BY MATT BLOMBERG AND SAING SOENTHRITH | OCTOBER 10, 2014
Y Chhien, the three-star military general and former bodyguard of Pol Pot, has resigned from his position as chief of the Pailin Provincial Council, an Interior Ministry official confirmed on Thursday.Rumors had circulated for days that Lieutenant General Chhien, the first governor of Pailin, would step down from his position, leading to a protest of an estimated 1,000 people in front of his home on Wednesday.
Last night, Sak Setha, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, confirmed the rumors.
“I just got the information from the governor of Pailin that [Y Chhien] has submitted a letter to resign from his position as chief of the provincial council,” Mr. Setha said.
“I do not know any more until I meet with him.”
Lt. Gen. Chhien, 63, became the governor of Pailin when it was carved out of Battambang province in 1996 as part of a deal that saw Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary defect to the Phnom Penh government with some 5,000 rebel troops.
In June, Lt. Gen. Chhien stepped down from that position, and was replaced by his deputy, Koeut Sothea.
Kong Duong, director of the provincial information department in Pailin, said Thursday that he had seen Lt. Gen. Chhien’s letter of resignation but was not sure if his retirement had been made official.
“His Excellency Y Chhien has asked to take a rest, but he wants his colleagues to continue his work because they have been his colleagues since the civil war,” Mr. Duong said.
However, on Wednesday, Ly Samith, a subordinate of Mr. Duong at the information department, said Lt. Gen. Chhien had been ordered by the government to resign. He said a replacement had already been chosen—Lai Chan Chhay, a former provincial police chief who retired in May.
Mr. Samith said Lt. Gen. Chhien had fallen out of favor with many Pailin residents due to the business dealings of his wife, Ban Sreymom, a CPP lawmaker whose company became involved in a land dispute with local villagers earlier this year.
Lt. Gen. Chhien could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The mass outpouring of support for Lt. Gen. Chhien on Wednesday, Mr. Duong said, was a result of his services to the province, which was one of the last strongholds of the Khmer Rouge.
“Most of them are children of his friends. Their parents were Khmer Rouge soldiers in the civil war and they went to ask His Excellency Y Chhien not to resign from his post,” Mr. Duong said.
“Because most of his friends are over 60 years old, they have advised their kids to love [Lt. Gen. Chhien].”
Mr. Duong said that Lt. Gen. Chhien had assured the protesters that he would never leave Pailin City, at which point they decided to stop the rally and go home.
blomberg@cambodiadaily.com, rith@cambodiadaily.com
2 comments:
Anyone thinks that CPP has solid cohesiveness comparing to CNRP in which every mishap in the party is always considered division.
CPP has a long list record of fractures and cracks within rank and file, but since Hun Sen has vast enormous power to reward and punish anyone, so the division and rebellion become much less obvious and controllable.
CNRP DISGRUNTLE MEMBERS CAN GIVE MIDDLE FINGER TO THE LEADERS. THEY CAN BLAST AND SPREAD THEIR DISCONTENT WITHOUT BEING FEAR OF PUNISHMENT. AND PLUS WILL BE REWARDED BY AN OPPONENT PARTY.
SO THEY FORGET THE FACT THAT THEY ARE ENJOYING FREEDOM TO SPEAK THEIR MINDS, WHEREAS if they were CPP MEMBERS , THEY CAN GO TO SLEEP.
“His Excellency Y Chhien has asked to take a rest, but he wants his colleagues to continue his work because they have been his colleagues since the civil war,”
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This KR murderer is addressed as “His Excellency” while his victims still live miserable lives as in KR era, this is justice in Cambodia.
The killers go to heaven the unjustly killed go to hell.
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