Tuesday, 23 October 2012
By Mom Kunthear and Abby Seiff
Phnom Penh Post 
Workers employed by the Top World garment factory protest yesterday,
Monday, Oct. 22, 2012, after a factory manager destroyed photos of the
late King Father Norodom Sihanouk. Photograph: Hong Menea/Phnom Penh
Post
Wang Xiao Jiao, the Chinese supervisor who tore up the picture of
ex-King Sihanouk, was arrested by the police. RFA/Vichey Anandh
A Chinese factory manager sparked a near-riot in Phnom
Penh yesterday morning after publicly destroying two photos of the late King Father in front of hundreds of workers.
More than a
thousand employees of the Top World garment factory launched an
immediate strike, and threatened to march from the Meanchey district
factory to the Royal Palace before being diverted by police who brought
the manager, Wang Xiao Jiao, to the Phnom Penh Municipal Police
headquarters for questioning.
She remained in police custody as
of last night, said Choun Sovann, Phnom Penh Municipal police chief, and
will be sent to court today on allegations of “causing turmoil in
society”.
“We have to wait and see the result of the questioning
from the police,” said Kouch Chamroeun, Meanchey district governor,
saying that it was too early to discuss the charges Xiao Jiao might
face.
Reaction from the Chinese Embassy was swift and unsympathetic.
“I
think the behaviour the lady took is very stupid, and we are also very
angry about this,” said embassy spokesman Yang Tianyue, adding that he
would not comment on charges or the likelihood of deportation.
According
to accounts from workers, monitors, factory officials and authorities,
Xiao Jiao, an operations manager at Top World Garment, grabbed the
photos from a worker who had been showing them to friends outside the
factory gates. Annoyed by the distraction the photos had been causing,
Xiao Jiao then tore them up and threw them aside, enraging those who had
witnessed the scene.
“I was very shocked when I saw that woman
use scissors to cut my king’s photos,” said Seng Seangly, 39, whose two
images of the King Father were destroyed. “I shouted very loudly and
cried until I lost consciousness.”
The response was
instantaneous. Employees stopped working and gathered in front of the
factory to demand an apology to the late king, said Keo Chenda, a worker
representative.
“We could not allow that woman to do that to
our beloved king. She has to say an apology to the king at the Royal
Palace and shave her head to show respect, but the police officials
would not send her to the palace,” he said.
Instead, district
police and workers helped create a hastily erected shrine outside the
factory at which Xiao Jiao prostrated and begged forgiveness, pleading
ignorance, in front of a protective police cordon and reporters before
being brought to the police station.
In trucks and on foot, the workers followed. Late last night, they remained outside the police station.
“She
has to be punished,” Teng Somaly, a worker at Top World, said. “We
cannot work with this bad person who looks down on our king.”
No charges have yet been levied against Xiao Jiao, but she was immediately dismissed by the factory.
“We
so regret what happened to our company, and the director decided to
fire her,” Koch Ousphea, an administration manager at Top World, said.
The
company’s general director had issued a public apology to the workers,
he added, and would continue to pay them even as they maintained their
demonstration outside the police station.
Police believe a
charge of incitement or causing public disorder charge is plausible, but
legal experts were split over whether Xiao Jiao could face charges
related to the act itself.
Cambodia lacks the strict
lese-majeste laws in place in other countries, and nothing in the penal
code touches on the potential crime, but a constitutional clause on the
king’s inviolability could be interpreted loosely enough to warrant
charges, some suggested.
“In the constitution, whatever concerns
the person of the king is untouchable,” Son Soubert, an adviser to King
Norodom Sihamoni, suggested.
Pausing to reflect, Soubert said he was floored to hear of the case. “This has never happened in Cambodia before.”
Political
analyst Lao Mong Hay, who, like Soubert, is a former lawyer, said he
believed the law extended only to “acts against the person of the king,
not the image”.
Regardless, he said, the implications of such an act were profound.
“It’s
an affront to the Cambodian culture in this period of bereavement,” he
said, adding that the quick reaction of police probably staved off a
more extreme reaction such as the one that led to the 2003 anti-Thai
riots, in which one person died, businesses were looted and Thai
nationals had to be evacuated.
“[Their] action defused the tension and allayed the anger of people directly concerned.”
Others
suggested it was too early to assume the incident had been put to bed.
Pictures of the destroyed photos, and of Xiao Jiao in police custody,
have sped across social networking sites.
“I’m not quite sure yet
how the other people will react, because it is very, very sensitive,”
Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Cambodian Legal Education
Centre, said, noting that immense damage control was needed to downplay
the Thai Channel 3 reporter’s gaffe, which all parties agreed was
unintentional.
“But this incident was an [intentional] one,” he
said. “It could provoke nationalism and violence among the nationalists.
I am really concerned about that.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Mom Kunthear at kunthear.mom@phnompenhpost.com
Abby Seiff at abby.seiff@phnompenhpost.com
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