In an apparent turnaround that has dismayed human rights groups and foreign observers, National Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh said Monday the lawmaking body probably won’t have time to get to the Khmer Rouge tribunal law during its current session.
“Firstly, many things on the agenda for the Assembly have been charted, and secondly there will be a lot of [national] holidays in November and December,” the prince said after the Assembly’s first day back in session.
In August, the prince had called the long-awaited legislation a top priority. But on Monday he seemed to retreat from that position. “I am worried that there probably won’t be enough time,” Prince Ranariddh said.
He added that the Council of Ministers’ legislative committee, which is reviewing the draft law before presenting it to the Assembly for debate, may be delayed because the cabinet’s chief, Sok An, is preoccupied with the floods.
Some observers dismissed the prince’s remarks, saying the government is using the floods as an excuse to delay indefinitely a trial of Khmer Rouge leaders, who are blamed for the deaths of at least 1 million Cambodians during their rule from 1975 to 1979 .
“This is just another testimony to our rulers’ unwillingness to organize that tribunal,” said Lao Mong Hay, director of the Khmer Institute for Democracy.
“It’s just one excuse after another,” he said. “It’s incredible.”
US Ambassador Kent Wiedemann said he was “perplexed” by Ranariddh’s remarks. “It contradicts what I’ve been told [recently] by Ranariddh as well as the chief of the Council of Ministers….It concerns me because the government has stated that they consider this law as something that needs to be done, and the sooner the better.”
He added that despite the “horrendous tragedy” of the floods, the government still has time to attend to other business.
“Sok An happens to be in Japan right now, so he’s not looking at the floods,” Wiedemann said. “[And] Ranariddh himself was just in Moscow. It isn’t as if the government is so immersed in the flood disaster that it isn’t doing business with the National Assembly. Therefore I would not accept that as an excuse.”
An Asian diplomat, who asked not to be named, called the prince’s explanations “too lame.”
The government has dragged its feet on the tribunal law from the outset, “but being mentioned in words by the National Assembly president—that is something else.” the diplomat said. “There must be some other basic reason.”
Some have suggested the government is stalling until the last of the aging Khmer Rouge leaders—some of whom may expose embarrassing ties to the current government—have died out.
Others blamed the delay on the upcoming visit of Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Nov 13.
“Maybe Ranariddh’s gotten the heat because of this,” Chea Vannath, president of the Center for Social Development, said.
A tribunal would embarrass China, whose communist government acted as an ideological and financial backer of the Khmer Rouge, Chea Vannath said. “China uses financial assistance to make its point. China is the one who is dictating our policy.”
Describing the trial as a step toward reconciliation with Cambodia’s recent tragic past, she added, “I wish our royal government would be able to get [the tribunal] done, not under the pressure of the international community…either East or West. I hope we are strong enough to do this for ourselves.”
