By KhmerizationSource: RFA
A U.S-based Khmer-language newspaper has bitterly attacked former King Norodom Sihanouk (pictured) and Prime Minister Hun Sen by accusing them of protecting Vietnamese inteterests and protecting illegal Vietnamese immigrants living in Cambodia.
In its 30th September edition, the California-based Angkor Borei News, has accused Sihanouk of protecting and allowing 600,000 Viet Cong troops to use Cambodian territory to attack the U.S forces in South Vietnam in the 1960s. The newspaper had also accused the present Hun Sen government of supporting Vietnamese illegal immigration, such as providing 4,000 Vietnamese families living on the banks of the Tonle Sap River with $10,000 compensation for agreeing to relocate to an over land settlement.
The Committee for the Promotion of the Rule of Laws and Human Rights Protection, which is a coalition of 10 NGOs, had issued a statement defending the former king. Its president, Dr. Heang Rithy, said that former King Sihanouk had done so much for the country such as achieving Cambodia's independence from France, protecting and building the Cambodian nation since independence. "More than this, he had chased the Vietnamese invading forces, who invaded Cambodia from 1979 t0 1989, out of Cambodia to return back to their country. After that he had convinced the UN to convene the Paris Peace Conference to end the Cambodian civil war. He had brought peace to Cambodia until today", said Dr. Heang Rithy, defending Sihanouk's records.
Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith, said Angkor Borei News is a republican-leaning newspaper and that this is not the first time that this newspaper had attacked the former king. He said the Information Ministry has no rights to take measures against Angkor Borei News because it is an overseas-based publication. "The republican group, the Soth Polin* group and their allies, have attacked the monarchy since time immemorial", he said.
Article 7 of the Cambodian constitution, which was approved by the Cambodian National Assembly and promulgated in September of 1993, stipulates that the king is inviolable.
*Soth Polin is Cambodian novelist and newspaper editor in the 1960s who was and is a fierce anti-monarchist and an ardent support of the Khmer Republican regime of Marshall Lon Nol who toppled Sihanouk in the 1970 coup d'etat.
1 comment:
Ah Heang Rithy should also credit Sihanouk for supporting the creation of the Khmer Rouge regime. Ooh...also give credit to Sihanouk for having real good hand shakes and tight hug with Pol Pot. The fact is, Sihanouk hurts and destroyed Cambodia more than he helps built Cambodia because of his incompetency, arrogance, and womanizing playboy personality. This is the kind of leader France wants to be in charge of Cambodia before giving independence to Cambodia. Sihanouk didn't do much to gain independence from France. Hanoi saw much weaknesses in Sihanouk. This is why Youn(Viet) have the upper hand
when it come to dealing with Cambodia.
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