Opposition party leader Sam Rainsy began a hunger strike Tuesday night in what he described as an effort to show solidarity with thousands of Cambodians facing famine because of widespread flooding.
“It is a personal way for me to show compassion and to suffer the same thing that those people are suffering,” he said Tuesday.
The feisty parliamentarian is camped out in a tent opposite the National Assembly and plans to refuse all nourishment during the hunger strike. He stressed that the fast was not intended as a criticism of the government’s flood relief efforts.
“But at the same time, I would like to prick the conscience of some people,” he said.
He complained that aid is sometimes being pocketed by corrupt local officials or given to their political sympathizers instead of the people most in need of help.
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s spokesman, Om Yentieng, described the hunger strike as a publicity stunt that would not serve the best interest of flood victims.
“In a hard situation like now, no political party should use the situation to serve their own interests,” Om Yentieng said.
On Friday, Sam Rainsy led an estimated 3,000 people through the city to protest corrupt flood-relief practices. Many of the marchers had been trucked into the capital from neighboring provinces.
Sam Rainsy said he would quit his strike once he had raised enough money to feed all of the protesters for one month, which he estimated would cost $90,000.
“I want them to go back to their homes [but] I think it is cruel to send them back empty-handed and empty-stomached.”
On Saturday Prime Minister Hun Sen urged the protesters, who are now camped in various sites around the city, to return to their homes, saying they would not be able to get help in the capital.
Om Yentieng said the government is doing everything possible to help, pointing out the premier had spent around 50 of the last 60 days handing out money and food in flooded provinces.
