Over the past three weeks, a standoff between the long-ruling CPP and
newly strengthened opposition CNRP has made for an increasingly tense political environment.
But almost entirely missing from the equation has been Prime Minister
Hun Sen, whose last public appearance was 18 days ago when he addressed
villagers in Kandal province and warned the opposition that a failure
to take their seats in Parliament would result in them being given to
the CPP.
As opposed to his usual schedule of delivering nationally televised
speeches almost every day—weighing in on everything from pressing
political issues to personal trivialities—the prime minister has
remained completely out of the public eye since August 2.
The prime minister’s silence comes amid a steady security buildup in
Phnom Penh after the CNRP promised mass demonstrations if the CPP did
not cede power and commit to conducting an independent enquiry of
alleged election irregularities.
It also comes after the CPP suffered its worst showing in the National Assembly since 1998, just one year
after Mr. Hun Sen ousted then-Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh from
power in factional fighting that took place on the streets of Phnom
Penh.
Still, officials on Tuesday said Mr. Hun Sen’s silence was warranted
because he wanted to give space to both political parties to form a
government and plan ahead for the next five years of CPP rule.
As the head of government during a time of partisan wrangling and
potential social instability, it is important for Mr. Hun Sen to remain
out of party politics, said Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan.
“He [Mr. Hun Sen] always keeps to himself during heightened tension.
He lets the other mechanisms take care of their own responsibilities and
address their own mandate,” Mr. Siphan said.
“The prime minister remains independent and lets the two parties work together,” he added.
Since meeting on August 9 to discuss the formation of a joint committee
to investigate irregularities in Cambodia’s election, the CPP and
CNRP’s cooperation has stalled. Mr. Siphan said that if talks continue
to be fruitless, Mr. Hun Sen may step back into the partisan fray for
talks with Mr. Rainsy.
“[I]f the [joint CPP-CNRP] committees cannot solve something, then it
is time for Sam Rainsy and him [Mr. Hun Sen] to meet together,” Mr.
Siphan said.
Cheam Yeap, a senior CPP lawmaker and de facto spokesman for the
party, said that Mr. Hun Sen has remained largely silent since the July
28 national election because he has been busy preparing for his next five years managing the country as prime minister.
“He is busy organizing the implementation of the party’s political
platform to ensure that it meets the expectations set out in our
platform during the election campaign,” Mr. Yeap said, adding that the party is also trying to figure out why its popularity has fallen sharply.
“We are busy evaluating why we lost support,” he said.
Political analysts said Tuesday that dealing with internal problems
within a party that has seen a steep drop in its popularity, along with
practicing caution in how the party deals with a significantly
strengthened opposition, likely explain the prime minister’s silence.
“The prime minister always lets others talk and express all the
issues and then he analyzes that information and finds a strategy to
fight back,” said independent political analyst Kem Ley, adding that
there were two directions Mr. Hun Sen could take in his response to the
CNRP’s calls for reform.
“[Mr. Hun Sen] has a great opportunity to be smart in a good way, by
[improving] rule of law and democracy strengthening, or a bad way, by
cracking down on other parties to win,” he said.
Another political analyst, Lao Mong Hay, said that soul-searching in
the wake of such a drop in popularity could have more to do with why Mr.
Hun Sen has had little to say in public in recent weeks.
“We’ve seen that the top leaders of the CPP have not issued any
public statements, apart from Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng. This
reflects that there might be difficulty in determining the roles within
the party and this needs to be resolved,” he said.
“The party members are old too, and they need to change. The CPP
needs to rejuvenate in order to get back its popularity. But change is
not easy,” said Mr. Mong Hay, adding that it was still the ruling
party’s responsibility to explain public actions such as the
mobilization of troops and movement of tanks.
“During these times, there should be someone high up equal to a
minister in the government who appears in front of the public and
explains the people what this is and why it is happening,” he said.
10 comments:
Why? because that freaking bloody animal HUN SEN lost the election but declared himself and the his bloody CPP as the winner instead!!!
can one believe that?
HUN SEN IS QUIET TRYING TO LISTEN TO HIS BOSS VIETCONG WHAT NEED TO DO NEXT AND TRYING TO ORGANIZE THE CRIME HOW TO KILL PEOPLE IF THEY WILL LEAD A BIG DEMONSTRATION AGAIN HIM
He didn't want anyone to know his strategy and his dirty tricks. He just want to know what his enemies will do, so he would quietly plan the counter-attack.
អត់ហ៊ានចេញមុខ ព្រោះខ្លាចសីុស្បែកជើង។ ទៅណាក៏លឺគេជេរហ៊ុន សែន និងគជបដែរ
Hun Sen the Khmer traitor consider the Khmer people as his enemies. Over the past 30years he had no issues whether killing women or children, taking their land or burning their home.
BECAUSE HIS BOSS IN HANOI TOLD HIM TO SIT DOWN AND SHUT-UP. THE MORE HE SPEAKS IN PUBLIC, THE MORE DAMAGING TO HIS OWN PARTY.
HANOI KNOWS THAT AH HUN SEN IS NOT A GOOD SPEAKER WHEN HE IS IN STRESS.
MY SUGGESTION IS HE (AH HUN) TO QUIETLY TRANSFER HIS POWER TO SAM RAINSY AND STEP DOWN PEACEFULLY. THIS IS THE BEST OPTION HE HAVE RIGHT NOW. IF HE REFUSED, HIS FAITH WILL END UP VERY BAD, I MEAN VERY BAD INCLUDING HIS FAMILIES.
HUN, MARKED MY WORD, IF YOU DON'T DO THIS, YOU WILL GET THE WORST CONSEQUENCE THAT YOU COULD NOT IMAGINE. GUARANTY.
guy, rainsy never want to solve or finalized any problems . infact rainsy love to create more problem possible. wasn't he ? and cnrp is a purely losers in this election, aren't they?. and now your evil tricks rainsy only work with misinformed khmer oversea, and will never work with khmer hero hun sen. isn't it true?. will rainsy and idiotic Kem sokha be able to take youn back to Harnoi? what make you belived that ? and will rainsy be able to maintain peace and stable ?. will rainsy be able to stop corruption ?. and i am curiouse what make you feel that way? if you drawn only purely khmer will gave you a hand. like hun sen did. rainsy he is chinese, he never lived and share us whil we were in killing field te. i am curious why only ransy . we have millions khmer that got high dergree than rainsy. wasnt it true ? hun sen overthrow Kr genocide right ? hun sen build 3643 scholls for 760 000.00 studens per year and 7.6 million per ten years got education , right..?. hun sen build 541 hospital all over country . help millions khmer suffering patients every year. right. ? now you clearly see hun sen is a real khmer lover and he is rebuilding khmer from genocide. right?. wasnt it true ?... hun sen build road 4212 km around border and in the country to stop neighboring encroachment. right..? hun sen strengthen our three army forces. right..? now we can clearly see hun sen is a true khmer hero. wasnt it true? rihht ?.and what rainsy the opportunistic have don? nothing, ? right. .. mike..
I heard he plan to burn ki's office if they sre stop lying
ខ្លាចគេជេរហើយប្រហែលជាខ្លាចគេសម្លាប់ទៀត!
Mousy, get lost !!!
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