Nhiek Bun Chhay Sees Ranariddh as Good Leader Spoilt by 1993 Election Success

21 Feb 08
By Chey Dara
Sralanh Khmer
http://srolanhkhmer.blogspot.com
Translated from Khmer by Anonymous

FUNCINPEC [National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, and Peaceful Cambodia] Party Secretary-General Nhiek Bun Chhay asserted that Prince Ranariddh was a good leader during the time of the resistance against the Vietnamese aggressors in the 1980s and 1990s. But the prince went adrift after winning the elections. He betrayed his promise by not handing power back to the King Father and he had too many wives, wallowed in heaps of dollars, and engaged in corruption, thus recently sending FUNCINPEC into a tailspin.

Secretary-General Nhiek Bun Chhay talked to the former Siahnoukist Army's resistance fighters in Banteay Meanchey province on Saturday last week. He said that if his group failed to reform the party in time FUNCINPEC would have lost its presence in history and what the King Father did in erecting FUNCINPEC would have eventually disappeared.

Concerning the prince as a person, Nhiek Bun Chhay said that in reality, his group did not expel him from the FUNCINPEC Party but the prince volunteered to walk out in order to form a new party of his own after it was necessary for FUNCINPEC to undergo an in-depth reform so that this party would survive.

Nevertheless, Nhiek Bun Chhay still admired Prince Ranariddh as an excellent leader of the FUNCINPEC movement during the fight against foreign aggressors when the prince had Princess Marie as his only wife. However, after repatriation and the triumphant participation in the 1993 general elections the prince changed his colors as he lost his head over corruption, did not care about the resistance fighters, and was overwhelmed by money and women. Al this led those who used to support FUNCINPEC to leave FUNCINPEC one after another. Nhiek Bun Chhay pointed out that in 1993 FUNCINPEC won 58 seats; in 1998 it won 43 seats; but in 2003 it had only 23 seats left.

The secretary-general of the FUNCINPEC Party further said that he did not want to bring up the past. But since the prince kept listening only to a couple of sycophants and has continued to attack FUNCINPEC he deemed it necessary to expose some aspects of the prince's mischief for the uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters who are former resistance fighters, particular those in Banteay Meanchey, to really know this individual. He affirmed that after winning the 1993 elections Prince Ranariddh refused to return the power to the King Father as promised during the FUNCINPEC electoral campaign. The other misdeed was that Prince Ranariddh willfully forgot the good service of thousands of resistance fighters while selling government positions to unknown people from no matter where in order to raise millions of dollars for own use. The former resistance fighters were forced to live without support in abject misery.

Nhiek Bun Chhay stated that the newcomers came from no one knew where, such as Hokkri, who immediately became minister of interior. He said that at that time anyone who wanted to be a minister or a provincial governor had to pay the prince from $50,000 to $100,000.

This FUNCINPEC secretary-general went on to say that besides being plied with loads of dollars, the prince was offered many young women. This completely intoxicated him and made him forget his wife and children. Nhiek Bun Chhay said that Prince Ranariddh had four to five young wives, some staying in Malaysia, some living in France, and some left behind in Bangkok. Each of the prince's consorts had a mansion and a luxury car. It was these bribes in dollars and supplies of women by the sycophant officials that caused the prince to become irresponsible, whiling away his days in company of these young women and listening only to the orders of the handful of sycophants around him.

Concerning the fortune of Prince Ranariddh, Nhiek Bun Chhay said that when they all left the jungle and entered the city, they were equally penniless. But after wielding power for nearly three terms, the prince had owned 10 aircrafts, dozens of modern cars, mansions everywhere, land by the hundreds and thousands of hectares, and millions of dollars to spend.

What Nhiek Bun Chhay seemed to be most angry with was the fact that the toadies around the prince kept cursing FUNCINPEC, wishing it to disintegrate in this fourth term. When he addressed the people in Banteay Meanchey last Saturday, Nhiek Bun Chhay said that he was afraid the ill-wishers themselves would die before other people.

General Kieng Vang, one of the former Sihanoukist resistance fighters who accompanied Nhiek Bun Chhay during his visit with the people in Banteay Meanchey, asserted that previously he joined the Sam Rainsy Party because he was unhappy with the Prince Ranariddh's ingratitude toward the resistance fighters. He said that now that FUNCINPEC no longer has Prince Ranariddh with it he returns to the fold among the former resistance fighters in the FUNCINPEC Party.

Nhiek Bun Chhay affirmed that he had ordered his men to dig the tombs of the 4 or 5,000 former resistance fighters who died in the war against the foreign aggressors and he would organize a grand memorial service for them by the end of March. He has plans to dedicate religious merits to the souls of those who sacrificed their lives for the nation, including the former fighters from the party of Uncle Son Sann and the party of Democratic Kampuchea, in order to let them rest in peace in an appropriate gesture of gratitude to all these fallen heroes.

You Hockry’s "rocket science" discovery: Nhiek Bun Chhay’s attack on Prince Ranariddh was for political gain

You Hocky (L) and Nhiek Bun Chhay (R) (Photos: RFA)

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Kampuchea Thmei newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

You Hockry, vice-president of the NRP, said that the attack on Prince Ranariddh by Nhiek Bun Chhay was done for political gain only. He indicated that the prince never betrayed the Hero-King (King-Father), everything the prince did was decided by the constitution council only.

Nhiek Bun Chhay, Funcinpec secretary-general, is constantly attacking Prince Ranariddh, and he called the prince leadership as being weak, and it led to the demise of the party popularity. Recently, in Banteay meanchey province, during a meeting with Funcinpec party activists on 18 February, Nhiek Bun Chhay told his party activists that before the 1993 election, Prince Ranariddh made an election promise that should he win the election, he would turn over power to Hero-King Norodom Sihanouk, but after the election where he indeed won, the prince kept the power for himself instead (by becoming prime minister No. 1). At the same time, Nhiek Bun Chhay accused the prince of being involved in corruption in the nomination of party officials to government positions, and at the end, the prince purchased the party’s headquarters and assigned its ownership to his name.

Muth Chantha, NRP spokesman, said the transfer of power to the Hero-King or not, depends on the decision of the constitution council, and there was no issue with the power transfer. Raising such issue was done with a decision by the constitution council.

You Hockry said in the afternoon of 19 February that: “I don’t want to talk about anything outside the documents, beyond that, I didn’t know. I used to say, and I even wrote an open letter a few years ago, and later on, I even issued a clarification, therefore, I don’t know what to say to let the public understand it.”

You Hockry added that after the election, the constitutional council did not hold a meeting yet, and on its first meeting, Prince Ranariddh asked to transfer power to King-Father for governing the country. The constitutional council decided on 14 June 1993, to: (1) provide justice for King-Father by considering null and void the 18 March 1970 coup d’état which was conducted illegally against the constitution, against the public opinion, and it considered King-Father as the legal state leader from 1970 on; (2) give the full power and all the special power to King-Father in his duty as state leader so that he has the full ability to salvage the Nation, and lead the country to prosperity, just like under the Sangkum Reastr Niyum era.

Therefore further decisions were for King-Father to make. You Hockry indicated that after the agreement on the constitution, everybody took the decision to present the case to the Hero-king in Pyongyang, North Korea, and the trip included the participation of the CPP, Funcinpec, and the Son Sann party. You Hockry said that he did not know the final outcome, only that Hero-King Norodom Sihanouk decided to adopt the monarchy, that is he reigns but he does not rule.

You Hockry indicated also that, until now, whether to transfer power to King-Father or not, it is too late already. He said that the perpetual attack on the prince was done for political gain only, and he does not trust it too much because Nhiek Bun Chhay lied to him so many times already.