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The Royal Government of Cambodia's Platform On Second Term 1998-2003

In the past two decades, Cambodia has gone through many major changes reflecting the heroic sacrifice of the Cambodian people to protect and to rebuild their homeland, the standard of their living, and the prosperity for their future. With the October 23, 1991 Paris Peace Agreements, Cambodia achieves full right and sovereignty. For the result, the Cambodian people may fervently develop their country with generous assistance from international communities.

Before reaching their goal of prosperity, they faced many critical proceedings. With His Majesty vision of Preah Bat Samdech Norodom Sihanouk, the beloved King of the Cambodian people, peace and national reconciliation were finally achieved.

At the second session of the auspicious plenary meeting of the National Assembly, I (Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister) have the honor to submit the Royal Government of Cambodia's Platform for approval from the august legislative body, the National Assembly. It is a foundation of governance to ensure peace, stability, democracy and development for the Cambodian people, and to rebuild their country.

I. Policies:

A. Domestic Policies:

The main goal of the Royal Government is to ensure peace, stability, and national unity. In order to create a political stability conducive to the economic and social development, and the alleviation of poverty, Cambodia have to be state of law. The development of liberal democracy and the respect of human rights must be firmly promoted.

1. Pacification:

The Royal Government adheres to national solidarity. To respect the consuls of His Majesty the King, the Cambodians from all walks of life and political backgrounds from every corner of the world must come together to defense their nation's independence, peace and prosperity.

To restore permanent peace and political stability, the Royal Government would welcome the return of the remnant of the Khmer Rouge. It continues to integrate the armed force and the people, who support the policy of pacification successfully implemented in Pailin, Samlot, Malai, Anlong Veng, Preah Vihea, and in other areas.

The Royal Government continues to cooperate with international organizations to set up the repatriation program to settle the Cambodian refugees into their society. It would pay at any price to stop the return of the genocidal regime, and the reoccurrence of the recent past tragedies. The hard-line leaders of the outlawed Khmer Rouge would be put on trial by the court. In the meantime, the Royal Government would reinstate a handful of former servicemen into the Royal Armed Forces. Under the chairmanship of His Majesty the King, the November 13 statement clearly emphasized that the working group in charge of military affairs must immediately and properly implement the agreements set forth in the spirit of the November 12-13 summit. The Kingdom of Cambodia has full sovereignty. It is a unified state, not a seceded state.

          2. Liberal Democratic Process and Respect of Human Rights:

The Royal Government adheres to the principle of democratic pluralism and to the respect of human rights for which, it strongly believes they are fundamental to the social progress. The democratization and liberalization of all social fabrics must be rapidly addressed, because they are the essential forces of economic and social developments. The Royal Government assures and protects freedom of its citizenry bestowed in the Constitution, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, and in the Convention on the Rights of Women and Children. It strongly opposes racial hatred. The overall structure of the state run human rights institution would be upgraded.

          3. Freedom of the Press and of Expression:

The Royal Government vigorously supports freedom of the press, freedom of expression and of assembly, which freely contribute to social and political conscience. In order to seek different shade and color of opinions, public forums are encouraged to take place. At the same time, freedom and anarchy should be clearly differentiated. The Constitution provides its citizenry their freedoms to be enjoyed and honored, not to be destructive and intrusive.

          4. The Role of Oppositions:

To mobilize the wisdom from all walks of life and backgrounds to build the nation, the Royal Government widely supports the role of oppositions for constructive criticism, and for good services to the nation. The oppositions have full legal rights to perform its political activities. They are fully guarantied by the Royal Government equal social and political benefits, such as freedom, justice, security, and employment. They may assist Cambodia's young democracy to be fully developed. They do not have to implicate themselves in order to be labeled oppositions. The Royal Government and the oppositions would have to promote jointly the national interest, the social stability, and the welfare of the people, so that Cambodia and her people may enjoy the fruits of long lasting political strength and national stability.

The role of the oppositions shall be defined in the law.

         5. The Participation of the Civil Society:

The Royal Government and the civil society shall incorporate their principle of state of law into strengthening democracy, liberty, and social law and order. They may not develop the country by conflicting interests between civil and political societies. The civil society shall be a key partner of the Royal Government in the construction of Cambodia. In view, the Royal Government would endorse the multiple activities of the non-governmental organizations and of associations, which have served the Cambodian people nationwide. It will appropriate special funds and allocate them to the non-governmental organizations in providing services on its behalf to the needy. The Royal Government would welcome the participation of the international non-governmental organizations in the process of rehabilitation of economic development and in the promotion of democracy and human rights. Therefore, it needs drafting a law on the non-governmental organizations and associations.

6. The Rule of Law:

The rule of law is the basic principle of democracy, the sustainability of the government, and of all institutions. It is to ensure freedom, national interest, justice, harmony, and social sustainability. A forceful legal structure to end assaults on human dignity is urgently needed. The enforcement and education of law would be widely disseminated. All men are born free and equal, but they must not be allowed to be above the law. A set of law must be applied equally to all.

          7. Reforms:

Presently, administrative, judicial, military and police, and economic reforms are urgently to be addressed.

Today, Cambodia's administrative machine is excessive. The Royal Government can not further support it. It would take steps to reform it. It should gradually trimmed. It should be neutral and sound administration, which is capable to effectively serve the people. The rule of civil servants must be strictly applied. The training program to update the knowledge and skill of the employs must be spontaneously upgraded and maintained.

The physical structure of provinces and its cities must be reviewed. The provincial administration autonomy should seriously considered. The management of provinces, districts, communes, and villages should be properly carried out to rules and regulations.

The judicial system and the court are necessary to be entirely overhauled. By law, they ought to be independent, honest, and trustworthy. To succeed their quest, the corporations among the national institutions, such as the National Assembly, the Government, the Constitutional Council, the Council of Magistracy, and the court, should be overcome. Judges' salaries must be adequately raised. Especially, the judges in the Supreme Court must request their summons be properly recorded and executed. However, if there is a judge committing a violation, the Council of Magistracy should immediately reprimand him or her.

The corruption and power abuses, which obstruct the promotion and supports of the people's living conditions, ought to be stopped. The Cambodians, the businessmen, and the investors must not be victimized by those exploitations. The Royal Government of Cambodia considers the fight against the corruption as its matter of priority.

The Royal Government would set transparency in every work force. The anti-corruption institution would be soon formed. To ensure the effectiveness in the work force, the following measures would urgently be realized:

1. the anti-corruption law against the corrupt,

2. the creation of an agency to monitor and to fight corruption,

3. the wealth clearance decree,

4. the State estates control,

5. the encouragement of citizenry to participate in the corruption fight,

6. the appropriation of pay raise for the civil servants in accordance to the national budget.

B. National Defense and Security:

The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), the Military Police, and the National Police would fulfill their roles according to the Military and Police rules of order. They must be neutral, obedient, and self-restraint. They must sacrifice their lives to protect the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia. They would bravely defense the national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, to maintain peace, security, and stability, and to enforce law and order. They must end insurgency, terrorism, and secession. They must completely eradicate kidnapping, armed robbery, drug trafficking, artifact smuggling, money laundering, and sexual exploitation of minor children and women. They must properly enforce the law to make their homeland prosperous and safe for all, including diplomats, investors, tourists, and foreign workers.

They would participate in the national development programs. They must be active in the rescue operation to save lives of the people from the natural causes. They ought to curtail the use of illegal weapons, and close down the arms black markets.

The service of militia may be reviewed. Some places still need its assistance. For other places, its help is not applicable. However, the demobilization of militia and its disarmament should be highly considered.

C. Foreign Policies:

Cambodia adheres to policy of neutrality and non-alliance. It indiscriminately establishes relations with all friendly states worldwide. It conducts policies of mutual understanding, equality, respect, and non-interference in other state's internal affairs.

Cambodia would fortify bilateral friendship and cooperation with its neighbors. The border issues with its neighbors would be resolved through negotiations, and peaceful means.

Cambodia would establish bilateral and multilateral friendships with regional countries, especially with ASEAN. It wants to contribute as it may in jointly building the Southeast Asia to be a region of peace, tranquility, and prosperity.

When it becomes an active member of ASEAN, Cambodia would conduct itself within the principle of the agreements.

Cambodia is a member of non-aligned movement. Within the principle of agreements it would increase its diplomatic relationship with other nations, and set up embassies within its financial and human resources.

Cambodia with high respect to humanity would conduct itself to be a good member of the United Nations.

To solve the problem of illegal immigrants, Cambodia would utilize its immigration law that enshrines the principle set forth in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

The Royal Government of Cambodia is very grateful to the international communities for their contribution, peace, democracy and prosperity in Cambodia.

II. Economic Policy:

The economy is a principle domain to support the national development program, which involves sustainability and macro-economy. It should effectively use its natural and human resources. Cambodia would promote free market economy linked with the program of combat the poverty, and social justice. The economic mechanism runs its course within rules and regulations of free market economy.

The Royal Government would not manage the market, but it would support it. The royal Government would grant the private sector the right of self-determination on productivity, investment, and expenditure, and it would intervene much less. For the reasons, it would set legal and administrative structures to ensure freedom and autonomy of the private sector to property right, employment, profession, and the right to compete freely.

It would improve mechanism and structure of economic management to ensure the effectiveness and transparency to cope with corruption and violation of law. That is very important to stabilize the macro-economy, to boost the people's standard of living, and to encourage the investment.

It prioritizes the physical agricultural infrastructure, electricity and human resources, which are the basics of overall development. The following goals must be achieved:

1. To speed the economic growth in order to improve the popular living standard and to create more employment. The chief potential to promote the economic growth is to amass and to transform the natural resources and the national products into the products of export. The Royal Government would improve economic rules and regulations and to promote Cambodia to be a goods producer in order to attract more foreign investment.

2. To ensure the stability of Riel currency, to keep the inflation rate at bay, to prevent the loss of revenue and private saving by the Riel fluctuation, and to build confidence in Riel by devaluating with caution the dollar.

3. To increase the export of agricultural and manufacturing products with high expertise and quality.
   
4. The Royal Government would do its best to alleviate the poverty. The alleviation of poverty is not only the basic of sustainability of the economic development, but it also the priority to implement the social program.
   

To attain the above goals, the Royal Government would seize down the following imbalances:

1. Between the need and supply, especially on foods, housing, transportation, education, and health care.
   

2. between the revenue and expenditure within the national budget.

3. Between the import and export.

4. Between the currency and goods.

5. Between salary and the standard of living of civil servant and servicemen.

6. Between the increase in the work force and the employment.

7. Between the need for national development and the training of human resources.

The Royal Government would continue to carry out the projects, which are identified in the national program of rehabilitation and development of Cambodia. It would focus on the long-term program for the economic and social development in the first five years from 1996-2000. It also attempts to achieve the urgent need for the investment on public sector.

Based on these basics and the on going achievements, the Royal Government may carry out the following economic strategies:

The Development of Human Resources and the Building of Infrastructure:

The Royal Government strongly believes in the process of selecting the ones, who are healthy, well educated, well-disciplined, honest, independent, and responsible. In this spirit, the improvement of quality of education, health services, and food security must be strongly promoted by the Royal Government. For the improvement and the globalization of general education, it would prioritize the investment on the vocational training and on higher education. The Cambodian workers would be better equipped with skill and the know-how.

The Royal Government would cooperate with the Chamber of Commerce and other professional institutions to set up the center of transfer of the know-how.

The present shortcoming of the national infrastructure tremendously undermines the economic growth of Cambodia. The Royal Government would continue to rehabilitate the national infrastructure. Eventually it would privatize the mass transportation and communication, the telecommunication, and the electrical power supply.

Agriculture:

The main economic infrastructure of Cambodia is agriculture. The Royal Government would enhance the irrigation system, because agricultural activities in Cambodia are solely dependent on the weather. Consequently, it is essential to upgrade the General Direction of Irrigation to the level of Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology. In five years from 1998-2003, it would increase the irrigation capacity from 16.62% to 20%, i.e. an increase of 3.32% to 4% on the farming land, and the increase of irrigation capacity from 374,603 ha. to 450,600 ha. of rice fields.

The water supply would be strictly monitored and distributed. The high quality of clean water must be absolutely maintained.

The rubber plantation would be privatized. The Royal Government would encourage a large or small scale of rubber production by the provision of credit and ownership.

The Royal Government would consolidate the forest management to ensure its sustainability. It strictly and completely bans illegal logging. It would take the following steps to:

a. Cease further investment on wood processing.

b. Review all forest concession contracts and cancel non-complied contracts. The forest under the non-complied contract would be used for national parks and habitats.

c. Encourage the companies with complied contracts to modernize their factories in order to increase the value of timber, and to create more jobs for the Cambodians The Royal Government must strictly enforce its reforestation policy.

d. Review and amend the law on forest management to benefit the investors, who do comply with the rules. Persons, who commit illegal logging and violate the forest law, must be brought to justice.

Industries

The Royal Government would encourage small and large industries to fulfill its tasks. It would focus on strategy of producing export goods rather than import ones. The liberalization of international trade makes the local products difficult to compete in the foreign markets. The small industries produce its output enough for domestic use. It strives all efforts to make the textile industries and agricultural industries to be the core structure of Cambodian industries.

The Royal Government promotes the research and exploitation of petrol, natural gas, and other minerals, which becomes the potentiality of the national economy. It would develop soon the hydropower in order to ensure adequate electric supply with low cost and to meet its economic goal.

Trade:

The Royal Government would enhance its policy of trade liberalization. It would facilitate the free circulation of goods. The price and quantity of goods would be simplified from one region to another in order to promote the growth of its production. It would also broaden international trade relation by bridging the domestic markets to foreign markets. Finally it would promote the integration of regional and global trade.

Tourism:

The Royal Government would promote the development of tourism and make it to become tourism of culture and nature. It would heighten the private and public investments targeting at building up tourist infrastructure. It would ensure security and political stability. Tourist work has to be linked by the preservation of natural cultural heritage and natural environment.

Foreign Economic Policy:

The Royal Government adopts a precise political guideline of its external economy conforming to the liberalization of international trade, and integrating national economy into the world economy. Through this policy, Cambodia prepares itself to attract and to face regionally and globally the process of economic internationalization. At the same time, the competitive productivity and capacity of Cambodian economy in the international markets will be enhanced through the application of mass production, which decreases the unit price of production and expertise based on the availability of the domestic resources.

Cambodia, however, will face the influx of foreign finished products, which rejects a number of industries in the country. The pressure of the integration process of the regional economy, in which Cambodia expects to join ASEAN, and the World Trade Organization in the near future, will add more burden to the national budget through the fall of the tax revenue, and import duties. These financial activities would change the economic structure of Cambodia. The Royal Government is optimistic and prepares to amend its legal procedures to accommodate the economic integration.

Investment Policy:

The Royal Government of Cambodia promotes the internal and external investments through the application of the principle and the encouragement of the investment policy of the Kingdom of Cambodia. It strengthens its cooperation with friendly countries and their institutions in order to attract more investments, development assistance, trade status as most favorite nation from the developed countries and the expansion of the markets.

To have a good environment for the investment, the social political stability and the stability of the macro-economy must be ensured. The principle and the guidance of the investment policy must be firmly adhered. The Royal Government of Cambodia may reform and strengthen the institution, which is responsible for the activities of the investment, especially for the improvement on the formality of the application for the investment undermining the illegal activities and corruption.

Financial and Monetary Policies:

The Royal Government must ensure the effectiveness of the execution of its financial and monetary policies. The fiscal policy recently improved has not yet been properly carried out. The national budget, which has a duty to evaluate, to collect, and to distribute the national resources, is the most important tool to handle the economic and social policies of the Royal Government of Cambodia. Therefore, the national budget must be disbursed distinctively for the support of public services, and for the handling of public projects with the economic sense of prudence, conscience, and proficiency. The Royal Government must give the priority to the promotion of productivity, the private investment, the social programs, and public health care. The future ASEAN membership of Cambodia would influence tremendously the reform of the revenue of the national budget. The national revenue by taxation on the import and export goods will be decreased. For that, it would strengthen all facets of tax control. and broaden the internal tax revenue base in order to encourage the entrepreneurs to be in the investment process, and to achieve the budget surplus for which it is to be the sources of internal credit, such as for the public investment and for the financial intervention to pay raises for the employees of the government.

To achieve the effective control over the budget and fiscal policies, the Royal Government of Cambodia must immediately take the following steps:

1. Use every measure at all costs to combat tax evasion.

2. Strongly prohibit revenue collection and shelter, and disbursement infringing the budgetary system.

3. Abolish tax exemption, which is not stipulated in the investment law, the law on fiscal policy, and the law on the annual financial management.

4. The Ministry of Economy and Finance must strictly check and control goods before loading in order to properly tax the merchandises, while its services are being effectively conducted with high consideration of time consumption.

5. Carry out strict measure of austerity, especially against the unneeded expenses. The financial resources from privatization must only be used for the public investment such as the infrastructure, or the counterpart fund of the credit fund from the financial institution.

6. The fund used other than infrastructure purpose must be prohibited.

The Royal Government undertakes its political will to impose punishment on fraud, illegal transfer of fund, and corruption. To ensure the stability of buying power of Riel currency, the Royal Government would set the spending rate of the national budget to be below the rate of the national economic growth, and the rate of reserve fund of the banks. The interest rate conducive to the promotion of private saving, and the intervention of the National Bank in the domestic monetary markets in order to stabilize the rate of Riel exchange.

The attempts of the Royal Government of Cambodia to cut down the economic imbalance will encounter numerous difficulties, because the limited financial resources force it to prioritize the use of the economic measure. But often the economic aim being decisively successful requires a variety of economic tools to come together at one time. At the same time, the lingering economic crisis and the declined economic growth in the region will impact the flow of the foreign investment and the dome3stic growth. The Royal Government would overcome those economic stumbling blocks in order to attain its economic goal, because of its last achievements. This task needs the joint participation of national and international sectors to improve national economy and to strengthen the capacity building, the work spirit, ethics, and social obligation of public servants.

III. Culture, Health, Social Obligation:

The Royal Government initiates tough measure to restore and to promote culture heritage and national civilization, to end the declination of national culture, to highlight the social ethics, and to promote the national cultural characteristic and progress. For that, the Royal Government has to expand the education of culture and civilization, to promote the general understanding of the national identity and pride, and to stop the flow of the foreign culture, which affects the national culture.

On health matter, the Royal Government would promote health services to public and private sectors, disease prevention, mother and child care, fight against the contagious disease, and health check up and treatment in State hospitals and clinics.

On social issues, the Royal government would upgrade the standard of living of the people and to ensure the equal benefits for the people from all walks of life. Primarily, the Royal Government would cut down to the maximum of the vulnerability, and increase the chance for the poor and indigent citizens to be able to participate in the social and economic programs. It would firmly carry out the labor law and the international convention on labor unions in order to secure the right and privilege for the workers, employees, and employers. It would establish a good working condition to benefit the handicapped persons, the orphans, the widows, and the indigent men and women, so their livings could be better conditioned. It would defense the right of women and children according to the universal convention. It would engage the women in politics and in other social and economic fields. It would assist the minority to involve in restoring the economic, social, and cultural heritage.

To succeed the social rehabilitation and development, there is an important factor to be addressed; that is the task of building social conscience, confidence, and self-determination, which produce quality work. The idea and stand on ordinary productivity to improve the skill and the knowledge of know-how in agreement with the rules of development must be encouraged.

The Commission of the Composition of the Royal Government's Platform. Done in Phnom Penh, November 20, 1998                                

Agreed, Phnom Penh, November 23, 1998

Statement by His Excellency Mr. Hor Namhong, Senior Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the 53rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. 

Monsieur le Président,
Excellences,
Distingués délégués,

We are anxious at this moment to reaffirm our determination to preserve the fundamental factors in order to guarantee peace, stability and development of our country, and to contribute toward efforts for the establishment of a just, global, lasting peace, political stability and of active cooperation in the Southeast Asia region.

We also endeavor to strengthen the close ties that unite us with our neighbors to which we are bound by mutual interests and fruitful cooperation. In this spirit, Cambodia mindful of its rich cultural heritage and devoted to its convictions and its orientations, hopes that it can join the family of countries of Asean at the time of the 6th Summit of this organization in Hanoi, on the basis of strict mutual respect of the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the non-interference in the internal affair of each other. It is time to join together without exception to build Southeast Asia into a region of peace, stability and prosperity. The Kingdom of Cambodia, one of Southeast Asia countries, believes that today there is no more obstacle to its admission into this regional organization.

Finally, Mr. President, allow me once again to address my very cordial thanks to the United Nations, European Union, Asean, Japan, China, Russia and the "Friends of Cambodia" for their preponderant part taken in the process to allow Cambodia to recover stability, the path of prosperity, and in particular to finally be once again here among you, honorable delegates to this Assembly.

Thank you for your attention

Unofficial translation

Joint Communiqué on
the Principles of Cooperation adopted in the
Summit presided over by His Majesty, the King of Cambodia
at Khemarin Palace, The Royal Palace, November 12/13, 1998

 œ  œ  œ

On the occasion of the Summit on November 12/13, 1998, between the CPP and the FUNCINPEC, under the auspicious Chairmanship of His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, a number of the following principles, which was solemnly endorsed by His Majesty, were unanimously adopted:

i)- the two Parties agreed to the establishment of the Senate through amending the current Constitution. The main important principles are stated in the annex 1,

ii)- CPP supported the candidacy of Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh for the post of National Assembly President (Speaker),

iii)- FUNCINPEC supported the candidacy of Samdech Chea Sim for the post of the Senate President (Speaker),

iv)- CPP supported candidacies of FUNCINPEC for the 2 Vice Presidents ( Deputy Speakers) of the Senate. FUNCINPEC supported candidacies of CPP for the 2 Vice Presidents ( Deputy Speakers) of the National Assembly,

v)- FUNCINPEC supported the sole candidacy of Samdech Hun Sen for the Prime Minister of the Royal Government. The preparation and the composition of the new Royal Government will be discussed within the Committee of the two Parties,

vi)- the CPP and FUNCINPEC accepted the principles for setting up Committees of the National Assembly 4 + 4 + 1 i. e. the CPP will chair four Committees, the FUNCINPEC four, and the Sam Rainsy Party one,

vii)- the National Assembly will convene on November 25, 1998,

The CPP and FUNCINPEC would like to express their most profound gratitude to His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia for his noble Royal role in uniting and reconciling the nation, specifically making this Summit a brilliant success for the sake of the supreme interests of the nation and people of Cambodia in new historic stage.

(Signed)                 (Signed)                         (Signed)
Sok An                      You Hok Kry                  Tol Loh

Unofficial translation

The entire Cambodian people, represented by four political parties which signed the Paris Peace Accords on October 23, 1991, have adopted a system of multi-party liberal democracy in which a free, fair and just election was regarded as a guideline to resolve every problem in relation to the administration of the country. The 26 July 1998 election, which was held in a better atmosphere than the UNTAC time, was highly appreciated by the international community as free, fair, just and acceptable, representing the will of Cambodian people. This success, which is a pride of the entire Cambodian people in the implementation of democracy, has been recorded with the efforts exerted with a high sense of responsibility by the Royal Government of Cambodia, specifically by Samdech Hun Sen, who has done his best to create a good climate for free and fair election.

Unfortunately, a day after the election and after a trend showed that the Cambodia's People Party might win the election, Samdech Hun Sen has become a target of many attacks by immoral criticisms, threats of missile attacks, and two assassination attempts, especially the one in Siemreap on September 24, 1998. The sinister scheme that has currently targeted Samdech Hun Sen will not strengthen democracy, peace and stability in Cambodia. Conversely, this barbaric scheme will revive the hard-line Khmer Rouge, which is in the state of disintegration, to continue their unceasing destruction against the Cambodian people. The Cambodian people, especially those, who used to live under the Khmer Rouge time, are aware that the Khmer Rouge forces were once demolished in January 1979. Unfortunately, the Khmer Rouge has been revived and reintegrated. Currently, those, who have been busy attacking Samdech Hun Sen, not only fail to condemn the Khmer Rouge genocide and betray the will of the Cambodian people shown in the 26 July election, but they are helping this group to return to power as well. Recently, some American personalities, who have relation with the two opposition parties, have not only failed to encourage the effective process of democracy in Cambodia expressed through the 26 July election, but also have made unjust and baseless accusations against Samdech Hun Sen, who has saved the Cambodian people from the genocidal regime.

The free and fair election has passed for three months but the new National Assembly cannot be convened and there has been no new government to replace the current one. Under these difficult circumstances, the leaders of the opposition parties have turned to reside abroad, abandoned their duties and responsibility and even exhorted foreigners to accuse Samdech Hun Sen for the so-called violations of international humanitarian laws. Does American personalities have any doubt the kind of action that the opposition parties conducted at the wrong time and contrary to democratic process and, especially to the will of millions of Cambodian people who are the owners of the ballot papers.

The action by the American personalities to recall Cambodia's history during the cold war and groundlessly accuse Samdech Hun Sen is not only unhelpful to the current problems in Cambodia but also creates dark atmosphere complicating the problems in Cambodia. The action appears to be aimed at rejecting the July 26 election results and divert the focus of the international and national opinions to the stories fabricated by the leaders of the opposition parties.

The Royal Government of Cambodia is of view that under the present circumstances when Cambodia's democracy is still in its infancy, the Cambodian people desperately need the encouragement and support for the implementation of democracy in Cambodia, which emerged from the 26 July election, from all quarters, specifically from the United States, in order to maintain the continuity of the state, peace and political stability. However it is regrettable that the American personalities have believed, without careful consideration, the fabricated stories and instigation made by the leaders of the opposition parties, who refused to accept Cambodia's election results against the recognition of international community, and are trying to return Cambodia to a situation in 1987, when the negotiations between the then Prince Sihanouk and Samdech Hun Sen took place.

The situation in Cambodia between 1970-1998 was full of tragic history. Nobody can interpret it without facts one way or another, particularly, in the present situation when peace and political stability in the country have undergone the violent storm created by the opposition parties, which refused to accept the results of the 26 July election. In the current situation when Cambodia is implementing the spirit and the principles of the Paris Peace Accords, which required the adoption of a democratic elections and respect for the rule of law as a guideline to resolve various problems of the administration of the country, any wrong assessment of the Cambodian situation can plunge Cambodia into a new abyss of tragedy that nobody know for sure whether its magnitude and appearance are the same as that between 1970 and 1975. At that time, who will be held responsible? But what can be predicted is that the Cambodian people will be the victims forever.

At a time when the international community, especially the superpower with high degree of democracy such as the United States, failed to see the most terrible tragedy suffered by the Cambodian people under the genocidal regime of Democratic Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge) and take action in a timely fashion to save the Cambodian people, Samdech Hun Sen rose up, liberated himself and mobilized the patriots to liberate the Cambodian people from the killing fields. Does Samdech Hun Sen's action in saving the people from the killing fields or genocide committed by Democratic Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge) constitute a violation of international humanitarian laws?

Samdech Hun Sen has been in a vanguard of economic reform since 1984 and an active leader of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) in the implementation of the policy of national reconciliation since 1987. In the process of pacification, Samdech Hun Sen was a direct negotiator in the search for a political solution and an end to the conflict between Khmer and Khmer until there was a signing of the Paris Peace Agreement on October 23, 1991. In a spirit of compliance and implementation of the Peace Accords, the CPP agreed to change the constitution and the country name from the People's Republic of Cambodia to the State of Cambodia on April 30, 1989 and adopted a liberal multi-party democratic system and free-market economy on October 17-18, 1991. Does the Paris Peace Agreement, which is the joint success of His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk and Samdech Hun Sen constitute a violation of international humanitarian law?

The 1993 election, organized by UNTAC, was conducted with many irregularities and the UNTAC also recognized this problem. Under that circumstance, Samdech Hun Sen, as a Prime Minister, made all-out efforts to defuse tension and to prevent the trend to secede from the central government, originated from the non-recognition of the results of the election and the serious irregularities in a number of regions. The process of pacification and the policy of national reconciliation of Samdech Hun Sen continued to record new success through his win-win policy. In August 1996, a large number of the Khmer Rouge forces were integrated in the national society. In these efforts, Samdech Hun Sen won a World Peace Award in late 1996. The success of his policy created favorable conditions for the 1998 election to be held throughout the country. In the meantime, in less than five years, Samdech Hun Sen has spent his own money building many schools hospitals, and health care centers in the rural areas, initiating the project of agricultural development, especially building a number of development centers. He has even opened the market economy to investors, allowed freedom of the press (currently, there are 158 newspapers, magazines, bulletins publishing in national and foreign languages in Cambodia), and freedom to create various associations and non-governmental organizations (374 associations and 106 non-governmental organizations freely operate in Cambodia). Can these activities of Samdech Hun Sen be regarded as a violation of international humanitarian law?

The Royal Government of Cambodia, born out of the election in 1993, was well functioned in accordance with the Paris Peace Accords and the bilateral agreement between the CPP and the Funcinpec until the latter changed its strategy and abandoned its role in the coalition government by taking step to balance the armed forces in the Cambodian Royal Armed Forces and creating a National United Front to oppose the legal government in contrary to the spirit of the Paris Peace Accords. This is the true appearance of the July 1997 events. It is completely contrary to the accusations that Samdech Hun Sen made a coup to topple Samdech Krom Preah Ranariddh. On the other hand, this accusation is completely groundless and not realistic. Firstly, there is no usurpation of power by Samdech Hun Sen, for he was then a Second Prime Minister and he has still been a second Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia. There has been no change of all state institutions. Secondly, The measures, taken by the Royal Government of Cambodia to prevent any coup from happening, are legal measures in its jurisdiction as stipulated in the constitution in order to guarantee security, safety, law and order, state properties and continuity of the state. Therefore, the July 1997 event is not a coup made by Samdech Hun Sen.

Even if the armed forces of the extremists and anarchic forces were put down on time, the July 1997 events left behind in Cambodia with socio-economic and political instability. The eight-point measures put forth by Samdech Hun Sen has been urgently implemented to re-ensure law and order, normalcy of Cambodia, especially the good atmosphere for the process of free and fair elections. The preparations of the July 26 election were busily made in late 1997 and the election was conducted in a free, democratic and non-violent atmosphere. Ninety eight percent of the eligible voters went to register and ninety three percent of registered voters went to vote on July 26, 1998 in a festive and happy atmosphere. Does this success, which is a pride for the Cambodian people, constitute a violation of international humanitarian law by Samdech Hun Sen?

Even if the international observers and the international community evaluates that the election in Cambodia was conducted in a free, fair and just, representing the will of the Cambodian people, and even if the complaints are resolved by the National Election Committee and the Constitutional Council (Article 123 of the constitution: the decision of the Council is final), the leaders of the opposition parties have of late continued to complain about the election results. The illegal demonstrations, organized by the opposition leaders turned its appearance quickly from opposing the results of the election to opposing the state institutions with the use of violence, ranging from the breakdown of law and order, the destruction of public properties, the incitement of racial discrimination that led to the killing of three people, the demand for Samdech Hun Sen to step down from power and for the United States to conduct missile attacks on Samdech Hun Sen's resident and the hurling of grenade into Samdech Hun Sen's resident. Faced with this anarchic situation, the Royal Government of Cambodia expressed its patience and high responsibility to ensure both the freedom of our people and stability, security and law and order.

In brief, the history of Cambodia and the activities of Samdech Hun Sen in the past two decades from 1979 to 1998 are closely complimentary and interrelated as one and cannot be separated. Cambodia has undergone the dark period of its history and Cambodian people, who escaped the bitter tragedy, will never forget the heroism and patriotism in the cause of defending the country and serving the Cambodian people of Samdech Hun Sen, who was also a victim of the cold war.

Samdech Hun Sen as well as the Cambodian people throughout the country, victims for almost three decades, cannot accept to continue to be future victims any longer. Any attempt to attack Samdech Hun Sen, no matter what size or appearance, is an intent to destroy the result of the elections, oppose the will of the owners of ballot papers, kill the nascent democracy in Cambodia, cause Cambodia to step backward for two decades and plunge Cambodia into a new abyss of tragedy. In general, the attempt to attack Samdech Hun Sen is a cover-up terrorism under the disguise of democracy with an intention to solely destroy the nation and Cambodian people.

On the contrary, if they want to help Cambodia to survive, they have to help Cambodia, respect the will of the Cambodian people expressed through the 26 July elections and place confidence once again in Samdech Hun Sen in order to continue the construction and development of Cambodia. If they want to help strengthen democracy in Cambodia, they must not encourage or set bad example on democracy to Cambodia. If they sincerely want to help Cambodia turn into a real legal state, they must help Cambodia to respect the constitution and all the effective laws in Cambodia, but not turn everything into political issues.

After the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement in 1991, Cambodia has no longer been a battlefield of cold war, which the Cambodian parties engaged in war and conflict. Especially after the 1993 election, Cambodia has turned into a legal and unified state with constitution, legal state institutions, and sovereignty and territorial integrity. In this sense, Cambodia cannot be considered as a secession of anyone. By avoiding internationalizing the problem of Cambodia, the Khmer politicians of all forms living inside or outside Cambodia must be conscious of and responsible for solving the problem of Cambodia in the national framework, based on the principles of the state of law and in capacity as an independent and sovereign state with self-determination. Samdech Hun Sen actively supports the Declaration of His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, dated November 7, 1998, who made an appropriate and acceptable proposal for the return of the opposition parties'members of the National Assembly in order to discuss the current political deadlock. In this spirit, Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh and his members will enjoy full security, both physically and legally, during their stay in Cambodia.

For the cause of the entire Cambodian people, the current Royal government of Cambodia firmly believe that even if the new National Assembly will not be able to convene its first session, the continuity of the state is guaranteed by four constitutional institutions namely His Majesty the King, the Royal Government of Cambodia, Constitutional Council and the Supreme Council on Magistracy. According to article 7 of the Law on the Functioning of the Council of Ministers, which was adopted by the National Assembly of the First Legislature on 20 July, 1994, the Royal Government of Cambodia will continue to fulfil its obligation with a sense of high responsibility for the destiny of its country and people who desperately need assistance in their production and livings by:

1. doing its best to maintain the stability and to effectively implement the seven-point measures announced by Samdech Hun Sen at the Chaktomuk Hall on October 22, 1998.
2. protecting the election results and opposing every attempt to sabotage the election results and to organize a new election.
3. making efforts to negotiate with the winning parties in order to solve the current deadlock. This is to allow the National Assembly to operate and a new Royal Government of Cambodia to be form as soon as possible on the basis of the state of laws.

Made in Phnom Penh, November 11, 1998

Signed
By Thirty Members of the Royal Government of Cambodia.

CABINET OF SAMDECH CHEA SIM
PRESS RELEASE

28 October 1998, Translated from Khmer

SAMDECH CHEA SIM'S VIEW ON CPP CONCESSION

UP to this moment, certain political personalities, political parties, local and international news media and certain rights organizations have criticized the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) for being inflexible and for its so-called refusal to make concession to the opposition.  Certain individuals and organizations have pointed out that the opposition has reduced drastically the number of their complaints from over 800 to only two, i.e. to ballot reconciliation and formula for seat allocation. Still, they alleged, the CPP is so unconcerned and has not sought reconciliation by responding appropriately to these demands, from the opposition.

Such an accusation, when superficially considered, appears to point out that the CPP has been extremely indifferent to the resolution of the problems, or has wished to have these problem drags on ad infinitum.

However, when we reviewed the above charges and sought to understand them, we have seen that the 800 complaints, which have been reduced now to two, are all connected with the election and the results of the election.

Regarding the election, one must understand the followings:

First, the Cambodian People's Party was only a party.  The CPP participated in the 26 July election like other 38 political parties. Before the law, the Cambodian People's Party has no more rights or privileges than the Funcinpec or the Sam Rainsy Party.    In regard to electoral complaints, the CPP has no rights to intervene and respond, nor can it offer any concession.  To lodge these complaints with the Cambodian People's Party is dealing with the wrong authority and using wrong regulations in force.  It is a grave mistake of judgment to consider the responsibilities of the state as those of the CPP and vice-versa.

Secondly, the election was conducted within the framework of the constitution of the land, the electoral law, the party law and other laws in force of the nation.  The National Electoral Commission has the exclusivity of organizing the entire election, from the beginning to the end.  The Constitutional Council and local and international observer teams are arbitrators.  The people make decision regarding the party they trust.  These are separate cases, put together as a unity.

Based on the agenda and the characters of the complaints by the two opposition parties, the CPP obviously cannot make any legal concession in order to alter the results or decisions made by any of the above.

Thirdly, the 26 July election gave the CPP 64 seats; the Fincepec 43 seats; and the Sam Rainsy Party 15 seats.  This was the final result. Even if more demand were filed, or any kind of concession were made by the CPP, still there would have no influence to exert any change.  The historical decision of the Cambodian people, voting at the poll which was meticulously organized by the National Electoral Commission, certified finally by the Constitutional Council and accepted by the local-intemational observer teams as free, fair and credible was an irrevocable determination.

Fourthly, For this election which has the goal of forming the National Assembly and the new Government, our people and the international community have sacrificed over US$26 million.  This is the highest expense for a country which has organized the election by itself, in the search for its own reconstruction.  As a nation, we are proud of this first self-organized election.  If, for any circumstance, this democratic process fell apart at the end because of the complaints or because of the boycott by two political parties among the 39 parties, how would we answer to over 5 million voters who have cast their votes nationwide?  These voters have now become hostages of politicians and political parties.  Such a case will create a bad precedent.  It will obstruct the establishment of Cambodia as a future legal State.

Fifthly, Compared to the 1993-election, we'd also remember that the Cambodian People's Party was also involved in making complaints on the results of the election much similar to the present two political parties.  However, the Cambodian People's Party was unable to have the electoral results changed, i.e. the results proclaimed by UNTAC remained unaltered. (Funcinpec: 58 seats; CPP: 51 seats; BLDP: 10 seats; and Moulinaka: 1 seat).

We have had the 1993 experience.  Now we have the 1998 case.  Through these two experiences, we should have learned that, notwithstanding the complaints, no party can force the electoral authorities, independent and neutral as they are, to alter any number in favor of this or that party.  The law in force and the competent authorities require that the will of the people be respected.

Besides, the experiences we have learned from 1993 that the concessions are possible when we deal with sharing of power, with the mechanism for the leadership of the National Assembly, and in the formation of a coalition government.  This is also a tradition which is currently being used by other powers in the world.

In this regard, the Cambodian People's Party is prepared to make appropriate concession to the Funcinpec, a partner in the Royal Coalition Government.

Up to this day, the Cambodian People's Party nurses no ambition for exclusive power.    The CPP has made its policy clear before the election.  The goal of the Cambodian People's Party is to obtain a plan of action applicable with the desire of His Majesty and applicable with the will of the Cambodian people and the wish of the international community which want to see established a coalition government reflecting the results of the 26 July 1998 poll.  In practice, the Cambodian People's Party adopts a flexible, conciliatory, well-balanced, fair and acceptable position, honorable to all of us, based on the respect for liberal democracy, the spirit of national reconciliation and the tradition of 1993.

More essentially, the CPP is prepared to offer appropriate honor and meaningful role to the opposition parties in the National Assembly according to the liberal democratic rule as this rule is applied everywhere else in the world.

In consideration to the time wasted, to the dignity and national interests lost in the international arena, to the living conditions of our people neglected, and to the immediate need for political stability, national reconciliation and development, the Funcinpec and the CPP should join hands without further delay.  We must sit down at the negotiation table and resolve the basic problems of sharing power, of operating the National Assembly and of distributing responsibilities in the new royal coalition government.  We must merge our political program designed for future national development.

The dark shadow of the past must be erased.  This shadow must be replaced by the new page of cooperation and good mutual understanding, based on the constitution and other laws in force of the land and the advancement of the national interests.  We should consider the 26 July 1998 election as the common success of our entire people; and we should abide by the will of the people who have charted the new destiny for the Funcnpec and for the Cambodian People's Party to lead the nation into the 21st.Century.  This is the historical time to pick up our responsibility which challenges the leaders of the two major political parties, and face realities by responding in concrete action to the trust and confidence of the people who have elected us to public offices.

The Cambodian People's Party expresses its strong belief in the wisdom of Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh, President of the Funcinpec. The CPP believes in the good judgement of the members of Funcinpec's Executive Committee in appreciating the essential priority in the immediate normalization of relations between the two parties, the key holders to the current political deadlock and as the nuclei of national reconciliation, political stability and national development.  [ END ]

Cambodia celebrates the King's 76th birthday, the National Idenpendce
Day and the 7th Anniversary of the Peace Agreement Day 

Speech by Samdech Hun Sen Second Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia and Commander-in Chief of the National Armed Forces of Cambodia on the occasions of:

• The celebration of His Majesty Preah Karuna Preah Bat Samdech Norodom Sihanouk's 76th Birthday Anniversary.

• Independence Day (November 9)

• The 7th Anniversary of the Signing of Paris Peace Agreements on Cambodia 22 October 1998

Today, the Royal Government of Cambodia, together with government officials, the armed forces and Cambodian people as a whole would like to express our best wishes to His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk on His 76th Birthday Anniversary. This is a great happiness for Cambodia which enjoys the cool shade of Their Majesties the King and the Queen, and the aspiration that Cambodia will be in this shade for many years to come.

It is with great pleasure that along the path we have gone, we have great honour to remind the prominent achievements made by our Father of the Nation, His Majesty King Norodom Sihanouk. We will continue to remind His Majesty's distinguished services to the Nation, Independence, Sovereignty, Peace and the National Reconciliation and we are all determined to safeguard this glorious history as well as to move steadfastly forward with it. It was on this long path that Cambodia won its national independence on the November 9th, 1953, and Cambodia became the member of the United Nations 10 years after this world body came into being. Cambodia had enjoyed peace and happiness for many years, enjoyed development and the respect of sovereignty from the part of many countries, near and far. However, the coup staged by Lon Nol on March 18, 1970 pushed Cambodia into the tragic war, and followed by the Pol Pot's regime's total destruction of killing their own people, Cambodia had fallen to the zero or below zero level. Until today, since the rebirth of our nation on January 7th, 1979, we still cannot reckon the aftermath of the five-year war of which 3 years, 8 months and 20 days under the genocidal regime. And this unfortunate country had to face the serious aftermath in the process of building itself into a developing one. At the last stage of the path, we had reached a turning point and an unforgettable event happened 7 years ago, that is the Paris Peace Agreements on Cambodia which opened a new page in the Cambodian history. Cambodian people, old and young, men and women throughout the country under the control of the former State of Cambodia had warmly welcomed Their Majesties the King and the Queen after a long separation, who longed fondly to see their homeland and children and grandchildren. As far as the Vietnam war, in 1973 when the war was not yet over, Mr. Henry Kissinger and Mr. Le Duc Tho, the two chief negotiators had been awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. As for Cambodia, until now, both His Majesty the King and I, who have brought peace for Cambodia, have still been concerned in leading our country to happiness and prosperity.

Considering the spirit of the Paris Peace Agreements on Cambodia, the former State of Cambodia had carried on the cause of national rebirth, and in a sense of good will, with strength and responsibility in the management of the country and people, it had created favourable conditions, conducted closely and sincere cooperation with UNTAC in implementing the Paris Peace Agreements in a fruitful manner. UNTAC, which was entrusted by the international community, had achieved good results with the, contributions made by the former State of Cambodia, former FUNCINPEC and former National Front for Liberation of Khmer People. The refugees, officers, soldiers together with their families had returned to the homeland. The general election had been conducted in all zones, especially the zones controlled by the former State of Cambodia, except the former Khmer Rouge-occupied zone. And everything had proceeded as scheduled including the election, the convening of the National Assembly, and the setting up of the coalition government. The second Kingdom of Cambodia came into being, which the elected political parties had their important and indispensable contribution. The political regime of the Kingdom of Cambodia is free and pluralistic which requires all branches all levels in Cambodia to respect accordingly in all aspects, economic as well as political. This point has been clearly defined in the 1993 Constitution. The Cambodian seat was given back to Cambodia, after many years of being occupied by the Lon Nol and the genocidal Pol Pot cliques. After that, the new government came into being, which demonstrated that the Cambodia problem was solved and ended. The achievements of the Paris Peace Agreements brought great results for Cambodia, providing rights and sovereignty in fulfilling their tasks. Cambodia had upheld their rights, and together with the international community for national development in a sense of responsibility for the national destiny.

As a matter of fact, UNTAC had failed to fulfil a number of task. Whose fault is it? It is the Democratic Kampuchea that refused to dissolve their armed forces and to allow UNTAC to enter their zones, and they did not take part in the election, etc... In addition, in order to destroy the spirit of the Paris Peace Agreements and the work of UNTAC, they maintained their forces, and developed the underground forces in the country, seeking by all means to send their members into various political parties, and through these parties, they had great possibility in planting their elements in the national army and other institutions. Normally and legally, no country is allowed to have two separate zones and two armies, Cambodia included. The law to outlaw the Khmer Rouge increased the strength to step up the disintegration of the Khmer Rouge organizations. Thanks to the heroism of the Royal Armed Forces of Cambodia and Cambodian people, the Khmer Rouge organizations and their controlled zone came to an end following their ouster from power on January 7th, 1979. This is the pleasure for the international community, for the sake of stability, the unity of the Cambodian people, a factor contributed to the holding of the election in July 1998. Some zones which did not take part in the election in 1998 have exercised their citizen's rights. We have cast our votes, implementing the free, pluralistic democracy, in a nonviolent manner. Therefore, we have to be grateful to the

voters, and to serve Cambodia people as our masters without delay and unconditionally.

Seven years after the Paris Peace Agreements on Cambodia, what Cambodia achieved and implemented is not completely good and easy. The Royal government and the Cambodian people have faced a lot of complicated and vital obstacles.

The opportunists and extremists who have no foundation among the Cambodian people and who had colluded with the Khmer Rouge have continued to undermine the security, law and order, economy and the daily life of the people, in an attempt to destroy the achievements brought about by the Paris Peace Agreements, prompting the friends of Cambodia to have a wrong opinion about Cambodia, preventing foreign aid to Cambodia. It is they who masterminded the assassination of the leaders, organizing dangerous and illegal forces, sending the Khmer Rouge into the cities and provinces, including Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Kampot, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap, Kompong Thorn, etc... Sometimes they carried out the attacks on 6 targets at the same time and fixing the date of July 12, 1997 as the last day of the Royal Government, which came from the National Assembly elected by the people in 1993 in accordance with the Paris Peace Agreements. They even created the anarchy, insecurity and instability, although they are aware that it runs counter to the national interest and the peaceful life of the people.

Faced with these schemes, the Royal Government has taken the initiative to cope with the situation, restoring the stability and respect of law, as the advocate of State of law. The 8 security measures which I have brought up became an important factor to pave the way for the election. As all of you are aware, without these efforts, without technical and financial assistance by friendly countries, we could not have had a good election in July 1998, as described by some figures as "a miracle on the Mekong." The right assessment of the powers and countries, near and far, and the international community will be inscribed in our history and hearts of Cambodians, which will be the effective means to remedy and do away with groundless slander in an attempt to discredit the Khmer people and nation.

The Royal Government and the people of Cambodia take this opportunity of the 7th Anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreements to extend our sincere thanks to France, Japan, Russia, China, the United States of America, England, Canada, Australia, especially ASEAN. countries and European Community, and many other countries for the assistance given to the Cambodian people for the cause of peace and national reconstruction. The assistance, moral, material and financial, extended to the Cambodian people is very valuable, because it is distributed directly to the people in a timely manner. We also deeply thank the assistance of international organisations and NG0s, especially from the European Community, who have effectively organized the Prasak and Palik programs and hope that the sustainability of this assistance will help the Cambodian people to carry out the national development on their own.

How about the current situation?

The Royal Government is not duty bound to explain the stance of any political parties, which are responsible for organizing the working process of the National Assembly and setting up a new government in order to take over the task of the current government.

Only those who want to prolong the anarchy and instability prevent the efforts to set up a new government.

Since the polling day of July 26, 1998 to September 24, 1998, the day of convening the first meeting of National Assembly, what we saw is the illegal and violent demonstrations which lasted for 16 days occupying a site near the Royal Palace and in front of the National Assembly. It is from this place that acts of violence were incited on the spot or in other places. They incited the uprisings on the part of the armed forces, and expanding the anarchy to various places, including in front of some embassies, etc... As for the border zones, there are a number of places, such as Thmor Dar, Sok Sann, Obey Chan being put under threat by the criminals.

What are the characteristics of the violent illegal demonstrations?

The obvious characteristics are that the demonstrations were the springboard for implementing a dangerous plan. To begin with, complaints relating to the result of the election, and then there being demands for toppling the current government, and setting up a temporary government in order to organize a new election. The incitement to racial discrimination and rebellion of the armed forces, killing leaders of the government, demanding the overthrow of the executive organisation of the Kingdom of Cambodia, appealing to fire missiles into Cambodia etc ..., which led to acts of violence including grenade attacks on the residence of the Head of the Government on September 7th, 1998 and the cruel assassination attempt on September 24, 1998. These violence resulted in the loss of lives, property destruction, loss of security and social order, political instability and economic chaos.

Following the summit meeting in September 22, 1998 and the opening meeting the National Assembly on September 24, 1998 under the chairmanship of His Majesty the King, the results of these meetings were rejected, especially the agreement achieved in the summit meeting in Siem Reap. It reflected the characteristics of the illegal demonstrations which their leaders declared as a revolution.

The National Assembly of the first legislature has recently finished its mission. The National Assembly of the second legislature will take over many legislative tasks, but it is regretful that some political parties have not yet wanted the National Assembly to begin their works. In the capacity of the leadership, together with Excellency Ung Hout, the First Prime Minister, responsible for the executive power of the Kingdom of Cambodia, I have a historic duty to run the country till a new government is set up.

As all of you are aware, I never avoid my responsibility, even in the circumstances of serious crisis. Therefore, I have prepared myself to set up a coalition government in response to the request and aspiration of the people, who have expressed their will through the July 26,election. The new government that I'm going to set up is a government of national unity, open to various political parties with a sincere wish to take part for the sake of national construction for the next five years to come. We do not allow anyone to take part in the government in order to undermine the government or hampering the government to serve the people.

What we want to have is a more effective and stronger government. The voters are waiting anxiously for the new government to perform their tasks. Therefore, to lead a government is to lead a combined force towards an obvious goal which we try our best to reach.

There is a great need to give a fresh push for all the social organizations. We have made every effort to do away with the aftermath of war and of the genocidal regime. At the same time, I have always paid due attention to the demands made by the opposition because they are also members of the society. Everyone has his/her own role in democracy, for the peace of national construction, not for destruction. They should not make the democracy in Cambodia, which need to develop more to be understood that opposition is destruction. Both the government and the opposition must put the national interest, social stability and people's livelihood above all, thereby we can have a strong political force and national stability. To reach this goal, it is imperative to implement the rule of law throughout the country, which will attract everybody to take on the path of state of law. The population is increasing, which can be 15 million people in the next five years. Therefore, to reconsider the number of provinces and municipalities and providing some autonomy to the provincial and municipal management is also necessary. An effective management of province, municipality, district and commune should be taken into consideration in an adequate and timely manner. It is the response to what is most respectful, it is the people's interest. The equality of the people before the law is the objective which we should make every effort to develop. It is the target we are determined to reach in the next five years so that everybody enjoys equal rights the law must defend the weak and must be implemented throughout the country. It is in this spirit that the judicial reform cannot be delayed any longer. Therefore, the government need the necessary assistance from the National Assembly to push forward this issue, together with independent institutions involved such as the Constitutional Council, the Supreme Council of Magistracy and the courts for the sake of social justice.

The important issue is to give a strong and fresh impetus to economic development. Recently, in the election campaigns, political parties had raised in an easy way that they would bring great progress to the economy. However, we should take a look at the present economic situation. Is it easy to achieve as expected? During the election campaign, it was not very favorable for investments. Our economy has been harmed and lacks stability which cannot be restored overnight. Therefore, a new policy must be defined in an urgent manner, together with the necessary reforms which will create favourable conditions to agricultural production, goods circulation and the business of the people. It is an important request for the sake of investment in Cambodia, and the word "investment" should be understood "to build Cambodia into a developed country"

These serious requests demand a reform process. In fact we cannot achieve everything in a day, but if we idle away and wait, it means death. The reforms in the army, the police and the administration as well as the judicial system are the four related reforms which serve the common goal. The combat against corruption, the violation by power abuse and the negative phenomena in the society is the regular activities of all forces. We will not allow anyone among our people and businessmen to be the victims.

What I have brought up is less than 1/3 of the plans that the new government will take into consideration. Up to now, we are still optimistic that the new government will come into being in the near future. In a sense of responsibility of the current government, I think that we have wasted a lot of valuable time. The suffering and hardship of the people prompted the current .government to free itself from being the hostage of the politicians in the minority and fulfil their work in a good manner. As you are aware those who sufferer are those without salary and weapons. They make their living by labour, service, and their skills. They cannot afford the lack of daily consideration from the part of the government. Therefore, today, as a Prime Minister of the current government and the Commander-in-Chief of the National Armed Forces of Cambodia, I put forward the following:

1. The continued implementation in a strict manner of the 8 point security measures which I have defined.

2. All institutions, all levels and all branches of the Royal Government must fulfil their tasks in a good manner, and should not abandon any tasks while waiting for the new government to be formed.

3. I will put forward immediately the new measures in order to combat corruption and other negative activities which create difficulty to investors, businessmen.. such as kidnapping, drug trafficking and armed robbery.

4. New policy regarding the water issue .must be implemented in an urgent manner without delay, to mobilize forces to help farmers in their agricultural production. The management of forest should be stengthened in a strong manner. I take opportunity to state as of responsibility that the forest issue is the weakest point of the Royal Government in the first term. The anarchy in logging happened seriously during the period of 1994-98. We can say that in the past 4 years the forests have been destroyed more seriously in the thousand-year history of Cambodia. To keep the sustainability of the forest, which is a rare natural resource, and protect the environment, the Royal Government declares the measure as follows:

a. To put an end to permission for the investment in wood processing,

b. To begin to review all contracts on forest concession, and cancel the contracts having yet to be implemented. The forest zones belonging to the cancelled contracts should not be granted to any other company, but be set in the reserve zones or wildlife refuges or national parks under the strict management of the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment and the local authorities.

c. As for the forest concession which were implemented in accordance with the contracts must be equipped with more modern processing means in order to increase the wood value as well as the employment of people, prompting the company to implement log-cutting in accordance to the plan and technical norms and the reforestation in the logging zone.

d. To conduct a review on the draft law on forest management and prepare a decree on forest management. Those who are involved in illegal logging or illegal export must be identified and punished immediately.

5. Strong encouragement should be made toward the investors and all businessmen in the country. Review will be made immediately on the tax issue. Each institution should have regular contact with the company, enterprise facing difficulty so as to solve the problem in a timely manner. One should not. take advantage of the difficulty of the company as a chance to make personal profit.

6. The management of budget and fiscal affairs. In fact, the national budget meets with great difficulty because of the objective and subjective sectors. The objective factor is that we have spent our limited budget in the period of conducting the election process, for the integration of the Khmer Rouge forces from their last stronghold, and for other unexpected spending combined with decreasing income due to the instable political situation and the influence of the financial crisis in the region, inflation, devaluation of the riel, the rising price of goods, and late salary payments created difficulty in the livelihood of the government officials and the armed forces. However, in a sense of responsibility, we should take into account the subjective factor in order to take urgent measures as follows:

a. Measures to be taken to combat smuggling in whatever forms

b. Strictly ban the collecting income,

retaining income, and spending out of the national budget system.

c. Put an end to tax exemption out of the framework of investment law and fiscal law and law on the annual financial management.

d. Ministry of Economy and Finance should control and re-implement the control of imported goods before loading in order to ensure the effective management and the correct tax imposition, but also guarantee quick effective service.

c. To practice thrift in spending, especially the unnecessary spending. All the budget earned from privatization should be put into public investment, infrastructure or counter-fund of credit of the financial institutions for infrastructure projects. Budget cannot be spend out of these targets.

7. Whatever difficulty we have, I will speed up the reform in the judicial system, by raising the salary of the judges, especially the judges in the supreme court, and taking note of the verdicts having been decided.... and if discovering that there are judges making wrong decision, I hope that the Supreme Court of Magistracy will take the disciplinary measures immediately.

In order to effectively implement the above 7 measures, it is imperative to strengthen and improve the human rights work, and in taking part in the reform process, the Cambodian Committee for Human Rights of the Royal Government must build its own voluntary force in every village. Simultaneously, I will set up a council of those giving opinions which can accept volunteers to take part and conduct surveys, making projects and giving opinion in all aspects to the Royal Government. This council is a think tank which will provide ideas and thoughts to the Government.

As I have declared before the election that if I enjoyed the confidence of the people to be prime minister of the new government, I will set up an economy oriented government. However, the life line and the brains of an economy-oriented government have to start from now or, from the current government, because the waiting process will only worsen the suffering and hardship of our people. In actuality, we need the National Assembly to approve more laws, however what is available can facilitate us to work effectively without having to wait.

I would like to take this opportunity to affirm that His Majesty the King, the National Assembly of the first legislature, the Royal Government, the Constitution Council, the National Election Committee, the authorities of all levels, the armed forces, the eligible voters, the international associations providing financial, technical and material assistance and the observers have fulfilled their tasks related to the election. The outstanding problem is that the elected political parties and the elected parliamentarians have to do the work for the sake of the people who voted for them. Considering the results of the summit meeting on September 22, 1998 in Siem Reap under the highest Chairmanship of His Majesty the King, if these results are strictly respected, there seems to be no need to hold another summit. However, if going against the spirit of these results, even though the meeting is held several times, in any venue, no results will be achieved. I hope that political parties and the elected members of the National Assembly will not create new obstacles and will actively take part in solving the problem for the sake of the nation and people.

-(Edited version of text delivered in Khmer).

 As a Representative of the Royal Government and the people of Cambodia to the United States of America, I would like to express my deep frustration over the passage of House Resolution 533, authored by Representative Dana Rohrabacher.

The House Resolution 533 does not reflect the effort, as have been done by other foreign countries, to unite Cambodians but further divide Cambodians for the interests of individual and party rather than the interest of the whole Cambodian people. The author of this Resolution did not seriously and carefully study the events in Cambodia and jumped to a dangerous conclusion that even the United States Department of State has distanced itself from this flawed Resolution (Annex 1, US Embassy Statement in Phnom Penh). Furthermore, many scholars and researchers considered "the so-called culpability of Hun Sen for war crimes" as irresponsible and baseless (Annex 2, Phnom Penh Post, Oct. 2-15, 1998).

Most of the Cambodian people living in Cambodia are aware that Samdech Hun Sen has been a committed fighter against the Khmer Rouge until its collapse in mid this year. The last and dangerous scheme of the Khmer Rouge to take power was in July 1997 through Funcinpec party was failed. The Khmer Rouge document published in Phnom Penh Post on May 22, 1998 confirmed the tangible evidence that the Khmer Rouge were using Funcinpec party to return to power. If the Khmer Rouge scheme was realized who would be the victim? Rohrabacher or Cambodian people? The Cambodian people would not risk their lives again as in the situation in 1975 when the Cambodian people were left in the lurch.

It is public knowledge that the current and common trend of the international community is to bring Pot Pot leadership to trial for their crimes of genocide committed from 1975 to 1978 when they were in power. In 1997, the Royal Government of Cambodia with Samdech Hun Sen as Second Prime Minister also took the initiative to address two formal requests to H. E. Mr. Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General and to President Bill Clinton for their help in setting up an international tribunal to bring the Khmer Rouge leadership to justice. Based on the strong commitment of the international community to this end, I firmly believe that Dana Rohrabacher's efforts to divert the attention of the international community is not successful and that the Resolution is obsolete and insignificant.

The international community including ASEAN countries, European Union, Japan, Australia, France and other recognized that the elections in Cambodia on July 26, 1998 is free and fair, representing the will of the Cambodian people. In this sense, the author of the Resolution should encourage the Cambodian parties to work together instead of dividing them for an ulterior motive, thus obstructing the formation of the new Royal Government of Cambodia. The action of Rohrabacher has mainly contributed to the division among Cambodian political parties and Cambodian people, the slow-down of the peace process and the reconstruction and development in Cambodia.

Everybody knows that Rorhrabacher is a staunch supporter of Sam Rainsy. Therefore, it is not surprising that he drafted a Resolution that is seriously critical of Samdech Hun Sen in an attempt to save Sam Rainsy's face from his defeat in the July 1998 elections in Cambodia. I would like to stress that to serve the individual interest is against the principles of democracy and affects the normal lives of the Cambodian people living in the country.

The Cambodian people will never forget that Samdech Hun Sen saved them from the Khmer Rouge period and that it was the Hun Sen government that initiated the openness policy that led to the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement on October 23, 1991 and the historic elections in 1993. The election in July 1998 is another testimony to the nascent democracy in Cambodia. The success is because the Hun Sen government is always at the center of every negotiation for peace and national reconciliation. In order to solve the current deadlock in Cambodia, he has further appealed to all Cambodian parties elected by the people to peacefully address their problem in the National Assembly.

Finally, I would like to emphasize that the Cambodian people are proud to fully exercise their rights to vote for the party of their choice and to have Samdech Hun Sen elected in the second term as Prime Minister. The attempt to displace the people's determination will not succeed and will not enjoy the support from Cambodian people and international community.

Washington, DC, October 12, 1998
Var Huoth
Ambassador

Annex 1

United States Embassy Phnom Penh, Cambodia

October 8, 1998
  STATEMENT 

The State Department strongly supports and has called for investigations of the serious human rights violations, including politically-motivated killings, that have occurred and continue to occur in Cambodia. Those identified as responsible should be brought to justice.

In support of this goal, we have provided funding to the UN Center for Human Rights in Cambodia, which is effectively investigating and documenting human rights crimes and abuses.

The State Department shares the objectives of holding accountable all gross violators of human rights. That goal has motivated our efforts to establish international tribunals to bring to justice the perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes. For example, we are working to bring to justice those most culpable for the planning and execution of the crimes against humanity of the 1975-1979 period.

U.S. policy does not support the establishment of a tribunal for the purpose of investigating allegations of human rights violations and other crimes focused only on a single individual, as called for in the House Resolution 533.

If passed, this Resolution, like the numerous other resolutions passed by the House and Senate, does not have the force of law and is not binding on the Administration. It reflect, in this case, the opinion of the House of Representatives.

Annex 2

Phnom Penh Post, 2-15 October, 1998

PRESS RELEASE

STATEMENT
of the Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

The assassination attempt perpetrated on the life of Samdech Hun Sen, Second Prime Minister in Siemreap on 24 September 1998 has brought about widespread shock and strong condemnation from justice and peace loving people.

With all these facts witnessed by so many in the vicinity, it is with outrage to learn that some media and some foreign sponsors of the terrorist group have put up a strong face to defend the criminals by making again some misleading comments about this assassination attempt. Instead of condemning the terrorists, they again manipulate public opinion and resort to their old practice of blaming others for their crimes. They can no longer pretend to champion the cause of democracy and human rights with these terrorist acts. They should be condemned for their unholy war against Cambodia and the Cambodian people.

Phnom Penh September 25, 1998

Press Release

The Royal Embassy of Cambodia would like to publish the result of the Summit among Cambodian political parties under the Chairmanship of His Majesty the King with the following content:

A Cambodian Summit Meeting was held under the Chairmanship of His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, at the Royal Residence in Siem Reap Province on the morning of 22nd September. The Meeting was attended by the leaders of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), FUNCINPEC (National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia) and the Sam Rainsy Party.

After the meeting, His Excellency Sok An, Co-Minister in Charge of the Council of Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia told a news conference that the meeting had been fruitful and that His Majesty the King was happy with its outcome. He said the exchange of views was "frank with positive results". He outlined the results of the meeting as follows:

"1. All parties agreed to attend the inaugural session of the National Assembly on 24th September, the day after tomorrow. The meeting will be held as planned. It will be opened by His Majesty the King, followed by a swearing-in ceremony at Angkor Wat Temple presided over by the Venerable Chief Monk of Siem Reap Province, representing His Majesty the King. After this, there will be a reception hosted by His Majesty the King. "

"2. After the 24th September, following the first session of the National Assembly and the swearing in ceremony of people's representatives, the National Assembly will start its normal work. "

"3. The National Assembly could discuss the remaining issues, which are not yet completely resolved, within the legal framework and competence of relevant institutions at the first session. "

"4. While the National Assembly is going on, representatives of political parties can begin negotiations on setting up a new government. There will be two working platforms. The first, the National Assembly's work, as I have just said, and the second, talks among parties on setting up a new government."

"This is a very important point. After the first session, the National Assembly will carry on its work as stipulated by the law and the internal regulations of the National Assembly." said Sok An. "An important point I would also like to stress is that there could be an agreement by a two-thirds majority to set up a new government. This is the first possibility, that is, the National Assembly will vote to set up a new government. "

"The second possibility: In case the National Assembly is unable to reach the necessary two-thirds majority to set up a new government, the incumbent government will continue its work. This is a very important point. Earlier, there had been different interpretations. But the summit meeting has now clearly decided on this."

Replying to a question by a correspondent of the Japanese newspaper ' Yomiuri Shimbun', Sok An said: "At the summit meeting, everything was clear. The candidate for Prime Minister of the new government is Samdech Hun Sen. On 24^th September, the first session of the National Assembly will be held. All this is clear; there is no longer any doubt about all this."

Replying to an indistinct question regarding suggestions that some people will be arrested or prevented from going abroad he said: "The government has acted in accordance with the law. This is a matter for the tribunal, which normally empowers the police, to implement. In my view, after the summit meeting, everything will proceed in an orderly manner. The situation will be greatly improved.

"What the government can do is to specify to the relevant authority - police and those in charge of carrying out the work - that they must not take action unless there is a concrete request from the court. "

"What I would like to stress to you is that I have observed that the relationship between leaders of the three parties has greatly improved."

Replying to another indistinct question, he said: "The best solution, what we call the least bad solution, is that we have to maintain social order and the normalcy of the state machinery. We agreed to maintain the incumbent government until the Assembly can agree to elect a new government. As I pointed out just now, this is not the solution we want, but what we call the least bad one."

Answering a question on the composition of the new government, Sok An said: "Regarding a question on whether the new government will be formed with two of the three parties, the king clearly left this to the parties. He clearly said that all the parties must be in the National Assembly; this is the people's will. The parties have received votes from the people and have to respond to the citizens' will, that is to work in the National Assembly. Whether the parties will take part in the coalition government, this is their right. This is the work of the parties; they have to discuss this matter. It was clear at the meeting that one of the options is for the parties to discuss who will be in the government.

"As I said earlier, along with the National Assembly's meeting, representatives of the parties can also meet to find a formula on whether there will be two or three parties in the government and how the government will be set up. Representatives of the parties have to discuss and decide this issue together.

"In accordance with what we call a democratic culture, there should be an opposition party in the National Assembly to check on the government's activities and to give advice. Therefore, there is a possibility that two parties will be in the government - which is a coalition government - and one party in the National Assembly playing the role of the opposition. This is in accordance with the democratic culture."

Sok An added: "His Majesty The King clearly said that if the three parties were in the government, He would welcome it. And if two parties were in the government and one party in the National Assembly acting as the opposition, He would have no objection to this; He would also welcome it. This is the concrete result of this morning's summit."

To a further indistinct question he responded: "According to the list of newly-elected people's representatives, there are three senior members: HE (His Excellency) Ing Kieth from FUNCINPEC, HE Chem Snguon from the CPP, and HE Chea Soth, also from the CPP."

Answering another indistinct question he said: "On this matter, the Samdech Krom Preah Ranariddh himself has made it clear that he has no desire to be National Assembly Chairman or have any position in the government. The Samdech Krom Preah Ranariddh made this clear at the summit meeting. He pointed this out himself without being asked. The king did not ask about this; other people also did not ask, but the Samdech Krom Preah Ranariddh pointed this out himself."

*****
Washington, DC September 24, 1998

 The Royal Embassy of Cambodia would like to publish the Press Release issued on September 5, 1998 by the Spokesman of the Royal Government of Cambodia as follows:

The Royal Government of Cambodia is very regretful and disappointed with the callous and irresponsible acts of the opposition and especially the Sam Rainsy Party, which transformed the democratic application into the fomentation of violence, breed ceaselessly the anarchy, disgracefully dismantle the apparatus of national unity, and ferociously engineer a practice of racial discrimination endangering the policies of the Royal Government of Cambodia and its friendly relations with the neighboring countries.

The Royal Government of Cambodia notes that the incitement to the public to make demonstrations and to march till late September 4, 1998, in anarchic and irresponsible ways is a gross violation of the public law and orders, the demonstration law as well as the democratic principles. For the worse, the supporters and the leaders of the illegal demonstrations have deliberately violated the transitional criminal code as follows:

• They deliberately injured the people by instigating their demonstrators to violently beat up foreigners and journalists.
• They illegally detained people; they took a woman into custody in the headquarter of Sam Rainsy Party.
• They deliberately damaged public properties, and
• They openly stimulated racial hatred, psychological warfare, misinformation, upheaval in the society, and direct violence against the Vietnamese immigrants. Evidently, on September 4, 1998 alone, five citizens, who were purported as Vietnamese and were accused of poisoning water, were inhumanely beaten up and killed.

The Royal Government of Cambodia condemns in strongest terms these acts as atrocious and inhumane, and determines with vigor to apprehend and bring those criminals to justice.

The Royal Government of Cambodia would like to extend to the families of the victims their sincere and heartfelt condolences.

The main motive of the illegal demonstrations and marches is purely intended to oust the legitimate ruling government, born out of the democratic process in the 1993 elections, and to attempt to create political crisis.

The Royal Government of Cambodia reaffirms its warnings and urges the opposition to immediately cease its anarchic activities, its crimes and its violence of laws that they are conducting with an intention to demolish the democratic achievements accomplished so far by the Cambodians and their leaders.

The Royal Government of Cambodia urges the opposition and its leaders to pay tribute to the dignity and the interests of Cambodia, and her people, to adapt real advocacy of democracy, for which they have loudly claimed that they fervently embrace, and to come together to develop our motherland, Cambodia.

The Royal Government of Cambodia has the duty and the obligation to protect the dignity, the interest, and the stability of Cambodia, and to secure the public properties, the lives of its citizens as well as immigrants, who presently reside in Cambodia. The Royal Government of Cambodia may not allow our beloved country to be an anarchic square of a small group of people, whose goals is clearly justified as a greed for power.

The Royal Government of Cambodia also appeals to the citizens of Cambodia from all walks of life not to participate in any ways in the disruption of social security, the violations of law and order, the destruction of public properties, and the incitement to create violence and anarchy.

Press Release

On September 1, 1998, the National Election Committee in Cambodia issued a Decision (No. 09.1828.98 NEC) on the allocation of seats among the political parties receiving the highest number of votes in the July 26, 1998 general election held to choose members of the National Assembly for its second legislative term. The Royal Embassy of Cambodia would like to publish the Statement in its entirety as follows:

The National Election Committee:

• Considering the 1993 Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia;

• Considering the Royal Proclamation No. ns.rkm. 1297.07, dated 26 December, 1997 of the Law on the Election of Members of the National Assembly;
• Considering the Royal Proclamation No. Cs. rkm. 1197, dated 18 November, 1997, of the Law on the Political Parties;
• Considering the Royal Decree No. C.s. rkt. 0198.042, dated 30 January 1998 on the nomination of the National Election Committee to conduct an election choosing members of the National Assembly, in the Second Legislative Term;
• Referring to the Prakas of the National Election Committee No. 05.806.98 dated 29 May 1998 on the promulgation of the Regulations and Procedures of the Election of Members of the National Assembly, in the second legislative term; and
• Considering the Decision of the National Election Committee No. 09.1827.98 dated 01 September 1998, on the Official Results of the Election to choose the members of the National Assembly in the second legislative term

HAS THEREFORE MADE THE FOLLOWING DETERMINATION.

Article 1. The allocation of parliamentary seats for the political parties winning seats in the July 26, 1998 election to choose the members of the National Assembly in the second legislative term among the 23 constituencies is as follows:

• Banteay Meanchey Constituency: 6 seats assigned, Sam Rainsy party 1 seat, Funcinpec party 2 seats, CPP 3 seats;
• Battambang Constituency: 8 seats assigned, Sam Rainsy party 2 seats, Funcinpec party 3 seats, CPP 3 seats;
• Kampong Cham Constituency: 18 seats assigned, Sam Rainsy party 3 seats, Funcnpec party 8 seats, CPP 7 seats;
• Kampong Chhnang Constituency: 4 seats assigned, Funcinpec party 1 seat, CPP 3 seats;
• Kampong Speu Constituency: 6 seats assigned, Funcinpec party 2 seats, CPP 4 seats;
• Kampong Thom Constituency: 6 seats assigned, Funcinpec party 2 seats, CPP 4 seats;
• Kampot Constituency: 6 seats assigned, Funcinpec party 2 seats, CPP 4 seats;
• Kandal Constituency: 11 seats assigned, Sam Rainsy party 2 seats, Funcinpec party 5 seats, CPP 4 seats;
• Koh Kong Constituency: 1 seat assigned, CPP 1 seat;
• Kratie Constituency: 3 seats assigned, Funcinpec party 2 seats, CPP 1 seat;
• Mondulkiri Constituency: 1 seat assigned, CPP 1 seat;
• Phnom Penh Constituency: 12 seats assigned, Sam Rainsy party 4 seats, Funcinpec party 4 seats, CPP 4 seats;
• Preah Vihear Constituency: 1 seat assigned, CPP 1 seat;
• Prey Veng Constituency: 11 seats assigned, Funcinpec party 4 seats, CPP 7 seats;
• Pursat Constituency: 4 seats assigned, Funcinpec party 2 seats, CPP 2 seats;
• Ratanakiri Constituency: 1 seat assigned, CPP 1 seat;
• Seam Riep Constituency: 6 seats assigned, Sam Rainsy party 1 seat, Funcinpec party 2 seats, CPP 3 seats;
• Sihanouk Ville Constituency: 1 seat assigned, CPP 1 seat;
• Stung Treng Constituency: 1 seat assigned, CPP 1 seat;
• Svay Rieng Constituency: 5 seats assigned, Funcinpec party 1 seat, CPP 4 seats;
• Takeo Constituency: 8 seats assigned, Sam Rainsy party 1 seat, Funcinpec party 3 seats, CPP 4 seats;
• Kep Constituency: 1 seat assigned, CPP 1 seat;
• Pailin Constituency: 1 seat assigned, Sam Rainsy party 1 seat.

Of the 122 parliamentary seats: Sam Rainsy party won 15 seats; Funcinpec party won 43 seats; and CPP won 64 seats.

Article 2. This decision shall, on the date of signature, have immediately force and effect.

Phnom Penh, September 01, 1998

For The National Election Committee

Chairman

Chheng Phon.

CC.

The Cabinet of the King

The Constitutional Council

The National Assembly

The Cabinet of the Minister

The 39 Political Parties

Files and Records

Kingdom of Cambodia

Royal Government of Cambodia Nation Religion King

The Cambodian Royal Government deeply regrets for the unscrupulous continuity of the violation of the public laws and orders by the opposition parties, especially from the part of Sam Rainsy Party, which have shamelessly committed vandalism, have ripped lives of the Cambodian people, and have devastated the friendships and cooperation between the Royal Government of Cambodia and its neighboring countries.

1. The morning August 30 demonstration was completely illegal one with possibility of creating violence because the Phnom Penh municipality authority had publicly issued an announcement to halt it on August 29, 1998.
2. During the illegal demonstration, Sam Rainsy supporters slitted and damaged public momento-statue. It is a historical public property.
3. In the morning of August 30, 1998, Sam Rainsy continued using grotesque words to degrade the leadership of the Royal Government, and of the National Election Commission (NEC) of the sovereign and independent state, which was brought into life by the election in 1993.
4. Moreover, Sam Rainsy considers foreign investors and businessmen, who have actively contributed in the rehabilitation and the development of Cambodia by providing employment to thousand and thousand Cambodia as mafia.

Being responsible for the future of Cambodia and her people, the Royal Government firmly warns those political parties, which conduct the illegal activities, especially Sam Rainsy Party, to immediately cease its immoral and irresponsible acts, which are contrary to the principle of democracy, and the national interest. At this moment, Cambodia is hungry for the environment of peace, political stability, rebuilding, and development. 

Phnom Penh, August 30, 1998.

Kingdom of Cambodia

Royal Government of Cambodia Nation Religion King

The National Election Commission have announced the results of the July 26 election supported and endorsed as free, fair, and equitable by the international community, since the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) has organized a series of unrest and disorder conflicting the rule of laws and the principle of democracy, of which Sam Rainsy and his supporters claim they champion for. As the matter of fact, before the eyes of national and international public, either by self-being or by leadership of self-named party, Sam Rainsy and his actions never demonstrate that they desire to embrace the national reconciliation and the rule of laws, for which we, the Cambodians, enact and cautiously implement. The actual reckless activities of Sam Rainsy and his supporters as followed:

1. At midnight of August 20, 1998, Sam Rainsy and his supporters bursted open into the Interior Ministry compound headquartering the National Election Commission (NEC),
2. SRP members broke the lock, and bursted into the office of NEC,
3. In the morning of August 23, 1998, SRP members broke the lock, and forced open the Olympic Stadium without authorization, and
4. SRP members ignored and violated the ordinance of the Interior Ministry, authorizing SRP for one day August 24 demonstration, and for worse, they had proceeded their unwarranted activities one day earlier from August 23, and had gone through August 26, 1998.

In the application form for their demonstration, SRP specified clearly its purpose for recounting the ballots, and addressing their grievances on the electoral issues by the Constitutional Council; for the location and the manner of their demonstration, they asked to be at the Olympic Stadium and a three hour march in front of the National Assembly. On the contrary, they did not undertake what they promise to do. The purpose of illegal SRP demonstration is solely to distort and to intimidate the leadership of the Cambodian Royal Government. At free will, they use offensive words, instigate riot and racial confrontation, commit vandalism, undermine the law and order, and undercut the national security.

Pointedly, SRP members committed a battery against a person by believing he is a Vietnamese, because he has a light complexion.

On August 25, 1998, during the demonstration, a Norwegian investor, who simply applied his freedom of expression, was beatten up by SRP supporters.

On August 26, 1998, 43 year old Tek Chhay was beatten up and was unconscious by SRP members, because the innocent citizen simply expressed his reservation on the demonstration.

SRP supporters repeatedly vandalized the public properties by violently breaking the light poles, and digging the ground of the public park for their sanitary houses, blocking the city roads, and more.

They (SRP) insult and intimidate with their own free will at the government officials, who are not responsible for the issuance of the authorization for their demonstration, particularly they freely trash at the leaderships of the legislative and executive branches, for which they are highly entitled to represent the Nation.

They (SRP) brand the leadership of the National Election Commission (NEC) as a bunch of wise thieves, and accuse the NEC of ballot fraud.

They (SRP) instigate the armed forces to murder the leadership, the present government. Their motive clearly indicate they earnestly embrace terrorism and undermine democracy.

The national television coverage of Sam Rainsy hiring 5 suspects to throw hand grenades on his supporters in the SRP demonstration in order to place blames on the Cambodian government, especially to implicate the Second Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, clearly prove how the SRP is able to undertake the evil and hostile acts. But fortunately, our beloved nation and SRP supporters were safely unharmed, because the hired killer conscientiously aborted the scheme, and surrendered himself to the authorities.

It is most regrettable that Sam Rainsy urged the United States of America to launch missile attacks against the Kingdom of Cambodia, which is detrimental to the national security and sovereignty of Cambodia. Sam Rainsy's advocacy of violence and warfare is distinctively irresponsible for the nation and his people.

In Democracies, the individual's right and human right should be exercised and respected without interference of other individual's right. In the chapter of right and duty of the people, the article 37 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and the Universal Declaration of Human Right stipulate clearly that the demonstration should be conducted by peaceful means and within the framework of laws.

However, the above motives of Sam Rainsy Party as well as the individual Sam Rainsy madly and intentionally violate the penal code, the principle of liberty, the right of the public, and the execution of the highest law of the land, which was enacted through the elections of 1993. They also look down on the will and the determination of the more 5 million people, who registered their names to vote, and casted their votes in the July 26 elections. Moreover, Sam Rainsy and his supporters offended the international community labeling the result of the elections as free, fair, just and credible. The SRP and this individual must take responsibility before laws for the consequences and their immoral behaviors they purposely adopted.

How the individual, who obsesses with violence, immorality, irresponsibility, and lack of vision for the national reconciliation, especially, he puts himself out of the context of laws, can be trusted t be a democrat and a human right advocate, as he so claims? The most important question is should the people trust him to lead them?

Phnom Penh, August 27, 1998

Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post
August 12, 1998

Dear Sir/Madam:

Cambodia's election was evaluated by the well-respected international and local observers as sufficiently free and fair despite Mr. Stephen J. Morris' op-ed article stating to the contrary [Brutocracy Wins, August 9, 1998].On Friday last week, the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan also expressed his satisfaction with the result of the election and said Cambodia's future government reflects the will of the Cambodian people for reconciliation, pluralism and development.

On the question of observation, Mr. Morris failed to mention that there are 35,000 representatives of different political parties including CPP, Funcinpec, Sam Rainsy and almost 30,000 local independent non-governmental organizations' representatives (COMFREL, COFFEL, NICFEC) present in every polling station to closely observe the election across the country. Ironically, the irregularities were raised after the Election Day. Yet, the representatives of different political parties in each polling station also signed a paper at the end of the Election Day recognizing that the elections were conducted peacefully and orderly.

Furthermore, the independent National Election Committee(NEC) also addressed the complaints of some parties by recounting the ballots in a number of provinces. The recounting in 10 communes from four provinces (Takeo, Kompong Speu, Pursat, Kompong Cham), which alleged there were serious irregularities, has so far proven that no frauds occurred.

I would like to emphasize that there is no change of the formula for the allocation of seats by the NEC as claimed by the article. According to the electoral law adopted in September 1997, the electoral system is proportional representation by the greatest average. This point is clearly prescribed in Article 118 of the electoral law. The greatest average formula is generally known as the D' Hondt system, named after a Belgian mathematician who created this formula. Neither the NEC nor Sam Rainsy/Funcinpec parties can change the law.

With regards to the amnesty to the Khmer Rouge, I would like to clarify that the amnesty was given only to Ieng Sary by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) with the consent of His majesty the King and of over one hundred members of the National Assembly. However, this will not be an obstacle to bring him to justice if he is found guilty. The RGC already requested the UN Secretary General and US President to help set up an international tribunal to try the Khmer Rouge leadership for their crimes against humanity and other related crimes.

I would also like to stress that if Cambodia is lawless as claimed by the article, there should have been no elections taking place in Cambodia. The Cambodian people are proud to organize the election by themselves, which cost much less than the UNTAC election in 1993. The high vote turnout (more than 90 percent) represents the will of the Cambodian people. One should not underestimate them. They knew very well the vote was secret. As a result, they voted for 3 parties(CPP, Funcinpec and Sam Rainsy) out of 39 parties. This is the decision of the Cambodian people that deserves to be respected.

Yours sincerely,

Var Huoth
Ambassador
Royal Embassy of Cambodia

Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post
August 6, 1998

Dear Sir:

Despite the overwhelmingly positive assessment of the June 26 elections in Cambodia by numerous well-respected international and local observer groups, Ellen Bork, a member of the US observer delegation somehow managed to conclude the opposite in a recent op-ed ['Miracle on the Mekong' or Orchestrated Outcome?, August 5]

Ms. Bork, who says she witnessed "no instances of overt intimidation and no obvious fraud," refuses to believe her own eyes and ears, and those of her colleagues, who also had nothing negative to report on the electoral process. While the National Election Committee is committed to investigating the allegations, it is premature for Ms. Bork to suggest that the election was somehow rigged and it is unfair to say the high turnout of voters "reflects something other than enthusiasm." In her attempt to show the election was orchestrated, Ms. Bork unjustly speculates with no basis in fact.

Indeed, what Ms. Bork witnessed was the overwhelming eagerness of the Cambodian people to choose their future in the first national election ever run solely by the Cambodian people. This is the reason why more than 90 percent of Cambodians cast their ballot, many doing so before noon time. As many observer groups have said, the election was free and fair to represent the will of the Cambodian people. Ms. Bork fails to give credit where the credit is due—and that is to the Cambodian people who showed the world they believe in democracy.

Now after the election, Cambodia and its people need sincere and constructive support for the development of their country and its nascent democracy. Erroneous speculation such as Ms. Bork's negates the time and effort of many international and local NGOs to make the elections a success and comes at the detriment of Cambodians who have fought hard and long to achieve peace and stability. Finally, they deserve to have the facts heard.

I would be deeply grateful if you could publish this response as early as possible.

Yours Sincerely,
Var Huoth
Ambassador
Royal Embassy of Cambodia

Letters to the Editor
July 30, 1998
The New York Times

Dear Sir/Madam:

I am writing to draw your attention that the Royal Embassy of Cambodia (REC) previously sent 2 letters to the Editor of the New York Times for publication. The first one is to respond to your April 25 editorial titled "Hollow Election in Cambodia" and the second one to the July 13 editorial titled "Cambodia's stunted election campaign". Both letters were not published in the New York Times as requested.

The New York Times is considered to be prestigious, respected and unbiased in a democratic world. In this regards, I continue to firmly believe that the New York Times would publish the third letter of the REC as herewith attached. Overlooking the opinion of the REC, which is the official representative of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the United States, further ignores the real issues and the other side of the story surrounding elections and the situation in Cambodia.

I highly appreciate the great interest that the New York Times has in Cambodia and thank you in advance for your attention to the publication of the attached letter.

Yours Sincerely,

Var Huoth
Ambassador

Letters to the Editor
July 30, 1998
The New York Times

Dear Sir:

I take exception to your editorial [Cambodia's Imperfect Election, July 30]. Your editorial lacks sufficient ground to deride the election in Cambodia as imperfect, when the most recognized international and local independent observers declare otherwise.

The report of the Joint International Observer Group, which represents some 34 countries, said the election was free and fair to represent the will of the Cambodian people. And the joint preliminary statement of the NDI/IRI observer delegation, which previously condemned the elections before a single vote had been cast, said polling went smoothly and congratulated the Cambodian people for demonstrating their commitment to democracy.

The election in Cambodia was conducted under the observation of more than 70,000 electoral officials, 35,000 parties' officials, 40,000 independent NGOs and 700 international observers. Most witnessed the electoral process from start to finish. The ballot boxes were placed overnight with the national election committee officials and with close observation by officials of different parties and independent NGOs. Each ballot box was multi-locked to prevent fraud and the keys were held by different party officials. There was no room for manipulation.

Former Congressman Steven Solarz, who co-chaired the join US NDI/IRI delegation, said the ruling party appeared not to have used the electoral machinery to distort the results. Furthermore, in an interview with BBC East Asia on July 28, 1998, former US Ambassador James Lilley, who also co-chaired the NDI/IRI delegation, said that on election day, he pursued at least five different reports of irregularities and every one of them turned out to be false. Clearly, the elections were not manipulated by Cambodia's leaders.

Moreover, I am puzzled as to how you reached you conclusions when your own reporter on the ground, Set Mydans, wrote a much more balanced view of the electoral process in the same issue in which your editorial appeared.

In general, the election reflects the will of the Cambodian people. Your description to the contrary marginalizes and negates the legitimate efforts of the Cambodian voters and thousands of international and local observers.

Yours Sincerely,

Var Huoth
Ambassador

Letters to the Editor
July 22, 1998
Of The Washington Times

Dear Sir:

Rep. Benjamin Gilman's op-ed ["Without hope of an unfettered vote," July 19] does not reflect the reality in Cambodia. Therefore, I would like to make the following clarification.

There is undeniably no ban on any political party to hold rallies in Cambodia as Rep. Gilman claims. Most of the 39 political parties are vigorously and actively campaigning throughout Cambodia, from town to village, without fear or intimidation. The hundreds of international observers in Cambodia can currently confirm that each day several thousand of people attend rallies organized by various political parties. These parties are free to express their opinions and their political platforms. And they are doing so. Moreover, they have equal access to the media, despite Rep. Gilman's assertions to the contrary.

It is misleading to say that fraud is uncheckable. With a sincere intention to hold a free and fair election, the Royal Government of Cambodia has invited foreign governments and international organizations to observe the elections in Cambodia. The more observers, the better. So far some 500 international observers have accepted that invitation. Furthermore, there are roughly 50,000 local observers, hired by independent NGOs. Take the United States for example. The number of US-funded local observers will reach 7,000 on the election day. The UN-sponsored Joint International Observers Group will oversee all aspects of the election process, from voting to counting and final tallying. His Majesty the King has also assured his compatriots that their vote will be utterly secret and the election will be conducted in a liberal democratic way.

This is the first election to be held by the Cambodian themselves. It has cost approximately $26 million dollars, which is much less than the UNTAC election in 1993. The Cambodian people are proud to organize this election and are very grateful to the international community for its support. The holding of the election on July 26 is the sovereign decision of the National Assembly of Cambodia, which was born out of the UN-supervised election and represents the Cambodian people. Any attempt to overturn this decision runs counter to the desire of Cambodian people.

I would be deeply grateful if you could publish my response as early as possible.

Your sincerely,
Var Huoth
Ambassador

Letter to the Editor
July 13, 1998
Of The New York Times

Dear Sir:

I read your July 10 editorial titled "Cambodia's Stunted Election Campaign" with great dismay. The New York Times editorial did not reflect the reality in Cambodia. It is misleading to say that the Hun Sen party has monopolized the media. 39 political parties, which are busy campaigning, have full access to the media namely the print media as well as the electronic media. So far the National Election Committee (NEC) has received no complaints from any party in this regard. The main donors for the election, the EU, Japan, Australia and other ASEAN countries are satisfied with the progress that the National Election Committee has made up to now. It is worth noting that the NEC is composed of members of the four parties representing in the National Assembly namely FUNCINPEC, CPP, BLDP, and MOULINAKA. It does not belong to one party as claimed by your editorial.

Your suggestion that the elections would be postponed to a few months is not practical in terms of legal aspects in Cambodia. It is the sovereign decision of the National Assembly, born out of the 1993 United Nations supervised election, to determine the date of the election.

Your editorial fails to recognize the fact that great progress has been made in Cambodia in the preparations for the upcoming elections. Cambodia has started from the adoption of the election law, the political party law and the establishment of constitutional council and magistracy council and the formation of the NEC. This election is the first election to be organized by the Cambodians. The Cambodian people should be rewarded in this process instead of being discouraged.

Yours sincerely,
Var Huoth
Ambassador

Statement
Delivered by H.E. Var Huoth, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
of the Kingdom of Cambodia at the Forum Conference on Cambodia,
Laos and Vietnam held in Washington on May 27, 1998.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Friends,

I am delighted to be here to share with you my views on the elections in Cambodia to be held July 26, 1998. I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound thanks for your interests in Cambodia. Particularly, I want to thank Mr. John McAuliff and Mr. David Elder for their tireless efforts to make this forum possible so that we can share the general development in Cambodia.

In less than nine weeks, the Cambodian people will vote to choose their representatives for the next five-year term after the UN-supervised elections in 1993. Most of the legal aspects for the election are in place, namely the electoral law, the political party law and the law to place the military in a neutral position. So far, thirty-nine political parties have officially registered for the upcoming elections. Despite some technical difficulty, voter registration has made great progress since May 18, 1998. So far there are already more than 1.5million out of 5.5 million eligible voter registering at the voter registration centers across the country. The National Election Committee in cooperation with the European Union representative and other countries' representatives are working hard to ensure that the voter registration will be completed on time on June 15, 1998.

On March 1998, The Co-Premiers of the Royal Government of Cambodia sent letters to the leaders of the countries in the world to invite them to send observers to observe the whole electoral process. Thus far there are several countries who have replied positively to that invitations including the EU, ASEAN countries, France, Australia, Canada, China, South Korea, etc. And I would like to stress that in addition to the international observers, we have approximately 20,000 local observers across the country. They are mainly from independent human right and democracy non-governmental organizations in Cambodia. This component is an important part of the elections. They are closely watching the day-to-day situation and, if there were any wrongdoing or serious irregularities, they would be the first to complain. It is normal that the NEC receives complaints from 2 or 3 parties out of the 39 parties. The NEC will investigate and remedy any problem, if it is a real problem. But some parties are trying to inflate the problem in their favor.

For the sake of democracy in Cambodia, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier this month urged the Cambodian people to vote for the party of their choice. He also urged the armed forces, the security apparatus and the officials from his party to respect that choice. He also said in public that if a CPP official does something contrary to the spirit of the free and fair elections, he would punish or demote that official.

When the process of the voter registration started on May 18, 1998, the National United Front composed of FUNCINPEC Party, Sam Rainsy Party, Son San Party and Cambodian Neutral Party said that they would boycott the elections if the election was held on July 26 and demanded that the election date be pushed back. I would like to say that it is too late for them to declare that boycott.

First, everything in relation to the election is legally adopted by the National Assembly. It is up to the National Assembly to decide whether the date of the election be delayed or not.

Second, there are more than 30 political parties competing in the upcoming elections. Do they agree with that idea? Do they support that position?

Third, since the declaration of the National United Front, more than 1.5 million people are already registered to vote. Is this a positive or negative answer to that position?

Fourth, the donor countries have continued to provide money as pledged.

The National United Front also raised four points regarding the access to the media, the establishment of the Constitutional Council, the ballot counting from the village level to the district or provincial level and the NEC members. There has been misinformation on that statement that I would like to clarify as follows:

Access to the media

In order to have a free and fair election in Cambodia, access to the media is quite important. It is necessary that all political parties have equal right and equal opportunities to use electronic media during the electoral campaign starting from June 25 to July 24, 1998. However, I would like to make clear the distinction between the equal right to use the media and equal right to set up radio and television stations.

In Cambodia, no political party has its own radio or television station. All radio and television stations in Cambodia are owned by private individuals who may have their preferences for this or that party. If all parties are given the equal right to set up these stations, we will have another 39 radio stations and another 39 television stations. It would be an absurd situation to have scores of radio or television stations in a small country the size of Cambodia. This is because every party would demand a license to set up a station and the license would be used by private stations to set them up. The other disadvantage is that the richer party the more access it have. What should be done to resolve this problem? The government already suggested three options for the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to choose from:

First option: all the political parties have equal opportunities in the electoral campaign to use all electronic media, both state-owned and private channels and frequencies, as private television and radio stations charge money.

Second option: We use stated-owned channels and frequencies and rent some of the privately owned stations. Those private stations not being rented are to remain completely neutral. No political party will have to use them to make additional propaganda. Observers will have to observe and the NEC to control so that these private radio and television stations remain neutral. In this undertaking, some money will be needed to rent the private stations and an order will have to keep the other stations neutral.

Third option: Only state-owned networks are used while all private networks must stay neutral. No party will have the right to speak on private stations. Even if these private stations favor a party, that party will not be allowed extra airtime. This should be enough to ensure equal opportunity during the electoral campaign.

On May 21, 1998, the NEC chose the third option. This meant that during the electoral campaign only state-run networks would be at the disposal of all political parties. Each political party will have access through the NEC. As for the private networks, they will stay neutral. No parties can use private radio or television stations to their favor.

I would like to add that the Royal Government of Cambodia, through the envoy and representative of the UN Secretary General, put forth the request that all foreign stations, which transmit its broadcast in Khmer to Cambodia also remain neutral during the electoral campaign. To my knowledge, the United States has two stations, namely Radio Free Asia and VOA. Russia, France, Vietnam, Laos, Australia and any other countries that have their broadcasts in Khmer must be neutral during the electoral campaign.

Constitutional Council

The establishment of the Constitutional Council is the intention of every party, because the Constitutional Council has a role to examine the constitutionality of the law. The National Assembly of Cambodia already passed the law on the establishment of the Constitutional Council on March 19, and voted in favor of three candidates of the National Assembly to participate in the Constitutional Council on May 8 1998. The Constitutional Council must be composed of three personalities appointed by His Majesty The King, three members of the national Assembly and three from the Supreme Council of Magistracy. Once the Supreme Council of Magistracy convened its meeting on May 20, 1998 under the chairmanship of H.E. Sok An, Co-Minister in Charge of the Office of the Council Minister, the National United Front complained that it was in violation of the rule and the meeting should be recalled by Secretary of State for Justice Ouk Vithun(FUNCINPEC) in the absence of the Minister of Justice. On this point, I would like to stress that whenever a member of the RGC is absent, another members of the Royal Government of Cambodia is appointed by the two Prime Ministers to take over for the absentee. Take the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia for example. H.E. You Hokry used to take over the Foreign Ministry as Acting-Foreign Minister when H.E. Ung Huot was absent. This procedure has been applied for almost five years and the National United Front should not use this argument as an obstacle to the formation of the Constitutional Council. Moreover, His Majesty the King already approved the composition of the Constitutional Council that will convene its meeting as early as possible.

Thumbprint

In other pretext to boycott the elections, the National United Front said "the CPP is implementing a system of ten-family cell in which each cell has a leader to force his or her members to register with CPP by thumb-printing." First, I would like to ask why there is a need to force the CPP members to be thumbprinted if they are already members of CPP, and it is outdated to say that there is a ten-family cell or a 20-family cell after the UN supervised elections in 1993. Second, it is common practice that the registration and thumb printing are an indication of political party membership. Each political party out of 39 had already taken at least 4,000 of thumbprints from it individual members so that it could qualify to register as a political party in accordance to the law of political party.

In a recent meeting with CPP members, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen said that he would dismiss or demote those who threaten the people to do anything contrary to the existing law. It is a fact that one should not underestimate the Cambodian people. In 1993, 99 percent of the Cambodian people went to the polling stations in the UN-supervised elections. This is the highest statistics if compared with other countries. The Cambodian people know how to exercise their rights and whom they should vote for in the upcoming elections. H.E. Ung Huot, First Prime Minister of Cambodia correctly said in public on May 15, 1998 that any political party that threatened the people to vote for them would meet with a negative reply from the people.

Vote-counting

The National United Front insisted that the vote counting should be conducted at the provincial or district level. In this regard, I would like to ask some simple questions, who is going to pay for the transportation from over 10,000 villages to 20 provinces and four cities, who is in charge of the ballot boxes at night, who can guarantee that there will be no exchanges of ballot boxes? Do they think of the bad road from a village to a chief town of province? There are tremendous technical difficulties in this regard. Therefore, members of the National Assembly adopted a compromised position on May 8, 1998 to the effect that the vote counting should be conducted at the communal level. It means that the ballots are collected from the 11,000 polling stations across the country and counted at the 1600 vote-counting locations.

National Election Committee

The composition of the National Election Committee was adopted by the National Assembly, which is composed of FUNCINPEC members, CPP members, BLDP members and Son San members, in a vote of 75-15. The decision adopted by the National Assembly is a sovereign vote and a democratic vote. If the National United Front wants to change the composition of the NEC it should refer to the National Assembly of Cambodia.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to stress that after nearly 30 years of war and genocide, nobody expects to have instant democracy in Cambodia. Cambodia needs time and support from international community to foster its nascent democracy. The upcoming election is the first election ever held after the UN-supervised election in 1993. Therefore, it needs support and assistance from all countries in the world.

Thank you

Response to the Washington Post Editorial by Samdech Hun Sen
June 30, 1998.

As an active proponent of the elections to be held this month in Cambodia and a candidate for office, I was distressed by your June 16, 1998 editorial entitled "Cambodian charade." On one level, perhaps Cambodian should be grateful that instead of being bombed and invaded by foreign armies, ours is now a battle of words. Nevertheless, as a Cambodian citizen, I found the editorial unfortunate, partially because of inaccuracies, partially because of the damage it can do to our relations with other countries, including the United Sates, but most importantly because of its apparent disregard for the ordinary Cambodian voters and his or her judgement. Consider the following:

· Voter registration closed in most of Cambodia in mid-June. Despite the editorial statement that "fear and intimidation abound," over 98% of the estimated eligible voters have registered to cast their ballot. This high level of voter registration was reported by other media on the day of your editorial, but was not mentioned by your newspaper.

· The leaders of all 39 political parties which are participating in this election, including Prince Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy, are all campaigning vigorously and openly.

· Since the start of the active campaign season on June 25, the streets have been full of political rallies, noisy car caravans, and other trappings of modern political campaigns.

· The press is actively covering the political campaign. Given the array of newspapers in Cambodia today, there is no candidate or political party, including me and the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), that does not come under criticism.

· The election will be observed by an army of foreign observers, who have already begun to arrive in Cambodia. The non-governmental organizations in Cambodia already are diligently searching out electoral problems.

· The National Election Committee is hearing complaints lodged by political parties and observers alike about the registration process and alleged campaign violations.

· Finally, the ballot will be secret, and because of the pioneering work done five years ago by UNTAC, the voters know it.

In short, the July 26 vote, if not perfect, will stand well in comparison with the political processes of our neighbors in Southeast Asia as an authentic expression of democratic will.

Cambodia has long been viewed, in your country and elsewhere, as a "sideshow" and as a testing ground for policies of outside powers, and has never been considered as a subject in its own rights. Such was the case with the US bombing of our country in the 1960's and 1970's, with interventionist policies of the 1980's, and even with the UN-run election in 1993.

The Cambodian people deserve to decide their own fate through a "free and fair election," to which the CPP and I are firmly committed. This time they will do so. I also have stated my intention to abide by the result of this election.

Among the many inaccuracies in your editorial is your characterization of the election as a forgone conclusion. While I hope and believe that the CPP will attract more voters than any of the other 38 parties, the election result cannot be now known. Indeed, a recent independent poll revealed that 60% of the eligible voters refuse to disclose for whom they will vote. The cavalier assumption that I will be victorious insults the Cambodian voters. Better allow the Cambodian voters to speak for themselves, and not prejudge the election.

Equally distressing is your editorial's criticism of the Clinton Administration's policy toward Cambodia. While all Cambodians suffered because of the cut-off of aid by the US Government last summer, we were encouraged by Assistant Secretary of State Stanley Roth's recent testimony in the Congress. No one would accuse the US Government of being "soft" on Cambodia. However, your editorial describes his testimony as "disturbingly rosy." While not agreeing with everything he said, I would characterize Mr Roth's testimony as balanced and realistic.

Your editorial took the Clinton Administration to task for conceding the reality that opposition leaders are operating freely, for observing that "significant progress has been made," and for the conclusion that "results now will largely depend upon the Cambodians themselves; how they exercise their rights to vote and the candidate they choose." The Clinton Administration has correctly analyzed the situation. It is time for
Cambodians to exercise their sovereign rights and to make a decision.

Whoever wins the upcoming election must immediately address the problem of bringing the leadership of the Khmer Rouge to justice by trying those committed genocide against the Cambodian people in an appropriate international tribunal. The Royal Government of Cambodia presently is working with the United States and others to achieve this end.

In this vein, many in Cambodia are puzzled as to why last month's discovery of Khmer Rouge documents from a jungle redoubts, as reported in the Phnom Penh Post, hardly a supporter of the CPP, has not been reported more widely in the American press. For example, to my knowledge, this discovery has yet to be discussed in your paper. Those captured documents demonstrate that the Khmer Rouge were attempting to take advantage of Prince Ranariddh and were using the secret negotiations with him as a means for another power grab. The captured papers speak most eloquently for themselves.

The major issue facing Cambodia in the short-term is security -- to finally eliminate the Khmer Rouge threat and bring its leaders to justice. But Cambodia is facing a host of other profound social and economic difficulties as well. We are committed to a free and open market, to rural development, and to raising the standard of education. The Cambodia people need a government selected through a democratic election in which the will of the people is effected, capable of dealing with those issues. They deserve the opportunity to do so. And they deserve the support and understanding of the international community.

Whether they select the CPP or choose another party to lead them, this July we will have such an election.

Hun Sen

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