PHNOM PENH, CAM — Presumably, there was a time when Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had no issues with modern 3G mobile phone technology. But today, the devices are illegal throughout Cambodia.The motivation behind the former Khmer Rough soldier’s decision was a simple one: pornography.
Specifically, the pornography that Sen’s wife and her friends claim to have received on their mobile phones.
“I have written to the Minister of Telecommunications to delay the use of certain mobile phones,” Hun Sen announced to an assembly of Buddhist monks in the nation’s capital on Friday. “We can wait 10 more years until we have managed to improve morality in society.”
Ten years would be half the time that the one-eyed leader has been at the head of his country. It didn’t take him anywhere near that time to respond to his wife’s request that he take action against the offending telephone technology, which is capable of not only sending and receiving still images, but also video.
The move isn’t likely to affect many in the still war-scarred Southeast Asian nation, where sexual violence and abuse are common. Although the first 3G mobile network became available this year, most Cambodians are too impoverished to afford them.
