Political Party Discrimination
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - by seangly
When the campaign and national election is coming closer and closer, the polictical situation in Cambodia seem to be not very good especially between the Samrainsy and Cambodian People’s party. They have criticized each other through local radio as well as newspapers and political discrimination has been happened so far.
Steung Treng province is in the north east of Cambodia. Although no one has been killed of political motivation yet, the political party relationship is not acceptable, remarkably between SRP and CPP’s supporters. A council chief of SRP in Steung Treng province Puy Chanthala say “Prime Minister Hun Sen called on all the members of poplitical parties not to discriminate.” But in practice, CPP’s officials have not had good relation with the SRP’s. CPP supporters did not want to celebrate any social parties with SRP’s such as Kathen, Bun Phkar ceremony etc.
The members of CPP blamed his taxi assistant, who had asked them to take his taxi from Steung Treng to Phnom Penh, said SRP deputy chief Neang Sokun in Steung Treng province. He added that even in coffee shop, they have never sat next to him at the same round table because they were afraid of their chief. For the public land, such as the free land in front of market, is very had to ask the local authorities to celebrate the SRP’s ceremonies. The CPP authorities did not allow having any parties. Traffic congestion and social disorder were their excuse every often. Nonetheless, magician could have ceremony on the free public land, he added.
A 37-year-old SRP official Ten Thorn, who is responsible for teenagers and women in Steung Treng, said that Puy Chanthala’s wife was a grocer; surprisingly we never saw CPP’s members buying her groceries.
Related to the above confirmation, a 71-year-old monk in Srah Keomony Vann pagoda also said that land dispute sometimes leads to serious argument between SRP and CPP’s members. When the problem was not severe, they did not solve. But as it became worst, they asked their bosses for help. In 2007 after the commune election, a member of CPP set a house of SRP’s member on fire. The house was devastated. Fortunately, the hose owner did not get any injury. The solution has not been found so the victims had to move out. The monk added that all the problems occurred due to the people violated the law, which already became weaker and weaker.
Srah Russey commune chief Toy Kheng dismissed the SRP’s accuse. “We had never had any discrimination”, he said. He added that SRP can have other parties on the public land if they ask permission from all levels of the local authorities.
A 39-year-old grocer, who is one of the villagers in Srah Russey commune’s Prek Pou village, also had the similar view to Toy Kheng. She says that she has simple relationship with all the level of people. Believing in any political parties is not the barrier of our relation. “We have right to choose any political parties we like; no one forces us”, she says. Nowadays, there is a CPP’s logo in front of her wooden house. It was still ok if SRP’s logo stood in front of her house too. She never denied if the land available, she added.
According to the Cambodia Daily issued on 22 April, a 41-year-old activist from SRP was killed in Siem Riem province. The victim Rom Thoeurt was chopped to death with axes by a group of people in Prey Chrouk commune. SRP chief Soem Sophorn in Kra Lanh district said that the long political dispute was the motive of the killing, but Oen Oeurm from CPP said that the killing was not related to political argument; it caused by rancor.
