Prime Minister Hun Sen dismissed Funcinpec’s co-ministers of defense and interior in a surprise move on Thursday, before inviting royalist officials who wish to join the CPP to do so.
The removal of co-Minister of Defense Nhiek Bun Chhay and co-Minister of Interior Prince Norodom Sirivudh effectively canceled a quota system of partisan appointments that CPP and Funcinpec officials have maintained since their first coalition government in 1993.
“I told Samdech Sirivudh and His Excellency Nhiek Bun Chhay that both of you are removed from the interior and defense ministries, but you remain holding deputy prime minister positions,” Hun Sen told reporters at Government Palace near Wat Phnom, after a speech at the Consultative Group donor meeting.
“From this hour, there are no Funcinpec or CPP officials, police and soldiers. They only belong to the Royal Government,” Hun Sen said. “From this hour, there will be a 100-percent government quota.”
Though the move appeared to violate the CPP’s 2004 coalition agreement with Funcinpec that ended the nearly yearlong political deadlock following the 2003 election, Hun Sen warned Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh that withdrawing from the government would be unwise.
“If [the Prince] withdraws from the government…some Funcinpec officials will follow [him], some will stay with the government,” Hun Sen said. “I would like to announce that any Funcinpec officials that like to join with CPP, all are welcome.”
Nhiek Bun Chhay, who with other senior Funcinpec officials stood behind Hun Sen as he announced the removals, said that he supported his sacking, adding that it will promote more efficient governance.
“I am happy to accept this little reform, aimed to improve working requirements in government,” he said afterward, adding that he did not believe Prince Ranariddh would break away from the coalition.
Noranarith Anandayath, Prince Ranariddh’s cabinet chief, said that while Hun Sen has a right to reform the government, the 2004 agreement is now on shaky ground.“The partnership and cooperation are still going on as normal. The prime minister has a right to do his business, but the protocol is a different thing,” Noranarith Anandayath said.
“We may review the protocol, whether it is still valid, or it has been amended or cancelled,” he said.
The move shows that the constitutional amendment passed the same day at the National Assembly to reduce the amount of lawmakers needed to form a government is already undermining Funcinpec’s power, royalist lawmaker Monh Sophan said.
“From the constitutional amendment of [the electoral] system, Funcinpec is losing its influencing voice. They no longer need the Funcinpec voice,” he said.
“Even if they do not honor their promises as in the protocol, they can do that, because they have legitimacy now. The agreement between the two parties is not a law that everyone lives up to,” he said.
But he added that Funcinpec will do its best to serve its members. “We lose the partnership, but Funcinpec still functions,” Monh Sophan said.
Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Yim Sovann said Funcinpec’s fu-ture now looks bleak. “I think Funcinpec may split,” he said.
“They never used to be in the opposition. When they become the opposition party, they [will] not get used to it…. Even if they are in the government, they don’t do too much and they don’t care about the grassroots. Now, they have no money, they have no power—how can they strengthen their party?”
Opposition party member Mu Sochua, former Funcinpec minister of women’s affairs, said a coalition based on deal-making had been bound to collapse.
“The partnership with CPP and Funcinpec could not work because [it was based on] the deals that were made, mainly for positions,” Mu Sochua said.
“That was why I left Funcinpec. If the country is going to be run this way, by political quotas, by making deals for party members, it hurts the country.”
The co-minister positions were part of such negotiations, first created in 1993 to balance the powers of fighting factions following decades of civil war, Committee for Free and Fair Elections Director Koul Panha said.
But even though terminating the two ministerial positions puts both the police and the military firmly under CPP control, he said there would likely be little change, as the Funcinpec co-ministers held virtually no power anyway.
“The power over the military and police is held by Hun Sen already. Even if we change ministers, it is no different,” Koul Panha said. Hun Sen’s actions merely highlighted Funcinpec’s ineffectual role in what was already a “show coalition,” he said.
Some politicians speculated that a deal may have been struck between Hun Sen and Prince Ranariddh prior to Thursday’s sudden announcement.
Funcinpec Senator Prince Sisowath Sirirath and CPP lawmaker and stalwart Sim Ka both speculated that the two leaders must have discussed the decision—which appears for now to be limited to the two co-ministers—in advance.
In his speech, Hun Sen said a reshuffle would not extend to Funcinpec secretaries or undersecretaries of state, but added that redundant appointees would be sacked and under-qualified officials would be sent back to school.
He also said that any possible partnership with Sam Rainsy Party would remain on hold until after the 2008 elections.
Mu Sochua said that the opposition—which first proposed the constitutional amendment—would not be daunted by Hun Sen’s new powers.
“If a party is not confident, then you can walk with only one limb. We want to walk with both limbs. It is a challenge, but it is a healthy challenge,” she said.
(By Kay Kimsong, Lor Chandara and Samantha Melamed)
