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Hun Sen Responds to Trump Letter, Ignores Call for Course Correction
Hun Sen Responds to Trump Letter, Ignores Call for Course Correction
28 November 2019
- Kann Vicheika
- VOA Khmer
Hun Sen’s letter called for the creation of a working group with member from both countries, with the aim of discussing ways to improve bilateral relations.PHNOM PENH —
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday responded to a letter sent by President Donald Trump last week by saying he was keen to improve bilateral relations and hoped to move past the “dark chapters” of their shared history.
The prime minister wrote his own letter, dated November 26, 2019, in response to a letter sent by President Trump and delivered by U.S. Ambassador W Patrick Murphy last week. In that letter, Trump said the U.S. was looking to restore bilateral relations and was not pushing for a regime change.
Hun Sen said he agreed with Trump that their bilateral relations had been through “ups and downs” and that the two countries should not be held back by their past issues.
“I am of the view that we should not become hostage of a few dark chapters of our own history,” Hun Sen writes in the letter. “There are so many other beautiful chapters that are worth nourishing for the greater good of both of our countries and people.”
The Cambodian government has routinely accused the United States of orchestrating an alleged color revolution to overthrow the government. It used this so-called revolution narrative to dissolve the opposition party in 2017, jail opposition leader Kem Sokha, and crackdown on NGOs and independent media organizations.
Hun Sen’s letter called for the creation of a working group with member from both countries, with the aim of discussing ways to improve bilateral relations.
Read More …Hun Sen orders release of 70 Cambodia opposition activists
Hun Sen orders release of 70 Cambodia opposition activists
Longtime leader says people who had been accused of plotting to overthrow the government should be released on bail.
![Cambodia's longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered the release of 70 opposition activists. [Samrang Pring/Reuters]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/11/14/c3775976a8f5449f92cf53575619a66a_18.jpg)
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday ordered the release on bail of more than 70 opposition activists who have been arrested in recent weeks and accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 34 years, has been under increasing international pressure to improve his human rights record, with the European Union threatening the withdrawal of important trade benefits.
“There are over 70 people, please hurry up work on this case so that these brothers can be released on bail,” Hun Sen said in a speech at a new cement factory in the southern province of Kampot, in comments directed at judicial authorities.
Cambodia arrested dozens of people in the run-up to last Saturday, when veteran opposition leader Sam Rainsy had said he would return from self-imposed exile in Paris to rally opposition to Hun Sen.
Trade in balance
In the event, amid growing government pressure on his party and its supporters, Rainsy flew to Malaysia before arriving in Indonesia on Thursday. He said he had been prevented from flying to Thailand where his deputy, Mu Sochua, had been refused entry last month.
On Saturday, Cambodia also relaxed the house arrest conditions on opposition leader Kem Sokha, who was arrested on treason charges more than two years ago. He says the charges are ridiculous and has called for them to be dropped.
Kem Sokha and Sam Rainsy co-founded the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which was banned in 2017.
Read More …Can Cambodia’s opposition keep pressure on PM Hun Sen?
Opposition leader Kem Sokha has been released from house arrest but the crackdown on dissent continues.
Inside Story11 Nov 2019 20:17 GMT Cambodia, Asia Pacific
Cambodia‘s Prime Minister Hun Sen has silenced nearly all voices of dissent in recent years.
His government shut down independent media and dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).
CNRP leader Kem Sokha was freed after a year of house arrest, but he still faces severe restrictions and is banned from leaving the country.
His colleagues, including party co-founder Sam Rainsy, are facing challenges of their own as they try to return to Cambodia from exile.
This is happening as the government faces international condemnation for undermining democracy and human rights.
Can they maintain the pressure despite a government crackdown?
Presenter: Nastasya Tay
Guests:
Sam Rainsy – acting president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party
Graham Ong-Webb – research fellow at S Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Benjamin Zawacki – independent Southeast Asia analyst and author
Source: Al Jazeera News
Why a 65-year-old grandmother is freely flying to probable imprisonment in Cambodia
“My daughters would rather I take a break from politics. They are worried about me,” Sochua admitted when we had lunch together before she left on her way home. “But they’ve decided to support me as a woman defending democracy and human rights. And yes, I’ll miss the grandchildren.”
៉កូនរបស់ខ្ញុំថាខ្ញុំគួរតែឈប់សម្រាកពីនយោបាយ។ ពួកគេបារម្មណ៍អំពីខ្ញុំ ៉ អ្នកស្រីមួរ សុខហួរទទួលស្គាល់ការពិតនៅពេលពួកយើងទទួលទានអាហារត្រង់ជាមួយគ្នា។ ប៉ុន្តែពួកគេបានសម្រេចចិត្តគាំទ្រខ្ញុំក្នុងនាមជាស្ត្រីការពារលទ្ធិប្រជាធិបតេយ្យនិងសិទ្ធិមនុស្ស។ ហើយពិតណាស់ ខ្ញុំនឹកដល់ចៅៗខ្ញុំណាស់។
Why a 65-year-old grandmother is freely flying to probable imprisonment in Cambodia
By Elizabeth Becker November 6, 2019 at 12:02 p.m. PST, Washington Post
Elizabeth Becker is a former Post war correspondent in Cambodia and author of “When the War was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution.”
In a few days, a 65-year-old grandmother will freely board a plane on a journey to probable imprisonment in a foul Cambodian jail. Mu Sochua, one of Cambodia’s most influential politicians, is the vice president of the outlawed opposition party trying to return democracy to Cambodia. She carries a U.S. passport but is under no illusion that this will protect her from the ire of Hun Sen, the strongman of Cambodia.
He has marked her as one of the country’s most dangerous traitors and has ordered the Cambodian army and police to use force to stop her and her colleagues from entering the country by land, sea or air. But Sochua and her peers thoughtfully announced their date of return in advance: Nov. 9, Cambodian Independence Day.AD
“This is the moment to go back,” Sochua told me. “Inside Cambodia, fear is everywhere. I can’t accept that Hun Sen continues as a cruel dictator.”
Sochua is a reminder of the unbearable personal sacrifices required to protect and promote democracy in this age of brutal tyrants, especially for women. We met decades ago when she opened the first nongovernmental organization for women’s rights in peacetime Cambodia, tackling domestic violence, human trafficking and gender equality under the law. Over the years, we shared our enjoyment of gossip, mutual admiration of Cambodian architecture and her hopes to pull the country closer to the ideals she absorbed in the United States.
Sochua was a practical idealist in a country traumatized by the Khmer Rouge genocide. After her parents sent all four children overseas to study when the Vietnam War spread into Cambodia in 1970, Sochua ended up in the Bay Area, graduating from San Francisco State and earning a master’s degree in social work from the University of California at Berkeley. She was on the cusp of the successful immigrant path — bright career, professional security and family.AD
Instead, she spent the next five years on the Thai border helping Cambodian refugees, honoring her parents who had disappeared under the Khmer Rouge. At the border camps, she met her husband, Scott Leiper, a Khmer-speaking American who was working to reunite children with their parents. They moved to the broken mess that was Cambodia and, with a family of three daughters, threw themselves into the country’s recovery: Leiper with the United Nations, Sochua from NGOs to politics.
As a Cambodian woman, Sochua faced huge pushback in the male-dominated political arena. Her daughters noticed what she was going through — the rough behavior, betrayals and threats of violence. Despite the obstacles, she won a seat in parliament and then became the first woman to head the Ministry for Women, chalking up success with new laws and the addition of women throughout government.
But Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge officer, pushed out his co-prime minister to rule Cambodia on his own and add to the spectacular corruption that had made him, his family and cronies multimillionaires in a poor nation. Sochua left the government to join the opposition. The country was looking for change and, in 2017, her party — the Cambodia National Rescue Party — scored an unexpected victory in local elections. The CNRP appeared headed for an even better showing in the upcoming national elections.
Read More …