Charles Santiago, a «freelancer» Malaysian parliamentarian, on Thursday called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to push the Rayol Government of Cambodia to uphold its commitment to walk in the path of liberal democracy.
According to Mr. Santiago, the recent decisions made by the ruling party to close a number of radio stations and newspaper is a kind of legal assault against civil society and private company.
“For years now, Cambodia has been defined by a climate of fear, instilled by the ruling party as a tactic for remaining in power. But what has occurred in recent weeks is a legal assault on civic space unlike anything we’ve seen since the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1991,” said Mr. Santiago.
He added that the Cambodian government's order to close the National Democratic Institute’s (NDI) office in the country and expel the organization’s foreign staff is based on the 2015 controversial Law on Associations and NGOs (LANGO).
“Ever since initial drafts were circulated, NGOs and others have raised serious concerns about the possibility that the LANGO would be used to arbitrarily shut down organizations the government deemed to be too critical. The fact that NDI was expelled because it allegedly violated LANGO’s vague provisions regarding registration is proof that our concerns were legitimate, and the implications are stark for all foreign and local organizations operating in the country,” Santiago said.
Concerning the closure of The Cambodia Daily newspaper, Tom Villarin, another ASEAN parliamentarian from the Philippines, said that the Cambodian government did not give much time to the newspaper to prepare for the tax payment.
“The Cambodia Daily has been an important source of independent news for over two decades. Everyone must pay their taxes, yes, but tax bills worth millions of dollars cannot be handed down arbitrarily, without providing an opportunity to dispute them. Closing down The Cambodia Daily in this manner is nothing more than a transparent attempt at limiting the amount of information Cambodian people can access on controversial issues,” Villarin added.
Regarding this issue, an anonymous political analyst said that the Cambodia Daily is a private newspaper run by the American people from the US. They should know very well what kind of strict measures the US government uses against private companies that refuse to pay tax.
"The Cambodia Daily has its full right to ask the Cambodian government to give them some more extension to be prepared for tax. Another option is they could take the case to the court and hire a lawyer or lawyers to defend them," added the political analyst.
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