Cambodia bans 'adulterous' songs from karaoke bars

By Andrew Buncombe,

Asia Correspondent

Saturday, 1 March 2008

The karaoke bars of Phnom Penh are well known for very often being nothing more than fronts for brothels. They are the places where men from Cambodia, Thailand and further afield pay for sex with women who are often just girls.
But in the latest peculiar edict from a government purportedly keen to crack down on such vice, Cambodia has outlawed the public playing of songs that encourage "infidelity".
The titles of the first three songs to be banned leave little to the imagination. "If I Can't be First Can I be Second", "Love Another's Husband" and "May I Have a Piece of Your Heart Too", were all written to be sung by women looking to entice men who may be married. Having banished the songs from the thousands of karaoke bars across the country, the authorities are now seeking other similar tunes that may be deemed unsuitable.
"We are searching for other songs which might affect people's honour, especially that of women," Kep Chuktema, the governor of Phnom Penh, told a local Khmer language newspaper. Cambodia is outwardly a conservative culture, but the country's karaoke bars are notorious and have often been the focus of efforts by campaigners to act against child trafficking and prostitution. The campaign group End Child Prostitution, Abuse and Trafficking in Cambodia (Ecpat Cambodia) estimates that a third of sex workers in the country are children. The group says that in recent years there has been a surge "in the number of commercial sex centres in Cambodia, and increasing exploitation and abuse of children in the sex trade".
Against this backdrop, in September 2006 the Cambodian government introduced the controversial "monogamy law" which carries a punishment of a 1m riels, (£125), fine and a year in jail for anyone found guilty of adultery. But many believe the introduction of the law may have been politically motivated. One of the first people the authorities tried to prosecute was the opposition politician Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who was trying to divorce his wife after having long lived with a classical dancer. The case against the prince, who now spends most of his timein Malaysia, eventually stalled. Indeed, since the introduction of the law there has only been one successful prosecution, that of Kek Ravy, a cousin of Prince Ranariddh, who was fined 1m riels after his wife brought a case against him under the new legislation. The court was apparently lenient and took into account the fact that Mr Ravy had applied for a divorce 18 months earlier, but it had not yet been granted because of wrangling over division of the couple's finances.
One official told the Koh Santepheap newspaper: "People can still play the songs in private. I don't think music has much to do with it, but it is an official request that has to be followed."