Sam Rainsy should not make political games out of border dispute

Dear Editor,

I have observed that Sam Rainsy’s recent political actions seem to stand at odds with his efforts in the past to fight for truth and justice.
A case in point is the border issue with Vietnam.

What the public has taken away from growing tension over border demarcation along Cambodia’s shared border with Vietnam is that Sam Rainsy has used the existing disagreement to create additional problems.

A recent declaration by the Sam Rainsy Party stated that the border post uprooted by Sam Rainsy last October was one among several that were “fraudulently erected well within Cambodian territory” – a fact, the declaration states, that is borne out by historical maps and recent satellite photos.

The declaration asserts that “state-of-the-art computer programs” have provided hard evidence of fraud in the placement of border posts.

But what has Sam Rainsy done with this evidence?

He has urged foreign governments and international organizations to review this evidence in order to illustrate the false dealings of the Cambodian government.

But he has done nothing to illuminate what the SRP expects the country to do about the evidence to protect its territorial integrity.

Sam Rainsy did very well to combat falseness with truth, but how will the SRP move from truth to justice?

I would not expect Sam Rainsy to write a letter seeking Hun Sen’s leniency and the right to return to Cambodia and participate in the 2013 elections.

He has already stated that he has no intention of writing a letter of apology, but he has written to express regrets for some of the difficulties of the past.

But in my opinion, making apologies and expressing regrets in politics amounts to the same thing when one is looking for a political advantage.

It is my hope that Sam Rainsy will never again use Cambodia’s border dispute as a factor in his political game, as he did with the 1997 grenade attack when he filed a lawsuit against Hun Sen in a New York court and then later withdrew it.


Sourn Serey Ratha
Cambodian Action Committee for Justice & Equity