Prime Minister Hun Sen violating the Constitution by not responding to National Assembly members

November 2, 2011

PRIME MINISTER HUN SEN VIOLATING THE CONSTITUTION BY NOT RESPONDING TO NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBERS

On October 17, 2011 a group of National Assembly members wrote to
Prime Minister Hun Sen asking him a number of questions via National
Assembly President Heng Samrin (see statement in English below). Mr.
Heng Samrin signed on the letter the following day (October 18) to
acknowledge its reception and forwarded it immediately to Mr. Hun Sen
(see letter in Khmer at http://tinyurl.com/3bbnsqh).

As of today (November 2), meaning 15 days after he received the
letter, Mr. Hun Sen has yet to respond to the National Assembly
members, thus violating Article 96 of the Constitution which
stipulates that the Government must respond in writing to any written
question from any National Assembly member within seven days.

SRP Cabinet

_____________________________


October 17, 2011

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY MEMBERS ASK PRIME MINISTER
TO RESPOND TO IPU ON SAM RAINSY’S CASE

A group of opposition National Assembly members wrote today to Prime
Minister Hun Sen asking him to respond to the Inter-Parliamentary
Union (IPU) on the case of opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

In 2009, siding with Cambodian farmers protesting the loss of their
rice fields because of border encroachment, Sam Rainsy pulled out a
few wooden poles considered by the authorities as the “tentative
border post # 185.”  He was subsequently sentenced to a total of 12
years in prison for that “crime.”

In a Resolution adopted on April 20, 2011 the IPU
- “Affirms that, given the official recognition, including by the
Prime Minister, that there is no such thing as a legal border post #
185 and the absence of any official map as the border demarcation is
still under way, Mr. Sam Rainsy cannot possibly have committed a crime
by pulling out wooden posts, which were illegally driven in, nor is
the accusation of divulging false information a tenable one,”
and
- “Considers, therefore, that it is becoming even more urgent to
review Mr. Sam Rainsy’s case and to rehabilitate him, and calls on the
authorities, including Parliament, to take action to this end without
delay so as to enable Mr. Sam Rainsy to resume his rightful place as a
member of the National Assembly and to stand as a candidate in the
next parliamentary elections.”

See full text of the IPU Resolution at http://tinyurl.com/3u7wvhv

In a November 8, 2010 letter responding to Parliamentarians through
National Assembly President Heng Samrin, Prime Minister Hun Sen wrote
notably, “In the area surrounding the tentative post # 185, in
particular posts # 184 to 187 along the border between Cambodia and
Vietnam, the joint technical group from the two countries is
continuing its study on the actual ground in order to search for
material evidence necessary for the determination of the real location
of those border posts. Because the joint technical group from the two
countries has not planted border post # 185 yet, the border
demarcation work, which is the work of the joint technical group after
the planting of that post, has not started either.”  See Hun Sen’s
full letter in Khmer at http://tinyurl.com/3gy5mkk

Five questions were sent today to Prime Minister Hun Sen:

1- As of today, what is the status of the “study on the actual ground
in order to search for material evidence necessary for the
determination of the real location of border posts # 184 to 187”?
What progress has been made over the past 12 months?

2- Has the joint technical group from Cambodia and Vietnam already
planted the border post # 185?

3- Has the border demarcation work in the concerned area already started?

4-What is the present effective legal status of the location of the
tentative border post # 185 that H.E. Sam Rainsy, with the population
in Svay Rieng province’s Chantrea district, pulled out on October 25,
2009?

5- What is the reaction of the Royal Cambodian Government to the April
20, 2011 IPU Resolution on “Case No. CMBD/01 – Sam Rainsy – Cambodia”
as attached herewith?

See SRP Parliamentarians’ original letter in Khmer to Prime Minister
Hun Sen at http://tinyurl.com/3bbnsqh

According to Article 96 of the Constitution, the Government must
respond in writing to any written question from any National Assembly
member within seven days.

SRP Members of Parliament