Seventy petition the Swiss president
THE Cambodian diaspora in Switzerland on Wednesday sent a petition to Swiss President Alain Berset, requesting his government not to sanction Cambodia or support such action, a letter posted on the Foreign Affairs website said.
The petition, entitled Petition for peace, stability, and development in Cambodia, was signed by about 70 people.
“Cambodia will suffer a severe economic crisis if any s a nct i ons were t o be imposed by the Swiss federation. There is no doubt that those who would suffer the most are low-income and other vulnerable Cambodians, such as farmers,” the petition reads.
“So, we would like to appeal to the Swiss federation not to place any sanction, including economic sanctions or support any
has regularly called the small parties firefly parties, or puppets of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
“[He called them] our puppet parties which meant that I created all of the parties, but they are all intellectuals. They are all leaders. They are politicians who compete with the ruling party,” Hun Sen said.
“I will be prime minister for at least another 10 years. I want to fight that b— who destroyed the country, national unity, sovereignty, and gave away four provinces to another country,” Hun Sen said.
He was referring to a case where Rainsy stands accused of treason for promising autonomy to Montagnard minorities living in Cambodia’s northeastern provinces.
Former CNRP lawmaker Ou Chanrath denied Hun Sen’s accusation, claiming his former party did not hold grudges or advocate violence.
“I did not think that way because my party has clear policies to strive for national unity. We never had a policy of using violence. We speak about taking no revenge and do not take any Khmer as an enemy. We publicly announced it all the time,” Chanrath said.
Paul Chambers, a lecturer and special adviser for international affairs at Thailand’s Naresuan University, contended that Hun Sen’s statement had a specific purpose.
“His remarks amount to mere political rhetoric in an attempt to frighten garment workers to vote for his CPP while painting Kem Sokha and the CNRP as a nuisance and enemy of the state,” he said.