When the National Assembly forms after this month’s election, Pen
Sovann—Cambodia’s first prime minister after the fall of the Khmer Rouge
in 1979, and a man imprisoned in Hanoi between 1981 and 1991—may well
be seated close enough to stare down the man who he believes betrayed
him three decades ago.
Mr. Sovann, whose life tracks modern Cambodian history from the
anti-colonial Issarak movement of the 1950s to the Salvation Front that
overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979, is running as the opposition Cambodia
National Rescue Party’s (CNRP) top-listed candidate in Kompong Speu
province.
And he expects to win.
“There are eight seats and only one me,” he said Wednesday. “How could I not win?”
Mr. Sovann said that his move is simply a continuation of his already
storied political career, and that he is still focused on reducing
corruption and ending illegal Vietnamese immigration to Cambodia.
“As I am patriotic and want to protect the country’s land, they
imprisoned me,” he said, referring to his exile in 1981, which was
triggered by his calls for the withdrawal of Vietnamese forces after the
Salvation Front formed a government in Phnom Penh in 1981.
“Whenever I talk about this story, people shed tears,” he said.
“[Nowadays, Vietnam’s government] makes the government grant land
concessions to the Vietnamese, and they do not even use Cambodians to
work on their concessions,” he added.
While Prime Minister Hun Sen—whose youngest son, Hun Many, is also
running for a seat in Kompong Speu—has long campaigned on having toppled
the Khmer Rouge regime, Mr. Sovann said Wednesday that he had been the
true founder of the anti-Pol Pot movement and drew a parallel between
that period and the situation today.
“[When] the Cambodia National Rescue Party formed, I joined the
party to rescue the nation again,” he said. “The CNRP is rescuing the
country from the absolute power regime, from Vietnam’s hand, and from
corruption.”
Mr. Sovann said that he was looking forward to serving as a lawmaker
or as Kompong Speu provincial governor under a CNRP government.
He also claimed that upon his return to Cambodia in 1992, after a
decade of house arrest in Hanoi, he had almost rejoined the CPP after
elements interested in his popularity approached him to join.
“When I first arrived, [CPP Senate President] Chea Sim contacted me
first. He said: ‘I’d like to thank you for giving me a leadership
position in the government…. Now that you’re out of prison, we’d like
you to join the CPP,’” Mr. Sovann recounted.
“They held a permanent member meeting, and [Mr. Hun Sen] said no
because if they let me in I would fight against the Vietnamese again,”
he said.
In 2008, CPP National Assembly Chairman Heng Samrin, who served as
head of state during Mr. Sovann’s brief premiership in the early 1980s,
said that the CPP had little interest in Mr. Sovann. “There is no
benefit to the CPP if he defects,” Mr. Samrin said at the time,
referring to his former colleague’s role in the Human Rights Party.
Mr. Sovann confirmed Wednesday that Mr. Hun Sen’s reported
presumption that he would have moved to expel Vietnamese people was
accurate and added that he would also have restructured the party
leadership and economic policies.
Yet he also stressed that, having married a Vietnamese woman while in
exile in Hanoi, he was nevertheless careful not to mix his political
views and his personal life.
“I divide that clearly. The nation and my individual self are very
clear,” he said. “In short…[the Vietnamese] make good food, so I admire
them. I don’t like the people but I like the food.”
“If you talk about them coming to our country, though, that’s a different thing,” he added.
8 comments:
Welcome to our team, together we will rescue our nation from Yuon's puppet Hun Sen.
Khmer makes better foods,Mr Sovann you are wrong about this one! Yuon didn't cares about you nor your nation.Yuon wants your kdor and your land only after they succeed they kill you and cut your kdor off.Penn Sovann should retire can't trust this guy.Tell me why Hanoi didn't kill you? What's a catch? Why you want to joint politic again? Mr Sovann,you associate with Hanoi for so long,tell the world who give Tral Island to Yuon?and when? Also who were the mastermind behind killingfield? Do you believe that Khmers kills khmers during Pol pot regime? Speculation that Yuon behind all the killingfield,what would you response to this question?
Prahok
Once a thief, always a thief, you once a Vietminh, you will always be a Vietminh... you just act differently according to the wind of time. Vote No to fake CNRP member Pen Sovann.
Every man deserve a change of heart...otherwise, the Vietminh would love to see us Khmer killing each other and destroying our country. We need to let the Vietminh know that we are no longer follows their directions.
We can not judge this man just because of our gut instinct. The last thing we want is breaking Khmer unity at a time like this. Please learn the fact and do more research before making derogatory comments. There is a Khmer saying "bur min ban jev kom youk jerng rea tuk." Your negative comments above doing exactly just that.
To 19 July 2013 2:27 am: You said "you once a Vietminh, you will always be a Vietminh"
My question to you:
What do you think about all the Vietminhs with CPP that never want to change and stay as Vietminh forever. So, is this the reason that you want to vote against CNRP?
Mr Sovann, I admire you that you went through all the suffering in Youn prison.
6:54 am, yes agree. Hun Sen, Chea Sim, Heng Samrin and many more in the CPP were once Khmer Rouge and Viet Minh leaders, so they are still KR and Viet Minh to their bones till these days.
This man is a Khmer hero. Dont mistaken him for a traitor, if anything Penn Sovann is a true Khmer hero. He risk his life to tell the world and UN of the Vietnamese ambition to kill and invaded Khmer, but Hun Sen, Pro Vietnamese, decided to betray Penn Sovann, and ordered the arrest and Vietnam sentenced this man to underground prison.
This man should be a witness in the ECCC. He needs to be alive and the world needs to know the truth.
Thank you Penn Sovann. Hun Sen robbed you of your status, but to many of us, you are the Khmer hero that saved Khmer. Not Hun Sen.
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