It might be surprisng that the the second day of the new year, three bombs were planted near the Ministry of National Defense and one of the Cambodian national television stations (TV3). It scared many people, including me. While the mine clearance personnel were destroying the explosive devices, I was at school with my friends, hoping that no one was harmed during such a bomb plot.
This morning, I joined a press conference presided by the deputy national police commissioner Sok Phal who said that one of the four involved in the bombing plot was Sok Em, 44-year-old mushroom farmer. He continued that Sok Em’s house was just like the one we saw on TV. I thought that was so cool. When the police reached his house in Poi Pet, they came in, looked for the perpetrator and evidence. Just as they moved the television set in the house, there appeared a big hole on the other side with metal ladders down into the basement. There, they caught Sok Ek, on Jan 7.
Sok Ek later told the police that the bomb plot was just to scare people, bring attention from people inside and outside of Cambodia to their group. By so doing, the group consisting of four men including himself, could have extorted or threatened anybody or even the authorites for money. Just as a reminder, the 2007 bomb plot near the Cambodian-Vietnamese stupa was said to have been done by the same group.
I’m just wondering who was really behind all those illegal schemes. Sok Ek only told the police that his group was financially backed by people outside Cambodia. Did the man and his group dare to stand against our powerful government with pineapple eyes? He must have 7 lives, lying ahead of him. I’m just afraid that the public will have so much fear of their own security and won’t be active or productive anymore. Of course, every citizen just needs a safe place to live and to be informed as much as possible. Any act of terrorism must be frown upon and if one happens, another can follow for sure.
