Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Mane has ordered a ban on musical horns, after videos posted on social media showed people dancing on roads and roadsides as passing trucks blasted rhythmic little tunes.
Hun Manet became prime minister only just last year. He took over the wheel of government from his father, Hun Sen, who held the position for 38 years.
Now, the current prime minister is targeting vehicles whose normal horn has been replaced by a tune-playing one. The prime minister is calling on the nation’s Ministry of Public Works and Transportation — in addition to police across the country — to immediately take action against these vehicles, and he wants the agencies to rip out these musical horns and replace them with their the more standard counterparts.
He said the measure has already been implemented by provincial authorities, but he wanted to announce it publicly to make sure it was enforced nationwide.
He commented on his Facebook page on Monday that recent social media posts had shown “inappropriate activity committed by some people, especially youth and children, dancing on the roadside to the musical sounds from trucks’ horns.”
Hun Manet said such dancing affects public order and poses a traffic hazard that is a threat to life and limb, not least of all to the dancers themselves. One video shows three young people dancing in the middle of a road while a large trailer truck coming their way lays down a beat.
For Cambodians, there will be no more dancing in the street.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.