TRACEY SHELTONSRP president Sam Rainsy has brushed off concerns over recent defections from his party by saying the exodus toward the ruling CPP allows his party to strengthen its ideological base, although others are asking why those who supposedly once shared the SRP's principles are now deciding to leave.
The Phnom Penh Post
Written by The Phnom Penh Post
Friday, 21 March 2008
The NRP was quick to take advantage of defections from the SRP, arguing that it is only through the formation of a "united democratic front" that opposition parties can survive.
A reconciliatory tone has disappeared from February media coverage as political parties attempt to score points for this year’s general elections. The dominant story concerns defections of senior Sam Rainsy Party members to the CPP and Prince Ranariddh’s continuing search for a role in the elections. In this month’s media analysis, Kheang Un examines the politics surrounding these defections and looks at how different political parties reacted to these developments.
Defections from the SRP of its senior officers have raised many issues concerning the viability of the party as a sustainable opposition and its potential in this year’s national elections. Defectors claimed that their defections derived from structural problems within the SRP.
Despite the SRP’s rhetoric of following democratic principles, the party, defectors claimed, is characterized by autocracy, nepotism, corruption and incompetent leadership.
They alleged some SRP leaders, particularly Eng Chhay Eang, were incompetent. Eng Chhay Eang’s gambling addiction – which he claimed was no longer an issue – was raised by defectors as an impediment to his leadership.
Due to these problems within the SRP, defectors said they had not been able to contribute to the development of the country.
The ruling Cambodian People’s Party accepted the defectors with open arms. In gratitude and as a way to capitalize on the defectors “expertise and conscience,” Prime Minister Hun Sen offered the defectors high government portfolios as advisors to the Prime Minister or to the government with a rank equal to that of secretary of state or minister.
Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay charged that the Prime Minister’s decision not only wasted government revenue but was also illegal.
The Prime Minister brushed Son Chhay’s criticism aside, arguing that the government would benefit from these defectors for they had been outside of the government and thus were able to see the government’s shortcomings and offer constructive advice.
As expected, the SRP downplayed the impact of recent defections, stating that they would not affect the party. The party charged that these defectors “sold their conscience” and that their decisions were based on personal ambition and interests.
Their decision to defect at this critical time was to maximize their bargaining power, the party says.
The CPP was quick to capitalize on these opportunities to weaken the SRP.
Impact of defections
The SRP stated that it will be able to replace these defectors with idealist cadres who will put “national interests” above “personal interests.” This could be true. SRP members receive little benefit from their political activism and would not be able to stay with the Sam Rainsy Party if they were not idealistic or determined to change the status quo.
The SRP’s denial of the impact of these defections notwithstanding, a puzzling question arises in that these members have been idealistic and have been the vanguards of the SRP for almost a decade; so what has prompted them to become non-idealistic at this moment?
Pro-CPP newspapers opined that because of recent defections the SRP might face the fate suffered by Funcinpec and the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) – party disintegration.
Rasmey Kampuchea Daily on March 12, 2008 ran the headline “SRP’s Blood Drips Prior to the Elections.” However, the recent defections can be seen as a cut but not a deep wound for the SRP for a few fundamental reasons.
Firstly, due to a lack of effort for grassroots mobilization, Funcinpec since the 1993 elections has been a top heavy party. Thus, defections of its senior members gravely affect the party.
On the contrary, the SRP, despite its reliance on Sam Rainsy’s popularity, has worked hard to build grassroots support. Taking advantage of decentralization, the SRP has extended its reach from urban to rural areas. As such, the defections of some of its senior members might not be as likely to destabilize the party.
Secondly, the gravity of the impact of the defections on SRP will depend on the scope of these defectors as “movers” and “shakers” within the SRP.
If these defectors have strong connections to and popularity among SRP grassroots supporters, then their defections will negatively affect the party.
Their accusations of “corruption, autocracy, and nepotism” within the SRP will affect the reputation of the SRP, which has built a niche within the Cambodian political arena based on the rhetoric of democracy and transparency. Under these conditions, defectors’ claims might prompt some voters to reconsider their trust in the SRP.
But if, to the contrary, these defectors were not very popular among grassroots SRP supporters, then the defections will have some but not significant psychological impact on the SRP.
A more grave concern for the SRP is a reported claim by recent defectors that there will be about 30 commune councilors leaving the party for the CPP. If this were to occur, it would be a severe blow for the SRP.
Unlike the defected senior party officers, these councilors are close to grassroots SRP supporters and serve as the party’s foot soldiers, devoting their energy and time to widen political local space and to mobilize villagers. However, the truth of this claim remains to be seen.
NRP on shaky ground
The NRP remains in a state of uncertainty due to the inability of its leader, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, to return to Cambodia.
Various venues have been employed by the NRP to secure the return of its leader. As its judicial appeal remains in limbo, the NRP with support from some NGOs appealed to the King for clemency, though no result has yet emerged.
As previous analyses have shown, the NRP has not been able to find a niche within the current political terrain.
Its core supporters are unidentifiable while its policy platforms are fluid. While they protested certain principles in abstract, such as land grabbing, workers’ wages and working conditions, they did not follow up these protests with any action.
SRP lawmakers, in contrast, made political statements followed by political activism such as boycotting the National Assembly session to protests against the eviction of residents of Dey Krahom commune and participating in protest organized by factory workers.
The NRP is persistent in its efforts to form a coalition with the SRP and Human Rights Party (HRP).
It was quick to take advantage of defections from the SRP, arguing that it is only through the formation of a “united democratic front” that opposition parties can survive.
Given its weak political capital, pro-SRP and pro-HRP newspapers label the NRP’s appeal for “unification of democrats” as an effort “to bake a cake without ingredients.”
Kheang Un, PhD, is assistant director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies and an adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science, Northern Illinois University, US.
The Cambodia Development Resource Institute’s Conflict Prevention in Cambodian Election (COPCEL) project notes: This is an independent analysis on media monitoring extracted from 15 Cambodian newspapers. This is the seventh analysis of an ongoing series. The 15 newspapers chosen by COPCEL for monitoring are owned or sponsored by political parties, with the exception of the Cambodia Daily and the Phnom Penh Post which are foreign owned. Consequently, their reports and commentaries are biased toward a particular party. Although such biases are normal in any society, in the Cambodian context these are not based on clear policy agendas or ideologies but, more often than not, on poorly documented personal attacks. Bias notwithstanding, reports and commentaries by these newspapers do reflect the trends of Cambodia’s political developments.
