Photos: Prince Ranariddh (L), and the flip-flop Prince Thomico (R).SBS Radio, Australia
17th November 2007
By Meng Phalla, a stringer from Cambodia.
Translated from Khmer by Khmerization
After being re-admitted to a full membership of the Funcinpec Party, Prince Thomico is once against attempting to act as a reconciliator in an effort to unite all members of the royal family, using former king Sihanouk's ideas which the former king had used to reconcile the internal disputes of Cambodia.
It is an attempt, which Prince Thomico said, to find a peaceful solution to end the rivalry between members of the royal family, and that is between Funcinpec and the Norodom Ranariddh Party.
Prince Thomico stressed that, in order to show that both parties follow the path of Sihanoukism, Funcinpec and the Norodom Ranaridhh Party, who have called themselves royalist parties and as a protector of the Sihanouk's legacy, must follow the example of a political reconciliation achieved by Prince Sihanouk.
Prince Thomico said that:" Currently both the Funcinpec and the Norodom Ranariddh Party have claimed that they practised Sihanoukism. That is why I attempt to explain the principle of Sihanoukism for both parties to follow in reconciling themselves".
In a statement released on Thursday, other than asking the leadership of Funcinpec to forgive his past criticism of the party, Prince Thomico had also raised three points of Sihanoukism for them to peacefully reconcile their differences: that is in 1987 king-father Sihanouk began a dialogue with prime minister Hun Sen to achieve national reconciliation to end the Cambodian civil war.
In 1993 the king-father had shown a path to resolve a critical political situation which had arisen after the announcement of the 1993's UN-organised election results. The king-father had also tried to find all solutions to end the fighting between the Cambodian People's Party and Funcinpec in 1997.
Prince Thomico had also stressed that:" I wish to remind ourselves that lately the hero-king had issued a royal statement reminding us that he had bestowed exclusively upon Prince Ranariddh the presidency of the Funcinpec Party in 1991. What does that mean? In the mind of the ex-king Sihanouk, Prince Ranariddh must not reside under the umbrella of any party other than the Funcinpec Party".
Prince Thomico's renewed effort to reconcile the two feuding royal parties also includes the search for ways for Prince Ranariddh to return to Cambodia. This has always been Funcinpec's stance which, in the past, reiterated that the doors are always remained open for Prince Ranariddh. But Mr. Keo Putrasmy, the current president of Funcinpec Party, has reiterated Funcinpec's firm stance that the return of Prince Ranariddh to Funcinpec must be in the framework of the new structure of Funcinpec that was set up after the 18th October 2006's party congress.
Keo Putrasmy said that:"Since the beginning Funcinpec never shut the door on Prince Ranariddh. So on our part, one year after the party's congress in 2006 we still bestow upon him the title of an honorary leader. So we had good intentions since the beginning. We never had any problem with him. And now we have restructured Funcinpec and our offer of a reconciliation must be in the framework of a new party's structure".
The Norodom Ranariddh Party, on the other hand, has stated clearly that it cannot accept Prince Thomico's solution because it considers Prince Thomico's stance to be like the top of a pine tree (which moves according to the wind directions).
Spokesman for the Norodom Ranariddh Party, Mr. Muth Chantha, has reiterated that Prince Ranariddh had in the past said clearly that he cannot return back to Funcinpec. But Mr. Muth Chantha has stressed that the Norodom Ranariddh Party is still following the path of the king-father. Muth Chantha said that:"The Norodom Ranariddh Party is still following the path of the hero-king because we are a royalist party and Prince Ranariddh is also a son of the king-father. He had also personally served him during his crusade for a national liberation from foreign invasion. So we will continue the higher mission of our respected king-father".
Please note that this attempt at reconciliation happened one day after Prince Thomico had a face to face meeting with Mr. Keo Putrasmy, the president of the Funcinpec Party, on Wednesday afternoon, in a meeting which Prince Thomico described as a reconciliation gesture for him to remain in the Funcinpec Party, after he agreed to apologise to the leadership of Funcinpec whom he had clashed in the past.
Last week, spokesman for the Funcinpec Party, Mr. Nov Sovatharo has announced publicly that the Funcinpec Steering Committee had ended Prince Thomico's membership of the Funcinpec Party in a meeting which lasted only two minutes, with the reason that Prince Thomico did not abide by the statute and the internal regulations of the party, by repeatedly launching scathing attacks on the Funcinpec leadership.//
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