Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
The Sam Rainsy party wants to ask that the army remains independent from political parties and it does not want the army to be involved in political affairs, the same as in a number of advanced countries in the world. SRP MP Yim Sovann told the Samner Thmei newspaper in an interview that, when major army generals are members of political parties, then they will lose their independence stance. He said that in advanced democratic countries, the army is not involved in politics and that the latter is left to the civilians to deal with. The army is focused on defending the country’s territories from external threats. However, in the Cambodian army, (the generals) are all members of political parties, in particular, members of the ruling party. Therefore, when the country faces internal problems, the army would come out to defend one political party only. Yim Sovann believes that the army should stay away from politics and it should concentrate on its duties which are: defending the country from external threats, and defending the country’s territorial integrity from foreign aggression, these are the main roles of the army.
