Ranariddh returns, vows loyality to govt [-The Opportunist?]

Prince Norodom Ranariddh meets supporters after touching down at Siem Reap airport on Sunday after more than a year in self-imposed exile in Malaysia. He told reporters that he is ready to serve the nation. (Photo: HENG CHIVOAN)

Monday, 29 September 2008
Written by Post Staff
The Phnom Penh Post

Prince Ranariddh has returned from 18 months of self-imposed exile in Malaysia, dodging his 2007 prison sentence for fraud

AFTER 18 months in self-imposed exile, Norodom Ranariddh set foot on Cambodian soil Sunday, just days after a royal amnesty from King Norodom Sihamoni overturned the Prince's fraud conviction.

The Prince touched down at Siem Reap airport Sunday morning accompanied by his female companion Ouk Phalla, his son Norodom Sotheariddh and a group of close advisers.

"I'm happy to return to my homeland after 18 months of exile," the Prince told the Post at his royal residence in Siem Reap. "I wish to express my deep thanks to the King and Prime Minister Hun Sen for allowing my return."

Prince Ranariddh has been living in Malaysia since March 2007, when he was sentenced to 18 months in jail for embezzling funds from the sale of property belonging to his former party, Funcinpec. The King issued a royal amnesty for the Prince on Thursday on the request of Prime Minister Hun Sen, formerly Ranariddh's main political rival.

Despite past tensions between the two politicians, Prince Ranariddh struck a conciliatory note on Sunday, pledging his party's support for Hun Sen's new government. "I have served my nation for almost 25 years. But after the July election, the Norodom Ranariddh Party [NRP] is not an opposition party like other parties, and we are ready, on any occasion, to serve our nation," he said.

NRP spokesman Suth Dina told the Post that Prince Ranariddh spoke with Prime Minister Hun Sen on the telephone shortly after his arrival in Siem Reap and that they exchanged words of reconciliation. "They told each other that they were like brothers," he said.

Suth Dina added that while Ranariddh was not retiring from political life altogether, he had no immediate plans for a political comeback. "Upon his return, he wishes only to spend time with his family, friends and colleagues and participate in the P'Chum Ben festival. He has no immediate political agenda," he said, adding that the Prince plans to formally address the Cambodian press on October 2.

Cambodian People's Party lawmaker Cheam Yeap said Sunday that the Prince's return was a symbol of national reconciliation.

"When Prince Ranariddh arrives back and asks the CPP leaders to meet, the Prince will be welcomed. The CPP doesn't care about Ranariddh's politics, whether he continues to be involved in politics or not," he said.

Ranariddh returned to Siem Reap not because his daughter turned his former villa in the capital into a swank French restaurant

Cambodian politician-prince returns home from exile

Sun, 28 Sep 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's Prince Norodom Ranariddh returned home Sunday from a self-imposed exile three days after a royal pardon was granted by his half-brother, King Norodom Sihamoni. Ranariddh was convicted last year of embezzling 3.6 million dollars from his former political party, the royalist Funcinpec, through a private sale of the party headquarters.

His Funcinpec won the country's first democratic elections after 30 years of civil war in 1993, but was forced into a coalition with Prime Minister Hun Sen and ultimately ousted in what the government calls "factional fighting" in 1997.

He fled to Malaysia to avoid an 18-month prison term on the embezzlement charges which he claims were politically motivated.

He faced additional charges under Cambodia's new bigamy laws, which punish marital infidelity with jail. The prince openly lives with his mistress, a former classical dancer, and their son.

He set up a new party, the Norodom Ranariddh Party, which won two seats in the July 27 parliamentary election, and told reporters Sunday he was ready to serve again, government permitting.

Ranariddh said little on his return to the sacred city, 300 kilometres north of the capital, with his second family, but thanked King Sihamoni and Hun Sen.

Party officials said last week that his return to Siem Reap is to honour Cambodia's festival of ancestors which is currently underway, and not because his daughter Princess Rattana Devi has turned his former villa in the capital into a swank French restaurant.

Pardoned Cambodian prince returns from exile [-He'll be happy to serve Hun Sen if the latter needs him]

Sunday, September 28, 2008

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Prince Norodom Ranariddh arrived back home in Cambodia on Sunday, ending his self-imposed exile after receiving a royal pardon for his fraud conviction.

Ranariddh, who had been living in Malaysia, was pardoned by his half-brother King Norodom Sihamoni on Thursday after being sentenced in absentia last year to 18 months in jail for a 3.6 million dollar illegal property scheme.

The court ruled he improperly sold his former political party headquarters and used proceeds from the sale to purchase another property in his own name, but he was pardoned last week upon the order of premier Hun Sen hours after the prime minister was re-elected for another five-year-term.

The smiling prince arrived at his residence in northwestern tourist hub Siem Reap on Sunday and made a speech showing "his deep gratitude to King Norodom Sihamoni for the royal pardon and Prime Minister Hun Sen for finding a solution to help him return to the country," said the prince's spokesman Suth Dina.

"The prince also said that he had served the country with former King Norodom Sihanouk for nearly 25 years but was still happy to further serve the country and his people if the (new) government needs him," Suth Dina added.

Ranariddh faced jail once before in 1998 but was spared by a royal pardon from his father, former king Norodom Sihanouk.

He had been sentenced to 35 years in prison for allegedly plotting a coup with the Khmer Rouge a year earlier while he was co-prime minister with Hun Sen.

He's baaaaaaack!!!

Cambodian prince returns from exile

Sunday, September 28, 2008
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia's Prince Norodom Ranariddh ended 18 months in exile Sunday after his brother the king pardoned him for an embezzlement conviction.

In July, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that found the prince guilty of breach of trust and sentenced him in absentia to 18 months in prison.

The prince returned home from Malaysia following the royal pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni on Thursday.

A lawsuit was filed by his former supporters in the royalist Funcinpec party which Ranariddh led before being ousted from the party in October 2006. The Funcinpec party sued the prince for allegedly embezzling US$3.6 million from the sale of the party's headquarters in August that year.

The prince formed a new political party, the Norodom Ranariddh Party, which won two parliamentary seats in July general elections without him being present.

Over 100 supporters met the prince at the airport in Siem Reap province, home to Cambodia's famed Angkor temples, where he arrived from Malaysia, said party spokesman Suth Dina.

The spokesman said the prince planned to keep a low profile as he contemplates his next political activities.

Ranariddh and Sihamoni are sons of former King Norodom Sihanouk.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: My Royal Pardon

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Royal fraudster earns royal pardon?

Cambodia's king pardons fraudster

September 26, 2008
ABC Radio Australia

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni has pardoned convicted fraudster Prince Norodom Ranariddh, allowing him to return home from self-imposed exile abroad.

Prince Ranariddh, now living in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, had been sentenced in absentia to 18 months in jail in March last year over a $US3.6 million illegal property sale.

The court ruled he improperly sold his former political party headquarters and used proceeds from the sale to purchase another property in his own name.

Hours after Hun Sen was formally re-elected the country's prime minister King Sihamoni issued a royal pardon for his half-brother Ranariddh upon the request of the premier.

Will Sihamoni rise up to the occasion or will he shy away again?

(Photo: AFP)

King Faces Test of Political Power: Analysts

By Pin Sisovann, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 September 2008

"...the king has never been in the political arena and lacks the political experience of his father... -sic!-" - Oum Daravuth, personal advisor and first cousin of King Sihamoni

King Norodom Sihamoni is facing the greatest challenge of his rule so far and should work to create a compromise between rival politicians, as a ceremony to begin the new government approaches, independent political analysts say.

King Sihamoni is facing pressure from the Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties, who want to boycott a Sept. 24 swearing-in ceremony, as well as exiled Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who is seeking a royal pardon so that he may return to Cambodia without serving an 18-month prison sentence.

The political pressure on King Sihamoni is the heaviest since he was crowned just four years ago, following the abdication of his father, Norodom Sihanouk, who was famous for his mercurial statecraft and an ability to reconcile parties.

Under these two kings alone, Cambodia has seen colonialism, independence, a coup, a republic, a communist takeover, a Vietnamese occupation and finally a democratic constitutional monarchy.

Lao Monghay, a senior researcher for the Asian Human Rights Committee, said King Sihamoni should first try to get all parties at the same swearing-in ceremony, in order to save Cambodia’s national image.

“It may be hard, but it is also a chance for His Majesty to try,” Lao Monghay said. “A success would increase his influence and image. His Majesty should test the waters, calling them one by one, to see if he can mediate when these political parties cannot find a compromise.”

Meanwhile, parties should also work to save the national image while the king is working on reconciliation, Lao Monghay said.

The king has less power than he has been afforded the constitution, he added.

Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay agreed that a compromise over the swearing-in ceremony must take place, or the king may not join.

“In 2003, we saw the king father [Sihanouk] didn’t go when he foresaw that some lawmakers wouldn’t make the first day of the meeting,” Son Chhay said.

Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha said without more compromise his party will continue its boycott.

“We want His Majesty to exercise his powers as stated in the constitution,” Kem Sokha said, including to provide stability and mediate.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said there was little danger of anyone losing face except lawmakers who boycotted the ceremony and sought to come into the government through the back door.

Lawmakers elected in July have a duty to join the ceremony and subsequent first meeting of the National Assembly, and not use the occasion to pressure the ruling party, he said.

The Cambodian People’s Party has said that even as the opposition threatened a boycott they asked for positions in the National Assembly.

“They deny the election results but they take seats,” Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech last week. “They didn’t take only Assembly seats. Let me tell you”—and he whispered into the microphone—“they requested a deputy of National Assembly position and four committees.

“They sent the request to me after 3 pm and said they would go abroad at 7:30 pm,” he said. “Do you know what they said? They said if Samdech agrees, they won’t need to go abroad. Wow. Threatening Hun Sen with their trips abroad. So I responded by telling them, ‘Go for your plan.’”

Chea Vannath, founder of the Center for Social Development, said there should be a compromise from the king, but first there must be a green light from the winning parties, including the CPP.

“His Majesty could broker a compromise that only all parties share, especially the CPP,” she said. “His Majesty would lose his image if he makes a proposal and they deny it.”

Oum Daravuth, the personal advisor to King Sihamoni, said the king has never been in the political arena and lacks the political experience of his father, who served as a prime minister and reined as a monarch twice.

“His Majesty is a constitutional monarch, so he can’t do anything other than follow the constitution and law,” Oum Daravuth said. “The political crisis in 2003 was solved by the king father, before His Majesty took over. This is the first crisis for him, so it’s kind of hard for him.”