PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodian lawmakers passed a constitutional amendment that would allow the government to draft legislation seeking to revoke the citizenship of anyone found guilty of conspiring with foreign nations to harm the national interest.
The 125 members of National Assembly unanimously passed the proposal Friday and legally amended Article 33 of Cambodia's constitution, enabling the government to immediately draw up a bill allowing citizenships to be stripped for the first time.
The latest legal move by supporters of Prime Minister Hun Manet was viewed by critics as a way to suppress internal dissent and eliminate policital opponents of his administration and the ruling Cambodian People's Party.
The change would apply to lifelong Cambodian citizens, people with dual citizenship in Cambodia and another nation and people from other countries who have been granted Cambodian citizenship.
Some government critics and opposition politicians are known to have dual citizenship.
Justice Minister Koeut Rith said government officials will urgently draft a bill to revoke the citizenship of any individual found guilty of treason or collaborating with foreign entities to seriously harm the interests of Cambodia and its people.
He claimed some Cambodians have colluded with a foreign country to harm their nation's interests. The comment appeared to be a reference to a May 28 confrontation between the armed forces of Cambodia and Thailand in which one Cambodian soldier was killed in a relatively small, contested area on the border.
Thailand's Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office earlier this month pending an ethics investigation over a leaked phone call about the border dispute with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen, the influential former prime minister and father of Hun Manet. The leaked phone call set off political turmoil in Thailand as Paetongtarn faces growing dissatisfaction over her handling of the conflict.