27/08/2007
Radio Australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Cambodia's opposition leader Sam Rainsy has gone from strength to strength in his political aspirations since returning to his homeland from exile last year. His eponymous Sam Rainsy Party performed well in April's commune elections, running on a platform of social justice and democratic reform. The party believes it has a real chance of taking over in power from Prime Minister Hun Sen. In the past week the party's also joined the UN in criticising the transfer of a key judge serving on the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, calling it politically motivated.
Presenter - Corinne Podger Speaker - Prominent Cambodian MP Tioulong Saumura, wife of Sam Rainsy
SAUMURA: Such a move by the Cambodian government reflects its will to control what's going on with the tribunal, and it's determination to make sure that each judge will act according to the will of the government. It is not surprising because our present rulers are mostly formal Khmer Rouge chiefs and of course they don't feel happy with the existence of this tribunal, and they will do whatever it takes and whatever they can do in order to sabotage the proceedings of this tribunal.
PODGER: So in your view the transfer is politically motivated?
SAUMURA: It is.
PODGER: Will it lead to a delay in proceedings?
SAUMURA: It will lead to another delay. As you know the idea of this tribunal has been initiated ten years ago, I think it took ten years for the UN to negotiate a deal, an agreement with the Cambodian government. As I said with the bad will of the Cambodian government it took ten years. And now the Cambodian government is going to use all kinds of tricks, including politically motivated transfers of judges in order to drag their feet even further.
PODGER: If we could turn now to domestic politics in Cambodia, the party of your husband Sam Rainsy did very well in the last commune elections, and national polls are due next year. How do you expect to emerge from that vote?
SAUMURA: Out of the local elections that were held in April 2007 we emerged as party number two, and we expect that out of the national elections in July 2008 we should become party number one. Actually the main reason why I'm here is to present to our supporters, the Cambodian Australians who live in Melbourne the big hope that we have that in July 2008 we are finally going to win power, and we will be able to organise the country in such a way that it is put on the right foot towards real and sustainable economic development with social justice and democracy.
PODGER: In the meantime it's been reported in the Cambodian press that the Sam Rainsy Party may abandon its traditional opposition role and go into coalition with the ruling CPP after next year's elections. Can you tell me more about that speculation?
SAUMURA: I think it's speculation that is a little bit premature. We have always said that we have to wait for the results of the elections before deciding what we should do. And obviously our main ambition is to be right away number one and to govern on our own without the help or the hindrance of anybody else. Yet as a politician and as a female politician I am pragmatic and I'm open to dialogue and in case the results of the election do not give us the right majority, we are open to working with others. And even if we were given the right majority, if others want to join our fight for a more equal society, then we would be very happy to make a coalition with them. Actually even in a coalition we envisage a role or the role of our party as in the leading role.
PODGER: Sam Rainsy's often said in effect that the Cambodian government isn't big enough for him and for Hun Sen, and that there would never be a coalition with the CPP. For your supporters if a coalition did go ahead would that be seen as a betrayal?
SAUMURA: We, SRP have never changed our position, that's the reason why we have gathered more and more votes and as you rightly pointed out at the last election which has multiplied by two our number of votes. But on the CPP side they realise that the present situation in Cambodia is just untenable. We have many issues that are just time-bombs. One such issue is the growth of the youth; more than 50 per cent of our population is less than 20 years old. Each year we have 300-thousand new young people who reach working age, but each year our economy presently can generate only 30-thousand such jobs. So this is a time-bomb in Cambodia because we are not a democracy yet. We have to live with such a government that has been in power for almost 30 years with the bad economic results that we know. So this is a problem, and the CPP itself knows it that if they want to survive as a political force they have to change.
Presenter - Corinne Podger Speaker - Prominent Cambodian MP Tioulong Saumura, wife of Sam Rainsy
SAUMURA: Such a move by the Cambodian government reflects its will to control what's going on with the tribunal, and it's determination to make sure that each judge will act according to the will of the government. It is not surprising because our present rulers are mostly formal Khmer Rouge chiefs and of course they don't feel happy with the existence of this tribunal, and they will do whatever it takes and whatever they can do in order to sabotage the proceedings of this tribunal.
PODGER: So in your view the transfer is politically motivated?
SAUMURA: It is.
PODGER: Will it lead to a delay in proceedings?
SAUMURA: It will lead to another delay. As you know the idea of this tribunal has been initiated ten years ago, I think it took ten years for the UN to negotiate a deal, an agreement with the Cambodian government. As I said with the bad will of the Cambodian government it took ten years. And now the Cambodian government is going to use all kinds of tricks, including politically motivated transfers of judges in order to drag their feet even further.
PODGER: If we could turn now to domestic politics in Cambodia, the party of your husband Sam Rainsy did very well in the last commune elections, and national polls are due next year. How do you expect to emerge from that vote?
SAUMURA: Out of the local elections that were held in April 2007 we emerged as party number two, and we expect that out of the national elections in July 2008 we should become party number one. Actually the main reason why I'm here is to present to our supporters, the Cambodian Australians who live in Melbourne the big hope that we have that in July 2008 we are finally going to win power, and we will be able to organise the country in such a way that it is put on the right foot towards real and sustainable economic development with social justice and democracy.
PODGER: In the meantime it's been reported in the Cambodian press that the Sam Rainsy Party may abandon its traditional opposition role and go into coalition with the ruling CPP after next year's elections. Can you tell me more about that speculation?
SAUMURA: I think it's speculation that is a little bit premature. We have always said that we have to wait for the results of the elections before deciding what we should do. And obviously our main ambition is to be right away number one and to govern on our own without the help or the hindrance of anybody else. Yet as a politician and as a female politician I am pragmatic and I'm open to dialogue and in case the results of the election do not give us the right majority, we are open to working with others. And even if we were given the right majority, if others want to join our fight for a more equal society, then we would be very happy to make a coalition with them. Actually even in a coalition we envisage a role or the role of our party as in the leading role.
PODGER: Sam Rainsy's often said in effect that the Cambodian government isn't big enough for him and for Hun Sen, and that there would never be a coalition with the CPP. For your supporters if a coalition did go ahead would that be seen as a betrayal?
SAUMURA: We, SRP have never changed our position, that's the reason why we have gathered more and more votes and as you rightly pointed out at the last election which has multiplied by two our number of votes. But on the CPP side they realise that the present situation in Cambodia is just untenable. We have many issues that are just time-bombs. One such issue is the growth of the youth; more than 50 per cent of our population is less than 20 years old. Each year we have 300-thousand new young people who reach working age, but each year our economy presently can generate only 30-thousand such jobs. So this is a time-bomb in Cambodia because we are not a democracy yet. We have to live with such a government that has been in power for almost 30 years with the bad economic results that we know. So this is a problem, and the CPP itself knows it that if they want to survive as a political force they have to change.
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