A highly anticipated meeting between Prime Minister Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy this morning failed to reach an immediate solution to the political deadlock but opened the door to future discussions.

"There is nothing," Rainsy told reporters as he stepped into his car. Hun Sen made no comments.

But the meeting, which lasted less than 30 minutes and at which King Norodom Sihamoni handed out official invitations for all 123 newly elected lawmakers to attend the planned opening session of parliament on September 23, paved the way to future discussion between the parties, with a meeting set for Monday.

"The suggestion from the royal palace was that the two parties meet to discuss how to share power in the National Assembly," Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told the Post.

"The King suggested [that there be] discussions between both parties to rearrange the power, sit down and discuss power sharing in the National Assembly – to comply with a two-party system in the National Assembly."

At a press conference held at the Cambodia National Rescue Party headquarters after the meeting, party deputy president Kem Sokha said that both sides agreed to meet Monday. Rainsy referred to it as "the first step to open the stage [for negotiation]."

Spokesman Yim Sovann said the party would push ahead with planned demonstrations to take place Sunday through Tuesday.

"We thanked the King, but keep our political stance the same as before, because we want to find justice for voters," Sovann said, adding that the party still intended to boycott the opening session of parliament. "We need to solve the problem first [before taking seats at the assembly]."

The meeting came just one day after two improvised explosive devices were found in the capital – one across from Freedom Park, where the opposition is set to hold its demonstrations, and one near the National Assembly.

In a six-day slide, the share price of Cambodia's only listed stock, the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA), closed yesterday at an all-time low, some 40 per cent down from its first-day closing price.

PPWSA finished trading on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) at 5,360 riel ($1.34) per share yesterday compared with its 9,300 riel close on its first day of trading on April 18, 2012.

The fall began on September 6, a day before the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) began its most recent rally against alleged election irregularities.

Declines continue in a tense environment in which the opposition has called for a further three-day protest beginning on Sunday.

Market observers attribute the slide to investors' nervousness in the wake of the political deadlock and expect further losses until the dust settles and a new government is formed.

"In my personal opinion, this diminishing price is not related to the business performance of the PPWSA because they are doing their job well," said Soleil Lamun, deputy director of the Market Operations Department at the CSX.

"However, the sentiment of the [investors] in this market is not different from that in other markets where business activities have become quiet since the elections."

Svay Hay, president and CEO of brokerage securities firm Acleda Securities sees opportunities while the stock is down.

"Some new investors would see this as a chance to inject cash to this stock investment," he said.

AN EXPLOSIVE device was found across from the National Assembly this morning, and three M79 shells were found near Wat Phnom.

The devices were found just two days before the opposition party is set to hold a mass demonstration at Freedom Park, which they have said will likely spill into Wat Phnom .

Military Police spokesman Kheng Tito said there were no suspects yet and the investigation remained ongoing.

"We cannot say it's a terrorism act, unless there is confirmation from the investigating team first," he said.

Outside of the National Assembly, Phnom Penh police chief Choun Sovann said CMAC was investigating the origin of the explosives.

"After CMAC went to explode the device successfully, with no injuries, we suggested that the director, Heng Ratana, provide expert officials to cooperate with police to make a report of what the powder was made from. Right now, CMAC took some pieces of evidence to examine. Now, the situation is safe," he said.

At the National Assembly, the device – which was placed in a 10-litre barrel – was deemed too sensitive to move and exploded on site, CMAC director Ratana told the Post. Near Wat Phnom, however, the bomb – which was made of three M79s tied together with wire – was eventually removed to be detonated elsewhere.

Speaking to reporters at Wat Phnom, Daun Penh district governor Sok Sambath said the demonstrations would be permitted to go on, but urged protesters to keep safe and remain alert.

"We cannot say whether it was a threat to the demonstration or not. We are investigating and the local authorities are ready to provide security that day to all police, party members, NGOs and residents who attend the demonstration legally," he said, before reiterating that the government had agreed to permit only a single day of protest.

"We could not allow them to stay three days or to sleep here at night, because no one can be responsible for securing their safety."

Outside of both the National Assembly and Wat Phnom, dozens of police and military police quickly sealed off the scenes as Cambodian Mine Action Centre deminers inspected the bombs.

The National Assembly improvised bomb was uncovered approximately 15 metres away from the main gates, in a small patch of grass abutting a book store. At Wat Phnom, the device had been planted in flowers behind a statue of Mahatma Ghandi.

Yesterday, a defunct hand grenade was found just outside the pagoda in which Cambodia National Rescue Party leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha were giving speeches urging residents to join the planned three-day protest in Phnom Penh, which start Sunday.

Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay said it was too early to draw any conclusions, and urged a thorough investigation.

"It's very sensitive. We don't want to make any accusations, but we're just worried, we're concerned that the government should be responsible even if something happens to the opposition leader," he said. "I doubt [that it will impact plans to protest.] The people have very strongly committed to fight for the justice. They're not really afraid by the look of it. "

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said it was "too early to comment," as investigations remain ongoing.

"From the government side, we just keep a very close eye on that situation," he said. "You could say that [it's terrorism]. A terrorism act makes the people afraid, makes them worried… It's a very cowardly act."

He also reiterated the government's support of planned protests.

"The demonstration is not the issue. We learn so much from the demonstration that they are able to maintain peace and maintain law and order. It does not mean that Cambodia does not want," he said.

Outside of Wat Phnom, residents kept a wary distance as CMAC officials inspected the bomb.

"In the morning, the authority announced by microphone that everyone living here and all passing by, please take care and stay away from the area, because the authorities have found an explosive," resident Thun Samoeun said. "My family started to panic, and we decided to shut down our shop for the moment. After the authorities announced they had successfully removed it, we were so relieved."

Imported Aussie chickens and bull semen are part of his weapons of mass sustainability. Miranda Glasser reports

Norm Clark isn't your average 59-year-old – dividing his time between Melbourne and Siem Reap, the energetic antipodean spends his days ceaselessly devising plans to help villagers through his NGO New Beginnings Cambodia, from strawberry growing to house-building to Australian chicken breeding, and has plenty more ideas where those came from.

For his philanthropic efforts, Clark has been nominated for Australian of the Year, something he is typically modest about.

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"I've fallen in love with Cambodia," he says. "I will live here and die here but I'll try and help as many people as I can along the way. But I don't think it's much – to me I've had my life, my kids are grown up. I just want to put something back into the world.

"As a Westerner I'm not trying to change the way they do things, I'm just trying to help them get there the best way I can."

Clark first came to Cambodia in 2009, after attending a charity dinner in Melbourne for local orphanage Kampuchea House. The then orphanage chief executive Les Stott was planning a charity bike ride and Clark, a keen cyclist, asked to accompany him – they ended up cycling 700kms across Cambodia to raise funds.

"It just progressed from there," says Clark. He met Son Sokhoeum, the then Kampuchea House director and became involved with the group.

Clark organised another bike ride in 2010, with twelve cyclists riding 1000km, raising about $55,000 in the process.

Then Sokhoeum told him he'd been approached by a social worker who was helping families with HIV in a district further out than the orphanage, and Clark agreed to help.

He returned to Cambodia in early 2012 and shortly after he and Son Sokhoeum founded New Beginnings.

Clark gave Sokhoeum enough money to support six HIV affected families for the next three months, and returned to Australia to come up with a long-term plan.

"I had no idea how I was going to get funds to run this thing," he admits. "But all I knew is I would do it."

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The answer lay in two things: Clark's dogged, 'can do' attitude, and his generous circle of friends, who he persuaded to spend $35 a month sponsoring the families. This bought clothes, food and school essentials for the children as well as providing healthcare.

"We implemented a sponsorship program which allowed the adults to get down to the local HIV clinic," he says. "The children have to come in to Siem Reap, so we covered those bases."

Two months later the program grew to 12 families, and this grew to 25 by the end of 2012. Clark meanwhile realised he needed to find a way of making the project self-sufficient, and saw a solution in buying some land. Because the people he was helping were famers or potential farmers, starting a farm was the obvious answer.

Thanks to another benevolent friend, Clark bought the land in May 2012, and decided to build houses for the seven families that had nowhere to live.

"By twelve months into our farm we had the seven houses built," he says. "And what we found after our first house was that we had some really talented families, but the downside was they've got HIV so can't work as hard, they get tired. But they had the ability – we had guys who could build houses."

So the families built the next six houses themselves. Having worked in the construction industry, Clark had the expertise as well as the contacts, and turned to his builder friends for tools and equipment, then showed the families how to use them. He later started up a building and maintenance business in which they are now employed.

Each family was given its own 20m by 100m plot of land to grow vegetables. Realising that rice alone would not bring in a sufficient income, the next step was to introduce other crops, and Clark's lack of expertise in farming didn't hold him back.

"We went on online and worked out what we could grow out here," he says. "We're growing everything now from eggplant to corn to sugarcane to passion-fruit. We look at places where they can sell their produce, and at the moment we've given samples to a couple of hotels."

Enterprising Clark's latest idea is to introduce a hydroponics system to grow specialised vegetables. This allows the families to cultivate lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries and rosemary, as well as the humble Brussels sprout, a veggie little seen in Cambodia.

New Beginnings has also built a community centre and started a well drilling business which employs some of the families.

"Sokhoeum and I have all these ideas running through our heads and we're constantly bouncing off each other," says Clark. "I've got Australian chickens here. I bought over fertile chicken eggs and two incubators. We'll start to breed chickens with one breed for meat, the other for eggs.

"I also want to eventually bring the semen of a bull from Australia and create a bigger cow here, change the breeding pattern and have something where we can farm bigger cows for meat. If I could bring Noah's Ark up here from Melbourne I would."

Working tirelessly to bring in funds as well as ideas, Clark is keen to stress that every single dollar donated goes direct to the families.

"I go back to Australia and earn a wage that pays for all our administration costs," he says. "Not one dollar comes out of the donation."

Clark says his vision is to eventually have all the families self-sufficient. Out of the 25 families supported so far, five will be able to come off the food program by Christmas.

"We've got 160 families to get through if we can," he says. "We're only at around 25 now. Our aim is to get there if we can in our lifetime."

ART FOR ART'S SAKE, SORT OF

So there I was at the Park Hyatt's debut art exhibition, looking at a circle of pots – some broken, some not – placed on a square of cloth on the floor. This, I was reliably informed, related to a video loop that was constantly being screened and was titled, From Above, Full Circle, which I was also reliably informed depicted a culling of thousands of photos of a performance called Full Circle that the artist Amy Lee Stanford perpetrated in Phnom Penh in 2012 to apparent acclaim, whereby for six days she broke pots and then repaired them.

How bloody boring is that? And how doubly boring it is to watch a video of photos of this?

Call me a philistine, call me old fashioned, call me whatever, but I hate installation and performance art simply because it is mostly so boring, so drearily and pretentiously contrived, and is to art what doodling is to drawing.

Oddly enough, according to the Australian curator Roger Nelson in an article titled, Aesthetic of Concept: Performance Art in Cambodia, published in The Lifted Brow, Sanford is also judgmental about some performance art.

Nelson wrote, "'Self-indulgent and self-indulging' is how Amy Lee Sanford describes boring performance art of the wanky/wanking variety."

Obviously Sanford doesn't view her own work in that light as I do, although to be accurate her work isn't just performance art – its "durational performance art" possibly because the sheer boringness was originally extended over a considerable duration of time, in this case, the aforementioned six days.

Thankfully the video on display at the Park Hyatt is only about 18 minutes in duration.

And, according to Roger Nelson in his article, Sanford was coy in defining her Phnom Penh performance. Nelson wrote, "But to describe her own piece, Full Circle, she simply says, 'Um, I'll be sitting in a room, I'll be breaking pots, I'll be gluing them together again.' And it's fair, she's right, that's it… The simplicity of the work – the fact that this really is all that Sanford did, for six consecutive days – belies its extraordinary richness of associations, inhering in layers of symbolic references that are at once unmistakably specific and irrepressibly universal."

But such fussy descriptions are themselves all part of the art of performance art – what seems to the casual eye to be rather meaningless is rendered earnestly meaningful in explanations provided by the artists themselves and their associated public relations exponents and curators.

Then, sadly, presumably-hip journalists join the fray, outdoing each other to create even deeper insights into the supposed underlying concept of the work, to the degree that their meaningful meanderings stray so far from the concept of comprehension that they too become meaningless. And perhaps that then becomes art itself.

Take for example, this excerpt from a review of Full Circle in The Advisor free newspaper. The scribe writes, "Creation of reflective space is an immediate effect of Full Circle, which is first and foremost an ephemeral work, based in a repeated process but being itself unrepeatable.

"But Full Circle does not remain entirely isolated in its unrepeatable, irreplaceable being. Photographs were taken every second, from the side and from above. Even when Amy had no audience, the camera 'captured' her working. These photographs will constitute another dimension to this work of art, existing alongside but never interfering with Full Circle as a performance piece."

But despite my gripes, kudos to the Park Hyatt for showing this work, as it is an educational representation of what is being rendered now in the name of art and presumably financed by some obscure grant.

Sanford graced opening night with her presence and, it must be noted, her work certainly was a conversation piece.

Lacquered portrait paintings, wooden sculptures and a video installation of broken terracotta pots all feature in Three Artists in One Show, Park Hyatt Siem Reap's first exhibition which opened on September 5.

The exhibition showcases the work of Battambang artist Mao Soviet, local resident Lim Muy Theam and, exhibiting for the first time in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh-based artist Amy Lee Sanford.

Insider got chatting to Lim Muy Theam about one of his larger pieces, Face, from the series Face K, The Dark Side, which he says took him several months to complete.

The huge, striking, close-up image of a man's face is monochrome on a red background, created by applying layers of lacquer paint onto a photograph, then softened with "meticulous sanding."

Theam says it was a complicated process to get the texture of the skin exactly right. The artist was fascinated by the differences and shades in Cambodian skin, and shocked to discover his subject, a farmer, was only 45, the same age as him. Theam says he would like to do more portrait work in the future.

Theam was also singing the praises of newcomer to Siem Reap, Cambodian-American Amy Lee Sanford, who was showing her video installation, From Above, Full Circle. The video depicts a performance Sanford did in Phnom Penh last year where she sat in a circle of forty pots and broke each one then meticulously put them back together with glue and string, over a period of six days.

Sanford says the piece is representative of various issues people face, and deals with the process of change.

Sanford, when two years old was sent to live in America by her father, an academic, just before the Khmer Rouge took over. Her father later disappeared along with many of her relatives.

Sanford acknowledges that some people may not 'get' her installation right away, but most are intrigued enough to ask.

"Some of the locals don't understand it right off, but if I take a moment and explain the analogy of Cambodia, then they completely get it," she says. Raised in Boston by her American stepmother, Sanford now lives in Phnom Penh and has exhibited in Cambodia, UK and US, including at this year's Season of Cambodia festival in New York.

The third artist, Mao Soviet, is a Phare Ponleu Selpak graduate and is exhibiting After Year 1981, a series of wooden sculptures inspired by his pregnant wife when she was carrying their first child.

The small, tactile carvings are resin-treated and some painted with acrylic such as Mother, an eye-catching red work with a long, peaceful face reminiscent of a Modigliani sculpture.

According to his press material, Soviet places great importance on the family unit, particularly the mother figure. It says, "Family is of paramount importance to Soviet, he himself coming from a large family with ten members."

The exhibition runs until November 22 at the Park Hyatt.

After spending many weeks working in ten villages of Kampong Kleang Commune, north of Siem Reap on the edge of Tonle Sap Lake, NGO Partners in Progress learned that villagers' most pressing need was to protect their children from drowning while travelling to school by boat.

To this end, the NGO has launched a program to provide every school child and teacher in the commune with lifesaving jackets.

Kim Somnang, coordinator of Partners in Progress told Insider that more than 300 families were interviewed, and 80 per cent perceived that the most pressing need was saving their kids from drowning.

He said many children die each year on their way to school when their small row boats capsize. He added, "According to my research, I would say that there are 10 to 30 cases of boats capsizing every year."

During the team's research, parents were asked, "What do you need the most for your children?"

Food, uniforms for school and school books were not priorities. Insteadthe provision of life saving jackets headed the agenda because, according to Kim Somnang, they are "the only thing that could protect their children from drowning and allowing them to start school on time even if they cannot swim."

An added problem is that because of the risks of drowning, many parents delay sending their kids to school until they are eight to ten years of age, and hence many children don't get full basic education.

William McDonough, international director of Partners in Progress said, "This is the reason why we began a campaign to buy 1, 576 life jackets in August to provide every child and teacher in the school system."

McDonough said that $5 – the cost of a jacket including delivery costs – will not only save the life of a child, but could also change their life because they could go to school regularly.

Kampong Kleang commune chief Pa Pho said the life jackets helped his community more than anything else anybody could do, because the children can go to school safely and people know that education is the key to success in life.

Kim Somnang said that because of this deeply felt need, Partners In Progress is now committed to providing life jackets to every one of the more than 50 villages on the lake.

Somnang said, "We already made this campaign happen this year, but we will do it again next year in the rainy season because we need 7, 000 life jackets to provide for every villager living on Tonle Sap lake."

Yogi David Williams, credited by many for bringing Ashtanga yoga to the west, will come to town in November to run a workshop at Navutu Dreams Resort and Spa.

Williams' visit to Siem Reap came about in a fortuitous way. While trekking in Machu Picchu he remarked to his fellow hiker that he would love to visit the temples of Angkor one day. His companion happened to be a friend of Siem Reap yoga teacher Jennifer O'Sullivan, who put him in touch with Maddalena Morandi, one of the owners of Navutu and herself a long-time yoga enthusiast.

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Williams' arrival is perfect timing, Morandi says, coinciding as it does with the unveiling of Navutu's new expanded yoga studio due to open in a few weeks. Private yoga classes are now only available on request and Navutu plans to change this, leaning towards becoming more of a healthy retreat resort.

"We really want to move in that direction, having yoga as much as possible," she says, "We'd like to find a resident teacher to have yoga every day."

Williams, 64, who has practiced Ashtanga daily for 40 years, is legendary in the yoga world , having travelled to Mysore, India, in 1973 to study with the great K. Pattabhi Jois, the father of Ashtanga yoga. Jois popularised the practice and established the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute – now the Shri K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute – in 1948.

Morandi said David Williams studied with Pattabhi Jois for three years, and David was the one who bought Ashtanga out of India.

She adds that most master yoga teachers – including John Scott who taught Madonna and Sting, and David Swenson – trained with David Williams.

"The top, top yoga teachers are all David Williams' students," says Morandi. "I would think he's the top guru in the world."

The workshop, Ashtanga Yoga for the Rest of Your Life, will run over two days and cost $90. There is room for 40 students, with ten places sold already and some people coming from Phnom Penh.

In an open letter to Cambodia yoga students, Williams says, "In my workshop, I want to show each of you how you can do the Ashtanga yoga series in a lifelong practice that is a totally pleasant experience. The key is being able to continue practicing yoga for the rest of your life… It is my goal to do everything I can to inspire you to establish your yoga practice not just for the few days we are together, but for the rest of your life."

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Williams says the ultimate goal of yoga is not increased strength or flexibility, but "self-realisation and keeping oneself balanced and healthy on a daily basis."

He adds that his workshop is for all levels, and not about people "competing with their yoga practice."

He says, "My goal is to convey the idea that the greatest yogi is the one who enjoys his or her yoga practice the most, not the one who can achieve the ultimate pretzel position."

Morandi and her team are excited about Williams coming to Siem Reap, a place not yet on the yoga map.

"Once a month David has a retreat, but in places that are very famous for yoga," she says, "So this is something very new and good for Siem Reap because we don't get many foreign teachers – and now we get the best one."

David Williams will be running the workshop at Navutu Dreams Resort & Spa from November 22- 23.

A soldier detained for joining a protest in Phnom Penh was yesterday released from military police custody after two nights and taken back to a Royal Cambodian Armed Forces base in Preah Vihear province, his family said.

With his uniform on and a United Nations flag in hand, Um Nan, 41, who is mentally ill, found himself among Boeung Kak protesters as they called for the release of activist Yorm Bopha outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday. He was later detained for violating RCAF anti-protesting rules.

Nan's nephew Phan Pheng, a monk he had been staying with, said he had been returned to his base in Preah Vihear, where he would stay until documents were prepared for his release to his family for medical treatment.

"According to Tem Heak [Nan's commander], my uncle has had mental problems since fighting battles at the Cambodian-Thai border and being shot," he said. "Phnom Penh Military Police have freed him and donated $500 for treatment."

Nearly the entire national side of the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges yesterday announced it would join strikes at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, which have been ongoing since September 1.

In a letter sent to the Office of Administration, the seven OCIJ staffers write that they will begin striking on Monday as they do not see "any quick solutions as expected".

Co-Investigating Judge You Bunleng is the only national staffer in the office not joining the work stoppage.

Salaries for the national side have not been paid since June, and more than 140 staff members from most of the court's departments are now striking, spokesman Neth Pheaktra said.

"We are very concerned [about the] eventual delay of the judicial process if the financial crisis will be not resolved as soon as possible," he wrote in an email, adding that nearly all staff save the highest-ranking members were currently on strike.

Already, the strikes have led to a slow-down. Trial Chamber president Nil Nonn yesterday agreed to push back the deadline for closing briefs by a week in recognition of the impact work stoppages have had.

Cambodia missed the kick at the start of their 2013 Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group III campaign, going down 3-0 to Vietnam in the Group B opener at Dubai's Aviation Tennis Club late on Wednesday evening.

Mam Phalkun and Bun Kenny lost their singles rubbers in straight sets while Phalkun and his brother Panhara were listless in the doubles, which had no direct bearing on the final outcome of the tie.

"It is disappointing but it is not the end. I am confident our players will pull up their socks and fight on," Cambodia's non-playing captain Tep Rithivit told the Post.

"We meet UAE and Pacific Oceania in the next two ties and we can turn things around."

Meanwhile in another Group B contest, hosts United Arab Emirates, who earned promotion from Group IV like Cambodia in the Doha round last year, ruffled a few feathers by beating second-seeded Pacific Oceania 2-1. The results from Group A went on predictable lines with top-seeded Hong Kong taking in their stride Oman 2-1 while Malaysia ran out victors over Iran by a similar margin.

Cambodia pitched in Mam Phalkun for his Cup debut in the first singles rubber ahead of Panhara, who had won all his five singles matches last year.

When he strode out to meet Vietnam's Hoang Thien Nguyen, Phalkun, who replaced his youngest brother Vetu in the Doha squad, it was the first time a third sibling had represented a country – and by doing so he made Davis Cup history.

But the big moment simply didn't translate itself into something tangible on court as the right hander lost the first two games while fending off the initial blues.

Once he began to hit the stride and calm his nerves, Phalkun managed to sneak into a 3-2 lead, serving out the fifth game to love.

But then he hit the buffers, dropping the next four games to surrender the first set.

The second set followed similar patterns. After being 2-0 down and trading a break with his rival, Phalkun drew up to 2-3, with deuce called no less than six times during that tense fifth game.

That gutsy revival was only brief as Nguyen used the power of his forehand to regain the initiative and wrap up the match 6-3, 6-4 to give Vietnam a crucial 1-0 advantage.

The pressure was clearly on Cambodia's No 1 Bun Kenny when he faced his Vietnamese counterpart Minh Quan Do in a do-or-die battle.

The 23-year-old right hander, who spearheaded Cambodia's Group IV promotion bid last year, has had a few niggles to deal with on his right shoulder in the last few weeks.

He was seemingly comfortable serving out his opening game, but a couple of double faults and some good returns from his rival down the road, saw Kenny give away three games in a row, a setback he never quite recovered from.

An early break of Kenny serve gave Do a 2-0 headway in the second. But the middle phase of the second set threw up some tense moments for both players as Kenny edged closer to 3-4.

Then came a strange twist. Kenny calling out for injury time to assess a possible muscle pull in his calf.

He came out of that short break well enough to alter the course and draw level at 5-5. That was the closest the Vietnamese No 1 allowed Kenny to get, reeling off the next two games to polish off the tie at 6-2, 7-5.

The Mam brothers took the court for the inconsequential doubles with a rather heavy heart and it clearly showed in quick time.

The Vietnamese pair of Minh Tuan Pham and Quoc-Khanh Le made short work of the Cambodian duo winning 6-2, 6-2 to complete a convincing 3-0 shutout for Vietnam.

Civil society groups yesterday hit back at the government after a Ministry of Interior statement released on Wednesday warned NGOs that they would be breaking ministry protocols on political neutrality by "directly or indirectly" supporting an unnamed political party or its protests.

The Cambodia National Rescue Party has planned three days of ongoing demonstrations starting from Sunday and has invited NGOs to address the crowd if they wish.

A statement released yesterday by the "Situation Room" – a coalition of election monitors that will send a representative to speak about the election at the demonstrations – did not address the government warning directly, but outlined its rights in relation to the protest.

"[We] monitor and intervene for human rights violations and give first aid to people who are victims during any protest in Cambodia.… Strengthening democracy and basic rights is a core mission of civil society," the statement reads.

It adds that 800 first-aid officers and an additional 800 monitors will be deployed for the upcoming demonstrations.

The government has long accused some NGOs of being politically one-sided due to overlap between civil society and opposition party criticisms of the ruling party.

A proposed draft law to regulate NGOs was shelved in late 2011 after outcry that the government was trying to give itself undue powers to control the civil society sector and stifle criticism.

This has left NGOs in a legal grey area in which they must be registered with the Ministry of Interior, provide internal codes of conduct and pledge not to be politically active, Cambodian Center for Human Rights president Ou Virak said.

"As it stands now, we are under direct control of the Ministry of Interior. Without the law, we are still not completely independent or protected," he said.

Virak added that the ministry's statement "reflected poorly" on the government, as the rights of civil society should include the freedom to be politically active.

"I think [this] narrow interpretation of civil society is also understood by many Cambodian NGOs [who self-censor]. In the US, civil society will lobby for a political party … if they agree with [certain policies]."

Sophal Ear, the author of Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermines Democracy, said the role of some NGOs was primarily to be a check on government – even if that involves indirectly supporting an opposition party.

"You have to speak truth to power. I'd be more worried if NGOs started supporting the authorities. There are not supposed to be governmental non-governmental organisations," he said.

"Of course, it comes with the territory, and if the CNRP were to somehow [take power] … I would expect NGOs to turn around and criticise the CNRP's performance."

Kounila Keo, an independent blogger and social media consultant, said that although many organisations remained politically neutral as institutions, NGO leaders often reveal their political allegiances online.

"I've seen quite a few [public] Facebook pages of NGO people who post stuff related to politics. Sometimes, what they say shows they are a little bit more biased with the opposition and they sympathise a lot with the opposition," she said.

"I think we need to be more neutral."

The Ministry of Interior could not be reached for comment yesterday.