“Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha represent honor and hope for Cambodian people,” Sam Rainsy posted on his Facebook feed. “These two Cambodian sons signify the great and dignified Cambodian children who do not give in to threats or intimidation.
“We cannot be bought,” he added. “He who is attempting to break us is unquestionably dreaming.”
Cambodia National Rescue Party leader Kem Sokha (L) embraces National Election Committee official Ny Chakrya at the General Department of Prisons in Phnom Penh, Dec. 13, 2016. |
Cambodia National Rescue Party Denies Rift Between Exiled, Acting Leaders
Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) leader Kem Sokha paid a visit
to a jailed election commission official today as attempts to free
opposition politicians and government critics from prison continues.
Kem Sokha, the CNRP’s acting president, told reporters very little
following his visit with Ny Chakrya, the National Election Committee’s
deputy leader who was jailed as part of the government’s wide-ranging
probe into an alleged affair between Kem Sokha and a young hair dresser.
“I am not the one who will sign to release him,” Kem Sokha said as he
left the prison in downtown Phnom Penh where the election official is
being held.
While Kem Sokha was taciturn with reporters, CNRP lawmaker Long Ry said they were looking for a way to get Ny Chakrya released.
“Acting President Kem Sokha has met in person with Ny Chakrya,” said
Long Ry, who was also at the prison. “He has asked him to remain patient
while he is looking into all possible means to find a solution.”
Hope for Ny Chakrya’s release and the release of four human rights
workers imprisoned in the probe were raised when Kem Sokha and a CNRP
commune chief received royal pardons in the wide-ranging case. Both
pardons came at the behest of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen who also
heads the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).
On May 2, Cambodian authorities arrested Cambodian Human Rights and
Development Association (ADHOC) staffers Ny Sokha, Nay Vanda, Yi Soksan,
and Lim Mony, as well as Ny Chakrya for allegedly attempting to pay
hush money to Kem Sokha’s purported mistress.
Theam Chan Piseth, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge investigating
the charges has decided to close his investigations into the
allegations, but it is unclear what the next steps will be, the Khmer Times reported.
The judge declined to say whether the case would proceed to trial or
if the court might drop the charges against the Kem Sokha Five, the
paper reported.
‘We cannot be bought’
While Kem Sokha is meeting with opposition prisoners, CNRP President
Sam Rainsy wrote in a Facebook post that rumors of the demise of their
partnership were exaggerated.
The two men have led the CNRP since Sam Rainsy left Cambodia last
year after he was given a two-year prison sentence in a defamation case.
It is not his only conviction handed down by the Cambodian courts to
the CNRP leader, and earlier this year he was barred from entering the
country.
Kem Sokha was recently elevated to president of CNRP National
Assembly Members, a position roughly analogous to minority leader in the
U.S. Congress and one that had been held by Sam Rainsy.
While CPP leaders have painted the change as a split between the two leaders, they deny there’s any friction.
“Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha represent honor and hope for Cambodian
people,” Sam Rainsy posted on his Facebook feed. “These two Cambodian
sons signify the great and dignified Cambodian children who do not give
in to threats or intimidation.
“We cannot be bought,” he added. “He who is attempting to break us is unquestionably dreaming.”
Phnom Penh City Hall spokesman Suos Yara told local reporters on
December 12, that Sam Rainsy appears to be hallucinating after he left
the position.
In his Facebook posts, Sam Rainsy compared the two parties to boats
racing across the Mekong River with the CPP in a doomed luxury liner and
the CNRP manning smaller more seaworthy boats.
“Knowing they will never reach any shore in 2018 and facing possible
death in the middle of the river, the big ship's passengers start to
jump out into the river,” he wrote. “I call on the small boats and their
passengers to set out to go rescue those who are in danger of getting
drowned because they all are Cambodians and human beings.”
Cambodian national elections are scheduled for 2018 and local
elections in 2017. While the CPP still controls the National Assembly,
the CNRP gained 55 seats in the 2013 election that was marred by
accusations of fraud.
Cambodians are using a new digital voter registration system that is designed to combat those allegations.
The new system is part of a 2014 election reform deal between the CPP
and opposition CNRP that ended almost a year of deadlock following the
2013 ballot.
If Kem Sokha still has any true CNRP blood left
ReplyDeletein him yet, he should come out and reaffirms the
party unity with and to Mr. Sam Rainsy publicly.