Ass Kicking Condiments - Fish Sauce (Dteuk Dtrey)
Wednesday 11 April 2007 by Dr Maytel
The police in Cambodia have a new weapon in their battle against the outspoken and unruly - fish sauce. Although supression of the media in Cambodia reached all time highs last year with the imprisonment of local radio jounalists criticising the government's border agreements with Vietnam, I'm not sure whether this should be listed along with other grievances such as wrongful imprisonment and attempted asssasinations.
"Phnom Penh - A Cambodian journalist appealed to human rights campaigners for help Wednesday in accusing a senior police officer of assaulting him with a dish of fish sauce in a restaurant. San Bun Thoeun, a reporter with mass-circulation gossip magazine Angkor Thom, claimed deputy chief of Phnom Penh judicial police Moung Kim launched his attack with a dish of the pungent sauce after seeing a recent article concerning his wife, glamorous singing star Meng Keo Pich Chenda.
The journalist called the assault an infringement of his rights and demanded an apology, adding he was taking the matter to prominent local human rights group Licadho and considering court action if he did not receive an apology.
"I am very upset. This is not about money, this is about my honour. There were a lot of people in the restaurant who saw and heard this insult against me," Thoeun said by telephone.
A representative for the Cambodian Club of Journalists said the group was still awaiting a request to intervene in the escalating furore, which has received widespread coverage in local media.
Kim was unavailable for comment.
Last year Paris-based journalism watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers reported a number of attacks on Cambodian journalists, but this was believed to be the first involving a condiment.
Local newspaper Cambodia Daily quoted Information Minister Khieu Kanharith as saying that if the fish sauce allegation was true and Kim had a legitimate complaint about a story, he should use more conventional avenues to display his displeasure, such as requesting a correction."
The face that launched a fish sauce attack
"Phnom Penh - A Cambodian journalist appealed to human rights campaigners for help Wednesday in accusing a senior police officer of assaulting him with a dish of fish sauce in a restaurant. San Bun Thoeun, a reporter with mass-circulation gossip magazine Angkor Thom, claimed deputy chief of Phnom Penh judicial police Moung Kim launched his attack with a dish of the pungent sauce after seeing a recent article concerning his wife, glamorous singing star Meng Keo Pich Chenda.
The journalist called the assault an infringement of his rights and demanded an apology, adding he was taking the matter to prominent local human rights group Licadho and considering court action if he did not receive an apology.
"I am very upset. This is not about money, this is about my honour. There were a lot of people in the restaurant who saw and heard this insult against me," Thoeun said by telephone.
A representative for the Cambodian Club of Journalists said the group was still awaiting a request to intervene in the escalating furore, which has received widespread coverage in local media.
Kim was unavailable for comment.
Last year Paris-based journalism watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers reported a number of attacks on Cambodian journalists, but this was believed to be the first involving a condiment.
Local newspaper Cambodia Daily quoted Information Minister Khieu Kanharith as saying that if the fish sauce allegation was true and Kim had a legitimate complaint about a story, he should use more conventional avenues to display his displeasure, such as requesting a correction."
The face that launched a fish sauce attack
