Road Rage

So I said I wasn't going to write any more blog entries until I got back from Malaysia and believe me, that was my intent. But my commute to work today got my blood boiling. Today is Constitution Day - one of twenty-eight national holidays - and the swearing in for the National Assembly (you may remember that the elections were held in July); although there has been some controversy surrounding the swearing in - the two main opposition parties are planning to boycott what they deem a fraudulent election - there is no reason for the government to be concerned about major incidents.

Without the day off, I didn't realize it was a public holiday and I set off for work at my normal time, at about 7:15. As I headed down Sihanouk Blvd. across Monivong, all seemed normal. When I arrived at Norodom, however, the street ahead of me was blocked, which is not entirely unusual. So I headed south on Norodom to 294, a route I often take to work. Street 294, however, was also closed. So I headed north to Street 240. When I arrived at Street 19, however, the road was blocked in two directions (naturally the two directions that lead to my office): Street 240 heading east towards Sothearos and Street 19 heading south back towards Sihanouk.

I tried to push my bike through, but a military policeman stopped me. In Khmer, I told him that I needed to go to work. He said I would have to wait like everyone else and believe me, there were a lot of people waiting. I said, again in Khmer, that they can't just close all of the major roads in the city. He just looked at me with contempt. Finally, a few motos trickled through the barricade going east on 240 and I was able to push my bicycle past, though as I did so I knoced the MPs helmet off his bike. He pointed to it and not wanting an incident I picked it up, muttering insults under my breath as I peddled off.

Going east on 240, I turned right just before Sothearos to pass in front of Wat Botum and headed back towards Sihanouk. Again I was met by a roadblock, but I was able to convince the police to let me through as my office was now literally across the street. The 1.5km bike ride took me nearly thirty minutes and now, over an hour later the roads are still closed and are likely to remain so for the next several hours.

Why would the government close access to some of the most major thoroughfares in the city? A show of strength? Security? To me, it's quite ironic in that it is displays of force like this - where the best interest of the people is nowhere on the government's radar - that actually make people think about creating security incidents in the first place. It is no wonder that Cambodians, especially those living in Phnom Penh are extremely cynical about everything government-related.

UPDATE: More than three hours after the roads closed, they were reopened at about 10:35am.

UPDATE 2: The roads closed again this afternoon from 1:45pm to 5:15pm. I got stuck by the Independence Monument for fifteen minutes as Excellencies whizzed by in their motorcades of Lexuses and Mercedes. My Cambodian colleagues tell me that it will be like this for the next two days. Unbelievable.