Manet visit reopens wounds

Manet visit reopens wounds

The Lowell Sun

UPDATED:   04/03/2016 

"That white girl has no capacity to live with diverse people," Siphan said of Mercier. "She's prejudiced."

Former Lowell City Councilor Rithy Uong, the first elected Cambodian official in the country, speaks at Tuesday's council meeting against the visit of the Cambodian prime minister's son to Lowell. Many in the crowd said that government is corrupt. See video and a slide show at lowellsun.com. SUN/Julia Malakie 

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A Sun Staff report

AMONG THE leaders of the effort to persuade the Lowell City Council to withdraw an invitation to meet with the son of the Cambodian prime minister was Rithy Uong, the first Cambodian-American elected to public office in the United States.

A little more than a decade ago Uong, as a sitting city councilor met with Prime Minister Hun Sen on a trip to Cambodia with a Lowell delegation.

"That was a long time ago," Uong said in trying to describe what's changed, further noting that issues in Cambodia that were a problem then remain so now

"How could I stand here and ignore those issues, and pretend that nothing happened in Cambodia?" Uong said of his vocal opposition now to Hun Manet's visit.

He has emphasized that he's not getting involved in any political way.

The issue of Cambodian-Americans in Lowell having met with the prime minister also recently became a hot-button issue with Rady Mom, the first Cambodian-American legislator in the United States. Mom met with Sen shortly after being elected in 2014.

In both cases, some ask whether there is hypocrisy afoot.

Uong said there was nothing hypocritical about his visit, and that the visit wasn't hidden, and he didn't offer the prime minister a gift. Though the visit made some people in the Cambodian opposition party upset, he said, he was visiting as a second-term councilor and traveling with a delegation of area officials.

"I will always side with people who believe in democracy and free speech," he said.

Uong was among the most outspoken last week. Referring to the ruling party, he asked, "We do not want Communists, do we?"

Manet visited Lowell several years ago, without fanfare or concern. This time, hundreds in the Cambodian-American community protested.

Uong isn't the only member of the Cambodian community's old guard who spoke out last week at City Hall. So did Vesna Nuon, another former city councilor.

They're now part of a vocal uprising.

COUNCILOR RITA Mercier criticized human-rights violations in Cambodia dating back to the Khmer Rouge, drawing a sharp response from the Cambodian leadership.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan told the Phnom Penh Post that Mercier had a distorted view of history, saying those responsible for the government-sponsored genocide were sentenced in court decades ago.

"That white girl has no capacity to live with diverse people," Siphan said of Mercier. "She's prejudiced."

MANET WILL still visit Lowell, said Sovann Ou, honorary consulate general for Cambodia in Lowell. A major change is that Manet will not meet with city officials as initially planned.

A Cambodian People's Party spokesman told The Cambodia Daily news website only that Manet would still mark the

Cambodian New Year in the United States.

But Manet, "wanting to avoid creating a schism between his supporters and detractors in the U.S., would make alternate arrangements," the report said.

"I do not care about the people who voted not to support His Excellency Hun Manet," The Cambodia Daily quoted the spokesman, Sok Eysan, as saying. "He has already announced on his Facebook either way that he will go to the U.S.A. during the Khmer New Year."

"Some people welcome him and some don't -- he will just go somewhere else."