Sam Rainsy Party and Others

I acknowledged in my previous statement that if I were to select one of the three opposition parties, SRP, Ranariddh, and FUNCINPEC, I would opt for the SRP. There are many reasons for that choice and all of which are solely based upon my study of the party’s activities, the party’s apparatus, and its rhetoric.

Since its inception in the earlier part of the 90’s, the SRP has continually demonstrated its aspiration to be the champion of the poor people. It has helped shedding lights on the plight of the poor who are on the verge of losing their homes. It has orchestrated demonstrations against human rights abuses; it has sided with the garment workers and has been helping them in procuring better wages, better working conditions, and most important of all it has been instrumental in insuring that the factory’s bosses (and their backers) do not cross the boundary that separate their profit-hungry motives from abuses. On this note, one might argue its rate of success, but one cannot ignore one simple fact: without the voices of the SRP the circumstances of the poor, the homeless, and the deprived could have been worse.

Membership of the party itself is more prominent than the other parties. As the party leader, Mr. Rainsy has packed his baggage with various credentials. His education, his job resume, his propensity in exposing the Khmer’s dilemmas to western nations, and above all, his ethics are what tower above the rest of the pact, and we, as Khmers, and other outsiders, see this in him as well. As we already know he was dismissed from his post as minister of finance because of his perseverance in exposing the lack of transparency in the government “profit & loss statement.” The dismissal could only be made possible by the engineering and the lack of moral standard of his former boss and, of course, by Mr. Hun Sen. Of late, we see repeated exposé of Mrs. Mu Sochea, who has stood tall against the “strong man” of Kampuchea over the barrage of lawsuits and counter-lawsuits. She is known among western nations as one of the defenders for democracy.

SRP’s rhetoric, at times, seems strong, confrontational, and possibly provoking, but one thing for certain is that it still stands on its principles. I have not yet seen any top SRP leadership altering his or her ideology because of any appeasement or enticement thrown at them by other political factions. The latest example of this is when the SRP and FUNCINPEC top echelons were considering the merging of the two, whereas Mr. Rainsy insisted that the other party must conform to the SRP principles or no deal at all.

From what I have briefly described thus far, one could easily come to a conclusion that the SRP is the noble party indeed, the sort of party that you would throw your supports wholeheartedly. However, since we all are humans and humans do make mistakes, the SRP, namely Mr. Rainsy, does have his Achilles heel. As they said in the days of old “he who lives by the sword shall dies by the sword.” Likewise, as in the SRP case, one can say “he who lives by the rhetoric shall die by the rhetoric.’

That which makes Mr. Rainsy strong could become the device that weighs him down also, just like an anchor that holds a vessel immobile. For instance, the recognition that he extensively receives from western countries could be one of the factors that alienates him from other great nations of the east. It seems as though he relentlessly seeks the support of the USA and other European countries more than he tries with countries in the Asian continent. This may seems trivial at times, but believe you me, the eastern nations are also led by people, and people have feelings – they want Mr. Rainsy to come to them too. In this respect, Mr. Rainsy ought not to neglect countries where Mr. Hun Sen does his shopping. He should have learned from history that countries in the west can at best offer “rhetoric” and not much action – much like they have done throughout the years. Or if I may bluntly say that if a country does not present any strategic importance to them, that country can just hope for lips service and nothing more of real substance. In other words, all is about “investment” in the game of world politics.

The volleys of words and lawsuits that are being lobbed between Mr. Hun Sen and Mrs. Mu Sochea are one thing that distracts our attention, and that of the world, from the real predicament of the Khmer people. It is indeed admirable that Mrs. Mu Sochea has the courage to stand tall against the man whom many consider to be the strong man of Kampuchea. However, I do not think that the lawsuit was needed and that the most that should have been done was to launch a complaint against Mr. Hun Sen. A letter could have been written and distributed to the press that supports her. A letter could have been written to Mr. Hun Sen personally to address the inappropriateness of his remarks. In my opinion, it was a waste of energy, the energy that was diverted from the real cause of saving Kampuchea and her children.

Again, as righteous as their action have been, one thing that the SRP must apprehend is that they are operating in a real world, a world in which your opponent is much, much strong than you are. There are many ways of taming a lion, but provoking the king of the jungle is not one of them. Real politick dictates that one must be flexible in dealing with the real world. The SRP, according to my observation, often time, seems as if they function in an ideal world and since they seem to operate in this mode, they tend to be inflexible.

This inflexibility is their Achilles heel or the heavy anchor afore mentioned. Politicians of the FUNCINPEC as well as the Ranariddh’s parties have been lured to join the CPP. There have been hints also that Mr. Nhek Bun Chhay wanted to form a coalition with the CPP. I know Mr. Hun Sen is an intelligent man and as such I doubt it very much that he would truly enjoy the partnership with the like of Mr. Nhek Bun Chhay, who has swayed to and fro like a pine tree according to the direction of the wind. Instead, I honestly believe that Mr. Hun Sen would benefit greatly if he was to have someone like Mr. Rainsy. For the benefit of Mother Kampuchea, I think this option should not be overlooked by the SRP.

This proposition is by no mean suggesting that the SRP abandons their noble principles. Rather, the SRP can still maintain their ideology while at the same time drive forward to obtain their ultimate goal. Mr. Rainsy need to consider being in a government and from there strive to make changes from within. That is what a German political scientist called Real Politick, and not politics, which mean the ability to adapt to the real world while vigilantly maintaining the goals that you have set in sight constantly.

Imagine what Mr. Rainsy and his party could have accomplished for Khmers if they were IN the government. I am sure corruption would be curtailed, the heavy burden of the factory workers could have been lessening, and the welfare of the poor might have been fairer. Then again, I am writing from a point of view of a person who seeks not power, but prosperity for his Mother Land and whose ego is no equal to that of our current politicians. I, therefore, can only hope that the struggle that all the politicians have been waging is not the struggle for personal glory or personal vendetta, but for the glory of all.