Kheng addresses illegal fishing before elections

Interior Minister Sar Kheng on April 19 called on authorities to ramp up a crackdown on illegal fishing ahead of upcoming commune elections, prompting one fisheries activist to question whether the action would continue after it ceased to be politically expedient. In his remarks, given at a meeting at the Ministry of Interior, Kheng appeared to link success in the nationwide campaign to victory for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party at the ballot box in June. “If the situation to handle fishing crimes is not good, more or less, it will impact the election; therefore we need to have a mission to handle the problem,” Kheng said. “From today until the election period, there are only 47 days . . . therefore [we] we need to rally” to solve the problem, he added.

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