Despite Prime Minister Hun Sen’s claim last week he would return official stamps to Funcinpec ministers, a statement signed Wednesday by Cabinet Minister Sok An reveals that the stamps will instead be handed over to the director generals of their respective ministries.
The apparent U-turn angered royalist officials who say the stamps are still under the authority of CPP-affiliated officials. Hun Sen ordered the stamps removed from ministers last September.
Funcinpec officials say that without the stamps, their ministers’ documents have not been recognized, severely diminishing Funcinpec’s authority within the current government.
“We feel cheated,” one Funcinpec official said Thursday. “[The Council of Ministers] did not obey Prime Minister Hun Sen’s order.”
Funcinpec spokesman Kassie Neou declined to comment on the issue Thursday.
Hun Sen announced May 14, amid renewed cooperation between Funcinpec and CPP, that he would order the stamps returned.
“The seals that were placed here or there, please put them near the minister,” he told reporters .
A Council of Ministers’ document—signed by Sok An—states that Hun Sen’s order last week was “in conformity” with a Royal Government circular issued Sept 20, 2003.
That circular urged all ministers and secretaries of state to “give the stamps to the general director of administration or the administration department” within each ministry.
CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Thursday the stamps were not reissued to the ministers because there had been “serious problems” with ministers taking the stamps home with them for personal use.
In his announcement last week Hun Sen was mistaken, Khieu Kanharith said. “I do not say [Hun Sen] was wrong, I say he was mistaken,” he said.
