Meas Sokchea and Bridget Di Certo
Tuesday, 08 May 2012
Phnom Penh Post
More than 40 opposition Sam Rainsy Party members in Battambang province
defected to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party yesterday because they
had lost confidence in their party, defectors said.
Kieng Saran,
the former SRP Sangke district president who led the group of 44 to
defect to the CPP, said the party served only the interests of its
exiled leader Sam Rainsy and those close to him.
“This defection
is because of having no justice in the party. The doers have not
received any benefits, but the benefits have been given to the persons
who are not doers,” Kieng Saran said. “I defect to CPP because I am fed
up with SRP.”
Among the 44 were eight commune councillors and one
district councillor, Kieng Saran said, adding he had spent thousands of
dollars to help the SRP in the senate election, but had received
nothing in return.
Battambang provincial SRP council member Chea
Chiv said the defectors were mainly inactive members and some were only
supporters who had defected to the CPP to seek personal gain.
Ouk
Vong, president of Battambang provincial council from the ruling CPP,
said he was not surprised by the defection and stressed there had been
no coercion involved.
“There is nothing strange, changing from
one party to another. They are honest with us, and we must receive them.
I will hold a ceremony to receive them [today],” Ouk Vong said.
Election
monitor Comfrel executive director Koul Panha said defections were
common in a political environment but were often unethical and driven by
promises of power rather than ideological political commitments.
“The
code of ethics for a politician in Cambodia is still no good, and it
also shows the maturity of some of these political organisations in
terms of management and structure,” Koul Panha said.
In January the Post reported on an attempt by two CPP affiliates to buy the vote of an SRP provincial councillor in the senate election.
To contact the reporters on this story: Meas Sokchea at sokchea.meas@phnompenhpost.com
Bridget Di Certo at bridget.dicerto@phnompenhpost.com
2 comments:
Corruption and power hunger are still the main drivers for politicians in Cambodia. Why don't they ever ask themselves, what can I contribute to society to make things better for the people. These are very selfish individual. Considers as a lose cause.
Those who stay until the end of the road,with the SRP , are the pure gold.
This struggle is all about the struggle against the injustice for the nation,not about the power for the party.
If one is purely concern about the nation,one should do his or her best to help the cause of this struggle,without thinking about status, opportunity or power just as our noble heroes Chut Vuthy had done.
Hero and heroine can be an ordinary people that can do an extraordinary scarify for the cause of justice or righteousness.
Remember your commitment is your romance,between you and your nation. It's your song,It's your history.
True Khmer
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