PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen has expressed support for the actions of a man who tried to help pick up the fallen motorbike of a victim involved in a traffic accident on the Chroy Changva bridge a few days ago to avoid a traffic jam on the bridge.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony for 3,232 graduates of Western University on Thursday morning, 26 January 2023, the Prime Minister praised the citizen who tried to help clear up the road after a traffic accident on Chroy Changvar Bridge.

“I would like to praise [the young man’s spirit], who had his wife and child on his motorbike and parked aside to help pick up the [fallen] motorbike [of the victim]," he said.

The Prime Minister said that in this case debates on ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ should be set aside. Helping to pick up a fallen motorbike from the road so as to not cause traffic congestion on the bridge is important.

"Right or wrong is one thing, but a traffic jam on the bridge should not happen," he said. "Helping each other is necessary, but the odd thing is not apologizing to the police but apologizing to the journalist. What kind of right does that journalist have?”

The Prime Minister further expressed his outrage at an online journalist who got angry at the person who helped lift the victim's motorbike off the road, even though the journalist did not have the authority to tell the man off. The Prime Minister also chided the Minister of Information, Khieu Kanharith, for just sharing this case on his social media page without adding any comment.

"That is not right at all, the first thing is to help each other," he said. "Whatever the situation, it is unreasonable to use such words. If you are a police officer, I won’t say, but you just have a phone to livestream [the incident], and yet, you use such words.”

The Prime Minister clarified that he does not support the opinion that the license of the journalist in question should be revoked, however, he called on the Minister of Information to work to strengthen the professionalism of journalists.

"If [you] can stop, just stop, learn from this experience," he said. "On the bridge, there likely were police present. Journalists are not judicial police, and the helpers are not judicial police, but he just wanted to help.”