Sam Rainsy: Ranariddh too unstable to unite with

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Rasmei Kampuchea

Translated from Khmer by Socheata

courtesy of http://ki-media.blogspot.com

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy (pictured), who just returned from Australia on 26 February, showed a lack of interest in the call issued by Prince Ranariddh who agreed to an election to choose the president of a newly formed party, should Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha agree to unite with him. Sam Rainsy said that Prince Ranariddh’s standing is unstable and this caused difficulties in uniting with him.Sam Rainsy said the SRP permanent committee is currently holding a meeting to reflect on this proposal. “We are collecting information and all the proposals to reflect upon,” Sam Rainsy said. Nevertheless, Sam Rainsy added that the SRP does not pay too much attention to this issue, and the proposal made by the prince is nothing new.While the prince agreed to hold an election to choose the president for the would-be-formed party, should there be a union between the royalists and the democrats, Sam Rainsy is puzzled as to how this election would be held. He asked: “How do we organize it? What will be the rule?” He also said that he does not understand it very well yet.Along with the lack of interest in uniting with the prince, Sam Rainsy believed in the solid strength of his party, he said: “We believe in our own strength. Prince Ranariddh has an unstable standing and we are having difficulties uniting with.” Even though Sam Rainsy showed his faith in the solid strength of the opposition party, the recent defection of high-ranking party officials has caused some concerns in the SRP.However, Sam Rainsy said that he has a good grasp of the party grass root levels which do not pay attention to this issue. He added that the party grass root levels want the party leaders to have a strong standing. The party followers will not vote for any particular individual, but will vote only for the party as a whole.Sam Rainsy is not the only one uninterested in the prince proposal, Kem Sokha, HRP president, also is not paying attention to the request to form a union made by the prince. He even declined to participate in the forum organized by Mam Sonando on 25 February, to survey the intentions of the three parties (SRP, NRP, HRP) to unite with each other.Dr. Pung Chiv Kek, President of the Licadho human rights organization, pointed out the importance of the union which will provide a stronger voice for the opposition. She said that, it is normal that discordance will lead to weakness. However, she cannot predict whether these three parties can unite with each others or not. However, she noted that among these three parties, only the NRP participated in the forum organized by Mam Sonando’s Beehive radio station to discuss about the union, and to answer questions asked by the public.Mam Sonando, Beehive radio station director, who came up with the forum idea, said that he cannot predict whether the 3 parties can unite with each other or not. He is only doing what the public want to see. He said: “For Cambodian politicians, you cannot predict about them. Only when they are about to die that they look for a monk (for a last rite). It’s only when their bodies can no longer accept intravenous injection that they remember the Dharma.”