November 9, 2009
VIETNAM’S PRIME MINISTER NGUYEN TAN DUNG
BLOWS MY SYMBOLIC GESTURE OUT OF PROPORTION
BLOWS MY SYMBOLIC GESTURE OUT OF PROPORTION
On November 4, 2009, the state-run Voice of Vietnam radio reported, “Regarding acts and statements made by
Sam Rainsy - President of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), who recently uprooted six temporary poles for Marker 185 between Vietnam’s southern province of Long An and Cambodia’s Svay Rieng province – [Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung ] proposed that the Cambodian government take due measures to deal with Rainsy’s acts of sabotage and not permit similar cases to occur, as they negatively affect the fine relations between the two nations.”
What Vietnam’s Prime Minister “proposed” above is nothing else than an order to the Cambodian government to punish me in my capacity as an elected representative of the Cambodian people because I dared defend Cambodian farmers who are losing their rice fields because of border encroachments by the Vietnamese authorities in Svay Rieng province.
Please see evidence at http://tinyurl.com/yzvabev
The Cambodian people can assess how independent Cambodia is today, especially on this very day, November 9, which is Cambodia’s Independence Day.
As already explained in the November 1 SRP statement titled “Vietnamese authorities accusing and Cambodian government suing Sam Rainsy on unfounded charges”, I have not uprooted any border marks. See full statement at http://tinyurl.com/yjj2bze
Mr. Trinh Ba Cam, a spokesman for the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh, was quoted in The Cambodia Daily, November 2, as specifying, “The wooden posts [Sam Rainsy is accused of having pulled out] were not official markings for the border.”
Therefore, how could I be involved in any “acts of sabotage”? Maybe, by just exposing the truth about border encroachments, I have sabotaged the expansionist plan of a powerful neighboring country…
We all know that in Cambodia the rich and the powerful can grab land from the poor and the powerless with total impunity while victims of land grabbing and those who try to defend them are branded as criminals.
I informed His Majesty the King Norodom Sihamoni and His Majesty the King Father Norodom Sihanouk about the plight of Cambodian farmers living along the Vietnamese border respectively during an audience at the Royal Palace on October 27 and through a November 7 letter sent to Beijing.
Besides, the Sam Rainsy Party, which is the country’s second largest political party, has taken two initiatives to enhance the role of the National Assembly in the country’s effort to peacefully and amicably solve border problems with Thailand and Vietnam:
1- The SRP calls for the establishment of a special multi-party parliamentary committee to investigate into border issues including the situation of Khmer farmers who are losing their rice fields along the borders with Vietnam and Thailand. More information at http://tinyurl.com/yzm4an6
2- The SRP suggests that a multi-party parliamentary delegation visit Vietnam and Thailand in the very near future to help improve relations between Cambodia and her neighbors and strengthen peace and cooperation in the region. More information at http://tinyurl.com/yzc7eez
Therefore, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung must not blow out of proportion my symbolic gesture to morally support Cambodian farmers who are just defending their legitimate rights to protect their lands.
Sam Rainsy
Member of Parliament
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