[Hun Xen's] Musketeers all for one

Saturday, January 22, 2011
Bangkok Post

Cambodia's Press and Quick Reaction Unit's key men Phay Siphan and Tith Sothea have joined fellow spokesman Koy Kuong in defending the interests of Cambodia and its premier Hun Sen.

Cambodia's so-called Three Musketeers have been very effective in their swift political responses to whoever picks a fight with their beloved leader.

The unit was established in June 2009 in a sub-decree signed by Hun Sen and comes under the supervision of veteran politician Sok An, minister of the council of ministers.

From the outset, the unit aimed to react to news or any information disseminated by national, international sources and critics that is deemed a threat to Cambodia, its government and its national identity.

The Three Musketeers are part of a modernised and restructured Cambodian administration with veteran politicians, diplomats and brothers-in-arms in place as advisers to the government.

The group includes younger-generation Cambodians and their faces have become familiar with both local and foreign media as they have been doing their jobs as quickly as their unit title suggests.

Phay Siphan, in his early 50s, was one of the ministry's so-called 16 secretaries of state. A former refugee boy at the Thai-Cambodian border, he holds dual Cambodian and American citizenship and has been serving the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) for the past three decades.

Phay Siphan was an appointed senator under the CPP quota before the Cambodian senate became an elected one in 2006 thanks to his loyalty to the CPP. In 1979, he migrated to the US.

During his senate years, Phay Siphan and two other senators were sacked because of their opposition to a CPP-sponsored bill.

He was invited back from the US to become the unit's mouthpiece. Chhang Song, his senator colleague and also former information minister during the Lon Nol-led regime, was also invited to be an adviser to the Hun Sen administration.

Tith Sothea and Koy Kuong are 10 years younger than Phay Siphan. Like other spokesmen elsewhere, they have risen to the spotlight amid disputes and conflicts.

The unit's responses have been very timely in English and targeted the international audience. It has aimed its fire at the ultra-nationalist yellow shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in Thailand and Cambodia's opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

The unit is well staffed to monitor hostility, verbal or otherwise, against the Cambodian leader and their country.

The unit has complained strongly to Google that its cyber maps grossly misrepresent Cambodia's long-contested border with Thailand.

It has also responded to any critical NGO reports such as those furnished by Freedom House and Human Rights Watch that rank Cambodia low for its human rights record.

Earlier, the unit lashed out at key PAD members such as ML Walvipa Charoonroj in May and Sondhi Limthongkul in August for what it said were their attempts to obstruct the two countries from reaching a resolution to their border conflict.