By Kong Sothanarith
Cambodge Soir
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
For Kong Korm, interim SRP President, the prime minister had clearly “interfered” in Funcinpec affairs by suggesting Sunday that this party should change its president, and also by announcing the upcoming firing of four Funcinpec ministers and secretaries of state. “We can see clearly that Hun Sen tries to put Prince Ranariddh on the spot while he is supporting the secretary-general, Nhiek Bun Chhay. All of this is the consequence of the internal divisions within the Funcinpec,” Kong Korm said. During a speech Sunday, in the province of Kompong Chhnang, Hun Sen announced the replacement of Serey Kosal, minister and vice-director of the National Committee for Disaster Management, of Chea Chanboribo, state secretary at the ministry of information, of Tuot Lux and Neouv Kassie, state secretaries at the ministry of justice. Prince Ranariddh wrote Nhiek Bun Chhay to ask the “chief of the Funcinpec-CPP coordination committee to discuss urgently [these firings] with Say Chhum [his CPP nemesis], based on the cooperation agreement concluded by the two parties for this third mandate, and in the goal of consolidating the bilateral cooperation and to assure the longevity of the government.”
“I was surprised by what Samdech Hun Sen said Sunday. He knew things that were secret. And I understood that I became an adversary of Nhiek Bun Chhay who receives external support,” Serey Kosal reacted. However, he added: “I am not angry about that because it happens to me due to my faithfulness to the prince. I am a royalist, I don’t have to listen to people outside the party as some do.”
Chea Chanboribo believes that his firing is linked to his duty as spokesman of the Funcinpec president. “I find my work at the ministry worked out well. I get along well with minister Khieu Kanharith who is a good partner,” the ex-secretary of state of the ministry of information noted. “But the most important in this affair is that I am in regular consultation with Prince Norodom Ranariddh on the issues of installation of border markers and on immigration, this led me to make declarations on these issues.”
The leader of the government did not appreciate that Funcinpec president took some distance from the supplemental border treaty concluded last year between Phnom Penh and Hanoi. Nevertheless, in a communiqué, the prince spokesman had assured that the latter supported the treaty, but that he does not endorse the responsibility for the installation of border markers along the Cambodia-Vietnam border because, according to him, no senior officials had work on this topic. According to the government leader, the other two state secretaries were fired for intervening in the divorce between Prince Ranariddh and Princess Marie.
To Cheam Yeap, a CPP MP, Hun Sen did not interfere at all in Funcinpec internal affairs. “He had to intervene because Funcinpec internal disputes came all the way to the table of the Council of ministers,” Cheam Yeap assured. “[…] Funcinpec leader cheated the public on the borders issue in order to make rain and shine.”
Nevertheless, if one believes Kem Sokha, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, nobody is interested much in all these political questions, except for the members of the concerned parties. “The problems between Funcinpec and the CPP are very trivial… The citizens are no longer interested in them. In my public forums, I observe that their worries turn to daily life, salaries, land disputes,” he noted.
“I was surprised by what Samdech Hun Sen said Sunday. He knew things that were secret. And I understood that I became an adversary of Nhiek Bun Chhay who receives external support,” Serey Kosal reacted. However, he added: “I am not angry about that because it happens to me due to my faithfulness to the prince. I am a royalist, I don’t have to listen to people outside the party as some do.”
Chea Chanboribo believes that his firing is linked to his duty as spokesman of the Funcinpec president. “I find my work at the ministry worked out well. I get along well with minister Khieu Kanharith who is a good partner,” the ex-secretary of state of the ministry of information noted. “But the most important in this affair is that I am in regular consultation with Prince Norodom Ranariddh on the issues of installation of border markers and on immigration, this led me to make declarations on these issues.”
The leader of the government did not appreciate that Funcinpec president took some distance from the supplemental border treaty concluded last year between Phnom Penh and Hanoi. Nevertheless, in a communiqué, the prince spokesman had assured that the latter supported the treaty, but that he does not endorse the responsibility for the installation of border markers along the Cambodia-Vietnam border because, according to him, no senior officials had work on this topic. According to the government leader, the other two state secretaries were fired for intervening in the divorce between Prince Ranariddh and Princess Marie.
To Cheam Yeap, a CPP MP, Hun Sen did not interfere at all in Funcinpec internal affairs. “He had to intervene because Funcinpec internal disputes came all the way to the table of the Council of ministers,” Cheam Yeap assured. “[…] Funcinpec leader cheated the public on the borders issue in order to make rain and shine.”
Nevertheless, if one believes Kem Sokha, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, nobody is interested much in all these political questions, except for the members of the concerned parties. “The problems between Funcinpec and the CPP are very trivial… The citizens are no longer interested in them. In my public forums, I observe that their worries turn to daily life, salaries, land disputes,” he noted.
1 comment:
There is no question that Hun Sen interferes with Funcipec affairs. There are two main issues that are sensitive to Hun Sen: corruption and border treaty with Vietnam. Rannariddh is also corrupt, but he touches one issue that is sensitive to Hun Sen. So, it's time to get Ranariddh ousted from Funcinpec and replaced with a compliant one, just like Ung Huot replaced Ranariddh after the 1997 coup.
Hun Sen's strategy is divide and rule. Nhiek Bun Chay, the man who was hunted down to be killed during the 1997 coup, was bought off for $10 million. Now, he is a nice man and a compliant slave to Hun Sen.
While corrupt and compliant officials remain in their lucrative positions, those who spoke out against corruption and border treaty with Vietnam were not spared. Lu Lay Sreng was implicated in a corruption scandal with the World Bank, but he is still around.
CPP cheated the public on the border issue with Funcinpec support. CPP cheated the public on the package vote with Funcinpec support. If the Funcinpec internal affairs strengthen the CPP grip on power then they will interfere to further weaken Funcinpec. It's their objective to be the sole ruling party in the next national election.
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