By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 July 2008
[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the first in a two-part series examining the role of women in politics.]
Chhan Samnang came to Phnom Penh in 1979 as a vendor of fried banana cakes, following the collapse of the Khmer Ruoge. Now 51 years old, Chhan Samnang is a commune council member in Phnom Penh's Russei Keo district. If possible, she plans to do even more, by entering national politics one day.
Chhan Samnang is one example of the few women in local politics, where only 15 percent of commune council members are women. Even so, she one day hopes to be a representative at the national level, where 22 of the 123 members of the National Assembly are women.
Chhan Samnang became interested in politics when she met opposition leader Sam Rainsy at a market, in 1996. After speaking to him, she decided to join his party, then called the Khmer National Party, the precursor to Sam Rainsy's eponymous party. She became an activist and won a seat as a first deputy council member in 2002, winning again in commune elections in 2007.
Her leg has been disfigured, by polio, since she was a young girl, and she is sometimes criticized for her disability. But she does not care what people say, she told VOA Khmer in an interview. She prefers to show her abilities, rather than dwell on her disability.
One day, Chhan Samnang hopes to run as a member of parliament, but for this year's general election, she is campaigning for her party and remaining a local representative of her commune. If she has the ability to go further, she said, she will.
Chhan Samnang came to Phnom Penh in 1979 as a vendor of fried banana cakes, following the collapse of the Khmer Ruoge. Now 51 years old, Chhan Samnang is a commune council member in Phnom Penh's Russei Keo district. If possible, she plans to do even more, by entering national politics one day.
Chhan Samnang is one example of the few women in local politics, where only 15 percent of commune council members are women. Even so, she one day hopes to be a representative at the national level, where 22 of the 123 members of the National Assembly are women.
Chhan Samnang became interested in politics when she met opposition leader Sam Rainsy at a market, in 1996. After speaking to him, she decided to join his party, then called the Khmer National Party, the precursor to Sam Rainsy's eponymous party. She became an activist and won a seat as a first deputy council member in 2002, winning again in commune elections in 2007.
Her leg has been disfigured, by polio, since she was a young girl, and she is sometimes criticized for her disability. But she does not care what people say, she told VOA Khmer in an interview. She prefers to show her abilities, rather than dwell on her disability.
One day, Chhan Samnang hopes to run as a member of parliament, but for this year's general election, she is campaigning for her party and remaining a local representative of her commune. If she has the ability to go further, she said, she will.
13 comments:
Too bad, the bitch is too old.
11:24pm
your mother is too old bitch, not chhan samnang.
What have you done for Cambodia? Let alone for yourself. Not much I can tell. At least she has a vision and destiny more than I can say for you. Go to school or get a job. Stop being jealous of others who's better than you.I believe you can indeed get more decent job than hers (fried banana)!!! Job suggestion: Car wash acquires limited intelligent. Remember: Ignorance is not bliss.
He plane to steal fro people just like his father, Ah Hun Xen!
Hey, don't blame me, Ah Scam Rainxy has no room for no old, rusty, and worn out bitch.
Correction on 1:33Am
Ah Scam Rainxy= ah Sacam Kem Soka
Wonderful success and much of luck to Chhan Samnang. Khmer women are the best compared to others in the neighborhood of south east asia.
(SUPPORT HUN XEN = SUPPORT THE IMPERIALIST YUON, SIAM TO SWALLOW and ENCROACH OUR COUNTRY)
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My struggle for the revival of Cambodia
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Ravaged by genocide, coveted by powerful and predatory neighbors, submitted to a corrupt nomenklatura, choked by a neo-feudal regime, Cambodia is a martyr country, and no one knows this better than Sam Rainsy. Born into a patrician family in Phnom Penh, close to King Norodom Sihanouk, young Rainsy lived an opulent life but then also lived through decline, when his father, a major politician, was brutally dismissed and had to live in hiding before being assassinated.
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Fuck you, asshole (4:27), we rather be swallowed up by yuon and Siam than Ah Scam Rainxy Zimbabwean corrupted infidel.
to 11:24 PM,
if yes your mom, and all the lady in yours family is an old bitches too. you forgotten that SOB 11:24 pm ?
fkend low life
I wonder when she will be the MP, how she can help to make laws? She has a low background of education. And also it can produce low quality of law.
I am proud of you and your ability. Go a head. One day your dream will come true and one day A Kwak will go to the hell with his colleagues, Chhea Sim, Heng Samrin, Hok Lundy..
Yes, and your dream will come true once you get to Zimbabwe.
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