PM’s Son Urges Khmer Americans to Keep Politics out of California Parade

Manekseka Sangkum:


Time to stop insulting Khmer people's intelligence! You and your clans' regime have done everything in your power and means to deny them their basic rights as free citizens. There's not enough space or time to outline all your crimes and acts of repression here. These Cambodian-Americans are not intent on denying you and your entourage the same rights; they are just embarrassed and outraged at the irony. That's all.

And the worst thing is that you still consider yourself "Khmer"? Make the "politics" better and you will be better received. Life and politics are intertwined, not unconnected realities.

Why is it so hard for you and your kind to acknowledge that your compatriots also have their rights and dignity? What kind of country are you trying to 'promote' to the world? Did I make any sense?

....

PM’s Son Urges Khmer Americans to Keep Politics out of California Parade
Friday, 11 March 2016

Lt-General Hun Manet addresses a ceremony in Takeo province on February 27. (Facebook)

The prime minister’s eldest son has asked those calling for his invitation to be a special guest at a parade celebrating Khmer New Year in California next month to be revoked by “inviting” them to keep politics out of the annual event and celebrate unity.

“If we, as Khmers, could not unite and work together to promote our country to the world, how could we expect other [nationalities] to help us to do so,” Lt-General Hun Manet said in a statement obtained by Khmer Times.

“The reason is simple, despite the threat of protest by a small group of people, most Cambodian people supported the event because they know that it was not the time to fight each other,” Mr. Manet said, “But it was rather a time to put aside our differences and work together to promote our country and national pride as Khmer.”

“I agree that there are different views among us, with regards to politics or some other matters… But when it comes to promoting our Khmer nation or our motherland to the world, I hope that all Khmers can put aside their differences and work together to promote our country and national pride,” he wrote in the statement.

“In a democratic society, people have the right to say or do anything they want to, as long as they do not fall outside the boundary of law and do not infringe on other people’s rights,” he said, adding the threatened protest was not the first.

“In 2008 when a number of government officials from Cambodia were invited to join the parade there were threat[s] of protest and a boycott too. However, the parade went as planned with participation from our government officials and was a big success,” Mr. Manet said in the statement.

Video footage obtained by Khmer Time shows a group of about 80 to 100 people meeting in Long Beach, California meeting yesterday to discuss preparations for the Khmer New Year festival. Some expressed anger at the organizers for inviting Mr. Manet.

“You did not know the news in Cambodia, I want to tell you that I am really pained [by the decision to invite Mr. Manet],” one woman said, adding that landlessness and homelessness remained problems in Cambodia. Critics of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, and Prime Minister Hun Sen in particular, have often said members of the CPP are involved in land grabbing and illegal logging and have trampled over the rights of the country’s citizens during their more than three decades in power.

“Please don’t invite him to join us, we have a lot of good people in our country, so please don’t invite [a] politician to join,” the woman told organizers of the parade, according to the video footage.  

Hun Manet noted in his statement that past invitees include government officials, representatives of NGOs, businesspeople and Kem Sokha, acting president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.

Mr. Sokha was invited to join the parade in 2010.

“I am aware that there is a small group who does not like us to be there for political reason. However, there are other Khmer people living there who want us to join in order to show our Khmer solidarity and that Khmer people in Cambodia and in the United State work together to raise our Khmer  pride on the international stage.”

Steve Meng, a representative of Long Beach’s “Cambodia Town,” said organizers had invited Mr. Manet to join but had yet to receive confirmation from him that he would attend, according to the video footage received by Khmer Times.

Mr. Meng said at the meeting yesterday that Mr. Manet was not the only person invited. A wide range of representatives from civil society, business, government and the opposition had been invited, Mr. Meng said.

He said it was unclear who would attend from Cambodia because they would first have to get visas from the US Embassy in Phnom Penh.
Mr. Meng said at the meeting yesterday that Mr. Manet was not the only person invited. A wide range of representatives from civil society, business, government and the opposition had been invited, Mr. Meng said. 

He said it was unclear who would attend from Cambodia because they would first have to get visas from the US Embassy in Phnom Penh.