Thrice upon a time … Sam Rainsy again lost his parliamentary immunity. Such a misfortune befell upon him twice earlier already since he earned his seat at the National Assembly. On Monday 16 November, 87 CPP, NRP and Funcinpec voted for the lifting of his parliamentary immunity. The reason for this lifting: the Svay Rieng authorities blamed the opposition leader of uprooting six posts representing the new border posts between Cambodia and Vietnam. Sam Rainsy acted in this manner because he believed that this new delimitation was perpetrated to the detriment of Cambodia. He was thus obliged to uproot these posts so that Cambodia would not lose a piece of its territory.
On the other hand, the CPP is of a different opinion on the event. For the ruling party, the SRP chief had once again showed that his activism only resulted in damages.
The border issue is sensitive, as well as complicated for Cambodia. Going from the Angkorian splendor to a tiny kingdom that it is right now can explain the suspicion that the Cambodian people have on this issue, and thereby Sam Rainsy’s attitude.
Nevertheless, this chapter shows once more the complete absence of dialogue between the CPP and the opposition party. The two camps are not making any effort to understand one another, nor are they finding a middle ground. The SRP does not give much credit to the government for resolving the border issues with Vietnam to the best interest of Cambodia. As a Cambodian saying goes: “Pure gold fears no fire,” literally, this means that if the government works appropriately on this issue, it has nothing to hide. If the parliament minority were to be convinced of the efficiency of the ruling party, then most likely, Sam Rainsy would not have to uproot these stakes in Svay Rieng.
The perpetual misunderstanding between the CPP and the SRP explains the fact that the former is doing whatever it wants because of its prevailing position, whereas the latter can only resort to provocation to make itself heard. The confrontation is thus unavoidable and the law of the strongest prevails. The way things work does not lead to anything good and it only contributes to hurt the public image of the politicians in the eyes of the voters, as well as in the eyes of the international community.
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