Sam Rainsy’s letter as published in The Cambodia Daily, November 14, 2009
CAMBODIA SHOULD LOOK EAST
IN DEFENSE OF TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
The CPP-dominated National Assembly is planning to suspend my parliamentary immunity on Monday, November 16. There will be a special parliamentary session with the lifting of my immunity being the only topic on the agenda.
I expected this move by the Hun Sen government. It proves how subservient the Cambodian authorities are to the Vietnamese government.
On November 4, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung “proposed that the Cambodian government take due measures to deal with [Sam] Rainsy's acts of sabotage and not permit similar cases to occur, as they negatively affect the fine relations between the two nations.” You can see the official statement from Hanoi at http://www.nhandan.com.vn/
On October 25, as an elected representative of the Cambodian people, I had only expressed my support for, and solidarity with, Cambodian farmers who are victims of land grabbing along the Vietnamese border in Svay Rieng province. You can see the context of my intervention and related evidence at http://tinyurl.com/ykblbpr
The attempt to silence me by lifting my parliamentary immunity also shows that the current Phnom Penh government totally ignores King Father Norodom Sihanouk's concern about Cambodian farmers losing their rice fields because of border encroachments by the Vietnamese authorities as I elaborated in my November 7 letter to the Retired King. See related documents at http://tinyurl.com/yzcxqyq and at http://tinyurl.com/yec3hw5
Vietnam's prime minister apparently blew out of proportion my symbolic gesture to morally come to help Cambodian farmers who are victims of local injustices involving Vietnamese authorities. But this incident could also show that I embarrassed Vietnam by shedding light on a much bigger issue with strategic implications and much higher stakes than one may first consider.
The recent appointment of fugitive Thai national Thaksin Shinawatra as an adviser to the Cambodian government in order to exacerbate tensions between Cambodia and Thailand may be just a ploy to divert the public attention from much more serious problems concerning Cambodia’s territorial integrity, which appears to be more vulnerable on our country’s eastern border than on the western border with Thailand because of Vietnam’s more subtle expansionist policies and Mr Hun Sen’s subservient attitude towards Hanoi.
Sam Rainsy
Member of Parliament
Phnom Penh
3 comments:
Who can help you BOY??????? Other than your brother Hun Sen?????
Ohla!!!!!
Don't need help from jungle man hun sen, the time will come when someone will kill one eyed hyena.Then all you blood suckers will also die!
Yes, both sides of our borders must be protected. Now, look like both sides of our borders, Viet and Thai sides, are not protected. Our neighbors have encroached from every direction. It's all Hun Sen's fault who never cared about our borders.
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