‘No dancing in the streets’: Why has Cambodia banned musical vehicle horns?

Authorities across Cambodia have been ordered to remove musical horns from vehicles and put a stop to roadside dancing. Now the country’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Hun Manet, the son of Cambodia’s longtime “strong man” ruler Hun Sen, has taken aim at a new source of social unrest: musical truck horns. In a post on social media, the 46-year-old prime minister said he was disturbed by “dancing on the street to the musical beats of big cars”, according to an unofficial translation. After seven months as prime minister, Hun Manet’s banning of musical vehicle horns may amount to one of his more unusual policy initiatives after succeeding his father’s 38-year tenure as prime minister. A commentator on political issues in Cambodia noted that the ban on musical horns and street dancing appeared to be “more posturing than policy”, adding that the new prime minister’s administration has “not been shy about ‘culture war’ issues”.