40 Top F’pec officials and thousands of other F’pec members defect to the CPP “to keep their gov’t jobs”

Wednesday, December 24, 2008
KI-Media

Ok Socheat, the former advisor of F’pec president Keo Puth Reasmey, said that he had defected to the CPP and was offered a government position equivalent to that of a minister, The Cambodia Daily reported. Ok Socheat’s excuse to defect to the CPP: to ensure unity in the country in view of armed confrontation with Thailand. It should be noted that Hun Sen, CPP party vice-president, declared earlier that he did not want to see any armed confrontation with Thailand. Other top F’pec officials who defected to the CPP: Nou Kassie, former F’pec secretary of state at the ministry of Jusitce, Neav Sithong, former F’pec Justice ministers, and Serei Kosal who claimed that he had finished his mission with Funcinpec. Low level F’pec party members have also defected to the CPP in order “to keep their government jobs at the provincial and district level.” “They want to keep their positions and earn a living,” Ok Socheat was quoted as saying by The Cambodia Daily about these low level F’pec defectors. Lu Laysreng, F’pec party’s No. 1 vice-president said: “The party is weak, people are running away, it’s that simple.” It appears that the F’pec ship is currently taking in much water because not only the fat rats have jumped ship, but the teeny mice are also bailing out.

Bye, bye F’pec … Hello CPP: The rats list is getting longer

Rat Pack No. 2?

Rat Pack No. 1

More than 10 F’pec government officials defected to the CPP

Monday, January 07, 2008
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Phnom Penh – Khieu Kanharith, CPP spokesman and minister of information, said on Friday 04 January that about 10 Funcinpec government officials, holding the rank of ministers and state secretaries, have defected to the CPP. On the other hand, Funcinpec party officials also claim that it is true that about 10 Funcinpec party members defected to the CPP since long ago, except that they did not dare reveal their defections openly.

The defection of Funcinpec officials to the CPP take place at the same time as the general election is approaching. A source close to Funcinpec revealed that the defectors are:

1. Kong Vibol, the state secretary of the ministry of economy and finance,
2. Muong Khim, an official from the ministry of Interior,
3. Nuth Sokhom, the minister of health,
4. Chumteav Ing KanthaPhavy, the minister of women affairs,
5. Chea Peng Chheang, the state secretary of the ministry of economy and finance,
6. Chumteav Senator Khlot Tong Phka,
7. Khun Haing, the minister of cult and religion,
8. Trak Thai Sieng, the deputy governor of Phnom Penh,
9. Veng Sereivuth, the minister of culture and fine arts,
10. Kol Pheng, the minister of education,
11. Sun Chanthol, the minister of public works and transport.

Nov Sovathero, Funcinpec spokesman, declared that, indeed, there were defections of Funcinpec officials to the CPP, and for the majority of them, their defections were known since long ago. He added: “The management of people is not an easy thing, because we don’t know what they are thinking. … This is not something new because we knew that some let it be known about their actions and their unhappiness with the party leadership, whereas others have high hopes on their new party.”

At the end of December 2007, Prince Ranariddh said that the Funcinpec party faces serious internal discord that cannot be mended, and even the party leadership cannot mend this discord. Prince Ranariddh said: “We stop talking about the Funcinpec party from now on, because they fomented a coup de party to remove me from the party presidency in October 2006.”

Nov Sovathero claimed that: “Funcinpec has (internal) discord since long ago, this is like a cracked glass.” He added that this discord started since Prince Ranariddh was still leading the party, and if the prince was clever, he should have mended the discord way back when. However, Nov Sovathero said that a number of the officials listed above have not made up their minds yet, these include: Kol Pheng, Sun Chanthol, Nuth Sokhom, and Veng Sereivuth, but for all the others, they have already defected.

On 06 January, Koh Santepheap tried to reach the officials listed above to ask for their explanations on this issue, but we couldn’t reach any of them. However, Nov Sovathero added: “Even a couple of husband and wife who are close to each other, sometimes, they cheat each other, and for members of a political party, we cannot look inside their minds.” Nov Sovathero said that these defections will surely affect the party goals, however, the party cannot bar these individuals from defecting. When asked about the future of Funcinpec with the arising of such event, Nov Sovathero declined to comment.

Nhiek Bun Chhay, Funcinpec secretary-general, told VOA that there seems to be pressure applied from the other party (CPP), and all these Funcinpec officials had no choice but to defect to the CPP. Nevertheless, Nov Sovathero declared that there are a number of Funcinpec government officials at the provincial and municipality levels who also defected to the CPP since long ago, such as Thach Khon and Say Hak (governor of Sihanoukville).

Ok Socheat, a high-ranking Funcinpec official, declared that this is political labyrinth for every political party. He claimed that some Funcinpec party officials defected to serve the CPP since long ago, like Ou Bun Long and Kong Vibol, for example. Khun Haing also defected long ago, and the majority of those defectors are people who were close to Prince Ranariddh. Nov Sovethera added: “They want to preserve their (juicy government) positions for the remaining few months, or they can represent their new party for the election also, and since the National Assembly mandate is not expired yet, there will be no position shuffling that will take place.” We praise the Funcinpec party leadership which (decided) to preserve the government positions for these party defectors. There is no immediate reaction from the CPP yet about the comments made by Nhiek Bun Chhay.

Khmer Intelligence News - 13 December 2007

Evidence of Keat Chhon's role as Pol Pot's assistant (1)

There is evidence to prove that Cambodian Finance Minister Keat Chhon was a close assistant to Khmer Rouge top leader Pol Pol. For instance, on 30 November 1975, Keat Chhon sent, in the form of a telegram, a report to Pol Pot about "the withdrawal of people from the East to the North". In his report, Keat Chhon mentioned several districts, especially Chhlaung, in Kratie province, which he is a native of. [There is currently a "Keat Chhon University" in Chhlaung]. Keat Chhon signed his telegram by writing only "Chhon". But Pol Pot had only one close assistant whose given name is "Chhon" and who is a native of Chhlaung district in Kratie province.

In other telegrams from the same period of time, a Khmer Rouge commander is referred to as "Pauk", but the whole name of the notorious commander is Ke Pauk, who was in charge of the Northern region.

Source: Yale Cambodian Genocide Project Resources. The Pol Pot Files, 1975-1977.

Norodom Ranariddh at odds with Kem Sokha (1)

Human Rights Party (HRP) President Kem Sokha earlier this week asked Beehive Radio Station, which sells airtime to political parties, to stop broadcasting programs from the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) because Prince Ranariddh's supporters had accused the HRP leader of corruption when he headed the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR). Sixteen former CCHR employees, including prominent journalists and lawyers, are also accusing Kem Sokha of stealing their salaries and committing other dishonest acts. They have issued several statements to denounce Kem Sokha's corruption and have filed complaints against him at the Court (see KI, 27 October 2007: "Attempt to cover up corruption scandal"; KI, 27 September 2007: "Hun Sen holds Kem Sokha hostage").

There is a leaflet about the HRP, which reads: "He used to steal his employees' salaries; he is now seeking opportunities to steal the whole country; he has formed a shady party to earn his living through corruption under the banner of human rights."

See leaflet in Khmer by clicking here.

Six Funcinpec MPs to defect to NRP (2)

By the end of January 2008, at least six Funcinpec National Assembly members (out of 26) will defect to the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP), thus showing their allegiance to their historical leader, Prince Norodom Ranariddh who now heads the NRP. Any defector must reasonably wait until 27 January 2008 before changing side. The election law stipulates that National Assembly members can leave the party under the banner of which they were elected, without losing their parliamentary seat, if their defection takes place less than six month before the next elections (the next legislative elections will be held on 27 July 2008).

Dubious partnership bodes ill for national carrier (2)

To replace the defunct Royal Air Cambodge, the Cambodian government decided last month to launch a new national flag carrier by associating itself with two dubious partners from Indonesia: Rajawali Group and PT Ancora International. The CEO of PT Ancora International is Ith Vichit, who was the Chairman of Royal Air Cambodge. After six years away from Cambodia (since Royal Air Cambodge was declared bankrupt), Ith Vichit has managed to make a comeback and to position himself as a possible CEO for Cambodia's new national carrier. But Ith Vichit is widely seen as the person who had done the most, through corruption, to slowly kill Royal Air Cambodge from 1995 to 2001.