Shall Rainsy Return?

It is impossible to undo what Sam Rainsy has done. There is no doubt that Sam Rainsy wanted to bring the world to pay attention to the eastern border problems, but the way he had done has given an opportunity to the government to charge him according to Cambodian laws. It would be very difficult for anyone to legally support his actions. I don’t question his intention, but I thought he made a mistake by letting his ego and emotion control that moment.

I wish that, initially, he would take the matter through proper channels and through legal processes and put pressure on Hun Sen and the CPP to solve this important issue lawfully. He didn’t need to “uproot” those posts, because the evidence was already there. What he needed to do was to examine the evidence, prepared for legal actions then took the matter to the proper authority. By doing this he would earn more respect from everyone and the attention would have been drawn to this matter more effectively.

SRP’s Motto: “Silathor, Satchathor and Yuttethor.” Any actions conducted against such a motto can ruin the image of the party. Sam Rainsy supporters need to be professional in their critiques against members of the CPP, the Cambodian government as well as with their fellow Cambodians. In the eye of international community, image and characters count. After all, SRP has become a part of Cambodia’s establishment. It has participated in the Cambodian governmental system for the past decades. There is no need to curse or label Hun Sen and the CPP as the Vietnamese puppet and call him as all kind of names. We all know that the government is controlled by the CPP and the CPP is the product of Vietnam since 1979. We need to find the way to pull them out of Vietnam’s claws, however if we continue to label them as Vietnam’s puppet and as Vietnam’s dogs, etc… we will push them further into Vietnam’s arms. The truth hurts.

At this moment, Sam Rainsy Party is quite weak. Internal problems are one of the major problems among other issues such as financial, etc… To challenge Hun Sen head on at this point may cause the whole party to finally crumble. Running the party from abroad is far from effective. Prince Ranariddh had tried that last year, but he wasted tons of money just to surrender to the CPP at last.

Nevertheless, what was done is done. Sam Rainsy needs to go back to Cambodia and challenge Cambodian court. He should bring all relevant evidences to prove that the Vietnamese and the Cambodian authorities have violated Cambodian people’s rights and that Vietnam is the culprit in stealing Cambodian land. I don’t believe that Hun Sen will jail Sam Rainsy because he needs Sam Rainsy for his alibi, as Sam Rainsy has rightly stated. Staying away will give additional opportunity for the CPP to discredit him to the point that more SRP’s members and supporters will disband.

Many of us who understand the current Cambodia’s political structures will be careless if SRP breaks apart because we know that without SRP, there will always be another opposition to fill the gap as an alibi. However, we need an alibi that has some guts, and Rainsy and Mu SocHua have been doing a decent job in keeping the CPP on track. Will SRP have a chance to win? Not if it keeps doing the same thing over and over. It needs a serious change.

“Still water is always filthy”

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Sam Rainsy will not show up to the Svay Rieng kangaroo court for clarification
17 Dec 2009By Sok SereyRadio Free AsiaTranslated from Khmer by SocheataClick here to read the article in Khmer
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who is currently in France, told RFA over the phone on Friday morning that he will not show up in court to provide clarification as summoned by the Svay Rieng provincial court.Sam Rainsy was charged by the Svay Rieng provincial court of destroying public properties and racial discrimination after he pulled out border stakes in Svay Rieng. Local villagers accused Vietnam of moving the border into Cambodian territories.