Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng urged newly-elected councillors to serve the people equally and justly without political biases.

Sar Kheng’s comments came during the ceremony of assumption of office by Svay Rieng province’s councillors of the third mandate on Sunday.

He expressed his appreciation for the councillors, who were elected by commune councillors – representatives of the citizens – to continue to lead the province to grow in all sectors.

“As far as I know, the composition of the provincial councillors is entirely from the Cambodian People’s Party [CPP]. When [we] fulfil [our] duties, we must not make distinctions and serve only the CPP members."

“We must serve everybody, including citizens who support other parties. Decisions must be made without bias towards any political group or political trend. This is an issue that I want to take note of,” he said.

Sar Kheng urged the provincial committee to lead the authorities and armed forces at all levels to promote security and public order in the entirety of the provincial framework.

He called on them to encourage villagers to participate in village and commune safety policy to jointly prevent crimes in local areas – especially in drugs, human trafficking, theft and gambling.

Political analyst Meas Nee said Sar Kheng’s comments were in line with Cambodia’s constitution – the role of the government leaders is to ensure that their subordinates work with citizens equally as government officials and not as political party officials.

“It is an opportunity for the party to demonstrate their abilities by showing a positive attitude and gathering support from the citizens. If we only consider our party during our leadership, I think that the ruling party – not only in Cambodia but in any country – will certainly not get receive the support of the citizens,” he said.

“In the past the ruling party did not consider this, thinking only about their party, so when they took power, they would show discrimination against other parties. This was unproductive and instead made citizens angry.

“This notion is not only for sub-national level officials to consider but also for high ranking officials in the government – to not discriminate or have political biases.”