A Change of Guard

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Wednesday 20 August 2014

Protesters Say Foreign Minister Condoned Flag Burning [First time to hear that Hor Namhong defends Khmers against the Vietnamese]



BY  | the cambodia daily, AUGUST 20, 2014
A leader of recent protests against inflammatory remarks by a Vietnamese Embassy spokesman said Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Tuesday condoned the burning of a Vietnamese flag in front of the embassy last week.
The protesters were enraged by embassy spokesman Tran Van Thong’s comments on the radio in June rejecting a common claim among Cambodians that Kampuchea Krom, in present day southern Vietnam, belonged to Cambodia before it was ceded by colonial France to Vietnam in 1949.
Sok Sothear, of the Khmer Youth Alliance for Democracy, one of the groups demanding a retraction from the spokesman, was part of a delegation that met with Foreign Ministry officials Tuesday about their plans for more protests.
According to Ms. Sothear, Mr. Namhong had no qualms about the burning of the flag.
Hor Namhong said that to burn the flag is normal in a democratic country; it doesn’t matter,” she said. “It is the same as [Interior Ministry spokesman] Khieu Sopheak said a few days ago.”
In an article published by Radio Free Asia on Friday, Mr. Sopheak was QUOTED as saying: “Protesters commonly burn flags around the world. It may be unethical, but as long as it is done during a lawful protest, it is acceptable.”
“Cambodia is different from Vietnam,” he adds. “Cambodia adheres to a form of liberal democracy with a multiparty system. Cambodia allows freedom of expression under the framework of the law.”

Last week, a spokesman for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry called on Cambodian authorities to take action against the flag-burners and impose measures to ensure that such acts, which Hanoi said threaten to sour relations with Phnom Penh, are not repeated.
Mr. Namhong could not be reached for comment. Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong and Secretary of State Long Visalo, who also attended the meeting, could not be reached, either.
Ms. Sothear said Foreign Ministry delegation told her that the Vietnamese ambassador and spokesman would soon be replaced and asked the protest organizers to wait and judge their work before deciding whether or not to revive their demonstration. She said they agreed.
The new ambassador, Thach Du, is ethnically Khmer Krom, according to Vietnamese state media.
Mr. Namhong’s alleged remarks in the meeting stand in stark contrast to comments National Assembly President Heng Samrin reportedly made about the flag burning during a state visit to Hanoi.
Paraphrasing Mr. Samrin, Vietnam’s Nhandan newspaper reported on Monday that he said that Cambodia had “applied strong measures to deal with the incident and punish violators.”
Mr. Samrin, it adds, pledged that Cambodia would “do its best, using the law, to prevent such actions from repeating.”
(Additional reporting by Mech Dara)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The protest must go on until that Yuon Kantorb Embassy's man retract his words.
We gat to overcome obstacle if we really want to save Cambodia.

Anonymous said...

Vietnamese hor namhong dog try to protect vietnam who encroached cambodian land in the history never stop hanoi remain to expand and want to swallow and erase cambodian from the world map,Hanoi still use their politic for khmer dictators like Hun sen,chea sim,heng samrin tea banh the top ranks ministry and all cpp members who serve as viet dogs to make agreement by the rule,Hor namhong should waking up to work for khmer people don't stay to be a dog for ever.

Anonymous said...

ឆ្កែ ហោ ណាំហុងបានរារាំងបាតុករមិនឲ្យធ្វើបាតុកម្មជាបន្តរព្រោះវាខ្លាច ចៅហា្វយវាចាប់វាដាក់គុកនៅហាន់ណូយ នេះចំជាអាឆ្កែហោ ណាំហុង កព្ជាះយួនថ្លៃមែនពួជអាឆ្កែចង្រៃហោ ណាំហុង អានេះឈ្មោះដូចយួន ណាំៗគឺលេខប្រាំ ។

Anonymous said...

I hope the border demarcation between Cambodia and Vietnam will be 100% complete soon so that Khmer will:

1. Stop encroaching on Vietnam's land.
2. Stop accusing Vietnam on encroaching Cambodia's land.

Let me explain the Khmer's trick in encroaching Vietnam's land. Khmer folk are very violent and barbaric. They scare the Vietnamese folks who live at the border zone to leave the area. Then the Khmer move in, claiming the land belong to them.

Khmer folks use the same tactic to rip off the companies who bought the land concessions. Imagine you bought some empty land then a few months later, a bunch of Khmer moved in and erect huts, tents claiming the lands belong to them.

As the result, the legitimate Cambodian folks who are actually living in the land before the land concession were evicted along with the illegal squatters. It's a real mess in Cambodia. I feel very sorry for Mr. Hun Sen who are overwhelmed with numerous problems, yet he has so little resource to deal with any of them.

-Drgunzet-

Anonymous said...

Hanoi flag is a piece of shit anyway who cares. burn some more until the Vietcong apologize to khmers people.

Anonymous said...

These youns , they multiply like rats and to support this growing population problem they will have to still Khmer lands.

The only quick solution to this explosion of youn population is for China to nuke this shit-nam back to stone age.

Do not worry, the Khmer will over come the radiation fall out in due time. It's the youns population that the Khmer can not over come.

Sincerely,
STUPID youn...