Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Over 1,000 ‘doomsday’ believers refuse to leave Siem Reap plantation

Over 1,000 ‘doomsday’ believers refuse to leave Siem Reap plantation

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
League for Democracy Party (LDP) president Khem Veasna talked to his supporters who gather in his plantation in Siem Reap province last week. KHEM VEASNA VIA FACEBOOK

Over 1,000 ‘doomsday’ believers refuse to leave Siem Reap plantation

More than 1,000 followers of League for Democracy Party (LDP) president Khem Veasna, whose doomsday prediction drew thousands of his supports to his plantation in Siem Reap province to escape the purported apocalypse, have refused to leave, according to provincial police chief Teng Channath.

Channath said such a mass gathering needs permission from the local authorities.

“Entering the plantation is forbidden unless Khem Veasna, or an LDP representative, submits a letter seeking permission from the authorities,” he said, adding that the letter needs to state the reasons for the gathering in order to comply with the law on assemblies by political parties.

He said the fact that Veasna’s supporters refuse to leave the plantation has prompted the authorities to implement measures to prevent new people from gathering there.

Channath said authorities are not allowing any more people to enter the plantation because they need to maintain the wellbeing of children and the elderly who are living at the location already.

However, he noted that the authorities would not take any action and would let them voluntarily leave the place.

Veasna, formerly a movie star in the 1990s before entering the political arena and who recently pronounced himself a “Universe Protecting Brahma”, said he considered the authorities’ banning of additional followers from gathering there an abuse of power.

Veasna last made headlines in August when he stirred up controversy by calling on his followers to gather at his sprawling plantation in Sor Ser village of Banteay Srei district’s Tbeng commune, near the foot of Kulen Mountain. He reportedly told them that only by following him could they escape “global tsunamis” that he said were about to occur.

Veasna's claims were widely considered to be illegal acts that contravened public order and incited social unrest, but the authorities have not arrested him or forcibly disbursed the crowd there.

But back on August 31, Prime Minister Hun Sen suggested that authorities refrain from taking any tough action. He explained that it was a political trap and that what Veasna probably wanted was to trick the government into using force to disperse the crowds and arrest the LDP leader, thereby turning superstition into politics.

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Rare plant fetches high prices from Thai, Chinese

    Many types of plants found in Cambodia are used as traditional herbs to treat various diseases, such as giloy or guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or aromatic/sand ginger (Kaempferia galangal) or rough cocklebur (Xanthium Strumartium). There is also a plant called coral, which is rarely grown

  • Wat Phnom hornbills attract tourists, locals

    Thanks to the arrival of a friendly flock of great hornbills, Hour Rithy, a former aviculturist – or raiser of birds – in Kratie province turned Phnom Penh tuk tuk driver, has seen a partial return to his former profession. He has become something of a guide

  • PM urges end to ‘baseless’ international Ream base accusations

    Prime Minister Hun Sen urges an end to “baseless” foreign accusations surrounding the development of the Kingdom’s Ream Naval Base, as the US has consistently suggested that the base is being expanded to accommodate a Chinese military presence. Hun Sen renewed his calls while