Written by DAP NEWS -- Thursday, 24 September 2009
(CAAI News Media)
Cambodian member officials on Wednesday rejected the claims of Sam Rainsy, leader of the eponymous SRP, in Bangkok on September 23, 2009. Rainsy criticized the “weak leadership” of Prime Minister Hun Sen which he said had let Cambodia down.
Sam Rainsy, Cambodia’s main opposition leader, accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of silencing critical voices in the country in the face of growing discontent among Cam-bodians induced by the government’s corrupt practices and mismanagement of the economy and the effects of the worldwide financial crisis, according to Bangkok a news agency on Wednesday.
Speaking before representatives of the international media in a panel discussion organized by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) in cooperation with the Foreign Corre-spondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) in Bangkok on 23 September 2009, Sam Rainsy said the Hun Sen administration has launched a crackdown, not only against journalists, but also legislators, civil society officers and even their lawyers.
“The government’s corruption has further weakened the national economy. Cambodia is losing US$500 million every year to corruption,” he was quoted as saying by the agency.
Sam Rainsy, whose SRP controls 26 of 123 seats in Cambodia’s parliament, accused the current Govern- ment of mismanaging the economy, first selling off natural resources like timber, and now leasing forested lands to foreign companies for up to 99 years, with the income allegedly going to corrupt officials’ pockets.
Sam Rainsy said the Government is not taking steps to mitigate the effects of the worldwide crisis. It has refused to inject money into the economy, he said, adding that taxes were instead raised, and the interest rates of banks shot up to 3 percent per month. Cheam Yeab, a lawmaker for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, told DAP News Cambodia that he cannot accept Rainsy’s claims. “What- ever he (Sam Raingsy) saying, I can not accept because he is in a dream.”
“All procedures the Government are done under legal measures,” said Cheam Yeab. “The amount of US$500 million lost to corruption every year he has to show and clarify clearly. If it said without basis … [this] caused some his subordinators were ready to be imprisoned in the past.”
“I would like to send a message to him that finding justice and implementation by legal measures is to be said to be following the democratic system. It is not turning back the democratic system in Cambodia.”
The Cambodian Council for Ministers also issued a strong reaction to Sam Rainsy’s remarks. The statement said that Cambodia is now developing as led by the “three high leaders of CCP: Chea Sim, Senate President, Heng Samrin, National Assembly President and Prime Minister Hun Sen.
“The Premier Hun Sen is also a victim of the Pol Pot regime,” it claimed, adding that “Cambodia presently has 660 newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV stations and press associations. Also, 2,800 NGOs are working freely in Cambodia.”
“Sam Rainsy is not … a moral politician and often use foreign places to attack the Government,” the statement confirmed.
Chea Vannath, veteran society analyst, told DAP News Cambodia on Wednesday that it is usually for the opposition party to attack weak points of the Government.
“I think that the mechanism of democratic system should be raised at and debated at the Assembly sessions, for example, opposition lawmakers should ask for a debate to talk about US$500 million, which they claimed is lost to corruption every year,” She said.
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