Rainsy told ‘go to jail’ at US meeting with supporters


Fri, 24 June 2016
Meas Sokchea

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy was publicly accused of cowardice this week during a meeting with supporters in the United States, with one man slamming the CNRP president for lacking bravery in his decision to flee Cambodia for self-exile in Europe.

The stinging criticism – which Rainsy tried to deflect with well-trodden lines about Vietnamese influence in Cambodia – came at a Monday event in Lowell, Massachusetts, a video of which was uploaded to the CNRP president’s Facebook yesterday.

Taking the microphone at a lectern while Rainsy and the crowd watched on, one supporter bluntly accused the CNRP president of being “afraid of imprisonment”.

“The leader is afraid of imprisonment and flees his country,” the man said. “The National Rescue Party has much support around the world but when confronted with problems, Mr President has always fled from the country. They jail, Mr President flees.”

The critic, who did not give his name, compared Rainsy unfavourably with Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy party, who spent 15 years under house arrest before leading her party to a landslide electoral victory last year.

“So, I would beg pardon from His Excellency. Please, I hope you can clarify. Don’t run away from prison . . . go to jail and win the citizens’ support.”

Rainsy has not stepped foot in Cambodia since November, when he avoided returning from a trip to South Korea after a warrant was issued for his arrest in a case widely believed to be politically motivated.

In comparison, his deputy Kem Sokha, who also faces a charge many have deemed political, has remained holed up in the party’s Phnom Penh headquarters.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/r ... supporters

Mu Sochua is the only prominent official of that party I respect.

The appeal to xenophobia is dangerous to all
Plenty of less educated Khmer people have expressed the opinion to me that if CNRP was elected all the young men would soon be conscripted to fight the neighbours!

My thought exactly, this idiot have not got his foundations rock solid and he tried rocking the boat, there arent many nelson mandela or aung san su kyi in this modern corrupt world

table42 wrote:Mu Sochua is the only prominent official of that party I respect.

I've been saying since before the last election that if they were serious about reform, they would put Mu Sochua up as the candidate for prime minister.

...if they were serious about reform..."

Yeah. Cryptic, that's the point, isn't it.