Alleged Terror Group to Make Second Bid to Gain Party Status

A dissident group whose leader is currently on trial for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government has agreed to a request from the Interior Ministry to change the name, motto and logo of its proposed political party in the hope of winning state approval.

Sourn Serey Ratha, the self-exiled president of the Khmer People Power Movement (KPPM), and three other men in custody in Cambodia are facing charges at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court of plotting the government’s overthrow and obstructing elections—accusations they deny.

Although Prime Minister Hun Sen has branded the KPPM a terrorist organization, the Interior Ministry earlier this month said it would consider approving the group’s application to form a political party if it made a few cosmetic changes.

On Sunday, the group said it would apply the Interior Ministry’s suggestions.

“There is an existing political party named the Khmer People Power Party, so we have changed the name from the Khmer People Power Party to the Khmer Power Party,” Sieng Sopheareak, the movement’s spokesman, said by telephone.

A statement the KPPM posted online Sunday said the group had also agreed to change the party’s motto from “Nation, Religion, Heroes” to “Nation, Liberty, Heroes.”

On its logo, an image of the Hindu god Vishnu standing on a dragon will be replaced by that of an Angkorian hero—it does not say which one—standing on a dragon. An image of Angkor Wat on the logo will be replaced with a white eagle.

“We took back our old application to make the corrections and we will register again,” Mr. Sopheareak said, adding that he expected to have the new application filed with the Interior Ministry sometime this week.

Mr. Sopheareak said the ministry appeared inclined to approve the application during a meeting on December 19, despite the KPPM’s poor standing with the government.

When Mr. Serey Ratha first went public with his plan to form a party in April, Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said his chances were slim considering that he was wanted for arrest.

The municipal court is scheduled to issue a verdict in his case next month.

Mr. Serey Ratha remains abroad and is being tried in absentia. He has openly called for a popular uprising to depose Mr. Hun Sen but denounces the use of violence.

Rights groups and observers say his U.S.-based group has little if any influence inside Cambodia, appears to have no military ambitions and poses no genuine threat to the government.

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