December 8, 2010
By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
PACIFIC DAILY NEWS
No regime can stand without the people's support.
Some two million people converged in Phnom Penh for Cambodia's annual water festival, celebrated Nov. 20-22. On Nov. 22, an estimated 5,000 to 8,000 people jammed the seven-meter-wide, 101-meter-long Diamond Island bridge. As rumors of "electric shocks" were heard by those on the bridge, the structure "swayed," fear of the bridge's collapse heightened, the crowds pushed and a stampede resulted in the deaths of more than 350 people, with several hundred others suffering injury.Would any responsible government allow such huge crowds on a narrow bridge without crowd control?
As Cambodians in the country and abroad asked why, and where the responsibility lies, they mourned the dead. Long-serving Premier Hun Sen told the nation -- with "crocodile tears," say Khmer analysts -- the stampede was a lesson learned; no official would lose his job. It was also announced the government would provide the equivalent of $12,000 in compensation to the families of each person who was killed -- to hide the guilt, some say.
Many called for those with some responsibility for the government's failure to resign, but such entreaties fell on deaf ears.
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