Last Updated on 04 June 2013
Phnom Penh Post
By Meas Sokchea
They often spend their days just metres from each other, talking
visitors through the tragic history of the infamous Tuol Sleng detention
center, but survivors Bou Meng and Chum Mey are miles apart in their
views on the S-21 denial scandal.
In a statement released
yesterday, Bou Meng, deputy president of the Victims Association of
Democratic Kampuchea, distanced the organisation from its president.
Meng’s
statement said that while Chum Mey was welcome to lead a planned march
protesting against opposition leader Kem Sokha’s alleged assertion that
S-21 was a Vietnamese fabrication, he won’t be taking part.
“If
Mr Chum Mey wants to announce a demonstration against Mr Kem Sokha, he
does it as an individual, not on behalf of the Victims Association
[Ksaem Ksan],” Meng’s statement said. “I have said again and again that I
will remain neutral and not take part in this demonstration.”
Sokha,
deputy president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, has been under
fire since the government’s May 20 release of an audio clip in which he
is heard telling an audience that Tuol Sleng had been “staged” by the
Vietnamese.
Mey then pledged to lead a 20,000 strong protest if
Sokha failed to apologise within 10 days, a threat bolstered when Prime
Minister Hun Sen predicted a “mass demonstration”.
The deadline
came and went yesterday, and Mey, who agreed that the protest was his
initiative alone, remained adamant it will take place.
“Every
day, [people] have called me continuously saying they want to
participate in this mass demonstration,” he said. “I want [Sokha] to
come and apologise directly in front of me and in Tuol Sleng.”
CNRP
spokesman Yim Sovann, who has previously said Sokha will not apologise
for a “CPP fabrication”, yesterday warned that any protests came at the
behest of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
“The provoker is
the ruling party. The [CPP] has never announced support for a
demonstration when the election is near like this,” Sovann said.
A law proposed by Hun Sen last week outlawing genocide denial is hurtling through the National Assembly.
2 comments:
ah chkae CPP. No one will apologise to you. Why dont you ask your boss AH Kwak to apologise to you for killing millions of Khmer and killing more Khmer in the K5 Genocide? AH CHkae Youn.
Bou Meng is a really good man who doesn't want to be used by politicians, Chum Mey is not smart. After they no longer needs him, the CPP will trash him like rubbish.
Post a Comment