UNION activist Rong Chhun in a letter dated Wednesday lobbied Prime

Minister Hun Sen to pressure petroleum companies to lower fuel prices

to 4,000 riels per litre.

After a period of hikes, local fuel

prices have stabilised at around 5,400 riel a litre,  but have not

decreased even as international crude prices dropped US$36 to around

$110 per barrel from a record highs in mid-July.

"The petroleum

companies can[not] reject an order from the prime minister," said Rong

Chhun, the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association president. He

said skyrocketing fuel prices have dealt a major blow to already

cash-strapped civil servants.