PM: What the US is doing is to defend its puppet in Cambodia

Tin Sokhavuth



In response to the US Government's statement concerning the arrest of the opposition leader Kem Sokha, Prime Minister Hun Sen, on Monday, in his speech at the launching ceremony of a mosque in Kampong Cham Province, said that the US concern was only to defend its «puppet» [Mr. Sokha?].

The premier also said that his government is working to find out more foreigner(s) who is helping Mr. Sokha besides the US and Canada.

In the press statement issued on Sunday, the same day the arrest took place, the US Department of State said that the arrest appears to be «politically motivated», and Mr. Sokha is recognized by international communities as a distinguished individual committed to human rights and peaceful democracy.

"We note with grave concern the Cambodian government’s arrest of Kem Sokha, respected leader of the political opposition, on a number of charges that appear to be politically motivated. Kem Sokha has a long, distinguished, and internationally recognized commitment to human rights and peaceful democracy," read the press statement.

The US government added that following the arrest, freedom of expression for the media in Cambodia was also restricted. As a result, a question was raised about the legitimacy of the upcoming general election in 2018.

"This government move follows a number of troubling recent steps, including the imposition of unprecedented restrictions on independent media and civil society. These measures undercut Cambodia's progress in recent decades and raise serious questions about the government's ability to organize credible national elections in 2018 which produce an outcome that enjoys democratic legitimacy," added the press statement.

Concerning this issue, an anonymous political analyst said that this kind of direct attack against the US government and other western countries is not something new, and what Prime Minister Hun Sen is doing is just repeating what many western politicians have done to him. In the western world, many lawmakers and politicians never talk about Prime Minister Hun Sen as a «friend», most of the time, they talk about change, replacement, stepping down etc.

The political analyst added that it is not about change or replacement, it rather about development and prosperity. To him, if a political party could lead the country to a glorious future, they could stay in power as long as they keep doing good thing for Cambodian people. For example, in Singapore, The People's Action Party (PAP) stays in power for more than 58 years, since 1959, and people in Singapore still keep voting for the PAP to lead the country, because the PAP is doing good job for Singaporean people. And the western politicians say nothing about that.

"The US Government has been using force to topple Saddam Hussein from power, but the US Government could not prevent a «civil war» from happening in Iraq where suicide bombing killed around 20-30 innocent Iraqis almost everyday. And what the US Government has done was withdrawing their troops from Iraq. We, Cambodian laymen, we don't want anymore civil war, more than two decades of civil war is enough for us," added the political analyst.