Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet on Thursday urged students and young adults to volunteer to serve their communities, but critics say it’s hypocritical for him to ask at a time when his government regularly cracks down on social and environmental activism.
In a speech before government officials, teachers and students, Hun Manet encouraged the students to take a day off from school once or twice a week to volunteer.
“[We should] train people and children to know how to help social work,” he said. “We can assign people to help improve sanitation, to help the elderly and to help plant trees.”
Hun Manet, who recently took over the prime ministership after his father Hun Sen ruled the country for nearly four decades, said that it was important to foster a volunteer mindset.
“[This is] a way we can encourage [students,]” he said. “Their grades [should] not just come from in-class examinations, but also come from their discipline and behavior.”
The request seemed disingenuous to Phuong Keo Raksmey, a member of the Mother Nature Movement environmentalist group.
While she appreciated the encouragement to volunteer, she told RFA Khmer that students in 7th grade and up are regularly recruited into the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia – an organization led by the prime minister’s brother Hun Many – which, in her opinion, does not engage in activities that better the community, but serves the interests of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
“First, the definition of ‘social work’ should be defined,” she said. “It should not be limited to work that [directly] supports the government or the policies of any political party.”
She urged the government to allow people freedom to choose how they volunteer.
Keut Saray, the president of the Khmer Intellectual Students Association, said that the government should make amends for past crackdowns on volunteers, including himself.
“When young students became active in social work [in the past], they were restricted and charged under the penal code and then imprisoned,” he said. “So we’re seeing that they ‘talk the talk,’ but it doesn’t mean anything if it isn’t translated into action.”
The crackdown on social activists occurred under the rule of Hun Sen, not Hun Manet, but since taking over, the son’s administration has yet to take concrete steps to guarantee the rights of young people involved in activism.
For example, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court denied a request by three youth members of the Mother Nature Movement for permission to leave Cambodia so that they could travel to Sweden to receive an award this November in recognition for their environmental activism.
Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Edited by Eugene Whong.
