Thursday, March 13, 2008
Op-Ed by Jayakhmer
His Majesty the King of Kampuchea should grant a pardon to Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh only with a condition that the Prince agrees not to be involved in politics again. Samdech Krom Preah should retire from politics.
Personally, I do not have any animosity toward Samdech Krom Preah; I am advocating for members of the royal family to stay out of politics because I have too much respect and love for the institution of monarchy, our tradition, and our history. We happen to be next door to a neighbor whose people have a strong tradition of love and respect for their king.
It is a matter of national pride that we get our act together and do the right thing. I truly believe that the current arrangement by which a king reigns but not rules is a perfect balance to have for Khmer society. The king and the Khmer Royal members should stay above the fray of the mud slinging politics that often involved unnecessary roughness.
Allowing Samdech Krom Preah to go back to politics will ruin this perfect balance. The king should be politically neutral. How can Khmer people trust their king if he is perceived to be a rescuer of a member of his family?
Historically some members of the royal family had disgraced the Khmer people judging them by today's standard. By the same token, there were great kings in the past who had done great things for the Khmer people. In fact, those great kings have defined us as Khmer by our connection to the glorious past. Our Khmer identity is uniquely connected to these great world heritages such as Angkor Watt and the Bayon.
Therefore, the institution of Khmer Monarchy should be honored and respected by all Khmer regardless of their political persuasions. Encouraging Samdech Krom Preah to stay out of politics would remove any foreseeable risks that could taint this institution. The only guarantee that Samdech Krom Preah will not be in trouble again is that he should stay out of politics. Otherwise, the institution of monarchy will inevitably be marred. That is the risk the nation should not take.
Since this is an election season, some may argue that Samdech Krom Preah could tip the balance by joining the opposition parties that would bring change to Cambodian politics. That is a flawed argument. Samdech Krom Preah is no longer an asset. Rather he is a political liability. Under Samdech Krom Preah's leadership, FUNCINPEC's seats at the National Assembly have been eroding. NRP, the Prince's latest invention, could not muster much during the recent commune election.
If the opposition parties want to shine as the alternatives to the Cambodian People Party (CPP), they can and should do it without Samdech Krom Preah.
Those who love Cambodia and at the same time want fortune and political appointments by pushing Samdech Krom Preah back into politics should face the reality that the probability of getting any of that will be very slim. Joining other parties is not too late.
The bottom line, Samdech Krom Preah should be free to come home and to work on humanitarian projects.
Personally, I do not have any animosity toward Samdech Krom Preah; I am advocating for members of the royal family to stay out of politics because I have too much respect and love for the institution of monarchy, our tradition, and our history. We happen to be next door to a neighbor whose people have a strong tradition of love and respect for their king.
It is a matter of national pride that we get our act together and do the right thing. I truly believe that the current arrangement by which a king reigns but not rules is a perfect balance to have for Khmer society. The king and the Khmer Royal members should stay above the fray of the mud slinging politics that often involved unnecessary roughness.
Allowing Samdech Krom Preah to go back to politics will ruin this perfect balance. The king should be politically neutral. How can Khmer people trust their king if he is perceived to be a rescuer of a member of his family?
Historically some members of the royal family had disgraced the Khmer people judging them by today's standard. By the same token, there were great kings in the past who had done great things for the Khmer people. In fact, those great kings have defined us as Khmer by our connection to the glorious past. Our Khmer identity is uniquely connected to these great world heritages such as Angkor Watt and the Bayon.
Therefore, the institution of Khmer Monarchy should be honored and respected by all Khmer regardless of their political persuasions. Encouraging Samdech Krom Preah to stay out of politics would remove any foreseeable risks that could taint this institution. The only guarantee that Samdech Krom Preah will not be in trouble again is that he should stay out of politics. Otherwise, the institution of monarchy will inevitably be marred. That is the risk the nation should not take.
Since this is an election season, some may argue that Samdech Krom Preah could tip the balance by joining the opposition parties that would bring change to Cambodian politics. That is a flawed argument. Samdech Krom Preah is no longer an asset. Rather he is a political liability. Under Samdech Krom Preah's leadership, FUNCINPEC's seats at the National Assembly have been eroding. NRP, the Prince's latest invention, could not muster much during the recent commune election.
If the opposition parties want to shine as the alternatives to the Cambodian People Party (CPP), they can and should do it without Samdech Krom Preah.
Those who love Cambodia and at the same time want fortune and political appointments by pushing Samdech Krom Preah back into politics should face the reality that the probability of getting any of that will be very slim. Joining other parties is not too late.
The bottom line, Samdech Krom Preah should be free to come home and to work on humanitarian projects.
16 comments:
From the way it looks these days, I say, "to keep them in politic is no gain, and to kick them out of politic is no lost."
While there is no law to ban members of a royal family from politics Ranariddh has the right to enter politics like anyone. Under the constitution anyone is entitled to enter politics. And Why only ban Ranaridhh? what about Sirirath, Chivonn Monirak and other royals? If Ranariddh is convicted of crimes why should he banned from politics. So this is why there is a claim that his conviction is politically motivated. Rainsy was convicted by a corrupt Hun Sen-controlled court in 2005 but Hun Sen and the king pardoned him and he was not banned from politics. To ban Ranariddh because he is a royal is not right, it is not fair and it is discrimination. The king is neutral. He cannot say who can or cannot enter politics. If he does that, then he is not neutral. King must use his power as inscribed in the constitution and that is he has the right to grant anyone a royal pardon, whether that pertson enter politics or stay out of politics is his choice. The king cannot tell him "I will let you come home but I won't let you do this or do that...". If the king does this it means he goes beyond his constitutional power by banning someone from doing something. The way to ban the royal family is to legislate but this is also unconstitutional and is against the principle of democracy. In Thailand there are members of the royal family playing politics as well, like Sukhumbhand Paribatra and others. But politics in Thailand is different from Cambodia. Politics there is a bit more mature than in Cambodia. In Cambodia politics is very dirty, especially Hun Sen, who used all sorts of demeaning language to denigrate the royal family. Other politicians like Chea Sim, Sar Kheng, Heng Samrin, Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, for example, are more respectful to members of royal family, even though from time to time they criticize them but the criticism is more respectful. The Cambodian constitution stated that everyone has equal right, including the right to enter politics. I agreed with the article that, to gain respect, the royals should get involved with the dirty politics of Cambodia but the choice is up to the royals themselves.
5:24, constitution can be amended. It is not cast in concrete.
I agree that HRH Rannariddh should be allowed to come back to his native land, but I don't agree that he should be allowed to do politics. Cambodia should amend the law that the royal family members must stay out of politics.
I agree with the author.
Yes sure constitution can be amended! so amended first!
And by the way what it has to do with Ranarith was doing politic or not?
Joyakmer! I know you like monarchy and like to have royal looking good! But can you at least love the country too and let obey law and order?
Ranarith should be in jail because he is in politic or he is commiting crime? If the king would gave him the pardon should not on your Stupid question of POLITIC thing!
KI should allow all kind of commend but should not posted the stupid acticle like that!
Folks,
None of the above comments is wrong. Their authors have good reasons to post them on KI-Media blog. Only Prince Norodom Ranariddh himself is wrong. He is wrong for one reason and one reson only, i.e. he never realizes, recognizes or even admits that he is a politician.
Folks, do you know why? In our Khmer mentality, politicians are likened to pigs. Pigs are not even afraid of boiling water, let alone muds or human faeces. Prince Norodom Ranariddh is actually worth less than a pig because he doesn't know who and what he is, and he doesn't know where he is going. He is only a player of politics who simply wants a free ride in this muddy and dirty path no matter what.
Am I right, folks?
The best way to ban Ranariddh and other royals from politics is to amend the constitution first. But to say that Ranariddh should be banned from politics now is wrong. If he is convicted of breach of trust, a politically motivated charge, then he should be punished for that charge only- nothing else. If he is forced to give up his civil rights, including his rights to enter politics, then it is wrong. If the king does like this, as the article suggests, then the king is not neutral, he is taking side. But above all, the king is violating his constitutional rights. The constitution does not say the king can ban anybody. also the constitution does not allow Khmer citizen to be exiled.
To resolve all the problem is to remove cambodian citizenship to A Rith for having betraying the nation by corruption and did not serve the interests of the country.
Why he has the strong desire to come back in Cambodia? BEcause here, it is easy to get pussy and cheat money from local people.
We don't need a rith. His brain is not complete. He can go back to France and raise vegetable in his garden. Stay away from Cambodia A Rith. You had your time to serve the nation while you were prime minister, but you were so busy getting money from everybody and fuck everywhere. we don;t need you here, parasite.
11:26, we could amended the constitution long ago, but we prefer the royalist to pull out voluntarily without losing face for being kick out of government.
Another way, to amend the constitution will be a via public referendum or protest to force them out of government.
Prince Rannariddh and all the Royal members should not be allowed to do politics, we prefer they be like the British Monarchy.
The already made too much problems already. If Prince Rannariddh refused to put down his sort then the Constitution should be amended immediately let him wondering in a foreign's land.
Okay, but do you mind if royalist join with HRP, CPP, or SRP?
Ranariddh or royals have the same constitutional rights like every Khmer citizen. Don't ever agree with Hun Sen to amend a constitution just to ban royals from politics. Next, Hun Sen will ban people with dual citizenship from entering politics in Cambodia. Then Sam Rainsy will be the next victim. Then Hun Sen will amend a constitution to ban the use of a person's name in the party. Then the Sam Rainsy party will be the victim. If the SRP is changed to another name, like the Khmer Nation Party, then Hun Sen will use all sorts of dirty tactics to try to break it up, like when he tried to break up the Khmer Nation Party, Son Sann Party or Funcinpec party. What we need to do is to unite against Hun Sen, not to unite with Hun Sen against Ranaridhh because we all will fall victim to Hun Sen's dirty politics.
Hey, the idea of banning Dual Citizen gorilla from everything is still on the table. They had not done us any good but causing problem for Cambodia. It is a matter of when.
Mate 7:31Pm. Nop I disagree with you on that. We don't ban our people from having a Dual Citizen.
We need more people to fill up the land before ah Khmer Youn.
Samdech Krom Preah can come back to serve his country, but he can't do politics.
Yeah, but the problem with people with dual citizenship is, at war time, they will spy on us and jeopardized our national security. What do you propose we do about that?
Kill yourself 7:30PM!
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