Off the wire
• 1000-year-old ancient tree found in central China  • Alibaba's Tmall introduces insurance to guarantee real goods  • China provides humanitarian aid for Pakistan's quake-hit people  • China Focus: Booming trade benefits China, Vietnam  • Ma Ying-jeou expects Singapore meeting to benefit next generation  • Foreign exchange rates in Singapore  • Former Iraqi minister sentenced over corruption  • Chinese vice premier to visit Palestine,Israel  • Malaysian official says ASEAN to work with China on Belt and Road initiative  • Russia delivers missile defense systems to Syria  
You are here: 　 Home

Cambodian PM defends cancellation of Water Festival

Xinhua, November 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday defended his decision to cancel the Water Festival, which was scheduled on Nov. 24-26, in Phnom Penh, saying that the cancellation was due to low water levels in the river.

"The water level in the river is 4.8 meters today and will further recede to around 4.2 meters by Nov. 24 when the festival was scheduled to start," he said during the inauguration ceremony of a flood protection project here. "At this depth, boat races were impossible."

The usual depth of the river water is 7 to 8 meters.

His remarks came after an opposition lawmaker and a political analyst commented in local media that the cancelation was made because the government was scared of large numbers of people descending on the city during a politically tense time.

Hun Sen rejected such analysis, saying that they are insulting the government.

"Such insulting analysis is unacceptable," he said. "I want people to visit Phnom Penh on that occasion. Although there are no boat races, music concerts are still held as usual."

The prime minister issued a circular on Oct. 31 to cancel the festival this year, citing low water levels and drought. The circular said while there will be no Water Festival, civil servants and garment workers will still be given a three-day holiday.

Water Festival is the largest annual festival in this Southeast Asian nation. Last year, more than 1 million Cambodians, especially those from rural areas, descended on Phnom Penh to enjoy the regatta on that occasion.

Political dispute has heated up in recent weeks after opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) organized protests against Hun Sen during his recent visits to the United Nations in New York and France.

In response, thousands of pro-government protesters staged a rally outside the parliament in Phnom Penh on Oct. 26 to urge CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha to step down as the parliament's first vice president. Just an hour after the protesters had dispersed, two CNRP lawmakers were dragged from their cars while leaving the parliament and badly beaten by a group of people.

Five days later, the prime minister's ruling party lawmakers voted to oust Kem Sokha from the post of the first vice president of the National Assembly successfully. Endit