By Sachak
Sralanh Khmer Newspaper
Translated from Khmer
An official who does not support the party coup led by Nhiek Bun Chhay said that Prince Norodom Ranariddh, former chairman of the FUNCINPEC [National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia] Party, is waiting for an official response from the Ministry of Interior before he sets up a new party. The source said that the plan to set up the new party remains on if the Ministry of Interior decides to hand over FUNCINPEC to the group that staged the party coup under Nhiek Bun Chhay's leadership on 18 October.
The source close to Prince Ranariddh said that in this plan to set up the new party it is expected that several senior members would leave the Nhiek Bun Chhay group as some of them agreed to support Nhiek Bun Chhay and Keo Puth Rasmey, FUNCINPEC chairman installed by the congress, because they were threatened and because they wanted to temporarily keep their posts.
On 21 October King-Father Norodom Sihanouk issued a message saying that there were many who supported and loved Prince Ranariddh but the prince was too districted, too blinded by love and he failed to clarify his stance that between the people and nation and his love, which side he would choose. The former king predicted that the new party named after Prince Norodom Ranariddh would not be successful.
On Saturday, Samdech Krom Preah [Ranariddh] appointed Serei Kosal to be his trustee who would make decisions on his behalf inside Cambodia. Therefore, after he gets the answer from the Ministry of Interior, the prince will tell Serei Kosal to submit an application to the ministry for the establishment of the new party as soon as possible in order to participate in the commune/precinct council elections in April 2007.
The source disclosed that yesterday Ok Socheat, Serei Kosal, and a number of other loyalist officials were preparing the logo and bylaw of the new party. But the source did not tell whether or not the new party's bylaw would make Samdech Krom Preah historical chairman for life as he was in FUNCINPEC before being kicked out last week.
An elder of the FUNCINPEC Party said that although Samdech Krom Preah betrayed the original concept of FUNCINPEC, deliberately ignored the good service of the resistance fighters, and abandoned the loyalist intellectuals, many party members still support him more than they support party-coup leader Nhiek Bun Chhay and Keo Puth Rasmey, husband of Princess Norodom Arun Rasmey, Samdech Krom Preah's sister. Therefore, when the new party takes shape, the majority of senior leaders and members of the FUNCINPEC Party would surely join the new party of the prince rather than staying on with Nhiek Bun Chhay.
After the 18 October party coup, a number of FUNCINPEC elders loyal to Samdech Krom Preah accepted to keep quiet in order to preserve their positions as members of the National Assembly, Senate, and Cabinet, such as National Assembly Member Chhim Siek Leng, State Minister and Education Minister Kol Pheng, Senate Member Por Bunsreu, Health Minister Nut Sokhom, and several provincial/municipal leaders.
A source familiar with Nhiek Bun Chhay said that some royals were also afraid of the party's coup makers. Some of them did not know that their names were put on the list as Steering committee members. Therefore, some of these leaders who are quietly waiting inside FUNCINPEC, silently enduring Nhiek Bun Chhay's authority, will one day pull out, especially when Prince Ranariddh's new party is officially set up.
Even if Samdech Krom Preah really creates a new party with many officials joining him after breaking away from Nhiek Bun Chhay, he will not be successful for he would not have any words with which to talk to the people as in the past.
Julio Jeldres, King-Father's official royal biographer, and Dr Pung Chhiv Kek, chairman of the human rights organization LICADHO [Ligue cambodgienne pour la protection et la défense des droits de l'homme -- Cambodian League for Human Rights Protection and Defense], made similar comments that Samdech Krom Preah's political life was over.
A party dean who was a former official from the Sangkum Reastr Niyum [People's Socialist Community] era said that even if Samdech Krom Preah formed a new party he would not succeed. This would only harass the FUNCINPEC Party of the party-coup makers. The same official said that both Samdech Krom Preah and the party-coup makers would not win the trust of the people. Both have betrayed the people's will and sold the people to the Vietnamese stooges.
Some quarters said that Samdech Krom Preah's political life ended at the beginning of 1997 because he won the elections overwhelmingly to become first prime minister with all the power in his hands and yet he could do nothing. He later on connived with the Cambodian People's Party in logging, committing corruption, and permitting Vietnamese nationals to pour into Cambodia at will. Yet the prince's political life was resuscitated after election-loser Second Prime Minister Hun Sen staged a bloody coup on 5-6 July 1997 to oust him from power.
However, the party coup led by Nhiek Bun Chhay on 18 October to expel him from the chairmanship of the FUNCINPEC Party would not save his political life as the July 1997 bloody coup did.
Therefore, the new party to be known as Norodom Ranariddh Party and the FUNCINPEC Party led by party-coup leader Nhiek Bun Chhay will equally be a failure, since the division in the FUNCINPEC Party is a political game aimed at destroying the FUNCINPEC Party just as the party of senior citizen Son Sann was destroyed in the 1990s.
The source close to Prince Ranariddh said that in this plan to set up the new party it is expected that several senior members would leave the Nhiek Bun Chhay group as some of them agreed to support Nhiek Bun Chhay and Keo Puth Rasmey, FUNCINPEC chairman installed by the congress, because they were threatened and because they wanted to temporarily keep their posts.
On 21 October King-Father Norodom Sihanouk issued a message saying that there were many who supported and loved Prince Ranariddh but the prince was too districted, too blinded by love and he failed to clarify his stance that between the people and nation and his love, which side he would choose. The former king predicted that the new party named after Prince Norodom Ranariddh would not be successful.
On Saturday, Samdech Krom Preah [Ranariddh] appointed Serei Kosal to be his trustee who would make decisions on his behalf inside Cambodia. Therefore, after he gets the answer from the Ministry of Interior, the prince will tell Serei Kosal to submit an application to the ministry for the establishment of the new party as soon as possible in order to participate in the commune/precinct council elections in April 2007.
The source disclosed that yesterday Ok Socheat, Serei Kosal, and a number of other loyalist officials were preparing the logo and bylaw of the new party. But the source did not tell whether or not the new party's bylaw would make Samdech Krom Preah historical chairman for life as he was in FUNCINPEC before being kicked out last week.
An elder of the FUNCINPEC Party said that although Samdech Krom Preah betrayed the original concept of FUNCINPEC, deliberately ignored the good service of the resistance fighters, and abandoned the loyalist intellectuals, many party members still support him more than they support party-coup leader Nhiek Bun Chhay and Keo Puth Rasmey, husband of Princess Norodom Arun Rasmey, Samdech Krom Preah's sister. Therefore, when the new party takes shape, the majority of senior leaders and members of the FUNCINPEC Party would surely join the new party of the prince rather than staying on with Nhiek Bun Chhay.
After the 18 October party coup, a number of FUNCINPEC elders loyal to Samdech Krom Preah accepted to keep quiet in order to preserve their positions as members of the National Assembly, Senate, and Cabinet, such as National Assembly Member Chhim Siek Leng, State Minister and Education Minister Kol Pheng, Senate Member Por Bunsreu, Health Minister Nut Sokhom, and several provincial/municipal leaders.
A source familiar with Nhiek Bun Chhay said that some royals were also afraid of the party's coup makers. Some of them did not know that their names were put on the list as Steering committee members. Therefore, some of these leaders who are quietly waiting inside FUNCINPEC, silently enduring Nhiek Bun Chhay's authority, will one day pull out, especially when Prince Ranariddh's new party is officially set up.
Even if Samdech Krom Preah really creates a new party with many officials joining him after breaking away from Nhiek Bun Chhay, he will not be successful for he would not have any words with which to talk to the people as in the past.
Julio Jeldres, King-Father's official royal biographer, and Dr Pung Chhiv Kek, chairman of the human rights organization LICADHO [Ligue cambodgienne pour la protection et la défense des droits de l'homme -- Cambodian League for Human Rights Protection and Defense], made similar comments that Samdech Krom Preah's political life was over.
A party dean who was a former official from the Sangkum Reastr Niyum [People's Socialist Community] era said that even if Samdech Krom Preah formed a new party he would not succeed. This would only harass the FUNCINPEC Party of the party-coup makers. The same official said that both Samdech Krom Preah and the party-coup makers would not win the trust of the people. Both have betrayed the people's will and sold the people to the Vietnamese stooges.
Some quarters said that Samdech Krom Preah's political life ended at the beginning of 1997 because he won the elections overwhelmingly to become first prime minister with all the power in his hands and yet he could do nothing. He later on connived with the Cambodian People's Party in logging, committing corruption, and permitting Vietnamese nationals to pour into Cambodia at will. Yet the prince's political life was resuscitated after election-loser Second Prime Minister Hun Sen staged a bloody coup on 5-6 July 1997 to oust him from power.
However, the party coup led by Nhiek Bun Chhay on 18 October to expel him from the chairmanship of the FUNCINPEC Party would not save his political life as the July 1997 bloody coup did.
Therefore, the new party to be known as Norodom Ranariddh Party and the FUNCINPEC Party led by party-coup leader Nhiek Bun Chhay will equally be a failure, since the division in the FUNCINPEC Party is a political game aimed at destroying the FUNCINPEC Party just as the party of senior citizen Son Sann was destroyed in the 1990s.
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