Fw: Sam Rainsy’s message to the Cambodian people

[Sam Rainsy Party of North America]

November 19, 2009





SAM RAINSY’S MESSAGE TO THE CAMBODIAN PEOPLE





Prime Minister Hun Sen is currently playing a dangerous game for our country. 
He seems to have lost his senses while handling Cambodia’s relations with 
neighbouring countries.



Our present government foreign policy is totally biased when it comes to 
defending Cambodia’s territorial integrity. According to the prime minister the 
danger of Cambodia’s losing portions of her territory is looming on our western 
border with Thailand. But he forgets to say that this danger is already and 
actually materializing on a large scale on our eastern border with Vietnam.



Let’s compare:



- Thailand has only recently started to unfairly challenge the status of a 
portion of Khmer territory surrounding Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear 
province that covers an area of less than five square kilometres.



- Vietnam has been, over the last 30 years, grabbing thousands of square 
kilometres of Khmer territories in Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Kandal, Prey Veng, Svay 
Rieng, Kampong Cham, Kratie, Mondolkiri and Ratanakiri provinces. This is an 
ongoing painful process that Mr. Hun Sen does not want us to look at. But we 
can’t help seeing the tears and hearing the cries of countless Khmer farmers 
who are losing their rice fields and other farmland to Vietnam as I have 
recently witnessed in Svay Rieng province.



Whereas there are no Thai immigrants in Cambodia, the continuous inflow of 
Vietnamese settlers into our country also reflects Vietnam’s expansionist 
policies which are facilitated by the Hun Sen government’s subservience to 
Hanoi.



His Majesty King Father Norodom Sihanouk has shown His concern for the 
situation in Cambodia’s provinces bordering Vietnam. Reacting to a report I 
submitted to Him earlier this month about Cambodian farmers losing their land 
because of border encroachments by the Vietnamese authorities in Svay Rieng 
province, the Retired King wrote to Prime Minister Hun Sen asking for an 
examination of the information and evidence I had exposed on the issue. As an 
insolent response to the King Father, the Hun Sen government reacted by 
undemocratically removing my parliamentary immunity in order to prosecute me 
because I dared raise a national issue that is embarrassing for the prime 
minister.



Mr. Hun Sen is using a classical tactic to divert the Khmer people’s attention 
from the real or the most serious danger, which in fact comes from our eastern 
side (Vietnam), by exacerbating tensions and creating unprecedented attention 
on our western side (Thailand).



By doing so, Mr. Hun Sen strives to:



For himself and his clan in Cambodia

    - Secure a continuous support from powerful Vietnam in order to remain in 
power against all democratic trends.

    - Create a nationalistic fervour against Thailand which would help the 
Cambodian people accept harsh and deteriorating living conditions due to the 
persistent economic crisis and the government’s corruption and incompetence.

     

For his protector Vietnam

    - Boost trade with, and economic influence on, Cambodia.

    - Establish a dominating control over Cambodia’s economy through growing 
investments from Vietnam, whose companies enjoy unique privileges in our 
country, while Thailand is being marginalized because of the current Khmer-Thai 
tension. The current situation is reminiscent of the anti-Thai riots in Phnom 
Penh organized by Mr. Hun Sen’s thugs in January 2003.



>From a historical and geopolitical perspective Thailand is Vietnam’s main 
>rival in mainland Indochina. Therefore, weakening Thailand is in the long term 
>interest of her rival. Vietnam’s expansionism could one day go beyond Cambodia 
>and Laos, which are already more or less under the control of Hanoi. To weaken 
>Thailand nothing is more effective than fanning the flames of internal 
>divisions among the Thai people and supporting one fighting group against the 
>other. Mr. Hun Sen is a well-placed tool or pawn that is being used by a third 
>country in this Machiavellian game for the implementation of a dark scheme. 
>Whoever associates himself with Mr. Hun Sen to knowingly or not knowingly 
>support the implementation of such a dark scheme runs the risk of being a 
>pawn’s pawn acting against his own country.



While the situation is still under control along our western border, Cambodia 
should first try to address a number of humanitarian issues such as the fate of 
over 200,000 Khmer workers currently living in Thailand because unemployment in 
our country is a more and more acute economic and social problem that the Hun 
Sen government is unable to solve.



The political game Mr. Hun Sen is playing is definitely not in Cambodia’s 
interest. We should not allow him to go on jeopardizing our country’s security. 
Cambodia should remain neutral in any internal dispute in any other country. 
Any spillover from the current tension or unrest in Thailand could be very 
detrimental to Cambodia. Mr. Hun Sen’s miscalculation when throwing oil on fire 
in a neighbouring country will likely at best burn his fingers and at worse set 
Cambodia ablaze as past experiences have shown when we unnecessarily and 
unwisely took side in our neighbours’ internal disputes.



Sam Rainsy

Member of Parliament

Opposition leader


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