Funcinpec lawmaker Princess Norodom Vacheara plans to send a letter inviting Prime Minister Hun Sen to testify before the National Assembly about last week’s anti-Thai riots, she said Wednesday.
The premier has a duty to tell parliament about the events that transpired and the response of the authorities, said Princess Vacheara, who chairs the Assembly’s Commission on Foreign Affairs and Information.
“The prime minister must clarify [what happened] because leaders must be accountable. In France, they would call the premier to the parliament at night along with relevant ministers if there was an incident like this,” she said in an interview. “If he does not take responsibility, who will?”
National Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh asked Princess Vacheara to change the letter, extending the invitation to “the prime minister or his representative,” the princess claimed. She made the revision, but still believes the premier himself should appear, she said.
“I don’t understand why we should be afraid to invite the prime minister to talk to the Assembly,” Princess Vacheara said. She speculated that Prince Ranariddh probably didn’t want to be confrontational with his partner in the government coalition.
CPP spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Wednesday he did not know whether Hun Sen would accept the invitation. He suggested that the request was issued because some lawmakers “just want to have their names published in the newspapers for their popularity before the election.
“Let’s leave it to the police to do their work first before the premier talks about it,” he said.
Princess Vacheara said she has already sent a similar invitation to Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, who was in Thailand Tuesday attempting to repair the two countries’ damaged relations in meetings with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
The Feb 4 letter states that clarification is needed “because the incident strongly affected the image of Cambodia and all her leaders.”
In particular, the princess said, explanation is needed for the fact that authorities did not intervene in the demonstration outside the Thai embassy for several hours, by which time it had escalated out of control.
Several Assembly lawmakers, mostly Funcinpec, also said they are working on a letter inviting the two co-ministers of interior to testify.
