A Change of Guard

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Friday 12 August 2016

Opposition Denies it Plans to Form ‘Shadow Cabinet’


12 August 2016
Hul Reaksmey
VOA Khmer


FILE - Son Chhay, opposition CNRP party's whip chief speaks to the press at the party's headquarter in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, August 09, 2016. (Leng Len/VOA Khmer)
FILE - Son Chhay, opposition CNRP party's whip chief speaks to the press at the party's headquarter in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, August 09, 2016. (Leng Len/VOA Khmer)


National Assembly spokesman said the ruling Cambodian People’s Party was skeptical of the motives behind forming the commissions, when the CNRP already has members assigned to the parliamentary commissions


PHNOM PENH — 

The Cambodia National Rescue Party’s chief whip, Son Chhay, has denied reports that the opposition is setting up a shadow cabinet following suggestions from officials that such a move would be illegal.

Instead, the CNRP is forming 10 commissions that will cover the functions of government in parallel to ones that already exist in parliament – and which CNRP lawmakers chair – in order to “do research and compile the policies of the party” ahead of the next general election in 2018.

National Assembly spokesman Leng Peng Long said the ruling Cambodian People’s Party was skeptical of the motives behind forming the commissions, when the CNRP already has members assigned to the parliamentary commissions.

“The formation of a unit or institution which is the same as state institutions would mean there was a state within a state. That can’t happen…they would be formed in a private and illegal manner,” he said.

FILE - Cambodia's National Assembly spokesman Leng Peng Long​ talks to reporters after an Assembly session on April 12, 2016. (Neou Vannarin/VOA Khmer)
FILE - Cambodia's National Assembly spokesman Leng Peng Long​ talks to reporters after an Assembly session on April 12, 2016. (Neou Vannarin/VOA Khmer)


He added that if the CNRP wanted to form a shadow cabinet similar to those in other parliamentary democracies, where lawmakers are given policy positions that mirror the ministerial posts of government, then it should enter into negotiations with the CPP.

Ou Virak, head of the Future Forum think tank, said a functioning shadow cabinet would allow for greater transparency and scrutiny of the affairs of state.

“There are a lot of benefits to forming [a shadow cabinet] because it makes the competition [between parties] more serious,” he said.

Gen. Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, on Thursday said the government would need to review the constitutional basis for the proposition, adding that while the opposition had not announced it had formed a shadow cabinet, in practice “they have done it”.

Cambodian officials have a history of aversion to the idea of an effective opposition organizing its members to scrutinize the work of government ministries.

In 2005, opposition politician Cheam Channy was arrested and charged with sedition after being given the portfolio of shadow defense minister. Prime Minister Hun Sen had accused Channy of seeking to overthrow the government by raising a “shadow army”.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Leng Peng Long is a Yuon/Vietnamese secret agent in Khmer government. Looking at the way this Yuon/Vietnamese bastard talked, we know that he should be chased out of Cambodia and Khmer government immediately. This Yuon/Vietnamese has made Khmer people fight their own kinds. Khmer people and leaders should not fight each others and learn from each to find the common ground to solve the conflict stemming from the Yuon/Vietnamese secret agents and advisors in Ah Kork Hun Sen's CPP regime created by Yuon/Vietnamese agents from Hanoi. We as Khmer know that Ah Kork Hun Sen is afraid of saying something directly because this Yuon/Vietnamese puppet Hun Sen is afraid of getting killed by his Yuon/Vietnamese secret agents in his CPP regime. Pol Pot has been chased out by Yuon/Vietnamese agents supported by Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh when Pol Pot did not agree with those mother-f**kers from Hanoi who forced Pol Pot to sign the agreement. Yes, Pol Pot had refused. That was why Pol Pot has been chased out to the border between Cambodia and Thailand.