The World Briefly

March 22, 2024

No Boogieing

Cambodia

Listen to Today's Edition

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet this week ordered a ban on musical truck horns because of safety concerns, a decision that observers said appears similar to the unusual policies of his strongman father, who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades, the Associated Press reported.

Earlier this week, the prime minister called on authorities to swiftly take action against any vehicles that have replaced their standard horns – that only honk – with ones that play tunes. He also ordered a ban on the sale of musical horns.

Hun Manet said the decisions came after he saw social media posts showing young people dancing on the roads as passing trucks blasted tunes from their horns.

He warned that such dancing impacts public order, creates a traffic hazard and poses a significant threat to the safety of both the dancers and others.

The decision comes less than a year after Hun Manet took the reins of the Cambodian government following the resignation of his father and the country’s long-time leader, Hun Sen.

Some citizens expressed surprise that the 46-year-old prime minister would act over such a “trivial” matter, but political observers noted that the measure highlights the similarities between father and son, according to Al Jazeera.

They said the move was “more posturing than policy”, adding that the new prime minister’s administration has “not been shy about ‘culture war’ issues.”

Hun Sen previously used cultural matters to promote a conservative stance on Cambodian society.

In 2020, he ordered legal action against female social media influencers for wearing revealing outfits online, saying the move was aimed at preserving the honor of Cambodian women.

Similarly, he banned beauty pageants in 2006, saying that alleviating poverty took precedence over promoting beauty.

This story originally appeared in the March 22, 2024 newsletter, Up for Grabs.