Cambodian Activists’ Wives Are Rebuffed After Petitioning King For Help

Op-Ed by Khmer Circle: 

 

Whenever victimised Cambodians turn to "their King" for his intervention, it's safe to assume that they are motivated by one of two things or both in tandem i.e. a) this is done out of desperation; b) it's an instinctive act and last resort of a people traditionally accustomed and conditioned to seeking out their rulers and kings for help and intervention in times of needs and crises. The suffix "-varaman" added to most of the ancient Angkorian rulers' names or titles bears this out in its projected meaning: ‘Protection’. Although the title itself and its meanings may have withered somewhat in the modern era, that instinctive volition among Cambodia's people - from peasants and monastic order to educators and educated - directed towards the country's monarch remains at large. Nothing could be more evidently disturbing of this ingrained - some may argue, anachronistic, irrational mindset - than the appeal and deference that so many Cambodians still held [or hold] for their late monarch - N. Sihanouk - despite all of his calamitous decisions, ill-leadership and blunders having directly contributed to their unparallel sufferings and tragedies.  

Yet, how could one blame ordinary Khmers for continuing to worship their actual torturers and tormentors when virtually all of their ‘betters’, educators, academics [even ones who think of themselves as 'democrats' and liberals] still insist or pretend those individuals and pivotal figures shaping their lives are beyond blame? In all of human history, momentous events and meaningful social revolutions started and gained traction with a dedicated body of thinkers and or 'intelligentsia' who opened the collective eye of their fellows and helped them recognise the actual social, moral conditions governing their enslavement and suffering. We are not referring to rabid, shady characters in search of fame or be motivated by opportunism and self-gains here, but those men and women who genuinely feel the pain and value the freedom of the common man - yes, the kind of souls actively targeted and persecuted under this present regime.

It is one thing for a country's king to "give to Caesar what is Caesar's", but quite another for him to sell his soul and conscience [assuming he has one!] to Caesar irrespective of all the known and inevitable consequences entailed. Besides, when was the last time this current King went out of his way to heed their appeal? 

 

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2020-11-13

Wives of jailed CNRP activists protest outside the palace of Cambodia's King Sihamoni for their husbands' release, Nov. 13, 2020.
RFA

 

 

A group of wives of Cambodian political activists were turned away from the palace of Cambodia’s King Sihamoni on Friday after trying to present a petition asking for him to help free their husbands from jail, sources in the country said.

After sitting for a while in prayer, the group had marched to the royal palace in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district, but were pushed back by security guards after a palace representative came out to speak with them but declined to receive their petition, one weeping protester told RFA afterward.

“This is very unjust,” said Seng Chan Thorn, wife of Thun Sun—one of at least 17 members of the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) arrested in recent weeks on charges of incitement for making comments critical of ruling Prime Minister Hun Sen.

“If the King loves his people, he must accept our petition and open his heart to see our suffering,” she said, adding that she has lost hope in the fair handling of her husband’s case in the Cambodian courts or by “corrupt officials.”

 

“We are in pain, and we need the King’s help,” she said. “We have traveled from provinces far away, and we are so disappointed in the King. The King must serve his people.”

 

Prumh Chantha, wife of a jailed CNRP lawmaker, told RFA: “For the past several months they have denied me justice, even though I tried to petition the court. They didn’t let me. They didn’t even allow me to stand in front of the courthouse.”

Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in November 2017, two months after the arrest of its leader Kem Sokha for his role in an alleged scheme to topple the government of Hun Sen.

The ban, along with a wider crackdown on NGOs and the independent media, paved the way for Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in the country’s 2018 general election.

Also on Friday, another activist’s wife, Prum Chantha, said that guards had not allowed protesters to sit under the shade of trees outside the palace, forcing them instead to sit uncovered in the sun.

“I am a Cambodian, and this is my own land I am standing on,” she said. “But I don’t know when I will get freedom and justice.”

Attempts to reach Phnom Penh Municipality Police spokesman San Sok Seiha for comment were unsuccessful on Friday.

'A form of persecution'

Ny Sokha of the Cambodian rights group ADHOC said however that the activists’ wives turned away from the palace had been exercising rights guaranteed to them by Cambodia’s own constitution.

“The authorities’ actions [in these cases] can be considered provocations and a form of persecution aimed at stopping the protests,” he said.

Wives of jailed CNRP members have protested in public each Friday for their husbands’ release for several weeks, with some reporting being followed afterward by unidentified men, and at least one being told to defect to the CPP in exchange for her husband’s freedom.

Around 20 CNRP activists and officials have meanwhile been physically assaulted since early 2020, mostly by motorbike-riding attackers targeting their heads. Assailants have used batons and bricks, and also their own vehicles, against victims.

None of the perpetrators have been arrested.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Richard Finney.