Letter to Bangkok Post: Sam Rainsy in Bangkok has nothing to do with Thaksin Shinawatra in Phnom Penh

November 18, 2009

The Editor
The Bangkok Post
Bangkok
Thailand

Sir,

In an opinion titled “Hun Sen seeks to 'internationalise' spat” by Mr Thitinan Pongsudhirak in today’s Bangkok Post, one can read, “The bilateral atmosphere [between Thailand and Cambodia] was further poisoned by the Abhisit government's allowing Sam Rainsy, an opposition leader in Cambodian politics, to use a forum in Bangkok to attack Mr Hun Sen.”

On September 22, Mr Sam Rainsy, a duly elected Cambodia’s National Assembly member, was invited by the South East Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA), a Bangkok-based international free expression advocacy group, to speak at the Foreign Correspondent Club of Thailand (FCCT) about the human rights situation in Cambodia. The intention of the event organizers was to allow international observers to collect different points of view ahead of the launching of the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights in Hua Hin (Thailand) on October 23 this year.

Mr Sam Rainsy's intervention at the FCCT had nothing to do with border issues or any other disputes between Cambodia and Thailand, and the Thai government was not involved in any way in the press conference attended by Mr Sam Rainsy.

Similarly, on May 6 this year, Mr Sam Rainsy was the main guest of a Gala dinner organized in Singapore by the Foreign Correspondents’ Association in Singapore. During a question-and-answer session with foreign and local journalists and observers, he elaborated on issues very similar to the ones he addressed in Bangkok on September 22. The Singapore government was not involved in any way in the event.

Therefore, to put forward the fact that Mr Sam Rainsy was “allowed” to attend the above-mentioned press conference in Bangkok as a “balancing” pretext for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to invite fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to Cambodia and for the latter to be appointed a Phnom Penh government’s adviser, is total non sense.

Sincerely,

Yim Sovann

Member of Cambodia’s National Assembly

Spokesman for the Sam Rainsy Party