The wives of seven Cambodian senior government officials have petitioned Prime Minister Hun Sen to ban the use of the latest generation of mobile phones, saying the technology could be used disseminate pornography, local media reported on Thursday.

The seven include the wives of Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cabinet Minister Sok An, former National Assembly president Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Supreme Curt President Dith Monty, according to The Cambodia Daily.

They accuses the phones' video capability of destroying Khmer culture and polluting the minds of teenagers.

"We are all very concerned that bad people will use modern communication and information technology in the wrong direction and it will make a serious negative effect on morality and social welfare," they warned.

The petition also called for the government to "seriously punish" anyone found to be using the phones to attract men into sexual relations by sending them explicit pictures.

"We all would like to request the royal government to issue a regulation prohibiting the individual use of this modern phone," the petition noted.

So Khun, minister of posts and telecommunication, said that he had not received the petition, but would implement a ban on the phones if Hun Sen ordered.

MobiTel, which is headed by Kith Meng, president of the Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce, is planning to introduce a 3G video phone network next month, he added.

The generic term "3G" refers to third-generation mobile phone technology, which offers Internet connections and the possibility of video conferencing.

Source: Xinhua