Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has quietly slipped into the shadows of the political arena in recent months, leaving the CCP and Funcinpec at center stage in their bid to form a new government.
The uncharacteristic silence from the opposition party has baffled some Phnom Penh residents, who questioned what has happened to the party’s leader.
“As far as I have been following the situation, Sam Rainsy has disappeared. I don’t understand why,” said resident Norng Soly.
In the run-up to national elections last year, all three political parties had a strong public presence, but “now we see only two. Where is Sam Rainsy?” she asked.
Better known for their stinging public attacks on the CPP and Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government, Sam Rainsy Party officials on Monday said their recent reticence is all part of the opposition’s new political strategy.
As a partner to Funcinpec in the Alliance of Democrats, the party must now follow the lead of royalist leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Sam Rainsy said. “We cannot use the same language” as before.
Instead of “blindly” attacking the government, party members are now analyzing faulty government policies and using their research to point out new directions for the government to take, opposition lawmaker Son Chhay said.
“Our reaction, our response is very subdued,” said opposition spokesman Ung Bun-Ang. And, he said, “It’s working.”
The Sam Rainsy Party’s new image is “more positive, and shows people we are more mature,” Ung Bun-Ang said, adding that observers have lauded the party’s push for dialogue with the government.
Though it may be less vocal, the Sam Rainsy Party has not lost its teeth, opposition officials said.
“The tone and style is only a form. Our substance remains the same,” Sam Rainsy said.
For years the main target of the opposition’s criticism, the CPP on Monday agreed that Sam Rainsy remains a strong force, even behind the scenes.
“We have seen him giving the ideas to…Funcinpec,” CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith said. “He is not speaking aloud like before, but he is still strong as before.”
In Phnom Penh’s Tonle Bassac squatter community, a neighborhood known to be highly supportive of the Sam Rainsy Party, residents were less convinced of the efficacy of the party’s new tactic.
Sam Rainsy “has been fighting a long time for justice and now he’s become so quiet. I don’t understand,” resident Ty Savoeun said.
The leader’s silence may benefit his own party members, while they seek positions in the new government, Ty Savoeun added. But in the meantime, he said, poverty and crime continue to plague the country; “Sam Rainsy should speak up,” he said.
