Bangkok Post
Funcinpec has since 1993 served as a platform for members of the Cambodian royal family to enter politics, but the party's disunited image presents an enormous challenge for its new president
By JULIO A JELDRES
After a year of turmoil which saw its leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh resign from the presidency of the Cambodian National Assembly and withdraw into self-imposed exile in France and Malaysia, the junior coalition party in the Cambodian government, Funcinpec, has elected a new president to replace Prince Ranariddh. The new president, Keo Puth Reasmey, was elected at a special congress of the party on Oct 18, after it became clear that the prince could no longer work with Prime Minister Hun Sen within the framework of the coalition government.
Keo Puth Reasmey is a graduate of La Sorbonne and Montreal universities and has been in Cambodia's foreign service since 1993, when he was appointed ambassador to Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines. He then served as ambassador to Malaysia, and since 2004 was ambassador to Germany.
Prior to his diplomatic appointment, he had served in the Funcinpec office in Bangkok, during Vietnam's occupation of Cambodia, as head of the political and external affairs department and also as chief of the private secretariat of King Norodom Sihanouk from July 1991. He was an active member of the Cambodian delegation at the Paris International Conferences on Cambodia in 1989 and 1991, respectively.
Mr Reasmey is highly respected in diplomatic circles and is described by one of his former colleagues in Kuala Lumpur as being ''well informed and hard working'' and ''a good salesman for Cambodia''.
But the challenges confronting Mr Reasmey as president of Funcinpec are enormous. While the party won the UN organised and supervised elections of 1993, it seemed unable to keep its internal unity and, more importantly, its sense of purpose to capitalise on the victory.
Indeed, under Prince Ranariddh, the party operated more as a royal court than a political party, with people being appointed to government positions because of the influence exerted over such appointments by certain advisers to the prince or by the wives or mistresses of senior officials, and not because of the capacity the new appointees had for the job.
This trait worked to the party's advantage for a while, as Cambodian society retains an enduring feudal character that not even the horrendous experiences of the past 20 years have been able to eradicate. However, the courtier style of politics was not of much help to Funcinpec in the power struggle that ensued after 1996 against the hard-bitten cadres of the Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Since 1997, the party has enjoyed a tenuous grip on power, with ministers, governors and senior officials often complaining they had little power to implement decisions as the machinery of government was totally and tightly controlled by the senior partner in the coalition, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP). Prince Ranariddh was Cambodia's first democratically elected prime minister but he failed to materialise the electoral victory of 1993 into concrete measures to raise the standard of living of the least privileged of Cambodia's population. He tended to spend more time away from Cambodia than visiting the country, unlike his father, retired King Norodom Sihanouk, had done in the years when he ruled the country. Above all, sources close to the prince say, he lost touch with his ministers and senior party officials.
Through his alliance with the CPP and also, after the 1997 coup, and again in 2004 with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, the prince confused the membership of the party and many ended up wondering what the party and the prince stood for. Koul Panha, a well respected observer of Cambodian politics in Phnom Penh, feels that the prince and the party were weakened by their alliances with the ruling CPP ''when Funcinpec decided to join the CPP-led coalition government after forming the Democratic Alliance with the Sam Rainsy Party in 1998, it was unclear why. The secrecy surrounding the shift in allegiance made people believe that it was not because of [national] issues but rather because of personal interests''. Mr Koul Panha added that the CPP had been able to use Funcinpec's instability against them, even though the parties have been three times partners in a coalition government. The beginning of the end began in March this year, when Prince Ranariddh - following weeks of criticism from Prime Minister Hun Sen who accused the prince of having appointed unqualified individuals to government posts and declared that the prince's mistress was a moral embarrassment - abruptly resigned on March 3 as chairman of the National Assembly, saying that his functions at the National Assembly did not leave him enough time to visit the people and the party grassroots in the provinces of Cambodia.
Yet, a few days later he left the country and went into self-imposed exile in France and Malaysia. Again, his ministers and senior party officials were not consulted and the party went through months of confusion and suffered the undignified dismissal of several Funcinpec officials from the government, including that of deputy prime minister and Funcinpec secretary-general, Prince Norodom Sirivuddh, a half-brother of retired King Norodom Sihanouk.
He returned briefly to Cambodia in August but then again left the country. By mid-September the prince confided to me that he was planning to resign as president of Funcinpec but then suddenly changed his mind again - some suggest at the behest of his mistress, a former dancer of the royal ballet. But it appears Prince Ranariddh was instead planning to dissolve the party, withdraw from the coalition government and create a new party which he would preside over, and negotiate a new coalition pact with Mr Hun Sen and the CPP.
Having been abroad for so long, the prince was unaware that the feeling within Funcinpec had almost completely turned against him and, most importantly, that Mr Hun Sen did not want to deal with him as leader of Funcinpec or of any other political party. By late September, the new party secretary-general Nhiek Bun Chhay had begun discreet consultations within the party on pushing the prince to the inactive post of ''Historic Leader'' and finding a new president for the party. Mr Bun Chhay and other senior party officials felt that if they did not move against the prince, the latter would simply get rid of the party altogether and break the coalition agreement with the CPP.
On Oct 16, Prince Ranariddh wrote to his father, who is currently in Beijing, suggesting that the time had come ''to get rid'' of Funcinpec, comparing the party to a piece of land which had been given to him by King Sihanouk and that he, Prince Ranariddh, had out of his kindness allowed certain people to come and live on it, exploit its resources, get rich and that now those people wanted to take over the piece of land and get rid of him, the rightful owner.
Mr Reasmey - who is married to Princess Norodom Arunrasmy, daughter of King Norodom Sihanouk and Prince Ranariddh's half sister - was contacted in Germany about taking up the job. Contrary to reports which have circulated in the press, Princess Arunrasmy played no role and was informed by her husband after he had made his mind to respond to the ''call from the party which has always been good to me''.
The party leadership felt that they needed to move fast, otherwise they would be confronted with a fait accompli by the prince. This prompted the hasty convocation of a special congress by Mr Bun Chhay and the election on Oct 18 of Keo Puth Reasmey to replace Prince Ranariddh.
The challenge confronting Mr Reasmey is Herculean. The well-respected diplomat needs to transform himself into a political leader, unifying the party's different factions and presenting a united party to the Cambodian electorate.
In the last week, Prince Ranariddh has been expelled as a member of the National Assembly and his parliamentary immunity lifted, his membership in Funcinpec having been revoked. Similarly, he is confronting a number of legal cases, which observers believe will make his return to Cambodia in the near future almost impossible, as without parliamentary immunity he could be arrested on the spot and thrown into jail.
Ambassador Julio A Jeldres is chairman of the Khmer Institute of Democracy in Phnom Penh, and Official Biographer of retired King Norodom Sihanouk.
By JULIO A JELDRES
After a year of turmoil which saw its leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh resign from the presidency of the Cambodian National Assembly and withdraw into self-imposed exile in France and Malaysia, the junior coalition party in the Cambodian government, Funcinpec, has elected a new president to replace Prince Ranariddh. The new president, Keo Puth Reasmey, was elected at a special congress of the party on Oct 18, after it became clear that the prince could no longer work with Prime Minister Hun Sen within the framework of the coalition government.
Keo Puth Reasmey is a graduate of La Sorbonne and Montreal universities and has been in Cambodia's foreign service since 1993, when he was appointed ambassador to Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines. He then served as ambassador to Malaysia, and since 2004 was ambassador to Germany.
Prior to his diplomatic appointment, he had served in the Funcinpec office in Bangkok, during Vietnam's occupation of Cambodia, as head of the political and external affairs department and also as chief of the private secretariat of King Norodom Sihanouk from July 1991. He was an active member of the Cambodian delegation at the Paris International Conferences on Cambodia in 1989 and 1991, respectively.
Mr Reasmey is highly respected in diplomatic circles and is described by one of his former colleagues in Kuala Lumpur as being ''well informed and hard working'' and ''a good salesman for Cambodia''.
But the challenges confronting Mr Reasmey as president of Funcinpec are enormous. While the party won the UN organised and supervised elections of 1993, it seemed unable to keep its internal unity and, more importantly, its sense of purpose to capitalise on the victory.
Indeed, under Prince Ranariddh, the party operated more as a royal court than a political party, with people being appointed to government positions because of the influence exerted over such appointments by certain advisers to the prince or by the wives or mistresses of senior officials, and not because of the capacity the new appointees had for the job.
This trait worked to the party's advantage for a while, as Cambodian society retains an enduring feudal character that not even the horrendous experiences of the past 20 years have been able to eradicate. However, the courtier style of politics was not of much help to Funcinpec in the power struggle that ensued after 1996 against the hard-bitten cadres of the Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Since 1997, the party has enjoyed a tenuous grip on power, with ministers, governors and senior officials often complaining they had little power to implement decisions as the machinery of government was totally and tightly controlled by the senior partner in the coalition, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP). Prince Ranariddh was Cambodia's first democratically elected prime minister but he failed to materialise the electoral victory of 1993 into concrete measures to raise the standard of living of the least privileged of Cambodia's population. He tended to spend more time away from Cambodia than visiting the country, unlike his father, retired King Norodom Sihanouk, had done in the years when he ruled the country. Above all, sources close to the prince say, he lost touch with his ministers and senior party officials.
Through his alliance with the CPP and also, after the 1997 coup, and again in 2004 with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, the prince confused the membership of the party and many ended up wondering what the party and the prince stood for. Koul Panha, a well respected observer of Cambodian politics in Phnom Penh, feels that the prince and the party were weakened by their alliances with the ruling CPP ''when Funcinpec decided to join the CPP-led coalition government after forming the Democratic Alliance with the Sam Rainsy Party in 1998, it was unclear why. The secrecy surrounding the shift in allegiance made people believe that it was not because of [national] issues but rather because of personal interests''. Mr Koul Panha added that the CPP had been able to use Funcinpec's instability against them, even though the parties have been three times partners in a coalition government. The beginning of the end began in March this year, when Prince Ranariddh - following weeks of criticism from Prime Minister Hun Sen who accused the prince of having appointed unqualified individuals to government posts and declared that the prince's mistress was a moral embarrassment - abruptly resigned on March 3 as chairman of the National Assembly, saying that his functions at the National Assembly did not leave him enough time to visit the people and the party grassroots in the provinces of Cambodia.
Yet, a few days later he left the country and went into self-imposed exile in France and Malaysia. Again, his ministers and senior party officials were not consulted and the party went through months of confusion and suffered the undignified dismissal of several Funcinpec officials from the government, including that of deputy prime minister and Funcinpec secretary-general, Prince Norodom Sirivuddh, a half-brother of retired King Norodom Sihanouk.
He returned briefly to Cambodia in August but then again left the country. By mid-September the prince confided to me that he was planning to resign as president of Funcinpec but then suddenly changed his mind again - some suggest at the behest of his mistress, a former dancer of the royal ballet. But it appears Prince Ranariddh was instead planning to dissolve the party, withdraw from the coalition government and create a new party which he would preside over, and negotiate a new coalition pact with Mr Hun Sen and the CPP.
Having been abroad for so long, the prince was unaware that the feeling within Funcinpec had almost completely turned against him and, most importantly, that Mr Hun Sen did not want to deal with him as leader of Funcinpec or of any other political party. By late September, the new party secretary-general Nhiek Bun Chhay had begun discreet consultations within the party on pushing the prince to the inactive post of ''Historic Leader'' and finding a new president for the party. Mr Bun Chhay and other senior party officials felt that if they did not move against the prince, the latter would simply get rid of the party altogether and break the coalition agreement with the CPP.
On Oct 16, Prince Ranariddh wrote to his father, who is currently in Beijing, suggesting that the time had come ''to get rid'' of Funcinpec, comparing the party to a piece of land which had been given to him by King Sihanouk and that he, Prince Ranariddh, had out of his kindness allowed certain people to come and live on it, exploit its resources, get rich and that now those people wanted to take over the piece of land and get rid of him, the rightful owner.
Mr Reasmey - who is married to Princess Norodom Arunrasmy, daughter of King Norodom Sihanouk and Prince Ranariddh's half sister - was contacted in Germany about taking up the job. Contrary to reports which have circulated in the press, Princess Arunrasmy played no role and was informed by her husband after he had made his mind to respond to the ''call from the party which has always been good to me''.
The party leadership felt that they needed to move fast, otherwise they would be confronted with a fait accompli by the prince. This prompted the hasty convocation of a special congress by Mr Bun Chhay and the election on Oct 18 of Keo Puth Reasmey to replace Prince Ranariddh.
The challenge confronting Mr Reasmey is Herculean. The well-respected diplomat needs to transform himself into a political leader, unifying the party's different factions and presenting a united party to the Cambodian electorate.
In the last week, Prince Ranariddh has been expelled as a member of the National Assembly and his parliamentary immunity lifted, his membership in Funcinpec having been revoked. Similarly, he is confronting a number of legal cases, which observers believe will make his return to Cambodia in the near future almost impossible, as without parliamentary immunity he could be arrested on the spot and thrown into jail.
Ambassador Julio A Jeldres is chairman of the Khmer Institute of Democracy in Phnom Penh, and Official Biographer of retired King Norodom Sihanouk.
4 comments:
It is uusually hard to train the door keeper breeding dogs to be the fighting dogs.In this story, RRidh father has been an in door keeper dog all his life,so go figure why RRidh, an incest child, behaves such a way.
What a sad karma for Cambodia to have all immoral and screwed up family at its behest.
When having a breeder dog as father
one can expect the puppies are not afar from their paternal baggages.
Julio get a life and be your own man instead of a brownie.
COMO'N JULIO YOU KNOW NOTHIN'ABOUT ALL THE CROOK KEO PUTH RASMEY, HIS WIFE PRINCESS ARUN, EVEN SIHANOUK ADMITTED THAT SHE IS THE CONDUCTOR IN THIS COUP! SHE'S VERY SKILLFUL ONLY TIME WILL TELL EITHER YOU ARE WRONG OR THE INSIDERS ARE WRONG READ THE FOLLOWING STORY ABOUT KEO PUTH RASMEY THE NEW CROOK RANNARIDH COPYCAT!
The followingg is the true story and information obtained from the insiders of keo puth Rasmey, Arun(his crook wife) and Mo(his crook sister)'s family...
STORY ABOUT KEO PUTH RASMEY :He came to this position with the help of his sister"Mo" and his wife(princess Arun). "Mo" used to be Tep Khunnah's wife in the old days. Tep Khunnah a restaurant owner in Paris slept with BOTH of Keo Puth Rasmey's sisters(Incest, Sic!).Keo Puth Rasmey's Sisters shared the same husband(very Low Class Family). Tep khunnah died of cancer, "MO" married a Canadian man then divorced and moved on to marry Hong sun Huot a senior minister in Funcinpec. "MO" is very opportunist and a big time ass kisser, she kissed both CPP's first lady BUNRANNY and Funcinpec's MARY.
Keo Puth Rasmey's wife princess ARUN had a plan to destroy Rannaridh so she can put her husband up. She was the one who fix OUK PHALLA with Rannaridh and break up Rannaridh and Mary' s Marriage.( MARY fell to princess ARUN trap). Keo Puth Rasmey's wife ARUN and his older sister"MO" had planned this strategy since 2004. They are Very CROOK!.
MARY who's upset with Rannaridh(She fell into Princess ARUN's Trap), had asked MO to take revenge on Rannaridh for abandoning her and MO saw this golden opportunity to put her brother Keo puth Rasmey up. MO has BUNRANNY as her backbone to control and command all Funcinpec's Dogs to elect Keo puth rasmey. Plus with the help from Mary ofcourse a combination with 2 punches. Rasmey is nothin' but another corrupted gonnabe to take opportunity to pocket dollars like Rannaridh did. Worst than Ranaridh this dog will take 120 percent order from Hun Sen, Y'all will see if you dont believe me. Unlike Ung Huot this dog has a strong backbone because of his sister closeness to Hun sen family. Watch you will see that the way it's going to be....
Believe me these people are very crook, Sralanh Khmer newspaper and Sam Rainsy seem to favor this new Funcipec people over Rannaridh, they are deadly wrong, all these new people Keo puth Rasmey his wife ARUN, Nkhek Bun Chhay all are as crook as Rannaridh.
INSTEAD OF TELLING NON SENSE STORIES, ALL THE ROYAL CROOKS PLUS SIHANOUK SHOULD MAKE PLANS, STRATEGIES AND TACTICS ON HOW TO RESCUE CAMBODIA FROM YUON'S ANNEXATION.
IF THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO IT, THEN THEY CAN ASK US, BUT MAKE SURE THAT THEY SHOULD SWAPPING FROM YUON COMMUNIST SLAVE'S CAMP TO A KHMER REPUBLIC CAMP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
from KAUN NEAK SRE
STORY ABOUT KEO PUTH RASMEY :He came to this position with the help of his wife(princess Norodom Arunrasmy). Keo Puth Rasmey's wife princess ARUN had a plan to destroy Rannaridh so she can put her husband up. She was the one who fix OUK PHALLA with Rannaridh and break up Rannaridh and Mary' s Marriage.(MARY fell to princess ARUN trap). Keo Puth Rasmey's wife ARUN and his older sister"MO" had planned this strategy since 2004. They are Very CROOK!.
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