce the gun ban.
