Kem Sokha (L) and Hun Xen (R)

The president of the Human Rights Party refused to reply to the comments made by the prime minister who attacked him but did not name him directly. However, it is likely that the person being attacked by Hun Sen is a leader of an opposition party in Cambodia.

Kem Sokha, HRP President, said that he is not paying attention to Hun Sen’s comments: “I don’t pay attention, nor value these issues because I don’t pay attention to them, I have the appropriate source on these issues.”

In a statement made in Oddar Meanchey province last Tuesday, PM Hun Sen attacked an opposition party leader who criticized him for begging for foreign aid.

Hun Sen said: “About (“Ah muoy” – a derogatory designation in Khmer) this guy, I call him “ah muoy” because he is too rude, “ah neung” (this guy) he came to discuss with me, asking my opinion on whether to continue his work with a NGO or forming a political party? He begged money from others, he told me: ‘Now, I cannot form [the party] yet, I lack money, I will go to the US first to look for funding, when I get it then I will form the party, please Samdach understand me because I cannot form a party before the commune election.’ Now he is teaching me, [saying that] if I am strong, there’s no need for me to beg for foreign aid, but when he formed a party, [or] a NGO, he can go beg from foreign countries, but when I seek aid from foreign countries to build roads, schools, hospitals, dikes, he said that if I am brave, I shouldn’t go beg from foreign countries. Hey, if you are crazy, just be one by yourself, ‘Ah Lop’ (cussing word for “crazy guy”).”

Hun Sen said that parties that proclaim themselves to be independent, they all ask aid from him.

Hun Sen added: “Mister, you talked with me on the phone, I taped everything already. In fact, I was the one who helped you form that party! I even sent an opposition MP [Keo Remy] to serve as the [HRP] party vice-president. I even helped to provide the Olympic Stadium for you to meet also. You asked me, I helped, after I helped form the party, you now say that you are independent? What independence? Those who claim to be independent, they always ask from Hun Sen for this and that. Even on the day of the National Assembly inauguration, you ask for a deputy-president position, ask for the chairmanship of 4 NA committees: 3 for this party, and 1 for the other party, otherwise, you’ll go to Europe. I did as you requested, may your mission be successful in Europe and at the UN.”

No immediate reaction was made by lawmakers from the opposition parties to clarify the democratic progress at the NA.