Republican challenger Kamara Kay is a leader in the fight against a planned visit to Lowell by Hun Manet, a top-ranking Cambodian military official and son
Republican challenger Kamara Kay is a leader in the fight against a planned visit to Lowell by Hun Manet, a top-ranking Cambodian military official and son of Prime Minister Hun Sen. SUN / CALEY MCGUANE

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LOWELL -- The city's Cambodian community came together like it rarely has before in protesting by the hundreds last Tuesday night in City Hall.
They called the Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen, an oppressive and corrupt leader, and urged the city to not welcome Hun Manet, his son, who was due to meet with city officials April 16.
The movement, in addition to showing the voice the Cambodian community can hold in Lowell politics, has also become a major issue early in the 18th Middlesex District state representative race.
Both Cambodian-born candidates said Manet's visit should have nothing to do with the Statehouse race, and both have criticized the other for making it a political one.
State Rep. Rady Mom of Lowell, shown in Lowell’s Cupples Square in November 2014, has said he’s focused on issues in the 18th Middlesex
State Rep. Rady Mom of Lowell, shown in Lowell's Cupples Square in November 2014, has said he's focused on issues in the 18th Middlesex district, and not on Cambodian politics. SUN FILE PHOTO / JULIA MALAKIE 

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On one side is challenger Kamara Kay, a leader in the fight against Manet's visit, which generated solid support from the Cambodian community. On the other is Democratic state Rep. Rady Mom, who remained silent through the uproar and later criticized Kay for using the controversy to help his campaign.
Kay was "manipulating the pain and suffering" that so many Cambodians felt for his own political gain, Mom said.
Kay, a Republican, denied any motivation other than responding to Lowell's Cambodian elders and others who felt action needed to be taken against plans by the city to meet with Manet, who is Sen's youngest son and a West Point-educated general in the Cambodian national army.
"I would like everyone to know," Kay said, "whether I'm a candidate for the 18th district or not a candidate at all, this issue has nothing to do with this race."
Kay said he would not use the issue in the upcoming race for the Statehouse district that covers Cambodian neighborhoods in the Highlands and the Acre.
"I never injected politics or anything like that," he said.
Mom became the first Cambodian-American legislator in the United States -- and the pride of much of the Cambodian community -- when he was elected in 2014. He was criticized by some in the community when, shortly after his election, he visited Cambodia and met with the prime minister, Hun Sen.
That criticism seems to underscore how divided many in the community are between the ruling Cambodian People's Party and the opposition, known primarily as the Cambodia National Rescue Party. Mom said he also met during that trip with opposition-party officials and with a group of political prisoners.
Mom has said he's focused on issues in the 18th Middlesex district, and not on Cambodian politics. The stance appears to be at odds with a very vocal segment of the local Cambodia constituency that helped put him in office despite having no prior elected-office experience.
"Maybe my opponent wants to run for office in Cambodia but my job is still here in the city of Lowell," Mom told 980-AM WCAP in an interview last week.
Kay, who was unsuccessful in a campaign for School Committee last fall, did not mention Mom when speaking in City Hall last Tuesday night. But it has become clear that Manet's visit has become a flashpoint in their race for the Statehouse.
A small group who favored Manet's visit implied Kay was taking advantage of the issue because he's running for office. One of them had a sign saying: "We don't want you here to divide our community."
Another speaker, Ed Shoemaker, who said he was taken in by a Cambodian family as a young man, asked for the issue to not be politicized, saying he knew there were "a lot of political intentions."
"This is not about the 18th Middlesex District," he said. "This is about the Cambodian community."
Many other prominent names in the Cambodian community were front and center at council meeting: Rithy Uong, who was the first Cambodian elected official in the United States when he became Lowell city councilor; Vesna Nuon, another former city councilor; and Adam Pril, a leader in the Lowell Cambodian business community.
Noticeably missing, however, was, in addition to Mom, any members from the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, a group that holds a major role in the lives of many Cambodians living in Lowell.
The group sent an email to members of the community last Thursday explaining its rationale for staying on the sidelines and making it clear it stands against human-rights violations anywhere. 
Sovanna Pouv, the CMAA executive director, told The Sun the group wanted to stay "as neutral as possible" in the controversy. But the active role in democracy by many in the Cambodian community "was amazing to see," he said.