Stop that rhetoric: Sam Rainsy is not a killer nor like the Khmer Rouge

23 March 2011
Opinion by Timothy Chhim
originally posted at http://timothychhim.blogspot.com

KI-Media Note: Recently, former SRP Mao Monyvann decided to switch to Kem Sokha's Human Rights Party after he was kicked by the SRP following his resignation from his position as MP. Mao Monyvann subsequently likened the SRP leaders to the Khmer Rouge and the HRP took the opportunity to organize a hoopla reception for the newly defected SRP MP and his followers. The following article by Lok Timothy Chhim analyzes this issue as well as the future of the merger between the SRP and the HRP.

Mao Monyvan’s allegation that SRP’s leaders are like the Khmer Rouge is too extreme. Regardless, whether you like Sam Rainsy and SRP or not, the are not Khmer Rouge nor like the Khmer Rouge.

Politicians ought to tone down their rhetorical statements and be informative or enlightening instead of being enrage with verbal abuses.

HRP’s leaders and the so-called special event’s creators should also have better moral values in conducting such an event which could be harmful to future relations between the non-CPP political parties, if they are serious about gaining additional seats in the National Assembly.

However, from the very beginning HRP has been speculated that it was created to split Sam Rainsy’s Party and some reliable sources pointed that its President was given financial supports and a green light by Premier Hun Sen to help created the Party. Such allegations have never been proven but they have never been clarified. Actions by HRP speak the truth.

Obama Showed Peaceful Change: Opposition [-"Cambodia does not belong to any individual, but to all people": Sam Rainsy]

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
26 January 2009

Click here to listen to the audio program in Khmer

Opposition party leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, who earlier this month joined in a political alliance, said Thursday the recent inauguration of US President Barrack Obama was a good example of how democracy can bring peaceful changes.

“In first-world superpowers and developed countries like the US, people still need change,” said Sam Rainsy, whose eponymous party holds 26 seats in the National Assembly. “Americans wanted change, so I believe that Cambodians, who are facing 1,000 times more hardship, suffering, and poverty than Americans, really want change.”

Kem Sokha, president of the Human Rights Party, which has three seats in the Assembly, said the democratic model of the US demonstrated “peaceful power transfers” among “sportsmen.”

Both men appeared on “Hello VOA” Thursday following the joining of their parties in the Political Democratic Movement for Change.

“The alliance is to gather together nationalists, those who love the nation and justice, to stand up and help save the country,” Sam Rainsy said. “Cambodia does not belong to any individual, but to all people.”

Cambodia has become increasingly poor, lacks freedoms and rights, and faces illegal immigration as an ongoing problem, he said, and needed a new leader.

Kem Sokha urged the disadvantaged to “join hands” and vote for the alliance in upcoming elections, repeating allegations that July’s national elections had been sullied by vote-buying, threats and intimidation from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, a charge the CPP has repeatedly denied.

Parties face legacy of division

SRP President Sam Rainsy at a press conference Thursday following the formation of the Movement for Democratic Change with the Human Rights Party. Photo by: Tracey Shelton

Monday, 19 January 2009
Written by Brett Worthington and Neth Pheaktra
The Phnom Penh Post

Opposition parties are confident recent political collaboration will yield electoral success, but analysts say past mergers have foundered on personal ambition.

THE recent series of political party collaborations has raised opposition hopes of a successful challenge to the ruling Cambodian People's Party, but some political analysts are divided as to the likely success of new political alliances, saying the track record of the Kingdom's political opposition has been marked more by division than by unity.

The overwhelming success of the CPP in last July's national election, in addition to a steady trickle of opposition defections, have been the catalysts for the recent collaborations, which have seen the Sam Rainsy Party and Human Rights Party (HRP) agree to join forces as the Democratic Movement for Change (DMC), and the royalist Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) and Funcinpec agree to realign following a disastrous showing in last year's election.

Personal conflicts

But even though opposition allainces have occurred sporadically, analysts said they often foundered on the personal conflicts between party leaders.

Koul Panha, executive director of election watchdog Comfrel, said that personal ambition, bolstered by false estimates of support produced by local party operatives, often left leaders reluctant to negotiate with other parties.

"Some leaders of small parties don't learn from their experiences of division," he said. "They don't look [at] the political evolution. Every party is weak at studying the information they receive from their local activists, which sometimes is untrue."

Independent analyst Chea Vannath said a united opposition would be better placed to take on the CPP, but said the DMC would prove more successful than the dwindling royalist bloc.

"If they work hard for the next four years, until the next election, there is a definite chance [the DMC] will take more seats," she said, adding that Funcinpec and the NRP had more serious issues they needed to "work out" before they could mount a fresh political challenge.

A fresh start

But Kem Sokha, president of the HRP, said that the opposition had learned from the divisiveness of the past, and that common points of principle would ensure a fruitful partnership between his party and the SRP.

"We signed the joint statement for the DMC because we need to change. If you cannot mobilise, then you cannot change, we have learned that from our experience," he said.

Speaking Thursday after signing the colloboration agreement with Kem Sokha Thursday, SRP President Sam Rainsy said the decision to unite both parties happened "the very day after the legislative election," saying it was now time for both parties to work together to ensure change can come to Cambodia.

He added also that Funcinpec's dependence on CPP patronage would hamstring its efforts to form an effective opposition bloc with the NRP, saying that "we [the SRP and HRP] have the same principles and the same goals. We are independent, but Funcinpec are not independent.
They are close with the ruling party and they have their own interests."

NRP spokesman Suth Dina said, however, that his party's priority was to ensure electoral success at May's council elections, and that a merger with Funcinpec was likely to follow in its wake.

"Our priority is to cooperate to win seats at [May's] council elections," he said Sunday. "The merger of the royalist parties is the next step."

Koul Panha observed that historically, opposition parties have rallied together after elections to protest the legitimacy of the outcome - a position occupied by the CPP following Funcinpec's electoral victory in 1993. But he said it often takes a major electoral defeat - and a recognition of the true extent of a party's electoral support - to force opposition leaders into close alliances.

"After the election, [parties] recognised their weakness because the results they expected were not real," he said. "Now, they clearly know the [extent of their] political support," he said.

Opposition parties sign pact to align under one name

Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha at a press conference Thursday to announce a union of their opposition parties. (Photo by: Tracey Shelton)

Friday, 16 January 2009
Written by Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

Parties say the new Democratic Movement for Change will merge goals and platforms but preserve individual identities.

SAM Rainsy Party President Sam Rainsy and Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha Thursday signed an agreement to align under the name Democratic Movement for Change (DMC), with the objective of providing stronger oppostion to the ruling Cambodian People's Party. However, both parties have refused to confirm they will merge into one political party.

"We have worked together for a long time, and we realised the political trend in the world is moving towards change, such as in the US with [President-elect Barack] Obama. Therefore, in order to make a change, we have to gather all the democrats for unification," Sam Rainsy told the Post.

Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha said experts from each party would continue to study technical planning issues and devise a joint platform in hopes of making the DMC internally a stronger union and externally more interesting to eligible voters.

"One party is stronger than two under a political alliance. "

Kem Sokha said about 50 percent of the 8.12 million eligible voters in Cambodia would not cast their ballot for the CPP in the 2012 elections - and the alliance was hoping to draw all those votes behind it.

Last year, of the 6.01 million people who cast their votes in the national election, the CPP received the support of 3.48 million, the SRP snagged 1.31 million votes and the HRP won 397,816 votes.

"Eligible voters demand us to unite," said Kem Sokha. "Now it is time to give a choice to people who want to make a change."

He added: "We hope that our movement will encourage eligible voters who have lost faith to come back to politics."

Handle with care
Koul Panha, executive director of election monitoring at the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) told the Post Thursday the merging of the opposition parties will gain voters' interest, but they need to work together carefully. Otherwise, the union could easily fall apart.

"I think that one political organisation would be able to change the result in future elections," Panha said. "One party is stronger than two under a political alliance."

The SRP and HRP have committed to making one list of candidates for the next commune elections, scheduled for 2012, and the national elections in 2013.

But National Election Committee Chairman Im Suosdey said the political alliance comprised two political parties and was not legally capable of making one united list of candidates.

"Within the legal processes we have, a list of the party's candidates has to come from one [single] political party. They cannot make a list of candidates from two parties," Im Suosdey said.

Photos from the launching of the Democratic Movement for Change between the SRP and the HRP

January 15, 2009, SRP president Sam Rainsy and HRP president Kem Sokha signed an agreement to form the Democratic Movement for Change (DMC), an alliance of both democratic parties that will lead to future merger of both parties and other democrats in Cambodia for the 2012 commune election and the 2013 national election. The alliance will be the only alternative to voters who wish to see change in social, economic and political affairs in Cambodia.

Sam Rainsy (R) talks to the audience
Kem Sokha (L) and Sam Rainsy (R) signing their joint declaration
Kem Sokha (L) and Sam Rainsy (R) shook hand after signing the joint declaration
Mam Sonando from Beehive Radio is asking questions

CPP 'unconcerned' by a proposed opposition merger

Click on the SRP-HRP joint statement in Khmer above to zoom in

Thursday, 15 January 2009
Written by Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

HOW MANY SEATS?
The SRP and HRP together won 29 of the total 123 seats in the National Assembly in the national elections in July 2008. Party officials said they expect this figure would increase to between 37 and 40 in 2013 if the parties were to join forces.

The ruling CPP party has said it does not feel threatened by a proposed merger of what it sees as two uncompetitive opposition parties

THE ruling Cambodian People's Party said this week it is unconcerned by a proposed merger between the opposition Sam Rainsy Party and Kem Sokha's Human Rights Party, which is expected to be formally announced today.

Minister of Information and CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith said in an interview with the Post Tuesday that Prime Minister Hun Sen is prepared to face off against a strong opposition when national elections are held in 2013.

That said, Khieu Khanharith also suggested that the CPP doubts the proposed alliance will last that long.

"We don't know how long an alliance of the SRP and the HRP will survive," he said. "If they can unite, then the more intelligent ticket [the CPP or the opposition] will be the winner."

The two largest opposition parties are expected to announce today that they have agreed in principle to merge into one party in order to re-unite voters who support the opposition but have been divided by past disputes between the parties.

"We don't know how long an alliance of the SRP and the HRP will survive. " - Khieu Kanharith

SRP President Sam Rainsy has confirmed that he has been involved in discussions with HRP President Kem Sokha about the agreement but declined to give detailed information about the alliance before the parties had issued a joint statement.

The push to merge came following a call last month by Kem Sokha to unite the party in an effort to better challenge the political dominance of the CPP.

Details to be decided
Yem Ponhearith, a lawmaker and secretary general of the HRP, told the Post that the two parties will meet later this year to iron out the details of the proposed alliance.

"We have agreed in principle, and we hope that we will move forward as one party with one list of parliamentarian candidates," he said.

Puthea Hang, executive director of the NGO Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, said it makes sense for the two parties to explore the possibility of an alliance because of the expected increase in support such a move would generate in 2013.

"I think that this is a good political strategy that can gather support from those who lost faith during last year's election," Puthea Hang said.

Opposition Parties To Announce ‘Movement’

Sam Rainsy (L) and Kem Sokha (R) (Photo: Pring Samrang, Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
14 January 2009

Two opposition parties expect to announce the formation of a new unified movement Thursday, in an attempt to better compete against the ruling party in elections four and five years from now.

Officials of the Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties said Wednesday the coalition, to be called the Grand Movement of Democrats in Cambodia, was a step toward a unified party in the future.

But the main point of forming the alliance was a need for “change,” Sam Rainsy said. “We need a new political power structure and a new leader for the country.”

No technical details for the unified movement were available Wednesday, including who would be president of any new party.

Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha said that in the upcoming commune elections, in 2012, and the national election the following year, the two parties will have joint registration with the National Election Committee.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith reiterated Wednesday confidence in the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and its ability to win the upcoming elections.

Lao Monghay, a senior researcher for the Asian Human Rights Commission, said the current political situation called for action on good governance in the country, and not too much worry over a new opposition movement.

The word “grand,” however, harkened back to the days of the Khmer Rouge, he said, and should be removed from the title.