Opposition leader Kem Sokha talks politics, power and Hun Sen

School of Vice:

Sounds like the Post is trying so hard to drive a wedge between the two leaders of the CNRP! 

Certainly, it has made much of Sokha's previous off-guard comment about him 'preferring' Rainsy to be in the country with him. Of course, why wouldn't anyone as embattled and harassed as Sokha [as are their supporters/activists] want his co-leader and the party's most potent icon to lead the line of battle with him? However, as anyone with even the slightest familiarity with Cambodia's murderous political culture or with any degree of pragmatism will concur, it makes sense not to place all your eggs in one basket? 

Personal heroic sacrifice and or risks taken do not necessarily set or promise the same expected outcomes or results desired. Thus, the success rate or material relevance of the self-sacrificial deed of the individual in question must be evaluated in the precise personal context of that specific person. For instance, Kem Ley's cold-blooded assassination may serve as the catalyst for sea-change - or it may not. But, the loss of an able and charismatic general [despite his any alleged human flaws] in the heat of the battle could instantly spread panic, confusion and despair among the ranks of the foot soldiers and their commanders. This is the classic scenario one finds in the sniper's target and strategy; one recent example of which was the killing of a prominent leader of Thailand's mass street protests a few years ago.

Apart from the assassination attempt on his life that saw several civilians cut to pieces in that multiple grenade attack of March 30 1997, Rainsy's continued physical exclusion and exile from his party and followers in his homeland can also be viewed as falling within this same scenario of making him irrelevant in the opposition's mass appeal stake by killing him off politically. At least, that would seem to be the intention...