In the midst of the regional (ASEAN) hot topic perceived by most Cambodians as "Thailand invaded Cambodia" Mr. Sam Rainsy released a statement requesting Hun Sen to look into his case.
Image from http://sokheounpang.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/sam-rainsy-and-meas-srey-ly-meng-huor-rfi.jpg?w=400&h=279
Mr. Sam Raingsy stated that," The Cambodian government must show a minimum of consistency and openness in order to earn the respect of the international community at a time when Cambodia badly needs the support of this very international community in the defense of its territorial integrity against a foreign aggression."
In short the above statement may mean," free me because the EP and IPU is on my side."
But, does Hun Sen care about the EP and IPU? Do Cambodian voters care about them? In the case of Preah Vihear, does Thailand care about them?
What is the EP?
The European Parliament (abbreviated as Europarl or the EP) is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU). Together with the Council of the European Union (the Council), it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the EU and has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world.[1] The Parliament and Council form the highest legislative body within the EU. The Parliament is composed of 736 MEPs (Member of the European Parliament), who serve the second largest democratic electorate in the world (after India) and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world (375 million eligible voters in 2009).[2][3]
It has been directly elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. Although the European Parliament has legislative power that such bodies as those above do not possess, it does not have legislative initiative, as most state parliaments within the Union do[4] (however, it does have it in a de facto capacity - see Powers and functions below).[5] Parliament is the "first institution" of the EU (mentioned first in the treaties, having ceremonial precedence over all authority at European level),[6] and shares equal legislative and budgetary powers with the Council (except a few areas where the special legislative procedures apply). It likewise has equal control over the EU budget. Finally, the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, is accountable to Parliament: in particular Parliament can veto it and its President and can force the body to resign.[4]
The President of the European Parliament (Parliament's speaker) is currently Jerzy Buzek (EPP), elected in July 2009. He presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the European People's Party (EPP) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The last Union-wide elections were the 2009 Parliamentary Elections. Parliament has two meeting places, namely the Louise Weiss building in Strasbourg, France, which serves for twelve four-day plenary sessions per year and is the official seat, and the Espace Léopold (Dutch: Leopoldruimte) complex in Brussels, Belgium, the larger of the two, which serves for committee meetings, political groups and complementary plenary sessions. The Secretariat of the European Parliament, the Parliament's administrative body, is based in Luxembourg.[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament)
What is the IPU?
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) (French: L'Union Interparlementaire (UIP)) is an international organization established in 1889 by William Randal Cremer (United Kingdom) and Frédéric Passy (France). It was the first permanent forum for political multilateral negotiations. Initially, the organization was for individual parliamentarians, but has since transformed into an international organization of the parliaments of sovereign states. The national parliaments of 143 countries are members of the IPU, and seven regional parliamentary assemblies are associate members. The IPU has permanent observer status at the United Nations. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Parliamentary_Union)
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SAM RAINSY'S STATEMENT:
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
The Cambodian Government Must Earn The Respect of The International Community
February 21, 2011
THE CAMBODIAN GOVERNMENT MUST EARN THE RESPECT
OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
On February 23, 2011, the Supreme Court in Phnom Penh will decide on my case related to a border incident in 2010.
I would like to remind the Cambodian government of the opinion on this political case expressed by two important bodies representing the international community.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
In its "Resolution on Cambodia, in particular the case of Sam Rainsy" unanimously adopted in Strasbourg on October 21, 2010, the European Parliament condemns “all politically motivated sentences against representatives of the opposition and NGOs.” It says, "the strategy of Cambodia's ruling party is to use a politically subservient judiciary to crackdown on all government critics,” and it considers my gesture in Svay Rieng province “to be of a symbolic and clearly political nature” and my conviction as “based on an act of civil disobedience.” The European Parliament also notes, “the uprooting of six wooden temporary border posts at the Vietnamese-Cambodian border, which is still disputed between the two countries [...] took place in support of villagers who claimed to be victims of land-grabbing, saying that the Vietnamese had illegally shifted the posts onto Cambodian soil, in their rice fields, and that their complaints to the local authorities had remained unanswered.” [Read the whole text of the European Parliament Resolution at http://tinyurl.com/34cq5pe].
INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION
On January 17, 2011, the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva adopted the following Decision:
« - Recalling that Mr. Sam Rainsy, in judgments handed down in January and September 2010, was sentenced to a total of 12 years' imprisonment and a heavy fine for (a) having pulled out border post #185 marking the Cambodian/Vietnamese border in a village in Svay Rieng province (...), and (b) divulging false information [regarding a geographical map],
- Noting that no one disputes the fact that the process of demarcating the border between Vietnam and Cambodia is under way, that border marker #185 was a temporary wooden post and that the government recognized it was not a real and legal border marker and officially decided to dismantle it, and that there is at present no map recognized by Vietnam and Cambodia as being official and binding,
- Considering in this respect that Prime Minister Hun Sen stated the following in response to a letter by which the Speaker of the National Assembly had forwarded to him questions raised by members of parliament belonging to the Sam Rainsy Party regarding the border demarcation process: "In the area surrounding the tentative post #185, in particular posts #184 to 187 along the border between Cambodia and Vietnam, the joint technical group from the two countries is continuing its study on the actual ground in order to search for material evidence necessary for the determination of the real location of those border posts. Because the joint technical group from the two countries has not planted border post #185 yet, the border demarcation work, which is the work of the joint technical group after the planting of that post, has not started yet either." [Read Hun Sen's November 8, 2010 letter at http://tinyurl.com/25ulw7c]
[The Inter-Parliamentary Union]
1- Reaffirms that Mr. Sam Rainsy's gesture of pulling out temporary border markers was clearly a political gesture, and that, consequently, the courts should never have been resorted to for resolving a political question;
2- Notes that, given the official recognition that there was no such thing as a legal border post #185, Mr. Sam Rainsy cannot possibly have committed a crime by pulling out wooden posts, which were illegally planted;
3- Considers, therefore, that it has become urgent to review Mr. Sam Rainsy's case and to rehabilitate him and calls on the authorities, including Parliament, to take action to this end without delay so as to enable Mr. Sam Rainsy to resume his rightful place as a member of the National Assembly. » [Read the whole text of the IPU Decision at http://tinyurl.com/6yrt4t4].
The Cambodian government must show a minimum of consistency and openness in order to earn the respect of the international community at a time when Cambodia badly needs the support of this very international community in the defense of its territorial integrity against a foreign aggression.
Sam Rainsy
Member of Parliament
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