LOWELL — Lowell Telecommunications has warned the honorary consul general to Cambodia after he made what were perceived to be threatening remarks against those demonstrating against a visit earlier this month by a top Cambodian official.
Sovann Ou, a Lowell-based official, was involved in arranging a trip several weeks ago to Lowell by Hun Manet, a lieutenant general in the Cambodian military and the son of the prime minister. He allegedly went on his LTC show, Cambodia News Television, several days before Manet’s visit and threatened demonstrators that photos were being taken of them and that they could be in trouble upon visiting Cambodia.
The comments struck a nerve with many in the Cambodian community, said Wendy Blom, the LTC executive director.
“People were really quite upset about this,” she said, adding that many were “traumatized by it.”
Blom said she gave Ou a warning: “If it happens again, you’re off the air.”
Ou didn’t respond to an email seeking comment Friday.
Manet’s visit caused an uproar among many in Lowell’s roughly 30,000-strong Cambodian community. Hundreds showed up at a City Council meeting in late March, with residents urging councilors not to welcome Manet to City Hall. Councilors backed down, reneging on an invitation and refusing a statue that the Cambodian government was going to give the city as a gift.
Manet, who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy, has not been accused of any wrongdoing himself. But he has been connected to his father, Hun Sen, who critics call a corrupt leader who imprisons those who speak out about the government. Many who spoke at City Hall even reached back to the Khmer Rouge in opposing Manet’s visit, citing a regime that killed several million Cambodians when it ruled in the 1970s.
Some Lowell Cambodians even worried that Manet would bring spies with him to Lowell to take note of those who spoke out against him, and that they or their families in Cambodia could be harmed.
Blom, who recently took over as head of Lowell Telecommunications, said she was approached by members of the city’s Cambodian community who were bothered by Ou’s comments. She said she found the comments to rise beyond what the LTC would normally allow for free speech, and contacted the attorney general’s office.
The office’s civil rights division will not be looking into the matter, Blom said, choosing instead to give Ou a warning for his comments.
Follow Grant Welker on Twitter and Tout @SunGrantWelker.
