No more stealth tactics by city police

An officer stops a motorist as another peers around the corner on Russian Federation Boulevard yesterday.

PHNOM Penh’s top cop has ordered his officers to stop hiding behind trees during crackdowns on traffic violations.

Municipal Police Chief Touch Naruth said yesterday that he had ordered traffic police to lead by example in teaching drivers respect.

“It is important that traffic police keep safety on the road. Make sure that people respect you and the law,” Touch Naruth said yesterday as he relayed a message given during his Tuesday meeting. “Don’t just stand under trees and jump out to crack down on drivers without helmets or mirrors. It’s dangerous for you and drivers on the roads.”

Touch Naruth said traffic police should man checkpoints stationed at main intersections. Instead, he said, many officers spend an inordinate amount of time behind trees hoping to spot potential violations.

But Touch Naruth also criticised motorists who try to evade traffic police by pulling abrupt U-turns and speeding off in the opposite direction – dangerous manoeuvres that he said are likely to cause accidents.

Traffic police have also been instructed not to chase drivers fleeing potential fines, since many drivers are not suspected of crimes but are merely visitors from outside the capital who do not know the laws.

“You can chase them if they are criminals. If they do not wear helmets and you cannot fine them because they escaped you, let them be. Later, they will respect the law,” he said.

However, it appears not everyone agrees with the police chief’s strategy. Him Yan, director of the public order department at the Interior Ministry, said hiding behind trees is “an unavoidable strategy”.

“This strategy is to make people cease their bad habits,” Him Yan said. He said other countries also employ such measures to enforce the law.

But Long Chy, a 34-year-old motorbike-taxi driver, said that he blamed police for causing traffic accidents when trying to surprise rule-breakers.
“Police activities are much more anarchic than regular people’s,” he said.h

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PM says border still an issue

Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks at the National Institute of Education yesterday.

PRIME Minister Hun Sen chided the Thai government yesterday for its inaction in resolving an ongoing border dispute with Cambodia, taking up a familiar rhetorical pose in remarks before a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh.

Although Cambodia and Thailand restored full diplomatic ties last month following the resignation of fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from his position as economics adviser to the Cambodian government, Hun Sen said yesterday that discord between the two countries will not be resolved until Thailand withdraws its troops from disputed territory near Preah Vihear temple.

“The solution to the problem is easy – just withdraw the troops from Cambodia and it will all be finished,” Hun Sen said, apparently addressing Thai officials.

Thailand withdrew its ambassador to Cambodia in protest at Thaksin’s appointment last year, and returned the envoy last month following news of Thaksin’s resignation, prompting Cambodia to follow suit. But although Thai officials have hailed Cambodia’s decision to cut ties with the fugitive billionaire, wanted in Thailand on graft charges, as a harbinger of improving relations, Hun Sen said yesterday that the move was unrelated to politics, and that Thaksin was “still my friend”.

“I will not be happy and smile at you while you are shaking my hand but stepping on my foot,” Hun Sen said. “Even though the ambassadors have been restored, I am still not happy because you have not withdrawn the troops from my land.”

Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva plan to meet on the sidelines of October’s Asia-Europe Meeting in Belgium at the suggestion of Association of Southeast Asian Nations Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan. Hun Sen said yesterday that the meeting would touch on trade and economic issues in addition to concerns about the border.

Border negotiations under the bilateral Joint Border Commission are stalled pending the approval by the Thai parliament of the latest round of negotiations. A scheduled approval vote in Bangkok was postponed earlier this month, to the consternation of Cambodian officials.

Thai government officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

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