Opposition Party and Civil Society Criticize that Hun Sen Provokes Discrimination against the United Nations

Posted on 9 October 2008
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 581

“Opposition party officials and civil society strongly criticized the not well thought through speech by Hun Sen, which provokes discrimination against election systems organized by the United Nations, which Hun Sen described to be not trustworthy.

Note:

To remember the origins, the purpose, and the character of the international cooperation which has taken form as the United Nations, we quote here the Preamble to its Charter, describing this platform of cooperation among the peoples of its 192 member states. The Charter of the United Nations Organization was signed on 26 June 1945 and came into force on 24 October 1945. Cambodia is a member since 14 December 1955.

PREAMBLE

WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED

- to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and

- to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and

- to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and

- to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

AND FOR THESE ENDS

- to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors, and

- to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and

- to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and

- to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,

HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS

Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.

“Ms. Mu Sochua, the Sam Rainsy Party deputy secretary general, recognized the election system of the UN as the fairest and the best election system, but Hun Sen, the vice-president of the Cambodian People’s Party, criticized it, because the Cambodian People’s Party lost during that period [of elections of 1993].

“The comment by the Sam Rainsy Party deputy secretary general and newly elected parliamentarian from Kampot was made right after the rough appeal from the power-addicting Prime Minister Hun Sen, encouraging some countries around the world that have internal conflicts to reject the role of the United Nations as arbiter. Hun Sen said that the election processes organized by the UN were not trustworthy.

“What Hun Sen considered to be not trustworthy was represented during a ceremony at a medical school on Monday early this week, saying that the ink for dyeing the forefinger at the elections organized by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia – UNTAC – could be cleaned immediately after dyeing the finger, which is different from the ink chosen by the National Election Committee that still has not faded away, although already three months have passed since the elections. This is the reason that Hun Sen used as a pretext to call on some countries worldwide which are facing problems, not to choose the UN to be the arbiter of elections. Hun Sen wanted to explain that they should choose local arbiters coming originally from the same nationality of those countries holding elections, like the National Election Committee, nominated by the government of the Cambodian People’s Party for the elections this time.

“However, the elections which were organized by the UN are still recognized as fair elections, and it remains most important for any country that has problems to select the UN as election arbiter. That is, only Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia reacted against elections organized by the UN; other countries recognize the role of the UN in seeking justice and in ending a crisis, and building democracy for those countries.

“In the meantime, observers assume that the reason that led Hun Sen to look down on the role of the UN in organizing elections is because Hun Sen and the Cambodian People’s Party could not conduct fraudulent balloting during the elections organized by UNTAC in 1993.

“During the 1993 elections, the Cambodian People’s Party, which had been originally installed by the Hanoi government, was embarrassed to have lost the vote. This annoyed Hun Sen so much that he dared to create an illegal region of secession east of the Mekong River. But because of the efforts towards unity by the former King, Hun Sen agreed to take the position of Second Prime Minister, together with Prince Ranariddh as First Prime Minister.

“This is what is assumed as the reason, motivating Hun Sen to express his bitterness and to harass the UN, even using provoking words without hesitation towards other [UN member] countries facing problems, to consider the role of the UN with discrimination and rather turn to organize national elections like he did. Then we have to ask: how much efficiency, fairness, and credibility did the National Election Committee – NEC – created by the Cambodian People’s Party, guarantee?

“The Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party, which are in alliance, still retain their position to absolutely reject the election results announced by the National Election Committee, because there was no fairness, and they did not reflect the real will of the Khmer citizens.

“The alliance of the two parties discovered that more than one million Khmer citizens had lost the right to vote. It was a loss, resulting from complicated procedures set up with bad intentions by the National Election Committee. Some Khmer citizens, who are still alive and have an established residence, were removed from the voter lists, taking the right to vote away from them. Also, trough the Form 1018, created by the National Election Committee, the village and commune chiefs, who are mostly from the Cambodian People’s Party, got the opportunity to include many underage youth, especially Yuon [Vietnamese] nationals, to get the right to impudently vote to define the fate for the Khmers.

“Therefore, Hun Sen always praises the ways of organizing the elections by the National Election Committee with Im Suorsdey as president and Tep Nitha as secretary general, to create tricks for fraudulent vote with which the Cambodian People’s Party won the elections, things that did not exist during the UNTAC period.”

Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.15, #3582, 8.10.2008
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Wednesday, 8 October 2008