COMMENTARY:
People should know how dangerous Sam Rainsy is
Thomas
Mann Miller in his article “Betting on a Cambodian Spring” appeared in
“Foreign Policy” Magazine, a respected monthly publication, dated 01
June 2012, has revealed Sam Rainsy’s unabated long political ambition he
once swore in public, that is: “If there is Rainsy, there will be no
Hun Sen, and if there is Hun Sen, there will be no Rainsy.” However, Sam
Rainsy fell into a wrong political calculation. He was foolishly over
confident that the Sam Raisy Party (SRP) can win 50 + 1 votes in 2008
parliamentary election, driving him to approach Samdech Akka Moha Sena
Padei Techo Hun Sen and throwing his support behind the Cambodian’s
People Party (CPP) to amend the Constitution on the crucial article
about forming a government with 50 + 1 votes rather than 2/3 of the
parliamentarian votes.
Rainsy
expected to oust Samdech Techo Hun Sen then, and he spares no effort to
oust Samdech Techo Hun Sen now, as he told Thomas Mann Miller. Hearing
what Rainsy had told him nothing more than the events known as “Arab
Spring” and the alleged authoritarian wrongdoings of Samdech Techo Hun
Sen and his government, Thomas Mann Miller has concluded that “Rainsy’s
optimism may seem quixotic,” but not impossible. Actually, it is only a
razor-thin chance for all those who espoused Rainsy’s optimism, because
Samdech Techo Hun Sen, “the prime minister has overseen years of strong economic growth and a sharp decline in poverty,” wrote Thomas Mann Miller.
Furthermore
Thomas Mann Miller cannot invent something that is further
incriminating against Rainsy by writing: [Now Rainsy is going for broke.
As he told me in a recent interview, he is now openly advocating a
strategy to lead a "revolt" against Hun Sen: "The objective is to bring
down the Hun Sen regime."] On this destructive and radically harmful
strategy, the Cambodian government, but most importantly the Cambodian
people who enjoy peace, security, improvement in their standard of
living, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, equal rights under the
rule of law, and economic and social development will not tolerate Sam
Rainsy. By this revelation, Sam Rainsy signed his own imprisonment that
could be longer than his current prison term.
It
is also deplorable that Thomas Mann Miller had to repeat Rainsy’s
story, the same story of grenade attack in 1997 that Rainsy himself got
different conclusions depending on what he wanted to achieve. He accused
Samdech Techo Hun Sen involvement, and then he issued public statement
saying that he regretted having wrongly accused Samdech Techo Hun Sen.
In advocating a strategy of “revolt” in Cambodia, it is natural that
Rainsy spoke only about wrongdoings under Samdech Techo Hun Sen,
including the National Electon Committee, the judiciary, the social
organization and development, the government at all levels, that Thomas
Mann Miller attributed as “pervasive patronage”.
Thomas
Mann Miller had not failed to admit that Rainsy is very dangerous with
his oratory skill. Many supporters, especially international dignitaries
whom Rainsy had disappointed by his dangerous and skillful
manipulations during his political career and outside of Cambodia,
walked away from him one by one, forcing him to “going for broke”. Had
the voters on 03 June Election know how dangerous Rainsy is with his
strategy advocating “revolt,” the Sam Rainsy Party’s voters may have
stayed home or switched their votes to other registered political
parties. Nonetheless, the result of this 03 June Election, known
generally by foreign media as “local election or grass-root level
election” reveals that:
1.
The general trend of the Cambodian people has been to continue
supporting the CPP ruling and rising Party with an increase of almost 2%
compared to Commune Election in 2007. On the contrary the general trend
of support to SRP has been deteriorating, and going down by more than
5% compared to 2007 election. In addition, the result of this 03 June
Election also reconfirms the IRI (International Republican Institute of
the USA) recent release of its opinion poll that 81% of Cambodian
population agreed that CPP-led Government under Prime Minister Samdech
Techo Hun Sen is moving in the right direction and 87% are confident in
Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen leadership. Inversely, the IRI poll
showed that people's support for Sam Rainsy slides sharply from 21% in
2008 to 13%.
2.
Observers, national and international, at the polling stations found
that the voters are very relaxing by their demeanor and willing to
exercise their rights. The National Election Commission, on the other
hand, has done a very good job worth praising. It was hugely better
organized than the last Commune Election.
3.
The general trend of the Cambodian people has been to continue
supporting democracy in Cambodia and the democratic process of selecting
the government either at national or local levels in conformity with
the Articles of the Constitution. Every five years since 1993, if the
Cambodian people wanted to change the government, they would have done
so at the poll. It was totally derisive to think that the Cambodian
people would want to throw away peace, security, social harmony,
economic development and improvement in their daily life achieved under
the leadership of the CPP and Samdech Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister, in a
matter of merely 15 years, after centuries of insecurity and decades of
war and then to turn themselves to embrace Rainsy’s foolish promise of
“Cambodian Spring,” and “revolt”. They, and that also includes the SRP
members, would not want to pay the prices for the sake of Rainsy’s
personal glory and personal vengeance.
It
is worthless to respond to Thomas Mann Miller about his speculative
characterization of the Royal Government of Cambodia and Samdech Tech
Hun Sen of being authoritative, pervasive patronizing, going after
opposition lawmakers and activists, killing the Cambodian people slowly,
in order to embellish his article to go along with Rainsy’s madness of
“revolt” and “to bring down Hun Sen regime.” However, the article as a
whole is good enough for the Cambodian people to learn that Thomas Mann
Miller has revealed that Rainsy is a very dangerous individual, a good
warning, nevertheless.
06 June 2012
Press and Quick Reaction Unit (PRU)