RESOLUTIONS OF THE FIFTH CONVENTION OF THE SAM RAINSY PARTY HELD IN PHNOM PENH ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

RESOLUTIONS OF THE FIFTH CONVENTION OF THE SAM RAINSY PARTY HELD IN PHNOM PENH ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

The Fifth Convention of the Sam Rainsy Party held in Phnom Penh on September 11, 2011 with the participation of some 4,000 delegates representing all the provinces of Cambodia and also Cambodian communities abroad, resolved to:
I- Call on all patriotic forces to unite in order to save Cambodia from disaster. Stop the policy of the current government that is cutting Cambodia into pieces and selling our country bit by bit to foreign companies under the form of "concessions". Oppose this attempt to kill our farmers little by little by depriving them of land, forest and fish. Counter this insidious plan to make Cambodia vanish slowly but surely through losses of national territories, land grabbing, deforestation, destruction of fishing stocks, plunder of natural resources, systemic corruption, increasing poverty , unemployment, derelict state of public services such as the health system , despair, emigration of an increasing portion of the Khmer population compelled to seek work abroad, massive Vietnamese immigration with far-reaching demographic and political implications that are turning Cambodia into another Kampuchea Krom.

II- Approve and publicize the watchword of the SRP: "Give back to the Khmer people any assets stolen from them ". The future government led by the SRP will cancel all land, forest and mining concessions granted by the present government that were associated with land grabbing and eviction of the legitimate owners of the land. Our nation’s assets will be given back to our nation.
Rice fields and other farmland, forests and mountains, rivers and lakes, fishing zones, seashores and islands will be returned to their legitimate owners, meaning the Khmer people, or will be used as to serve the public interest and the needs of the entire population, especially the poorest segment of the population. Any individual or private company that forcibly seizes land or living areas belonging of the local population and deprives them of their livelihoods is considered as “enemy of the Khmer people” and will be punished accordingly. The people are the only owners and masters of the land.

III- Support the SRP’s appeal to foreign investors to come invest in Cambodia, especially to build and operate processing facilities. The type of investors we call on will buy natural products and raw materials from our farmers but not our farmers’ land. Legitimate investors are not involved in land speculation or money laundering. They focus on production units that process raw materials. By doing so, they provide commercial outlets for our farmers’ agricultural products and jobs for our population as a whole.

IV- Reject the type of "development" conceived by the current government, which is a fake and fallacious development carried out against the people and serving exclusively the interest of a small group of exploiters. The future government led by the SRP will carry out a genuine development for the people that will protect the people’s assets, serve the people’s interest and effectively improve the people’s living conditions.

V- Denounce the demagogic practices of the ruling party which, on the one hand, gives us small donations occasionally as an attempt to buy votes but, on the other hand, continuously strangles us by stealing our lands, depressing agricultural products prices and farmers’ income, compressing workers and civil servants’ salaries, levying increasing taxes, and making the price of staple goods on the market go up higher and higher. They steal us in millions through predatory corruption and give us back in pennies with their petty and deceitful donations.

VI- Require an immediate and significant increase in the salaries of workers and civil servants so as to ensure them decent living conditions, and also effective measures to lower prices of staple goods on the markets by reducing taxes and suppressing commercial monopolies.
VII- Approve the political platform and the action plan of the SRP intended to improve the living conditions of the population in three essential domains: agriculture, employment and healthcare. The concrete measures contained in the SRP platform will definitely improve the farmers’ income and living conditions, create jobs for the whole population especially the young, and ensure access to modern medical care for everybody especially the poorest segment of the population.
VIII- Support the draft laws prepared by SRP Members of Parliament regarding:
1) A minimum wage applicable to all occupations all over the country, to be periodically readjusted to reflect the evolution of consumer prices. As of today, a decent national minimum wage should not be less than 400,000 Riels (about US$100) per month.
2) The definition and the protection of the rights of tenants allowing those who don’t own the place where they live to secure a stable home on reasonable and acceptable terms and ensuring them a fair compensation in case of eviction by their landlords or the public authorities.
3) The implementation of a real political decentralization providing effective powers and an adequate budget to commune councils allowing them to democratically make decisions intended to improve the living conditions of the local population living in the concerned communes. These decisions could be related, for instance, to local infrastructures, social services and protection of the environment.
4) A term limit for any future Prime Minister who would not be allowed to stay in office for more than five years (one parliamentary term only).

IX- Approve the three-tier political strategy of the SRP aimed at liberating Cambodia from foreign domination, bringing down dictatorship, eliminating corruption and ensuring social justice:
1) Participation in the 2012 and 2013 polls while fighting election irregularities and unfairness according to our means;
2) Popular uprising inspired by the Arab Spring and other forms of People Power if the forthcoming elections remain fundamentally biased and continue to seriously distort the will of the people;
3) Filing of criminal lawsuits against those current leaders responsible for crimes against humanity (K5 Plan in the 1980s), war crimes (1997 coup d’état) and other heinous crimes (1997 grenade attack, 1998 repression) before international courts and independent courts in democratic countries.
X- Render justice to SRP President Sam Rainsy who only defended rice fields belonging to Cambodian farmers living along the border with Vietnam. Those rice fields belonging to Cambodian citizens are part of Cambodia’s territory that Vietnam is infringing on. Therefore Sam Rainsy’s case is not an individual’s case but represents a political issue of national interest requiring a political solution. From this viewpoint, all the parties involved should take into account recommendations from the UN Rapporteur for Cambodia, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the European Parliament and governments of many friendly countries that wish to see Sam Rainsy returning to Cambodia in time to take part in the 2012 and 2013 elections. Without the presence of the leader of the country’s largest opposition party those elections would be worthless and their results would not be recognized by the international community, which would neither recognize any government stemming from such worthless elections .
XI- Appeal to every Cambodian citizen to check their names on the voter lists and to register as voters before October 15, 2011 so as to have the right to cast their ballots at the 2011 and 2012 elections that will determine the future of our country and the fate of each one of us and that of our children.

XII- Ask all the signatory countries of the 1991 Paris Agreements on Cambodia to really and fully implement these Agreements on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of their signing on October 23, 2011. These Agreements guarantee for the Cambodian people fundamental rights and liberties as well as a political system based on liberal and pluralistic democracy. However such rights and liberties and democratic system have not materialized yet or have been totally perverted. The Paris Agreements also guarantee Cambodia’s territorial integrity, which is being violated by Thailand on the west and Vietnam on the east, as evidenced by recent border incidents causing sufferings for the Cambodian population. We call on the international community to help defend Cambodia’s territorial integrity, which is their obligation as stipulated in the Paris Agreements. Read the Khmer version here. And see pictures of the congress here.