Ou Virak, the former head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, has left that position to start a public policy research group.
His Future Forum group will research policy choices and “major issues” to help Cambodia’s leaders make important decisions, Ou Virak told “Hello VOA” Monday.
“There must be independent people who can deeply analyze their data to help people understand,” he said.
Ou Virak has resigned from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, in order to lead the new organization.
“What I’ve seen in the current Cambodian politics is that their criticism is only superficial,” he said. “Therefore, in their response, the government does not intend to reform deeply and also does not have an intention to do so. They only do it superficially and are not changing totally the administration or policy.”
Corruption, finance and even immigration need to be closely scrutinized and studied, he said. The Future Forum intends to provide that kind of scrutiny, he said, and “honest research.”