The Loss of Cambodia's Territorial Integrity Part 4
The Loss of Cambodia's Territorial Integrity Part 4 (Cambodian Parliament and its duty)
The Paris Peace Agreement was intended to help the Khmers and defend the supreme interests of the Khmers and Cambodia. The problem facing Cambodia right now has much to do with the Khmers themselves more than anybody else.
Vietnam's political, military and territorial ambitions and greed are known facts. They can be brought under control through skilful diplomacy, international agreements and international court. Thailand's political, military and territorial ambitions and greed are also known facts. Again they can also be brought under control through skilful diplomacy, international agreements and international court.
The real issue here is that the (legitimate) government of Cambodia of Prime Minister Hun Sen, itself, is the one who does not respect the Paris Peace Agreement and its own constitution. They are the first and the worst example to violate the Paris Peace Agreement that serves the supreme interests of their own country to the advantage of Vietnam. Therefore, calling upon the signatories of the Paris Peace Agreement will fall on deaf ears. Absurd as it may sound, but it's the sad and most distressing reality of the Khmers and its society that its current leaders have no hesitation or scrupulousness to be of service to Vietnam in order to protect and preserve its power base and clique.
Curiously enough, there has been a complete silence on the part of the former Khmer Rouge leadership in Pailin with respect to this issue. What do governor of Pailin, Mr. Ea Chhean and his assistant, Mr. Ieng Vuth think of all of this? What happened to Mr. Ieng Sary, Noun Chean and Khieu Samphan? Aren't they all the champion and fierce defenders of Khmer land? Didn't they invade Vietnam with the intention of getting back Kampuchea Krom and blamed all preceding Khmer leaders of not having their kind of courage to do so? Thanks to them, with their bloody and terribly insane policies of 1970-1975, Cambodia is now in a big mess!
Will the Cambodian Parliament endorse this additional convention to the 1985 treaty when it knows that this convention violates every letter and spirit of the Paris Peace Agreement and the Khmer Constitution? The CPP will, for sure, endorses it. The SRP will, for sure, not endorse it. The final blow that will tip the balance will come from FUNCINPEC. What will FUNCINPEC do? That, I will leave it up to you to contemplate!
The Parliament of Cambodia has the absolute legal power to put a stop to all of the problems of the additional convention to the 1985 treaty. If they vote to reject this additional convention then it is the end of it. The Khmers do not need other foreigners who care more for their (foreigners) own interests to help solve their (Khmers) own problems. It's time they learn to assume responsibility to take the destiny of their country into their own hands. Foreigners are always foreigners. The will always be foreign to the Khmer interest whatever those interests happen to be. Khieu Kanharith, the minister of information of the Royal Government of Cambodia, said that the whole issue was up to the Parliament of Cambodia to decide. He is right. The Parliament of Cambodia holds an important key to this problem. The members of the Parliament of Cambodia should have been wise enough to demand from their own government of Cambodia a detailed document of the additional treaty so they can seriously study very well in advance the implications of the signing of this additional convention before the voting session of the Assembly. Will the members of parliament from each political party be courageous enough to vote their conscience with respect to this additional convention, rather than to follow blindly the voting instructions set forth by their few superiors who probably care more for their own personal interests than those of their dying nation?
Each Cambodian Member of Parliament is paid a salary of about $2000.00 US per month plus other benefits. This is a lot of money in a country where a teacher or university professor makes only a few hundred dollars the most. As a Member of Parliament, each is entrusted with the sacred responsibility to defend at all cost the supreme interests of the Cambodian people and Cambodia, a country each claims, professes, and declares loudly to love. It is absolutely more famous and dignified to lose a seat at the National Assembly by following one's own conscience and go into history as a poor patriot than to continue to sit in the Assembly seat and be condemned for eternity in history. As a kid some long time ago in the Cambodian school, you must have studied Cambodian history in which you felt considerable pain when you got to the part where Cambodia lost her territory to her neighbours and somehow, you thought in your head that you would not be like this person, that person or those persons who committed the act of treason against their own country. Well, The time has come to test each parliamentarian's patriotism and the hope is that each one of them except a few incorrigible ones will vote like a child according to his/her own conscience.
For FUNCINPEC members of the parliament, remember your colleagues who laid down their lives in the fight for the liberation of Cambodia from Vietnamese colonialism, a Cambodia of at least as big as that between 1963 and 1969 as recognized internationally under Sangkum Reastr Niyum. Remember their sacrifices and their ideals. Vote with your conscience and not because your superiors tell you so. FUNCINPEC supporters inside and outside Cambodia can begin to exert pressure on the leaders of the FUNCINPEC party so that they will allow each FUNCIPEC Member of Parliament to vote his/her own conscience with respect to the additional convention to the 1985 treaty.
That's it; the Parliament of Cambodia holds the answers to the problems facing Cambodia right now with respect to Her territorial integrity. This Parliament can be the saviour or the eventual killer of Cambodia's territorial integrity. History will surely judge the Cambodian Parliament without prejudice.
By Anet Khmer
The Paris Peace Agreement was intended to help the Khmers and defend the supreme interests of the Khmers and Cambodia. The problem facing Cambodia right now has much to do with the Khmers themselves more than anybody else.
Vietnam's political, military and territorial ambitions and greed are known facts. They can be brought under control through skilful diplomacy, international agreements and international court. Thailand's political, military and territorial ambitions and greed are also known facts. Again they can also be brought under control through skilful diplomacy, international agreements and international court.
The real issue here is that the (legitimate) government of Cambodia of Prime Minister Hun Sen, itself, is the one who does not respect the Paris Peace Agreement and its own constitution. They are the first and the worst example to violate the Paris Peace Agreement that serves the supreme interests of their own country to the advantage of Vietnam. Therefore, calling upon the signatories of the Paris Peace Agreement will fall on deaf ears. Absurd as it may sound, but it's the sad and most distressing reality of the Khmers and its society that its current leaders have no hesitation or scrupulousness to be of service to Vietnam in order to protect and preserve its power base and clique.
Curiously enough, there has been a complete silence on the part of the former Khmer Rouge leadership in Pailin with respect to this issue. What do governor of Pailin, Mr. Ea Chhean and his assistant, Mr. Ieng Vuth think of all of this? What happened to Mr. Ieng Sary, Noun Chean and Khieu Samphan? Aren't they all the champion and fierce defenders of Khmer land? Didn't they invade Vietnam with the intention of getting back Kampuchea Krom and blamed all preceding Khmer leaders of not having their kind of courage to do so? Thanks to them, with their bloody and terribly insane policies of 1970-1975, Cambodia is now in a big mess!
Will the Cambodian Parliament endorse this additional convention to the 1985 treaty when it knows that this convention violates every letter and spirit of the Paris Peace Agreement and the Khmer Constitution? The CPP will, for sure, endorses it. The SRP will, for sure, not endorse it. The final blow that will tip the balance will come from FUNCINPEC. What will FUNCINPEC do? That, I will leave it up to you to contemplate!
The Parliament of Cambodia has the absolute legal power to put a stop to all of the problems of the additional convention to the 1985 treaty. If they vote to reject this additional convention then it is the end of it. The Khmers do not need other foreigners who care more for their (foreigners) own interests to help solve their (Khmers) own problems. It's time they learn to assume responsibility to take the destiny of their country into their own hands. Foreigners are always foreigners. The will always be foreign to the Khmer interest whatever those interests happen to be. Khieu Kanharith, the minister of information of the Royal Government of Cambodia, said that the whole issue was up to the Parliament of Cambodia to decide. He is right. The Parliament of Cambodia holds an important key to this problem. The members of the Parliament of Cambodia should have been wise enough to demand from their own government of Cambodia a detailed document of the additional treaty so they can seriously study very well in advance the implications of the signing of this additional convention before the voting session of the Assembly. Will the members of parliament from each political party be courageous enough to vote their conscience with respect to this additional convention, rather than to follow blindly the voting instructions set forth by their few superiors who probably care more for their own personal interests than those of their dying nation?
Each Cambodian Member of Parliament is paid a salary of about $2000.00 US per month plus other benefits. This is a lot of money in a country where a teacher or university professor makes only a few hundred dollars the most. As a Member of Parliament, each is entrusted with the sacred responsibility to defend at all cost the supreme interests of the Cambodian people and Cambodia, a country each claims, professes, and declares loudly to love. It is absolutely more famous and dignified to lose a seat at the National Assembly by following one's own conscience and go into history as a poor patriot than to continue to sit in the Assembly seat and be condemned for eternity in history. As a kid some long time ago in the Cambodian school, you must have studied Cambodian history in which you felt considerable pain when you got to the part where Cambodia lost her territory to her neighbours and somehow, you thought in your head that you would not be like this person, that person or those persons who committed the act of treason against their own country. Well, The time has come to test each parliamentarian's patriotism and the hope is that each one of them except a few incorrigible ones will vote like a child according to his/her own conscience.
For FUNCINPEC members of the parliament, remember your colleagues who laid down their lives in the fight for the liberation of Cambodia from Vietnamese colonialism, a Cambodia of at least as big as that between 1963 and 1969 as recognized internationally under Sangkum Reastr Niyum. Remember their sacrifices and their ideals. Vote with your conscience and not because your superiors tell you so. FUNCINPEC supporters inside and outside Cambodia can begin to exert pressure on the leaders of the FUNCINPEC party so that they will allow each FUNCIPEC Member of Parliament to vote his/her own conscience with respect to the additional convention to the 1985 treaty.
That's it; the Parliament of Cambodia holds the answers to the problems facing Cambodia right now with respect to Her territorial integrity. This Parliament can be the saviour or the eventual killer of Cambodia's territorial integrity. History will surely judge the Cambodian Parliament without prejudice.
By Anet Khmer
SUBMITTED BY: Anet Khmer, Email: anet....@yahoo.com Sun, 23 Oct 2005
