IRI's Alex Sutton: "I can think of about 100 issues other than this [CCHR/SRP row] that we should be talking about to help Cambodia"

Monday, April 3, 2006

SRP: Boycott of CCHR Forums Is Still On

By Whitney Kvasager and Yun Samean
THE CAMBODIA DAILY

"The SRP will resume its participation in CCHR-organized forums when there are assurances that it will not get slandered any more and that its representatives at those forums will be given a chance to adequately respond to any attacks, which has not been the case so for"
— Statement, sam rainsy party officials

The Sam Rainsy Party vowed on Sunday that their members will boycott pubic forums organized by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights until they are assured of an end to "repeated attacks" they accused the rights organization of launching.

In a biting seven-point statement, which echoed an earlier letter dated March 22, SRP officials said they were tired of accusations that their party had sold out by agreeing to work with Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling CPP.

The statement also said, that despite repeated assurances to the contrary, SRP members still believe that CCHR's president, Kem Sokha, will begin his own political party and has already become too political.

"The SRP will resume its participation in CCHR-organized forums when there are assurances that it will not get slandered any more and that its representatives at those forums will be given a chance to adequately respond to any attacks, which has not been the case so far," the statement reads.

SRP lawmaker Eng Chhay Eang said the party held a meeting on Thursday to ensure that members were clearly informed of the CCHR forum boycott.

No assurance from Kem Sokha would change SRP opinion that he is planning to establish his own party, Eng Chhay Eang said.

"He is attacking us in terms of politics, not our activities," Eng Chhay Eang said of Kem Sokha, though he did not give any concrete examples of those activities.

CCHR spokesman Ou Virak said his organization had challenged SRP policies, but that there were no plans to form a political party. "It’s not logical to me at all," Ou Virak said. "Just a short while ago, SRP was tied to CCHR. Now, SRP is abandoning a democratic forum, which they used to criticize CPP for not joining," he said. Last Monday, the CPP announced it would participate in CCHR forums for the first time.

Ou Virak also questioned why the SRP had issued a second statement announcing the forum boycott, which members had already done in a letter last week.

Alex Sutton, resident county director for the US-based International Republican Institute, said he would not comment on the quarrel between the two organizations.

"I can think of about 100 issues other than this that we should be talking about to help Cambodia," he said.

IRI, the international wing of US President George W Bush's Republican Party, provides around $800,000 annually to CCHR and also gives political training to SRP members.