and Minister in Charge of the Prime Minister's Office.Feb. 25, 2008
By Carla M. Collado
Staff Writer
Downtown Gazette (Long Beach, California, USA)
courtesy of http://ki-media.blogspot.com
For additional info, visit: www.StopSokAn.comClick here to sign petition to block Sok An's appearance in Cambodia Town
Plans for its largest annual celebration this April have Long Beach’s Cambodian community divided.At issue is a scheduled appearance at the Cambodian New Year Parade by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, who some in the community say they feel represents (and works for) one of the most corrupt governments in the world.
“He’s representing a government that is very corrupt, that oppresses people and violates so many human rights,” said Navy Phim, a resident who is leading the charge to rescind Sok An’s invitation and is circulating a petition protesting his appearance. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to put this person in a celebration.”
According to Borann Heam — vice president of the Cambodian Coordinating Council (Cam-CC), which organizes the parade — the decision to invite Sok An was part of an effort to start an open dialogue with the Cambodian government. With the United States continuing to do business with Cambodia, and with Long Beach’s Cambodian community being the largest outside of Cambodia, it is beneficial to establish that kind of dialogue with the country’s leaders, Heam said.
The delegation of local groups that visited Phnom Penh in December 2007 — including members of Cam-CC, Long Beach/Phnom Penh Sister Cities, Cambodia Town, Inc. and some Long Beach City Council members — first met with U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph Mussomeli, Heam explained. At Mussomeli’s recommendation that Cambodian-Americans engage the Cambodian government more, the delegation extended invitations to all government leaders to attend the New Year Parade, he added.
“This is an open invitation to anyone in the Cambodian government,” Heam said. “We’re not excluding any one party.”When delegation members ran into Sok An, they personally invited him to the Long Beach event and he accepted, he said.
Phim said that Sok An’s participation in the parade also makes Long Beach appear to be taking sides in Cambodian politics, as it is a parliamentary election year in Cambodia (July) and Sok An is running for reelection in the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. She is now pushing for Cam-CC to organize a town hall meeting so residents can express their opinions on Sok An’s visit.
“It’s very important for everyone to express their concerns, not only in Cambodia Town but in all of Long Beach,” Phim said. “It (his visit) reflects on everybody in the city.”
Phim said she has gathered about 1,000 signatures through her online petition protesting Sok An’s visit (the petition is addressed to Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster and Cam-CC), and that there are other Cambodian groups circulating petitions as well.
She said she voiced her concerns at a Jan. 31 meeting of Cam-CC’s parade planning committee, but that committee members told her she was simply trying to make Sok An seem controversial when he’s not. Phim later was invited to speak at Cam-CC’s Feb. 10 board meeting and allowed to bring four people total, but declined the invitation.
“Four people don’t represent the whole community,” she said.
Heam said Cam-CC has done its best to answer Phim’s questions and address her concerns, and added that he understands why some Cambodian residents are worried about Sok An’s participation in the parade.
“There are speculations of human rights violations and a lot of corruption is linked to his name,” Heam said. “I don’t think he is a controversial figure. It’s just very sad that a few people are taking this opportunity to label certain figures controversial.”
Heam said Cam-CC encourages residents to express their opinions, as long as it is in a peaceful and nonviolent manner.“We respect everyone’s opinion in the community,” he said. “People have the right to freedom of speech and if they feel that he is a controversial figure, then that’s okay. We encourage the community to engage with us.”
However, Cam-CC currently does not feel that it needs to revoke Sok An’s (or anyone else’s) invitation to the parade, and the community needs to respect that decision, Heam added.
Heam explained that Cam-CC has public meetings every month to update the community on plans for the New Year Parade and celebration, as it is the community’s largest event of the year. He said if residents organize a town hall meeting, the group would gladly attend to hear concerns.
He stressed the fact that Cam-CC has not decided whether Sok An will do more than just ride in the parade, and assured that the Cambodian leader will not get any special treatment.
The Fourth Annual Cambodian New Year Parade will take place April 6 along Anaheim Street (from Junipero Avenue to Orange Avenue), and the Cambodian New Year Celebration will take place April 12 at El Dorado Regional Park. Each event draws about 15,000 visitors.
To voice concerns over Sok An’s participation in the parade, e-mail Cam-CC at board@cam-cc.org.
To sign Phim’s petition, visit www.stopsokan.com.
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