Government’s Limits on Information Leaving Voters in the Dark
Reporters in Cambodia seeking statistics from government ministries and departments are used to being given the brush-off from time to time, but in the run-up to the July 28 national election, things appear to have worsened. The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) has for years provided journalists with monthly figures for approved investment projects—data which outlines all projects signed off on that are worth more than $2 million. But in May, the CDC—which has not provided the figures for any month since November—said that under a new rule, permission from the minister in charge of the council, Sok Chenda, was required. … Another key source of data on the government’s activity is the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s table of financial operation, or TOFE, which is supposed to be published monthly, and is the most detailed breakdown of government revenue and spending regularly made available. A version of the table has not been published since January, when the table for 2012 up to November was posted on the ministry’s website. Even a simple statistic, such as the number of construction projects approved by the Ministry of Land Management, can be difficult to obtain. … For this and other seemingly run-of-the-mill figures, reporters have been told that they must go through the lengthy process of submitting a written letter to the minister concerned with a specific request, and to give the reason why they need the information. “The ministry needs a request letter,” he [Land Management Ministry spokesman Beng Hong Socheat Khemro] said. “If everyone could just get information easily, the information could be used for subversive purposes.” …
