Hun Sen decries reappearance of karaoke in Cambodia

0 Comments | Asian Political News, July 22, 2002

PHNOM PENH, July 18 Kyodo

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen blasted Thursday the reopening of karaoke parlors and blamed provincial and municipal governors for failing to enforce his order late last year banning them.

''Karaoke parlors are surely closed, but only in name. In Phnom Penh now those parlors are even more booming than before,'' Hun Sen said at a graduation ceremony at National Institute of Management.

Many karaoke parlors have changed to restaurants or beer gardens, ''but inside there is still karaoke,'' he added, urging local governors to take action on their own to keep the parlors shut.

Last November, Hun Sen issued an order to shut down nightclubs, discotheques and karaoke parlors ''to reduce social disorders'' such as human trafficking, drug use and crime.

But many people criticized the premier, saying it was government incompetence that led to the social difficulties, not night spots. The critics also said the order simply increased unemployment and poverty and did nothing to alleviate social troubles.

Even so, the order was quite effective for the first several months, reducing the 300 or so karaoke parlors in the capital significantly, at least for a time.