Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday warned an overseas “Sisowath royalist” and would-be rebels to “prepare coffins” because he will not arrest but “smash” them if they try to use the border encroachment issue to try to weaken his power.
Speaking at a ceremony in Pursat province Saturday, Hun Sen said he had been warned by National Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh that a member of the Sisowath royal family had informed of a “big rebellion over border issues.”
“They should prepare coffins and say their wills to their wives before they rebel,” Hun Sen said in a speech broadcast on Apsara TV on Saturday and rebroadcast on TVK Sunday.
No arrests would be made, Hun Sen warned, because he would “smash the whole nest (family) and finish it.”
Hun Sen did not name the Sisowath, adding that he had issued his warning “to avoid Khmer bloodshed.”
Chiding those who wanted to take power while he was busy developing the nation, Hun Sen said he had not destroyed all the country’s weapons in the European Union-backed small arms reduction program and still had tanks and other weapons to crack down on “traitors.”
“When I am in power, I will not let anyone stage a coup,” he said, adding that if a rebellion occurs there would be no amnesty and he would close all airports and border checkpoints.
And in a thinly veiled attack, Hun Sen blasted the US for meddling in Cambodian affairs.
“Father of democracy, human rights. I don’t need to name this country,” he said. “Killing people every day is respecting human rights?”
The prime minister also accused his critics of being US lackeys who dance to the tune of aid money.
“They are servants,” he said, adding that they curse their own nation in order to receive US aid.
Last week Hun Sen warned against public forums that criticize him and also stated that no power would be given to the recently formed Supreme National Council on border affairs, which is headed by retired King Norodom Sihanouk.
Pang Sokhoeun, president of the Students’ Movement for Democracy, which has sent reports of border encroachment to the SNC, said the prime minister was overreaching his power and that he was not cowed by arrest threats. “I am not afraid of being arrested,” he said.
Buth Raksmei Kongkea, president of the Khmer Borders Protection Organization, said he has received several threats but that he, too, was unconcerned.