The Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia’s last independent newspaper, is running on a skeleton staff on Tuesday after an editorial walkout stemming from a dispute with the paper’s new owners.
Discussions on further walkouts “are ongoing”.
Representatives of new owner Sivakumar S. Ganapathy fired editor-in-chief Kay Kimsong on Monday for refusing to take down a “damaging article” detailing the links between Sivakumar’s public relations firm and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Five senior staff, including national reporter Ananth Baliga and business editor Brendan O’Byrne who wrote the piece, resigned in protest.
After being ordered to remove my story regarding the sale of the Phnom Penh Post from the website by new management, I refused and offered my resignation, which was accepted. I wish the fantastic journalists at The Post all the best.
— Brendan O'Byrne (@BrendanOByrne) May 7, 2018
The events came weeks after Cambodia dropped 10 places in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index prompting wide concern about the state of freedom of speech in the country.
In the last year the Cambodian government closed The Cambodia Daily and dissolved the main opposition party in a wide-ranging crackdown.
“A lot of us are heartbroken today,” said reporter Erin Handley.
“Our new owners decided that our news story that pointed out questionable links between them and the Cambodian and Malaysian governments was damaging to their reputation … [and said] ‘we want it taken down.’”
The article also said that Sivakumar wrote a biography of Sarawak state’s Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud titled “Taib – the Visionary”.
In a leaked diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks in 2011, Mark Clark, then political section chief of the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur called Taib’s tenure “highly corrupt”.
However, Sivakumar’s representative, Cambodian lawyer Ly Tayseng, said the article contained “a number of issues” and was “factually wrong”.
The Post staff’s intention was “to make [Sivakumar] look bad while ignoring the context and that is not acceptable,” he said.
Sivakumar slammed the article as a “disgrace and insult” in a statement released on Monday.
The links between him and the Malaysian and Cambodian governments were “totally untrue and cannot be concluded based on what took place between [Asia PR – of which Sivakumar is the CEO] and the client more than 25 years ago.”
Kay Kimsong, who had worked at the The Post for 10 years, told the Associated Press that the representative of the newspaper’s new owner had told him he made a big mistake by allowing the publication on the front page of the article.
“The owner has complained that I allowed the editorial team to publish the story of the buying and selling of the paper that affected to the interests of the paper as well as the image of the owner,” Kay Kimsong said.
“I have done nothing wrong. I acted according to journalistic professionalism, but the company said they cannot keep me in my position.”
He said he would not challenge his termination in court because the new owner said he would be compensated under the labour law.
Former majority shareholder Bill Clough announced the sale of The Post on May 6 following a multimillion-dollar tax dispute with the Cambodian government that echoed the shuttering of The Cambodia Daily in September 2017 over a tax bill of over US$6 million.
The amount Sivakumar paid and what has happened to the tax bill is unknown.
Hun Sen’s government has closed virtually all independent media and convinced the courts to dissolve the only credible opposition party ahead of July’s polls.
A third English-language newspaper in Cambodia, Khmer Times, is owned by a Malaysian and is seen as an uncritical voice that is close to the government.
Two Cambodian Radio Free Asia reporters remain jailed on espionage charges after being denied bail last month.
The US-funded media outlet closed in September citing government repression.
Foreign journalists too have faced difficulty gaining press passes and work permits. Under new rules, long-term visas will not be available to people without work permits.
Journalists have reported to the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia difficulty getting press passes, according to Eleanor Sok, OPCC vice-president.
“Some of our members have been waiting three or four months despite repeated requests,” she said.
Nathan Thompson is President of the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia
